Gomer Pyle, USMC, the famous 1960s hero-buffoon of
American TV, used to exclaim “Shazaam!” whenever anything inexplicable happened. Because of his good nature and
dim wits, much was inexplicable to Gomer, and many inexplicably good things resulted from screwball situations in this fictional TV portrayal of the U.S. Marine Corps. For example, rational care and kindness often prevailed over irrational regulations and cruelty, and profoundly different people -- a kind and
gullible hillbilly recruit and a cynical, ostensibly cruel career military
man -- managed to create comic and bizarrely symbiotic alliances.
Total first-half
2005 shipments and revenue are up 30 percent (41.2 million units) and 24.
5 percent ($2.7 billion), respectively, compared to the first half of
2004 (Shazaam!)