Captain Morgan and his Hammond Organ
Encyclopedia
Captain Morgan and his Hammond Organ was a recurring Viz
strip of the early 1990s featuring a pirate named Captain Morgan. Although he looked like a conventional buccaneer, Captain Morgan was always accompanied by his electronic Hammond organ
. He would show up in highly inappropriate situations, attempting to organise singalongs of cheerful ditties which always jeopardised his crew's piratical exploits. He consequently ended most strips being forced to walk the plank. A weakness of this strip's premise was the fact that Captain Morgan always had to remain sitting down (at his organ bench) with his hands occupied at the keyboard, thus limiting his potential activities.
This Viz strip was terminated after the magazine received complaints from the Hammond electronic organ company and from Seagrams, manufacturers of Captain Morgan
Spiced Rum, a product which prominently features a flamboyant pirate captain on its packaging. Thus, Viz managed to offend two completely unrelated corporations with the same character. Creator Chris Donald also noted in his book Rude Kids that he had been threatened with legal action from the copyright owners of some of the songs featured, and did not think that having the character sing royalty free hymn
s or children's songs would be quite as funny for the reader.
Viz (comic)
Viz is a popular British comic magazine which has been running since 1979.The comic's style parodies British comics of the post-war period, notably The Beano and The Dandy, but with incongruous language, crude toilet humour, black comedy, surreal humour and either sexual or violent storylines...
strip of the early 1990s featuring a pirate named Captain Morgan. Although he looked like a conventional buccaneer, Captain Morgan was always accompanied by his electronic Hammond organ
Hammond organ
The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard...
. He would show up in highly inappropriate situations, attempting to organise singalongs of cheerful ditties which always jeopardised his crew's piratical exploits. He consequently ended most strips being forced to walk the plank. A weakness of this strip's premise was the fact that Captain Morgan always had to remain sitting down (at his organ bench) with his hands occupied at the keyboard, thus limiting his potential activities.
This Viz strip was terminated after the magazine received complaints from the Hammond electronic organ company and from Seagrams, manufacturers of Captain Morgan
Captain Morgan
Captain Morgan is a brand of rum produced by alcohol conglomerate Diageo. It is named after the 17th-century, Welsh privateer of the Caribbean, Sir Henry Morgan...
Spiced Rum, a product which prominently features a flamboyant pirate captain on its packaging. Thus, Viz managed to offend two completely unrelated corporations with the same character. Creator Chris Donald also noted in his book Rude Kids that he had been threatened with legal action from the copyright owners of some of the songs featured, and did not think that having the character sing royalty free hymn
Hymn
A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification...
s or children's songs would be quite as funny for the reader.