Things You Didn’t Know About The Adventures Of Superman

The First Costume Was Brown, Gray, & White

When you think of Superman, one of the first things that come to mind is his iconic costume, a blue suit with a red "S" emblazoned on the front and a matching red cape. But when the show was first filmed in black and white, the costume was anything but blue and red.

In fact, Reeves wore a brown, gray and white ensemble so producers could get the proper tones while filming the monochromatic episodes. This was common practice during those days. In the show Car 54, the police cars used on set were actually red in order to stand out on film.

Season One's Metropolis Was Actually Mayberry

The town of Mayberry was a fictitious place that was the setting for the television sitcoms The Andy Griffith Show and Mayberry R.F.D. Well, during the first season, The Adventures of Superman was filmed at RKO-Pathe Studios (which would later turn into Desilu's studio) and on the RKO Pictures "Forty Acres" backlot.

The back lot was used to portray the downtown area of Mayberry as well as Metropolis. It's interesting to think that the tiny North Carolina town could also be used to portray Metropolis. But remember, the show was initially shot on a very low budget. That's one way to save money!

"Panic in the Sky" Had Bloopers Galore

Because The Adventures of Superman was shot on a budget, producers had to save money in various ways. In "Panic in the Sky," you can hear the residents of Metropolis stomping down the sidewalks on plywood instead of concrete. When Superman lands on the flying meteor, you can hear the sounds of birds chirping in the background.

And at one point in the episode, Superman showed himself to Jimmy, Lois, and Perry without wearing his signature glasses, which were the main component of his disguise. He also failed to carry a notebook, which was pretty standard for newspapermen in those days.

A Wind Machine Helped George Reeves Fly

To help Superman fly, producers set up a mechanical arm and a piece of plexiglass was placed on Reeves' chest and thighs. A group of 20 crew members manipulated the arm, while a video camera followed along on a hydraulic dolly. A wind machine and compressed air made it appear and sound like Superman was whooshing through the air, but in reality, the background was moving, not Superman.

Reeves would run and jump on a springboard, dive through a window, and land on wrestling mats. The arm would move him through the air, and then he was filmed landing feet first on the ground.

Kids Hurt Themselves Trying to Fly Like Superman

In the 1950s, television show merchandising was huge. And Superman products were a big draw. One of the most popular tie-in items was Superman's cape. Unfortunately, some kids believed that if they tied on a cape they would be able to jump off objects and fly.

As a result, many kids sustained some injuries. Reeves begged to have the capes removed from the market, according to the book Superman: The High-flying History of America's Most Enduring Hero. He also starred in a public service announcement in 1955, telling kids, "No one, but no one can do the things Superman does. And that goes especially for flying!"

The Original Lois Left after Just One Season Due to the Proliferation of Alcohol on the Set

Phyllis Coates played Lois Lane in the first season. She had reportedly been offered an increase of five times her salary to stay on board, however, she decided to move on. Coates was worried about typecasting and had been offered to star in another TV series.

In addition, she didn't like all the drinking that occurred on set, particularly by her co-star Reeves. Coates' family had a history of alcoholism, and she feared if she stayed the drinking could have potentially had a "devastating effect" on her life. As of 2017, she is the only surviving cast member from The Adventures of Superman.

The Show Was Broadcast in Black & White Even Though Several Seasons Were Shot in Color

By 1954, the show was filmed in color, but due to high costs, the episodes were broadcast in black & white until the show's conclusion in 1958. In the 1960s, color TV became more prolific, and viewers finally saw Superman in his iconic red and blue costume.

When reruns of The Adventures of Superman aired in 1965, audiences watched Superman as he was meant to be seen in tight blue tights with a bright red cape. In later seasons, producers also focused on making characters such as Perry White and Inspector Henderson more relaxed, comfortable, and less uptight.

George Reeves Died at Age 45: Was It Suicide or Murder?

