superman - Arachnid Press

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(opposite page)
Detail from Superman
(Columbia, 1948)
Three Sheet (41˝ X 81˝)
CHAPTER T WO
SUPERMAN:
THE MAN OF STEEL
T
he year is 1938. The place is Cleveland, Ohio. Two young men,
Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, sons of Jewish immigrants, have just
transformed the American cultural landscape with their latest creation, a man who can:
“…leap one-eighth of a mile… hurdle a twenty-story building… raise tremendous weights… run faster than an express train… and… nothing less than a
bursting shell could penetrate his skin!”
Sound familiar? It should. This was the original concept for a strange visitor
from another planet who came to earth with powers and abilities far beyond
those of mortal men.
By now, everyone knows his origin. When it became apparent that the planet
Krypton was doomed to die a fiery death, its leading scientist, Jor-El, rocketed
his infant son to earth where he became a “champion of the oppressed, the
physical marvel who had sworn to devote his existence to helping those in
need.”
Action Comics #1 (DC Comics, 1938)
The origin and first appearance
of Superman.
In a word, Superman.
In retrospect, getting The Man of Steel before the public wasn’t as easy as it
should have been. The idea for an all-powerful Übermensch1 was born in a fanzine2 produced by Siegel and Shuster in 1933. The Reign of the Superman, published in four chapters, was the story of a super-villain intent on conquering
the world. A year later, the pair would rework the concept in heroic terms and
turn it into a newspaper strip. Armed with what would eventually be one of
the most popular and influential characters of the twentieth century, the team
began approaching newspaper syndicates, hoping for a shot at publication.
1
2
Literally, “overman” in German. The term is also commonly translated as “superman.”
A fanzine, or zine, is an amateur-publication consisting of artwork and articles contributed by fans
– hence the term – of a particular genre. Originally conceived and created in the early 1930s by fans of
the emerging science fiction genre, and continuing well through the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, many successful artists and writers got their start in these small publications, originally reproduced on mimeograph machines and distributed to a membership of like-minded fans who contributed either content
or cash to the publication. The fanzine is alive and well today, although the Internet, particularly online
blogs, have largely taken the place of the old mimeo machine.
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Superman #1 (DC Comics, 1939)
Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster – “Reign of the Superman”
Science Fiction Fanzine V1#3 (1933)
And nothing happened.
Superman proved so popular that he received his own
syndicated comic strip in January 1939. Originally
drawn by co-creator Joe Shuster, the artistic chores
were quickly turned over to members of Shuster’s studio, including Jack Burnley, Al Plastino, Curt Swan,
and Wayne Boring. Incredibly popular, the strip had a
long run, appearing daily and Sunday until 1967.
It took several years, and more rejections than either
creator cared to remember, until they finally sold the
strip to Jack Liebowitz at DC Comics for what was,
even at the time, a paltry sum. DC was already publishing strips by Siegel and Shuster, such as Slam Bradley
and Dr. Occult, but in 1938 Liebowitz was looking for
material to fill a new anthology book, Action Comics.
With nothing else to lose, Siegel and Shuster brought
Superman out of mothballs and presented it.
On Monday, February 12, 1940, Superman flew into
the homes of a new audience with the debut of his radio show. With a strong cast of voice actors, including Clayton “Bud” Collyer as Clark Kent/Superman,
the radio show introduced many characters and concepts that eventually found their way onto the pages
of the comic book, including Daily Planet editor Perry
White, cub reporter Jimmy Olsen, Police Inspector Bill
Henderson, green kryptonite, and the first team-ups
between Superman and the Dynamic Duo, Batman
and Robin.
Liebowitz obviously liked the strip well enough to feature it on the cover of the first issue. For the first year
or so, such second stringers as Zatanna the Magician
and Tex Thompson shared cover honors, but it quickly
became apparent who the star was in the DC firmament. “Supes,” as he was oftimes affectionately called,
took over the covers for good with issue #19.
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But it was on the Silver Screen that Superman cemented his
fame and fortune, initially in the wonderful cartoons produced by the Fleischer (later Famous) Studios. Utilizing
many of the same voice actors who had inaugurated the roles
on radio, these cartoons were some of the most lavishly produced of their day. The first of the series, titled Superman
(or, alternately, The Mad Scientist), released on September
26, 1941, cost $50,000 to produce. Later episodes were budgeted at $30,000 (by contrast, a typical Disney cartoon from
the same period generally had a budget of approximately
$25,000).
