by Sam Juliano
Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.
It would be difficult to fathom any baby boomer male identifying any television property seen with more regularity in the 60’s than the re-runs of The Adventures of Superman, which never left the air in those impressionable years, and for most was the superhero property that predated all the rest. While arguably eclipsed in overall popularity by the mid-60’s camp classic Batman with Adam West and Burt Ward, there are many genre fans who preferred the way the crime dominated show played it straight and the never ending fascination for the lead actor George Reeve, whose controversial death at age 45 in 1959 has been the subject of continued theories and even a feature length film. Even during Superman’s re-runs, many of us were as intrigued by the real life actor than we were by the two characters he so compellingly portrayed, one with the big S on his chest and the emblematic cape and the other a be-speckled, mild-mannered reporter, whose transformation was accomplished in minimalist terms that defied rational. As kids we thought, heck if Lois Lane, Perry White and Jimmy Olsen never caught on why should we question the fantasy we wanted so much to believe. And for the most ardent fans of the series, the first of the Reeves to play one of the most famous of all television and movie characters was the one remembered most fondly, the one who set the bar for all others, every bit as irreplaceable as Johnny Weissmuller, Basil Rathbone, Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff in their most famous roles.
Still there were other players who help to forge the dramatic chemistry that made the series fly as high as its famed character when crisscrossing Metropolis to rescue those in peril. As Clark Kent, Reeves was reserved to a fault, always absorbing taunts from gruff Daily Planet Editor Perry White, but always seemingly in the right place at the right time and able to wiggle out of every pickle, if often by seconds. The smiling Kent seemed to derive plenty of satisfaction from knowing a secret nobody else does. Lois Lane had a crush on him, though her own character was played by two women who approached the role differently. The spunky Phyllis Coates is no-nonsense and often tries her hand on beating back the bad guys. She is basically humorless, but her replacement Noel Neill brought the missing ingredient with a great deal of warmth factored in. As cub reporter Jimmy Olsen, Jack Larson’s naivete is campy and provides the show with some of its humorous elements.
Running for six seasons and 104 episodes from 1952 to 1958, Adventures of Superman took the title hero out of the radio recording studio and onto television screens in living rooms across the nation. Known for a grueling filming schedule, a bargain-basement effects budget, and tumultuous personal issues for cast members, Adventures of Superman nonetheless became a surprise hit, thanks in part to the popularity of the Superman comics and the fact that it was eventually filmed and broadcast in color.
The vast majority of the show is about criminal attempts gone awry due to the diligence and luck that define the Man of Steel. The prime fascination connected to his vulnerability to kryptonite and how he is nearly undermined by its application in edge-of-the-cliff precariousness. Rather than compile a list of favorites I’ll focus on my three personal favorites:
“Superman and the Mole Men” took Clark Kent and Lois Lane out into the countryside in order to do a story on a small town’s claim to fame: the world’s deepest oil well. While this certainly doesn’t sound thrilling, things soon take a Twilight Zone type turn. Before long, radioactive mole men from the center of the Earth crawl up through the six-mile deep hole and begin to cause a panic in the local community. What’s interesting in this tale is that Superman doesn’t simply fight the diminutive mole men, but actually protects them from a violent and unruly mob that springs up. At one point, Superman literally calls the townspeople “Nazi stormtroopers” and then takes their guns away from them after they injure one of the mole men. Superman’s only allies in town are Lois, a rebellious doctor who volunteers to operate on the wounded mole man, and the local boss of the oil-drilling operation. The conclusion isn’t exactly a feel-good ending, but rather a bittersweet one. “Superman and the Mole Men” is certainly an atypical story for what Adventures of Superman would become in serial form, but it’s a great introduction to the era.