The circumstances surrounding George Reeves' death are a bit mysterious. On June 16, 1959, just one year after The Adventures of Superman filmed what would become its final season, he was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head in the bedroom of his home in Benedict Canyon. Authorities ruled his death a suicide, but many believed he had been murdered.

Reeves' fiancee Leonore Lemmon was suspected of killing him, but she blamed his death on depression caused by his "failed career" and his inability to find more work. She and several people were at Reeves' home for an impromptu party when he died at about 2 a.m.

Reeves' Ex-Mistress Was Accused of Killing Him

Reeves had an affair with Toni Mannix, who was married to MGM vice president and mobster Eddie Mannix. Reeves broke up with Toni to date New York socialite Leonore Lemmon. Toni was so upset that she harassed Reeves and Lemmon, which spurred the actor to file a restraining order against his ex. Some believe Toni or Eddie killed Reeves.

Toni died in 1983 after suffering from Alzheimer's Disease. Los Angeles publicist Edward Lozzi later claimed that Toni had confessed to a Catholic priest in his presence that Reeves did not kill himself but that she was responsible for his death.

The Show Was Set to Air for Two More Seasons

On Oct. 15, 1958, John Hamilton, who played newspaper editor Perry White, unexpectedly died of heart failure at his home at the age of 71. Producers had planned on continuing The Adventures of Superman for an additional two more years, starting in 1960.

However, Hamilton's death put a wrench in their plans. To combat the problem, they hired actor Pierre Watkin to replace Hamilton. He was picked to play Perry White's brother. Watkin had already played Perry White in two Columbia serials and had appeared on The Adventures of Superman as a guest star. But after Reeves died, the series' future was sealed.

Producers Wanted to Continue the Series Using a Reeves Look-Alike

After Reeves died in 1959 following an apparent suicide, producers toyed with the idea of continuing the series as Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen. They suggested it focus on Jack Larson continuing his character, playing opposite a "Superman" that would be cobbled together using stock video footage of George Reeves and a look-alike stunt double that could be filmed from the back.

Larson thought the idea was distasteful and rejected it. Today, producers sometimes use old footage or computer generated images to bring back actors from the dead (such as Rogue One: A Star Wars Story using original actor Peter Cushing, who died two decades earlier).

Jack Larson Struggled to Find Work Following Superman's Cancelation

Jack Larson originally didn't want to play the young newspaper reporter Jimmy Olsen in The Adventures of Superman because he feared the role would typecast him. However, he eventually took it on because his agent told him it would probably never be picked up and he would get a decent paycheck.

After the show was canceled, Larson struggled to find other acting roles, thus proving his original theory about being typecast. He eventually gave up acting and turned into a producer and playwright of The Candied House, Chuck, and The Astronaut’s Tale. He was also the first playwright to be awarded a grant by the Rockefeller Foundation.

Jack Larson Hid His Sexuality

While Jack Larson struggled with his acting career following the cancellation of The Adventures of Superman, during his stint in Hollywood he had a sexual awakening. He was gay when no one talked about it in Tinsel Town. Larson became involved with legendary actor Montgomery Cliff, whose relationships with men were not public knowledge during his career.

Larson also met his future longtime partner James Bridges, director of films such as The Paper Chase and The China Syndrome. In 1998, the Times said of Larson: “He realized, in retrospect, that some of his adolescent angst had been due to turmoil over his sexual orientation."

Noel Neill Appeared in Various Superman Incarnations

Noel Neill played Lois Lane in the 1948 film Superman and 1950 film Atom Man vs. Superman before joining The Adventures of Superman during its second season. She played the role for five seasons until the series was canceled in 1958. While her predecessor Phyllis Coates tried to distance herself from the role, Neill embraced it.

During the '70s she toured college campuses and talked about the show. She later appeared in various guest spots in the 1978 film Superman, the 1980s TV series Superboy, the 1990s television drama Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, and the 2006 film Superman Returns.

Noel Neill Had Three Failed Marriages

While Noel Neill was beloved by Superman fans, she had a difficult time managing her personal relationships. She wed makeup artist Harold Lierley in Hollywood, California, in 1943. However, their marriage was annulled a short time later. She wed her second husband, William Behrens in 1953 in Santa Monica, California.

