Radio Transcription Disc, “The Adventures of Superman, The Skin Game”
date: label: Date made
content: 1948-04-14
name: label: associated institution
content: Mutual Radio Network
label: associated person
content: Collyer, Bud
label: publisher
content: Soundcraft
label: maker
content: Soundcraft
notes: label: Description
content: 16" radio transcription disc for the April 14, 1948 episode of the radio program "The Adventures of Superman." Transcription discs are non-commercial phonograph recordings of radio programs sent to stations and intended for broadcast.
label: Description
content: The episode transcribed is the concluding chapter to the serialized story "The Skin Game," which aired from April 2 to April 14, 1948. In the story, two African American track stars are harassed, threatened and attacked by a white racist. With this and other storylines, such as 1946's "The Clan of the Fiery Cross," "The Adventures of Superman," was one of the few radio programs of the era to explicitly address the dangers of prejudice and discrimination.
label: Description
content: Starring the voice of future television game show host Bud Collyer as the titular hero for every season but its last, "The Adventures of Superman" ran on U.S. airwaves from 1940-1951. Over 2,000 episodes of the adventures of the "Man of Steel" were produced, most featuring actress Joan Alexander in the role of journalist Lois Lane. The show was the first to expand Superman's audience beyond comic books and is responsible for introducing characters and storylines that have become canonical elements of the character's mythos. Elements of the program, such as the phrase "It's a Bird/ It's a Plane/ It's Superman!" remain closely connected with the hero in today's popular imagination.
label: Description
content: The character of Superman first flew into action in 1938. The costumed superhero was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, two Jewish teenagers from Cleveland Ohio, who used, among other things, classical mythology and the era's popular science fiction and adventure writing for inspiration.
label: Description
content: With his debut in Action Comics #1, Superman became an instant sensation with audiences, inspired by the "Man of Tomorrow's" virtue and heroics at time when the Nation was slowly emerging from the economic catastrophe of the Great Depression and moving closer to World War.
label: Description
content: Born on the doomed planet Krypton, Superman was sent to Earth as a child, where our world's yellow sun granted him extraordinary powers such as flight, super-strength, near-invulnerability, as well as other extraordinary abilities including heat and X-Ray vision. As an adult living in the city of Metropolis, the alien, born Kal-El, protects his identity by assuming the persona of Clark Kent, a "mild-mannered" journalist.
label: Description
content: Fighting for "Truth and Justice" Superman birthed a cultural fascination with superheroes, and has become one of the most recognizable and influential fictional characters in history. In addition to comic books, the character has been explored in all forms of media, including radio, television, and film, and has been used to promote a variety of successful consumer products, educational initiatives and public service campaigns.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Superman
label: Subject
content: Comics
label: Subject
content: Radio
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Entertainment
label: See more items in
content: Sound Recordings
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: DC Comics, Incorporated
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1987.0213.003
label: accession number
content: 1987.0213
label: catalog number
content: 1987.0213.003
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Sound Recording
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: shellac (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 16 in; x 40.64 cm