Did my grandfather get a shoutout in Shazam?

Did my grandfather get a shoutout in Shazam? - Woman in Brown and Red Dress Sitting on Ground Under Brown Tree

Okay, so first a little family history. During the 1940's, my grandfather had a job working for Fawcett Comics answering fan-mail. Specifically, whenever a kid wrote a letter to Captain Marvel, he was the guy who wrote back, in character, so he was basically the public face of the character outside of the comics. This was of course before the character and later the entire company was bought by DC Comics, and before the character was officially renamed "Shazam" to avoid legal confusion with the Marvel characters of the same name.

Alright, so in the movie that came out last year, there's a section where Billy is trying to find his mother who he lost as a small child, and he's got a book filled with addresses of women who have the same name as her. We actually see him visit one of these women, who is the last address on his list. (It's definitely not his actual mother; they made her a black woman to make that super-obvious.) But the address, prominently displayed more than once in the film in his notebook, is on "Hoffman St." in Philadelphia. Hoffman is my last name, and also my grandfather's, so it made me wonder if by any chance this was a nod to his contribution to the character back in its early existence.

Now I have looked up the location on Google Maps Street View, and it turns out there is actually a Hoffman St. in Philadelphia, but it looks nothing like what was depicted in the movie. The real street is only 6 blocks long (with a few interruptions), one-lane and one-way, and the buildings are right up against the sidewalk, nobody has any front lawns to speak of. In the film, the street looks much more suburban, 2-way streets and lawns. I can understand why they wouldn't choose to film there, it might be too cramped to get the camera angles they wanted, and it looks like a not-great part of town. But it's interesting that they chose that name for the street, and prominently featured the address in the notebook more than once (and no other addresses).

My grandfather is unfortunately not around to ask anymore (he died a few years before the movie came out, but possibly recently enough that someone working on the film might've heard about it). I've asked my father about it and he says it might be possible, but he has no way to be sure. I'm not sure if the address was also featured in the comics? If it was, that would be a more likely call-back, since it might date it back to when he was working there. Anyone know how I could go about figuring this out?






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Did my grandfather get a shoutout in Shazam? - Grandmother and Grandfather Holding Child on Their Lap
Did my grandfather get a shoutout in Shazam? - Man Standing Beside Woman on Swing
Did my grandfather get a shoutout in Shazam? - Woman Assisting Elderly Man





Ending (Cameo scene) | Shazam! [4k, HDR]




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