The pair called it quits in 1962. After The Adventures of Superman was canceled, Neill became a homemaker before landing a job in the television department of United Artists. She met Joel Taylor, whom she married in 1964. But this relationship was also doomed. After seven years of marriage, they divorced.

Lois Was Banned from Appearing on Commercials with Clark Because It Was Too Suggestive

One of the reasons The Adventures of Superman was able to get on the air in 1952 was due to a sponsorship by Kellogs. When the show aired, characters appeared in commercials for the cereal giant alongside each episode. However, Superman himself did not appear in the commercials.

Neither did Lois Lane. She was in effect banned from the corn flake advertisements because the culture was very different during the '50s than it is today. Producers believed it would have been too sexually suggestive for Clark and Lois to be sharing breakfast together. Because if they shared breakfast, what else did they do together?

Robert Shayne Was Blacklisted Because of Communist Ties

Robert Shayne had a prolific career in Hollywood and acted for over 60 years before his death in 1992. He is likely most remembered for playing police inspector William "Bill" Henderson on The Adventures of Superman. During the earlier episodes, he appeared only sporadically because he was being investigated by the House Un-American Activities Committee, whose goal was to look into people and organizations suspected of having communist ties.

Shayne was briefly blacklisted on unspecific and unproven charges. When he was cleared, Shayne later appeared in more episodes of the show, particularly those filmed in color, and eventually became a regular on the series.

Superman And The Mole Men

Right before filmmakers began shooting on The Adventures of Superman, the first ever feature film featuring Superman (or any super hero for that matter) was released in 1951. The film was Superman and the Mole Men. The movie was directed by Lee Sholem and starred the same people that were seen in the television program, George Reeves as Superman and Phyllis Coates as Lois Lane. In the film, Clark Kent and Lois Lane travel to the town Silsby. Reporters are flocking to the area in order to watch the drilling of the world’s deepest oil well. Unfortunately for the townspeople the drilling disturbs humanoids that are living underground and end up crawling out terrifying the people of Silsby. Of course, Superman has to emerge to save the day.

Color Transition

While the show transitioned from black and white to color, along with many other shows of the same era one particular detail in the show was left to transition as well. Clark Kent and Louis Lane’s wife was named Perry White. Perry was played by veteran actor John Hamilton who was known for films like The Maltese Falcon which starred Humphrey Bogart and The Roaring Twenties starring James Cagney. In the Adventures of Superman, his character has an office with an industrial style painting in the background. While the show was in black and white, of course, so was the painting. However, when it switched into color, the painting remained in greyscale. However, one episode it suddenly switched into color. This can probably be explained by producers simply noticing that the scenes done in the office would “pop” more if they had color.

A Golden Voice

Each episode of Adventures of Superman began with a narrator proclaiming, “Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap buildings in a single bound!” The voice behind the iconic lines was none other than a veteran radio announcer named Bill Kennedy. Bill also happened to be an actor under contract with Warner Brothers Studios. One of his most well-known roles is in Joan of Arc where Joan is played by Ingrid Bergman. He is the character who sets poor Joan on fire! In addition to providing the iconic narration, he also appeared in several episodes. He played a racetrack announcer in several of them.

The Rifleman Connection

Actor and athlete Chuck Connors became famous for his stint in the hit Western television show Rifleman. However, before he landed that role he also appeared in Adventures of Superman. In the show he played Sylvester J. Superman. Despite his last name, he is not related to the superhero George Reeves version of the character. Instead, he is kind of a bumbling country guy who happens to respond to an ad asking for the services of “Superman”. He appears in the episode entitled "Flight to the North," and the entire appearance is basically a joke off of the Superman name. The character is quite a longshot from is future role in The Rifleman.

The Show Must Go On?

