Mollie Lane

Around the World with Superman

Stands for Faith

By Gail McIntyre

Of the 104 episodes of the Superman series from the 1950’s, Around the World with Superman often ranks among the top ten favorites if not the all-time favorite with the fans. Why is this? What is it about this episode that engages us so much? What is this story really about?

Life is full of disappointments. Ann Carson is blind. The writer could have given her any kind of malady. She could have been crippled, struggling with childhood cancer, unable to hear, anything really. But the writer chooses for her to be blind. And while it is true that she is physically unable to see, it is her spiritual blindness that disables her the most.  Pursuant to the accident that causes the loss of her sight, her parents separate and she becomes the child of a single parent household, the daughter of a woman who is stressed out and overworked. Alone for a better part of the day, Ann has a lot of time on her hands and a lot of time to think. Thinking begets depression, then cynicism, and bitterness. Out of pity for her mother who could really use a break, she enters her mother in a contest for children so that she can win a trip around the world. Ann’s winning the contest sponsored by the Daily Planet marks a turning point in her tragic life although granted it is a bumpy road for this child “doubting Thomas.” Before she can heal physically, she first has to heal emotionally and for that to happen she first has to have faith in Superman.  

The most poignant scene in this episode takes place when Superman, comes to visit her and demonstrates to her his super strength by bending a fireplace poker. Ann remains unconvinced. Superman says to Ann, “Honey, you are going to have to believe in me if I am going to help you.” Ann replies, “The only people who believe in you are the ones who can see you.”  These words denote not just a lack of faith, but a tone of hopelessness and despair from a child who is so broken spirited that she has cast a blind eye to believing in anything. Ironically it is Superman’s keen sense of hearing that marks a breakthrough. She whispers something to test Superman’s super hearing. While the words are whispered, the statement is deafening as she says, “I want my daddy back home again.”  Here we learn that the only thing standing between Ann and her ability to see was for someone to hear that that her eyesight is meaningless to her unless she can see her father again. Superman’s ability to hear her affects a cure. Once her ability to believe is restored, the restoration of her sight becomes easy through an operation guided by Superman’s eyes.

And so little Ann Carson, was once blind, but can now see, in every way that a human being should be able to see. As viewers, we walk away from this episode with a renewed sense of vision. We learn from this tale that faith is not optional. Faith is as central to the human psyche as food, water or the air we breathe. With faith, all things are possible.  Faith, like protein and vitamins is a very important nutrient for the brain. If you are hungry for faith, this episode feeds you. For those who do not hunger, this episode reinforces a healthy diet in the belief of things that are not always obvious to the human eye. 

And so whenever I am feeling cynical, depressed or otherwise blindsided by the train wrecks of life, I think of little Ann Carson and Superman, and I think of Around the World with Superman as the faith episode.

 Superman and The Mole Men

Stands for Tolerance

By Gail McIntyre

I ride a bus into work every morning. There’s nothing unusual about that. What is remarkable is that the person sitting next to me is often not of the same race as myself. Sometimes I look at the faces of the bus riders and I am conscious of the fact that some of them are too young to recall a time when in certain parts of the United States, this scene would have been impossible. That was certainly the case in 1951 when Superman and the Mole Men was being shown in theatre houses. This movie would later be adapted for television in a 2-part episode from Season 1 known as The Unknown People. 

Two strange creatures emerge from the deepest oil well ever drilled. They venture forth from this deepest of labyrinths to explore the territory above them. Human like, with a head, two arms and two legs yet they are short, dressed in black, their heads somewhat balding and pointy and generally speaking they are pretty bizarre looking. Suffice to say they don’t fit in with the crowd. After several encounters with the town’s people, the men of the town are so enraged that they set out to kill these creatures whether it be by shooting them, lynching, or setting them on fire.

In one memorable encounter, the creatures enter the window of a little girl, played by Beverly Washburn who would go on to star in countless major motion pictures and television programs.

The little girl is not afraid. She is just curious and way too young and untaught to show any fear or hatred. She wants to make friends with them. While trying to playing catch with them, the ball starts to glow and realizes she has some very special friends in the her room until her the mother comes into the room who lets out a blood curdling scream which can be heard for miles around. 