These landmark episodes were extremely well received, and
are still revered by animation aficionados to this day. In fact,
the initial release was actually nominated for an Academy
Award in 1941 under the category Best Short Subject
(Cartoon).
Superman Cartoon Stock
(Paramount, 1941) One Sheet (27” X 41”)
Superman Cartoon (Paramount, 1941) Pressbook
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Superman (Columbia, 1948)
One Sheet (27˝ X 41˝)
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Superman (Columbia, 1948) Pressbook
hidden wire, but the producers of Superman wanted
something more. They experimented with suspending
Alyn from a wire harness and filming him in front of
a screen showing images of moving clouds, but the results were less than effective. After seeing the footage,
producer Sam Katzman decided to simply animate
the flying sequences (the animation was provided by
Fleischer), so audiences saw Kirk Alyn leap into the
air, turn into a cartoon, fly around a bit, land behind
a bush (or some other convenient piece of concealing
scenery), and step out, revealed as Superman in the
flesh, fresh from his flight. Although the transition
from live-action to animation and back is glaringly
obvious, the effect somehow still works, and perfectly
captures the spirit of both the character and the source
material. Obviously pleased with the results, Katzman
would later use the same technique to bring the flying
saucers to life in Bruce Gentry (1949).
It was in 1948 that Superman, in the flesh, first appeared on movie screens around the country in
the eponymously-titled Superman from Columbia
Pictures Corporation. Starring Kirk Alyn as the Man
of Steel and Noel Neill as Lois Lane, this 15-parter became the most popular serial of all time. Based on the
blockbuster radio show rather than the comic books,
this chapter play told the story of Superman’s origins
on the doomed planet Krypton and featured an epic
battle against the villainous Spider Lady and her powerful disintegrator ray gun.
Most of the Man of Steel’s super-feats were fairly easy to
bring to the screen, but what would Superman be without the power of flight? The problem Columbia faced
was not only making the audience believe a man could
fly in those days before the advent of CGI, but doing
it on a budget. Certainly, Republic had conquered this
problem in The Adventures of Captain Marvel in 1941
by filming a life-sized dummy sliding down a well53
Kellogg’s Superman Crusader Ring
(Kellogg’s, circa 1940)
Superman (Columbia, 1948) Three Sheet (41˝ X 81˝)
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Superman (Columbia, 1948)
promotional photo autographed
by Kirk Alyn and Noel Neill
Superman was a major success, and Alyn’s place as the
King of the Serials seemed solid, although he went
on to appear in such forgettable Republic vehicles as
Federal Agents vs. Underworld, Inc. (1949) and Radar
Patrol vs. Sky King (1950). It didn’t take much for
Columbia to realize that the public wanted more of
the Man of Steel, so in 1950, Atom Man vs. Superman
debuted.
KIRK ALYN (October 8, 1910 – March 14, 1999) was
born John Feggo Jr., in Oxford, New Jersey. His father
harbored hopes that his son would become a carpenter, but the young man had other ideas. After graduating from Columbia University and changing his
name to the more marketable Kirk Alyn, he began his
career in the chorus on Broadway and as a vaudeville
entertainer. Alyn soon made the move to Hollywood
where he began appearing in motion pictures in 1930
in an uncredited role in Fast and Loose. His first credit
was as Kirk Allen in 1937’s Rooftop Frolics, but steady
work still eluded him. It would be five years until his
next screen appearance, another uncredited role in My
Sister Eileen (1942). The rest of the 1940s were more
successful (although many of his parts were still played
without credit), with roles in such pictures as You Were
Never Lovelier (1942), Action in the North Atlantic
(1943), Broadway Rhythm (1944), and Goodnight,
Sweetheart (1944).
After Atom Man vs. Superman, Alyn had his last great
role, as comic’s premiere aviator, Blackhawk (1952),
one of Columbia’s last major serials. Whether he found
himself typecast, or whether he was just tired of acting,
Alyn’s roles were few and far between in the years following his serial days. He performed a few minor roles
here and there throughout the 1960s, and appeared as
Lois Lane’s father in a cameo role in 1978’s big budget
Superman: The Movie, but mostly he was retired.
