The Adventures of Superman

Recently on this site I have been talking about TV moguls. Since I started this site to talk about my stories (which I hope and plan to get back to soon), my hobbies on comics, music and the Monkees and an occasional Bible verse, I wondered how I could include that into the mix. Then it hit me. Now moguls seem to usually have at least 3 hit shows in prime time. With companies usually licensing their characters for TV shows and movies some comic book companies might actually qualify. In prime time Marvel has, to date, only had one hit show with the Incredible Hulk. However, DC comics is looking like the Aaron Spelling or Quinn Martin of the comic book field.
Now Superman started out his licensing to other mediums as a radio show. Then he went on to movie serials with Kirk Alyn and Superman and the Mole Men with George Reeves. That film was the basis for the TV show the Adventures of Superman. It was syndicated instead of being tied to a network. Production started in 1951 but it didn’t get aired until 1952. Most of the cast of Superman and the Mole Men returned to their roles. It aired until November of 1957 having produced 104 episodes. The show was produced mostly for children but in trying to capture the adults the first year the episodes came close to being film noir. Superman was rarely seen and most of the work of solving the crime was left to Superman in his Clark Kent identity with Lois, Jimmy and Inspector Henderson and sometimes Perry White. The first year was in black and white but eventually the series was filmed in color even though no one had color TV back then. It was a smart move as that has helped syndication for the series to continue even to this day. Jack Larson said that his manager told him that the producers wanted him to play the part of Jimmy in the TV show pilot. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to do it. His manager said he had seen the script. He said it wasn’t that good and they wanted to pay him $500 for the pilot. Mr. Larson was told the script wasn’t that good and would probably not air. If I were you I would take the money and run. Mr. Larson said that he did and the show ran for 5 years. The show was fun to watch and was so popular that George Reeves made a guest appearance on a network show, I Love Lucy, playing Superman. Not George Reeves. I think this is the only time that a character on a hit syndicated series played the same character on a hit network show.
The show was shot on a low budget. There was barely enough money for the special effects to make Superman fly. So I can understand why they didn’t have him fight supervillains with superpowers. He usually fought bank robbers and spies. Why didn’t he ever fight Lex Luthor? He didn’t have super powers. It couldn’t have been the inventions. They had inventions from Professor Pepperwinkle on the show that crooks were always trying to steal. They could have had Lex as the boss of the crooks trying to steal his inventions.
Phyllis Coates left the part of Lois Lane early on in the series and I have no idea what her reason was for that decision. I suspect that since the first episodes were filmed in 1951 and the 2nd season didn't air until 1953 she may have had another job and not been available for the role. Noel Neill took over the part in 1953. Perhaps I should say that she came back to the role. She played it in the serials with Kirk Alyn.
The series became shrouded in mystery near the end of the series run with the death of its star George Reeves. It is said that he committed suicide after a party in his home. However, over time other items have come out that make it look like it might have been murder. First is that his fiancé and some friends from the party were still in his house while he was upstairs getting ready for bed when he decided to kill himself. He decided to kill himself while there were friends in his home? That doesn’t sound right to me. He also was about to get married. He was signed to star for another year of the Adventures of Superman and direct some episodes. He was also under contract to direct a feature film. So his personal and professional lives were looking up. It doesn’t sound as if he was the perfect picture of someone who was suicidal. However, he was known to have just broken off a relationship with another woman since he was about to get married. She was the wife of a Hollywood executive who had mob connections. Maybe she or her husband knows what happened. We may never know the truth. I have heard that they are about to make a movie out of George Reeves life and mostly his death will be the focus of the film.
Here is a fan site for George Reeves and for the man who played Inspector Henderson on the series, Robert Shayne.