One of the creatures is shot and Superman brings it to the local hospital to be operated on. The men, lead by Luke Benson, demand to be let into the hospital so they can finish the creature off. George Reeves as Superman is tough here and he has to be to handle this crowd. Phyllis Coates is almost as tough as George Reeves and justifiably so. Meanwhile the mob believes the other creature is dead having been burned alive in a shack. But it escapes and returns to the well shaft, only to return with another, just as enraged as the town’s men, carrying a weapon and this time dangerous where they had not been dangerous before.     

Superman realizes all they want is their wounded friend back.  He gently carries the creature out of hospital but not before the other two fire their weapon at Luke Benson, who most likely would have been a goner had superman not stepped in to save him. After superman helps them back into the shaft, the creatures set it on fire so they can never be reached again. And so the two worlds become segregated again.

What sets this episode apart from the rest of the 1950’s TV series are its political overtones. It speaks volumes about racism in America at the time and the lack of tolerance that was so prevalent. There is the reference to Nazi Storm Troopers, the lynching threats, the cruelty, the ignorance, and the general lack of understanding of people that are guilty of nothing other than being different. Superman teaches us tolerance and the virtue of treating everyone as we would want to be treated not only by saving the life of a Luke Benson even though he had every justification to let the creatures kill him, but also in the gentle way he communicates with the creatures and in his gentleness and reverence in the handling of their wounded comrade.   

Knowing how George Reeves felt about segregation as illustrated in Lou Koza’s article:

The June 1954 Memphis, Tennessee Appearance Standing against Segregation http://www.jimnolt.com/Memphis.htm 

This makes seeing him portray Superman here as more important than in any subsequent episode. For he is not only portraying a fictional science fiction fantasy character, he brings his own ideological beliefs into his interpretation--making this probably the most powerful of all his Superman performances. This episode more than any other offers a tremendous insight into George Reeves, his character and the kind of man he was. For all times he donned that crimson cape, this has to stand as one of his proudest moments.

At the end of this 2-part episode, the creatures set the shaft on fire and a big burst of flames goes up in the air, conjuring up images reminiscent of cross burnings. It is almost as if they are burning a cross on our lawn and sending out a warning. Although this episode stands as an all time favorite of mine from the 1950’s series, I find it difficult to watch today. Knowing that it first aired in the cinemas in 1951 casts a chilling foreboding. In only 4 years, Rosa Parks would refuse to give up her seat on a bus, which would herald the violent civil rights struggle that would mar the history of the United States in the decades to come. That is why a ride on the bus makes me think of George Reeves and Rosa Parks, and more importantly makes me refer to The Unknown People from the Adventures of Superman series as the tolerance episode.

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Superman’s Animal Planet

The Adventures of Superman was blessed with an impressive list of guest stars over its six season run including veteran performers such as John Eldridge, Sterling Holloway, Dabbs Greer, Elizabeth Patterson, and Leonard Moody to name just a few. But there is a very special collection of guest stars for which you will not find an entry in IMDB.  Nonetheless they’re guest appearances did just as much to give this series the endearing quality we remembered as children and continue to remember today. Join me in remembering these four legged, fluffy, scruffy, and feathered actors who, like the ensemble cast, were not paid with much more than table scraps, seeds, carrots, and literally peanuts!!

Who could forget that spine chilling cry, “Help! Help! I’m Drowning!”

This mantra has become synonymous with the episode known as The Haunted Lighthouse from Season One where Jimmy goes to an island off the coast of Maine to visit his aunt Luisa. His visit turns out to be far from a vacation. Superman has to come and rescue him from certain death and determine that his Aunt Luisa is actually an imposter who is connected to a smuggling operation.  But what many of us remember is how Jimmy’s eyes would nearly pop out of his head every time he would hear this infamous cry. Didn’t we all breathe a collective sigh of relief as children in the end when we find out that the cry for help is actually coming from a parrot named Peter! Despite the happy ending, the episode leaves another mystery behind. Who??? Is the voice of Peter?? I personally believe that the voice of Peter is actually George Reeves as he also does the voice over work for the opening narrative. On the other hand, it would be really hilarious if it were actually the voice of Jack Larson crying that he is drowning in as much as he comes close to drowning in this episode anyway.