In 1959, George Reeves was found dead due to a gunshot wound to his head. At the time, there was some controversy over whether his death was actually a suicide or whether there were more sinister forces behind his untimely demise. Whatever the case may be, the producers of Adventures of Superman needed to figure out something fast due to the death of their man character. In what might seem fitting of the Hollywood stereotype, the producers of the show wanted to continue on without their main character. They pitched several ideas around including having co-star Jack Larson carry the show and simply use old stock footage, b-roll, and even look alikes of George Reeves. Thankfully, Jack was totally against the idea and the show did not end up continuing on in its original form.

Failed Superboy Spin-Off

After the show ended in a tragic and unexpected way, with the death of Superman actor George Reeves, producers still attempted to keep the Superman “universe” alive. Several years later in 1961, a pilot was run called the Adventures of Superboy. The idea was to attempt to recapture the magic that audiences loved about the original Superman. Superboy was being played by Johnny Rockwell and another character was introduced named Lana Lang who was played by actress Bunny Henning. The pilot just failed to be anything to write home about and it was never picked up, however the characters did live on in future years.

Forever Lois Lane

In 1978, Superman catapulted back on the silver screen with the Superman movie which starred Christopher Reeves. The film shot Christopher to stardom and made Superman a hit once again. The producers on the film decided to nod to the original series by casting one of the original stars of the television show in a cameo. Actress Noel Neill who played Lois Lane in the original showed up in the 1970s Superman. When the young version of Lois Lane is shown on the train (which Clark Kent is able to outrun), Noel plays her mother. Lois Lane’s father also has a Superman connection, played by Kirk Alyn who was the first ever onscreen Superman. Noel Neill appeared in Superman Returns thirty years later, only this time she switched to the dark side. She was cast as Lex Luthor’s wife. Wow!

Superman’s Parents?

Within the Superman lexicon, every fan knows that Clark Kent had parents on planet Earth and parents on his home planet. On Earth, Superman transformed into his alter-ego Clark Kent and his parents were named Jonathan and Martha. However, it seems as though this was not always the case. Well, according to Adventures of Superman, anyway. In the very first episode entitled “Superman on Earth” which was shot in 1952, Clark Kent’s parents are shown to be named Eben and Sarah. Apparently, within the comic book world of Superman, the characters did not yet have consistent names. The names Sarah and Eben were shown in the 1942 novel called “The Adventures of Superman and in the first Superman short film. However, the two characters were seen as minor until the Superboy comics some time later.

Superman Really Needed Glasses

For whatever reason, glasses were always portrayed at this time period as being “nerdy”, which is why Superman’s alter ego Clark Kent wore them. In order to show that he was nothing like the super strong and debonair Superman. During the beginning of the show when actor George Reeves was portraying Clark Kent, he actually sported glasses that had no lenses in them. Interestingly, George Reeves was the oldest actor to ever portray Superman on screen, as he started at age thirty-eight. As he aged, so did his eye sight and he ended up needing glasses for real. If you notice, in later episode George can be seen wearing real glasses which can be seen by the light reflecting off the lenses.

Interesting On Set Hijinks

Every film and television production is known for having their own secrets about how the were able to get it made and Adventures of Superman is no different. For instance, the actor John Hamilton who was cast as Perry White, apparently had a difficult time memorizing lines (which is a pretty interesting problem for an actor to have, to say the least). In order to get around this, he was often shown sitting at his desk which was conveniently covered in papers. Mixed among the set design was the script, so he could actually read lines and prompt himself to get through the scene. Another interesting on set detail, was the cast’s money situation. The regulars were apparently all paid $200 per episode, which seems like kind of a lot for the time period. However, they certainly didn’t think so and they allegedly begged the producer for a $50 raise. They were successful but the rumor goes that the producer refused to speak to all of them for two weeks.

Port Of Entry

As shown in the film Hollywoodland starring Ben Affleck, George Reeves was not happy with his acting career. And particularly being cast as Superman, he longed to have more serious, dramatic roles. After the third season of Adventures of Superman, he was ready to quit. He apparently, informed producers and they went to actor Kirk Alyn who had played Superman back in the film shorts of the 1940s. Kirk turned down the role. In the meantime, George attempted to produce his very own series that was called “Port of Entry”. The show was said to be an adventure series, however the financing apparently never panned out. Instead, he ended up returning to Adventures of Superman and also received a raise.