SERIALS:
tDaughter of Don Q, Republic, 1946
tSuperman, Columbia, 1948
tFederal Agents vs. Underworld, Inc., Republic, 1949
tAtom Man vs. Superman, Columbia, 1950
tRadar Patrol vs. Spy King, Republic, 1950
tBlackhawk, Columbia, 1952
In 1946, fame finally found Alyn, with the lead role in
the 12-chapter Republic serial The Daughter of Don
Q. Not one of the classics of the genre, it nonetheless opened doors for Alyn at the leading serial studio of the day, which led to his casting in Columbia’s
Superman (1948).1
1
Rumor has it the casting process was rather bizarre. According to legend, Alyn showed up at the audition with long hair and a beard he had cultivated for
a Western he was currently filming. To see what he looked like clean-shaven, the producers requested stills of the actor. After passing that test, Alyn was
asked to remove his shirt so his physique could be judged. Satisfied that Alyn’s torso was in reasonable shape, the actor was asked to remove his pants so the
producers could make sure his legs, which would be clad in tights as Superman, were muscular enough. Eventually, of course, he won the role.
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Atom Man vs. Superman (1950) guest-stars the wonderful Lyle Talbot as Lex Luthor (and as Atom Man,
for whom Talbot adopts a pronounced Russian accent, a provocative choice in those early Cold War
days), and proved a tour-de-force for Columbia. The
flying effects were much improved here, with actual
close-ups of Superman in flight to supplement the animated sequences. In this 15-chapter epic, Lex Luthor
discovers the mysterious Phantom Zone (although it’s
called the Empty Doom, we all know what it really is)
and Lois Lane, again brought to life by the lovely Noel
Neill, briefly works as a reporter for Lex’s TV station.
Luthor’s plot was to blackmail the city of Metropolis
by designing various deadly death devices, all of which
were, of course, foiled by Superman. Without a doubt,
Lyle Talbot, who also had major roles in such cult
classics as Untamed Women (1952), Glen or Glenda
(1953), and Jail Bait (1954), and who also played
Commissioner Gordon in 1949’s The New Adventures
of Batman and Robin, portrays the finest Lex Luthor
ever brought to the screen, with a blend of restrained
menace and suave charm that captures the character
perfectly. Later directors of Superman films could
learn a lot from watching this classic.
Since then, Superman has been a mainstay on television,
with a number of live-action and cartoon series, as well
as several big-budget motion pictures, chronicling his
adventures. Not bad for a character that everyone once
rejected.
Atom Man vs. Superman (Columbia, 1950)
Pressbook
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Atom Man vs. Superman (Columbia, 1950)
One Sheet (27˝ X 41˝)
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C O L L E C T I N G S U P E R M A N S E R I A L PA P E R
The movie posters for Superman’s screen adventures are some of the most
collectible in the vintage poster hobby. For the first of his screen appearances in the Fleisher Studio’s cartoon series, Paramount released a stock
one sheet in which the theater owner could write or paste in each new
cartoon title as it was released. The most rare and valuable of these posters,
the cartoon stock one sheet, is seldom found in very good condition as it
was used week after week for an on-going series of cartoons.
For Superman (1948), as always,
Columbia produced a stock color
one sheet and replaced the inset photos for each chapter. A nice condition copy with a good inset (“good,”
of course, means one that features
Superman himself) is particularly
desirable. The other formats produced for this title, such as the three
sheet and six sheet, were stock images in larger scale and are rarer than
the one sheets.
For Atom Man vs. Superman (1950),
Columbia once again produced a
wonderful array of promotional
papers. The one sheet was again a
full-color stock with changing inset
photos. As is commonly true, the
three and six sheets for this title are
far rarer than the one sheet.
Additionally, lobby card sets of four
were produced for all chapters of
both Superman (1948) and Atom
Man vs. Superman (1950). Printed
in a two-color process called duotone, the cards that actually feature
Superman in costume are particularly desirable.
Superman (Columbia, 1948) ???
One Sheet (27” X 41”)
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Superman (Columbia, 1948) Six Sheet (81” X 81”)
Superman (Columbia, 1948)
Lobby Card (11˝ X 14˝)
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Atom Man vs. Superman (Columbia, 1950) Six Sheet (81˝ X 81˝)
Superman (Columbia, 1948)
German Herald (7” X 10.5”)
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Atom Man vs. Superman
(Columbia, 1950)
Lobby Cards (11˝ X 14˝)
Atom Man vs. Superman (Columbia, 1950) One Sheet (27˝ X 41˝)
Superman (Columbia, 1948)
Argentinean Poster (29” X 43”)
Atom Man vs. Superman (Columbia, 1950)
One Sheet (27˝ X 41˝)
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Superman Cartoon Stock (Paramount, 1940s)
Swedish One Sheet (27˝ X 37.5˝)