A cute little monkey in a Superman outfit and an organ grinder entertain children on the street and the monkey offers everyone a fortune.

Sounds like fun even to Lois Lane who takes a fortune from the monkey only to find that it is a tip that the daughter of a famous scientist who is carrying a secret formula will be coming to the United States. In The Monkey Mystery, Lois manages to find the girl but gets caught in an assault by men determined to get this formula for their own ill use. This episode is very strong in its adult content by 1950’s standards. The scientist is tortured. The daughter and Lois Lane are assaulted. The organ grinder is stabbed to death and Olsen take left jab that knocks him unconscious. Using Pepe as bait, Superman captures the bad guys and rescues Jimmy in the knick of time. Sometimes even Superman needs a super assistant. Pepe was the best helper the man of steel could have ever asked for! 

The episode Ghost Wolf is notorious as being the episode where George Reeves, suspended on wires, takes a fall when one of the wires breaks. This episode inspired the development of the “flying pan” apparatus that was used in subsequent episodes until the series finale. The story centers around a mystery where the employees of the company that supply the Daily Planet with the wood to make its’ paper resign on reports that a ware wolf is stalking the area! The planet crew of George, Lois and Jimmy go out there to investigate. The ware wolf scares Lois nearly to death when he crawls into her room, but the fact is he is only a sweet German shepherd whose owner is deceived into believing the company manager stole the company’s assets from her father. Superman saves the much-maligned canine from being shot to death by Jacques Loliver.

 Superman also saves the crew from a deadly forest fire that was started by the same perpetrator.  What a relief to find out in the end that the Ghost Wolf was actually sort of a Rin-Tin-Tin in disguise!

In The Dog Who Knew Superman, Superman saves a dog that by happenstance is owned by the head of a crime syndicate. Once again, the knowledge of Clark Kent’s true identity hangs in the balance. The dog escapes again only to visit Clark at his office and steals the mate of a glove Superman leaves behind where the dog had been saved. Surmising the two gloves must belong to Superman, Hank (Ben Welden) offers a reward to get his dog back and get the dog to help him track Superman down to make a deal with him. What he doesn’t bet on is that the dog is on Superman’s side and warns Clark by barking in time for Clark to avoid getting caught! This episode, more than any in the series captures Superman’s sense of isolation. While we learn as the series goes on that he cannot be with the girl of his dreams, here we see that he cannot share his love with a pet either.  This episode is one of the moments that could only be brought to life by the magic of George Reeves. When Lois says, “You look like you’ve lost your best friend” his face is the picture loneliness and melancholy. Therein lies the reason why being the man of steel is not easy. 

In The Whistling Bird, Uncle Oscar is at it again. Retired now for a few years, he decides to invent something innocuous as a tasty glue to make the licking of postage stamps a little less taxing on the tongue.

The formula is only partially written down with a portion that is stored in the memory banks of Uncle Oscar’s trusted assistant, a parot named Skyler. But when Clark’s “taste test” reveals that Uncle Oscar has invented a powerful explosive, a group of foreign agents set out to get the formula for their own dubious motives. Skyler is kidnapped and Uncle Oscar, Nancy and Jimmy held against their will.  Superman frees them and captures the crooks with a little tip from Skyler as to their whereabouts. We have an interesting episode here in that Superman has to drink a beaker of the formula to save his friends. Now here is a guy who thinks nothing of crashing through walls but knocks back Uncle Oscar’s version of a Long Island Ice Tea and feels the need to reach for an Alka Seltzer! Also as in The Haunted Lighthouse, we can’t help but wonder who is the voice of Skyler?? While it is possible that it is George Reeves (appropriately whistling at Lois in the end!), it is conceivable that it could also be Sterling Holloway who went on to delight children for decades to come as the voice of Winnie the Pooh.