Interesting Costume Tidbits

One of the most famous aspects of Superman is the costume. However, it has changed greatly over the years and at times has even been recycled. In the first ever episode of the show entitled Superman on Earth, the costumes shown while on the planet Krypton were actually taken from the 1940s serials nearly a decade earlier. Jor-El, Superman’s father, wore a costume that was previously worn by the character Buster Crabbe in Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe. Other costumes shown in the episode were taken from Captain Marvel and Captain America, both from the 1940s. Another interesting note about characters appearances is that Jack Larson first sported thick curly hair in the early episodes. By the end of the show, however, he had a full-on crewcut.

Budget Drama

Money was actually pretty tight on the set of the Adventures of Superman. As previously noted, the actors had to beg for a fifty dollar raise, which the producer was not happy about! However, the budget issues also affected the way they filmed the show. All the episodes were actually filmed out of sequence in order to cut costs. Basically, each time a certain set or location was used, everything was filmed at once. For example, all the Perry White office scenes were shot at one time. This is easily seen if you watch the show back because the actors were always dressed in the exact same clothes in order to avoid any continuity errors.

The Last Surviving Cast Member

There were actually two Lois Lanes in the Adventures of Superman. The first was Phyliss Coates, who played the role in the first season. After she left, the role was replaced with actress Noel Neill. However, she was not new to the character. She had previously played the role in the early short films of Superman. Noel Neill later appeared in various incarnations of Superman over the years. She passed away in July of 2016 at the age of ninety-five years old. There is now only one cast member surviving from the original cast, the original Lois Lane – Phyllis Coates. Phyllis is now ninety years old.

Superman Does His Own Stunts

Superman having a costume that includes bulky muscles is nothing new, actually it originated back with George Reeves costume to make him look like he had some extra weight on him. The costume also probably helped pad any crash landings he might have had, as the guy did most of his own stunts on the show! He performed stunts like jumping from relativinly high heights, jumping off a springboard, and swinging through windows. Although, he did use a stunt man for some of his harder stunts, it was still pretty impressive to be able to carry out the stunts while being able to ensure hitting his mark to make the scenes look as realistic as possible.

Smile and Duck!

George Reeves developed some interesting mannerisms that really became a part of the Superman character. For instance, in the first season, whenever Superman is pursued by a bad guy and shot at without success, Superman smiles in return. Another instance is that George developed the habit of ducking whenever a bad guy threw a gun at him (which happened whenever a bad guy ran out of bullets for some reason). Many people think this was done because George didn’t want to be hit by the kind of heavy prop gun, but it was actually done by George’s stunt double Dale Van Sickle.

This Death Was Overshadowed By George Reeves

While it is very well known that George Reeves committed suicide before filming an additional season of Adventures of Superman, it is not often talked about that another actor died in the meantime as well. John Hamilton who played Perry White and died in October of 1958. George Reeves later committed suicide in June of 1959 at the age of forty-five. While producers had planned to continue on after John Hamilton’s death and replace him with Pierre Watkin for the seventh season of the show, no one could have expected that George Reeves would also have an untimely death. The series was subsequently cancelled after all the tragedy.

The Superman Curse?

Many actors who have played Superman or are otherwise connected have allegedly fallen victim to the rumored “Superman curse”. The curse is said to ensure that whichever actor plays the character will have some misfortune befall him. George Reeves is one of the most famous examples of this, as he died at a relatively young age. Although the circumstances of his death remain controversial with some believing that he was actually murdered. Another example often given is of actor Christopher Reeves. Christopher played Superman in the late 1970s and through the 1980s. He tragically had an accident while horseback riding which left him paralyzed. He died nine years later when he was only fifty-two years old from causes that were undoubtedly related to his accident. Do you believe in the Superman curse?

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