The Electric Company (TV) (Introduction)

The children's show "The Electric Company" aired from 1971/72 to 1976/77, comprising a total of 780 tapes over six seasons. Spider-Man joined the team for the last three seasons (from 1974 to 1977) as a short feature during the show. He didn't feature in every episode - apparently he featured in a dozen or so in the 74/75 season, around a dozen more in the 75/76 season, and a few more in the final season.

Each Spider-Man segment was roughly three and a half minutes long - all having to do with a word suffix, prefix, sound, etc. being discussed at the time. Members of "The Electric Company" cast (cast information provided below) played the victims and villians, plus each cast member had at least one turn to narrate the story.

The Electic Co episodes were also adapted into comic form for an unforgettable 57 issues of the now classic Spidey Super Stories comic, along with the Spidey short comic stories in Electric Company Magazine.

Thanks to all those who helped compile the info in this section - Brian Rathjen, The Masked Mutant, and many others.

Cast Information

Spidey was played by Danny Segren. Spidey was a mute during the show, with his words shown over his head in speech balloons. There was no Peter Parker character, Spidey was always in costume.

Other "The Electric Company" cast members included Luis Avalos, Jim Boyd, Morgan Freeman, Judy Graubart, Skip Hinnant, Rita Moreno and Hattie Winston; plus the 1975/76 and 76/77 seasons added the Short Circus members (these cast members were young teenagers by that time) June Angela, Todd Graff, Rodney Lewis, Rejane Magloire and Janina Matthews. Todd Graff apparently enjoyed doing the Spidey shorts. He's one of the few to read more than one.

Jim Boyd probably played the most memorable characters on TEC (his very popular characters included J. Arthur Crank, a construction foreman; Paul the Gorilla; and the Blue Beetle, an inept superhero who popped out of nowhere in an attempt to help the distressed but usually made things worse; he also spoofed - among other characters - Rocky Balboa, the Six Million Dollar Man and Kojak in TEC skits).

Now, don't confuse this Jim Boyd with Jimmy Boyd, who sang I saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus. Jimmy Boyd that was married to Yvonne Craig, he's from the south and has blond hair. The one on The Electric Company has dark hair and talks with a New York accent. So now ya know!

Audio Files

MP3 format sound files.

• Spider-Man Segment Theme (MP3, 26 Kb)

Theme Song Credits:

      Words      - Gary William Friedman
      Music      - Gary William Friedman
      Publisher  - Will Power

For reference, here are the lyrics to the theme song.

      Spider Man, where are you coming from?
      Spider Man, nobody knows who you are...
      Spider Man, you've got that Spidey touch...
      Spider Man, you are a web-slinging star!

Gary William Friedman was the Music Director and Composer for TV's "The Electric Company" from 1974-76. Along with 40 or so other songs, Gary wrote the Spider-Man Theme Song. He was also the vocalist for Spidey under the pseudonym 'Will Power'.

An extended version of the song has been released by 150 Music, (of which Gary Friedman is a partner) as a CD single, it's filed in our Audio database as The Electric Company: Spider-Man Theme Tune .