Adventures of Superman Trivia/Quotes/Goofs/Games/etc. - Online Community

Adventures of Superman

- Trivia Facts

The announcer who read, "Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound" was Bill Kennedy (I) who appeared in the episode "Crime Wave."
When the series was filmed in black and white during its first two seasons, George Reeves (I) wore a brown for red, gray for blue and white for yellow costume. When the show began filming in color in 1954, he switched to the trademark red and blue suit.
Because of a limited budget, all episodes were filmed out of sequence, with all scenes in Perry White's office, for example, being done at once. This explains why the actors always seemed to wear the same clothes in every episode.
George Reeves (I) was suspended by cables when he appeared to be flying during the first two seasons. In subsequent seasons he was positioned on a molded platform contoured to fit his body, and wore his costume over it.Exterior landing scenes were accomplished by having Reeves jump off of a ladder.When he came through the window, Reeves would jump and swing in from a bar stationed outside the window
Initially, the cast regulars were paid $200 per episode. They had to beg the producer to give them a $50 raise, which they got, but the producer didn't speak to any of them for two weeks afterwards.
The first 26 episodes were filmed in 1951, but did not appear on television until 1952, when Kellogg's Cereals agreed to sponsor the show.
An additional season of episodes was to have been filmed beginning in mid-summer 1959, with George Reeves (I) returning as Superman. The revival was cancelled after Reeves' death that June.
In episode #1.1 "Superman on Earth" a number of the costumes worn in the Krypton sequences were cannibalized from ones used in 1940s serials which were comic strip and comic book adaptations. The costume that Jor-El, Superman's father is the same one that Buster Crabbe wore in the serial Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940). Other Kryptonians wore parts of the costumes of Captain Marvel (from Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941)) and Captain America (from Captain America (1944)) among others.
It is now common knowledge that Clark Kent's Earth parents were named Jonathan and Martha. However, in the first episode, "Superman on Earth", Kent's parents were named Eben and Sarah. This is because the comics themselves were inconsistent with the Kents' given names until the characters became major players in "Superboy" comics stories at about this same time. The names Sarah and Eben were first used in the novel The Adventures of Superman (1942) and in the first Superman serial.
Phyllis Coates played the role of Lois Lane in the first season. When Coates left the series, she was replaced by Noel Neill who had already played the role in the earlier movie serials.
A different shot of a train was used intermittently on a few of the first episodes in the first season for the opening credits over the famous "more powerful than a locomotive" line.
In the early episodes, George Reeves (I) wore glasses without lenses in them when he played Clark Kent. As he got older Reeves eventually needed a real prescription for eyeglasses, so he began wearing his own glasses, as can be seen in many later episodes when you can see the stage lights being reflected off the lenses.
The first seasons were created by a team experienced in the production of B movies and serials. The producers and their production team simply treated each episode as if were a mini (25 minute) B movie.
The producers never expected the audience to be able to see more than one episode per week. That is why some actors, such as Tristram Coffin, appeared is successive episodes playing different characters.
When the series was picked up by Kellogg's, the breakfast cereal manufacturer, some of the cast members were able to make extra money by appearing in Kellogg's commercials. This did not include Phyllis Coates or Noel Neill. It was felt that Lois Lane having breakfast with Clark Kent was too suggestive.
A running gag on the show was to have a thug fire his gun at Superman until it was out of bullets. Superman, being bulletproof wouldn't move and let the bullets bounce off of him. When the villain realized his gun was empty he would throw his gun at Superman and Superman would then duck after having bullets fired at him.
The Superman costume was padded to make it appear that George Reeves (I) had greater bulk. However, Reeves himself did most of the stunts, which required impressive athletic ability including jumping from substantial heights (to simulate Superman landing in the frame), hitting a springboard with sufficient force to propel him out of frame (to simulate Superman taking off in flight), swinging through windows, and hours spent doing wire work and being in a body support platform to create the scenes of Superman flying.
In the early seasons, wire work was used to create some of the flying scenes. During the course of this work there had been some minor mishaps, but on one occasion the support wires snapped, causing George Reeves (I) to be dropped to the floor. Reeves refused to do anymore wire work. This is why episodes in the early seasons would show Superman taking off in flight within the frame. But, in later seasons, he would run toward the camera, hit a springboard hidden below frame and leap out of frame.
The train seen in the opening sequence for the first 2 seasons is a streamline steam locomotive. Starting with the 3rd season which were filmed in color, a modern diesel locomotive was seen instead.
In the first season, when Phyllis Coates played Lois Lane, she got star billing along with George Reeves (I). When Noel Neill took over the role in the second season, her character was reduced to featured billing.
Throughout the entire run of the series, one building is seen as the Daily Planet Building. It is really Los Angeles City Hall. The rest of the buildings that stand in for "Metropolis" were back lot facades at the old RKO Forty Acres lot in Culver City, which earlier had been Atlanta for Gone with the Wind (1939), and would later serve as Mayberry for 'The Andy Griffith Show (1961)'.
Bill Kennedy (I) received $350 dollars for performing the opening narration used in all 'Adventures of Superman (1952)' episodes, but did not receive any residuals for his work.
The 'Adventures of Superman (1952)' was honored on its 50th Anniversary when the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors proclaimed July 10-16, 2001 as "Superman Week." A proclamation was presented to Paul Levitz of DC Comics in a ceremony that was also attended by Jack Larson (I), Noel Neill, Mrs. Robert Shayne, Mrs. Jerome Siegel, Robert Rockwell, Jeff Corey (I) and Walter Walbrecht, vice president of Warner Brothers. Season 3, Number 4 was named "Superman Week" honoring the Man of Steel and was first broadcast on 14 May 1955.
The costumes worn in the planet Krypton sequences were cannibalized from ones used in 1940s serials which were comic strip and comic book adaptations. The costume that Jor-El, Superman's father is the same one that Buster Crabbe wore in the serial Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940). Other Kryptonians wore parts of the costumes of Captain Marvel (from Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941)) and Captain America (from Captain America (1944)) among others.
It is now common knowledge that Clark Kent's Earth parents were named Jonathan and Martha, but Kent's parents here were named Eben and Sarah. This is because the comics themselves were inconsistent with the Kents' given names until the characters became major players in "Superboy" comics stories at about this same time. The names Sarah and Eben were first used in the novel The Adventures of Superman (1942) and in the first Superman serial.
Although her name is listed in the credits, actress Maudie Prickett does not actually appear in this episode, and neither do Phyllis Coates nor John Hamilton (I).
This is the only episode in the series that George Reeves (I) narrates.
The plot is based on Sherlock Holmes's "Adventure of the Six Napoleons" by Arthur Conan Doyle.
Ashdown's character, Kathy Williams, is the first person to fly with Superman and in close-up on television. In production order, other flying scenes previous to this episode, on Season One, "Superman on Earth" and "The Human Bomb", used dummies in place of actors to rescue a falling person.
This is the only episode in which the only regular character to appear is Clark Kent/Superman (George Reeves (I)). There's no sign of Lois Lane (Phyllis Coates and Noel Neill), Jimmy Olsen (Jack Larson (I)), Perry White (John Hamilton (I)), or Insp. Bill Henderson (Robert Shayne (I)) appearing in this episode at all.

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