In Flight to the North we are introduced to a sweet mule named Lilly Bell. Two crooks make a bet with each other to determine who makes a better lemon meringue pie. Meanwhile, a country boy named Superman (Chuck Connors) along with Lilly Bell decide at the same time to make a visit to Metropolis. Louie Lyman (Ben Weldon) is determined to get the lemon meringue pie from his former friend Margie Holloway who contracts Superman (or who she believes is Superman) to fly her pie to Alaska for her fiancé. Lyman follows Mr. Superman and Lilly Bell to Alaska in pursuit of the pie and in turn is followed by the real man of steel. This parade of characters visiting an isolated air force man stationed in Alaska is enough to convince him he needs to be isolated!   All in all this is a lighthearted episode centering on the virtues of being neighborly. It is also clear in this episode that George Reeves does not share the same feeling about animals W.C. Fields had. George clearly had no trouble having a mule steal the spotlight for a moment!

Joey is the story of a horse that has racing in his blood. He has to be sold to raise money to save the farm that Alice lives on with her grandfather. When Perry White agrees to buy Joey so he can race for charity, Alice reluctantly gives him up so he can raise money to help children.  But nobody felt it was important to consult Joey. Appearing to become ill, turns out he misses Alice so much that he can’t even stand. Joey is one of three episodes in the entire series where Superman flies a little girl in the air. With Alice by his side Joey recovers but fails to win the race and comes in second! Luckily Superman tips off the officials that the winning horse was prodded with electric shocks that result in the winner’s disqualification. The money the Planet wins is enough to cover Joey’s purchase with money to spare to go to the Planet’s charity. It is said that until you love an animal, something is asleep in your soul. The love we see here between Alice and Joey is enough to awaken that special something in all who see them together.

It’s almost impossible to look at a baby elephant and not smile. Reminiscent of Disney’s Dumbo, Suzy is stolen from the circus. The daily planet was hoping to have Suzy appear at a picnic for under privileged children. The Stolen

Elephant is hidden away by the crooks in what they think is a deserted barn. Lucky for Suzy, she is discovered by Johnny Wilson and his mother who recently bought the farm and moved in. Disappointed to find she is not a birthday present when he reads of her abduction in the paper, Johnny calls Clark Kent who summons Superman to the rescue. The lucky break to finding her lies in the fact that the crooks show the boy what they say is the elephant’s identification number but in reality is their car’s auto registration number. A combination of the crooks stupidity and the boy’s terrific memory make it easy for Superman to return sweet Suzy to the circus safe and sound and allow her to make an appearance at the picnic.

Imagine a donkey that can read minds? Well, that exactly what George, Jimmy and Lois discover on a trip to Mexico where they meet Carmelita in The Brainy Burro. As always happens in the series, the knowledge of this animal’s unique talent falls into the wrong hands. Carmelita and her owner Pepe are forced to rob a bank and the daily planet crew ends up in jail as part of a frame-up. But Superman, in a scene that fosters images of Dr. Dolittle, talks to the brainy burro to get the exact location of the crooks. In the end, Clark tries to strike a deal with Carmelita to keep his identity a secret. While we are often charmed by George Reeves giving us a little wink of the eye at the end of an episode, this time it is Carmelita’s turn to wink at us, suggesting that Clark cannot trust his newly found 4-legged friend with the secret of his true identity!

So here you have them. Nine of the hardest working guest stars to grace the Adventures of Superman series. In as much as these non-human thespians had neither a SAG card or got paid so much as union scale, I thought it appropriate that they receive an honor place here at Mollie Lane. I hope you all put your paws together and join me in giving them all a big round of applause!

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BEHIND THE CRIMSON CAPE:

THE CINEMA OF GEORGE REEVES

After the rumors, the gossip, the innuendos and theories surrounding the death of one of the most celebrated television icons, spawns a breath of fresh air. Crimson Cape, the definitive encyclopedia of the cinematic work of George Reeves, infinitely expands his one-dimensional “man of steel” image.  Every film is described in exquisite and finely researched detail, leaving the reader without a doubt that George Reeves had the potential to become one of the most significant actors of 20th century American media. The book is incredibly illustrated, with dozens of rare and dramatic photographs taken from virtually every film, along with studio shots and even still shots from films made by other cast members from The Adventures of Superman. More importantly, it takes Reeves’ tragic death and puts it in perspective; as an afterthought rather the focal piece of discussion of this “diamond in the rough” actor/director, whose treasured performances had been long looking for a place to hang their hat.  Speaking of hats, my hat’s off to Jan Alan Henderson and Steve Randisi for putting together this diamond of an anthology.