Adventures of Superman

Adventures of Superman is an American television series based on comic book characters and concepts that Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created in 1938. The show was the first television series to feature Superman and began filming in 1951 in California on RKO-Pathé stages and the RKO Forty Acres back lot. Cereal manufacturer Kellogg's sponsored the show. The first and last airdates of the show, which was produced for first-run syndication rather than for a network, are disputed, but they are generally accepted as September 19, 1952, and April 28, 1958, respectively.[1] The show's first two seasons (episodes 1–52, 26 titles per season) were filmed in black and white; seasons three through six (episodes 53–104, 13 titles per season) were filmed in color but were originally telecast in black and white. *Adventures of Superman* was not shown in color until 1965, when the series was syndicated to local stations.

## Plot

The Man of Steel fights crime with help from his friends at the Daily Planet.

## Cast and Characters

### Main characters

* **Superman**, a being from the planet Krypton, is rocketed to Earth in his infancy. Sent by his parents, Jor-El and Lara from the dying planet, Krypton, he lands near Smallville on April 10, 1926. He grows to manhood under the adoptive parental care of Eben and Sarah Kent, who raised him and named him Clark. As an adult, he moves from Smallville to Metropolis after his father, Eben, dies, in 1951.[10] In Metropolis, he becomes a *Daily Planet* reporter under his human name of Clark Kent. Despite the show's introduction describing Kent as "mild-mannered" and colleagues constantly calling him "timid" and even "spineless", Clark Kent is mildly assertive and authoritative during situations when he is not Superman. He frequently takes charge in emergencies and is not afraid to take reasonable risks. He puts his superpowers to work battling crime in Metropolis and is often called upon to rescue his associates Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane. The Superman of the television series developed superpowers beyond his precursors in radio, cartoons, comics, and theatrical serials. On occasion, he separated his molecules to walk through walls, isolating a particular voice over multiple telephone lines long distance while flying, became invisible, and split in two while retaining his traditional powers of X-ray vision, microscopic vision, super-speed, super-hearing, super-breath, super-strength, flying, and a mastery of foreign languages.[11] Both Superman's Kryptonian parents, Jor-El and Lara, and his adoptive Earth parents, the Kents, appear only in the premiere episode, "Superman on Earth". George Reeves plays Superman/Clark Kent.
* **Lois Lane** is a reporter with the *Daily Planet* and Clark Kent's associate. She is a well-dressed, competent professional woman. She suspects Kent is Superman and awaits an opportunity to confirm her suspicions. Lane is stated as being 26 years old in the 1957 episode "The Tomb of Zaharan". She returns to her hometown in the season-one episode "The Deserted Village." Phyllis Coates plays Lois in the first season. For the remainder of the show's run, Noel Neill assumes the role. In the Neill episodes, Lois is infatuated with the Man of Steel and dreams of being united in marriage with him.
* **Jimmy Olsen** is a cub reporter and photographer with the *Daily Planet* and an associate of Kent and Lane. He serves as the show's comic relief.[12] Jimmy's mother makes an appearance in an early episode. Though boyish in his tastes and sense of humor, Jimmy occasionally displays mature astuteness, courage, and judgment. Jack Larson plays Olsen.
* **Perry White** is the blustering, impatient editor and publisher of the *Daily Planet*. He is sometimes a participant in the dangerous exploits of Lois and Jimmy as they pursue news stories. He treats crooks and thugs with disdain and lofty contempt—in one episode, he mentions that he was once a crime reporter. Perry's sister Kate appears in the first-season episode "Drums of Death"; he has a nephew, Chris, who appears in the second-season episode "Jet Ace." John Hamilton plays Perry White.
* **Inspector Henderson** of the Metropolis Police is a friend of the Daily Planet staff and often works in conjunction with them on crime investigations. Henderson has a teenage son named Ray who appears in one episode. Henderson was the creation of the radio series writers. Robert Shayne plays Inspector Henderson.

### Recurring characters

Phillips Tead as Professor Pepperwinkle.

* **Professor Pepperwinkle** is an elderly, absent-minded inventor whose gadgets cause Superman much trouble and concern in five episodes during the last three color seasons. Phillips Tead plays him.
* **Professor Oscar Quinn** is an eccentric inventor making two appearances in the second season. Sterling Holloway plays him. Holloway played a similar character, Professor Twiddle, in the third-season episode "Through the Time Barrier".
* **Miss Bacharach** is a nervous, easily excited, and easily fooled receptionist at the *Daily Planet* who appears in three first-season episodes and is mentioned in two others. Danny Sue Nolan (as Dani Nolan), Aline Towne, and Almira Sessions, listed here respectively, play her in her first, second, and third episodes.
* **Professor Lucerne** is an old friend of Superman's who advises him in matters scientific. Lucerne appeared in two consecutive episodes in the final season. Everett Glass plays him.

### Special appearances

* Claude Akins as Ace Miller, criminal in "Peril by Sea." Akins previously appeared with George Reeves two years earlier in the movie *From Here To Eternity*, and would later play Sheriff Lobo on the 1970s television series *B. J. and the Bear* and *The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo*.
* Mabel Albertson as Kate White, Perry White's sister, in "Drums of Death."
* John Banner played a butler to a wealthy individual. Banner later became famous as Sgt. Schultz on *Hogan's Heroes*.
* Hugh Beaumont as Dan Grayson, an ex-convict wanting to reform his life, in "The Big Squeeze". Beaumont is best known for his portrayal of Ward Cleaver on the series *Leave It to Beaver*, from 1957 to 1963.
* John Beradino as Dexter Brown, in "The Unlucky Number". Beradino would later become better known to soap opera fans as Dr. Steve Hardy on the long running soap General Hospital.
* James Brown as Jim Carson in "Around the World with Superman" (1954).
* Paul Burke as Ace, a criminal, in "My Friend Superman"; Matthew Tips in "Superman Week"; and Rosy in "The Phantom Ring." Burke later starred in the 1960s series *Naked City* and *Twelve O'Clock High*.
* Jimmy Dodd as Jake in "Double Trouble."
* Chuck Connors as Sylvester Superman in "Flight to the North"; his later *The Rifleman* supporting player Paul Fix had appeared in "Czar of the Underworld" and "Semi-Private Eye."
* Billy Gray as Alan, a teenager who snaps a photo of Superman that may reveal the superhero's earthly identity in "Shot in the Dark". Gray would become known as "Bud" Anderson, Jr. in the situation comedy *Father Knows Best*.
* Dabbs Greer, in "Superman on Earth", the premiere episode, as a man falling from a dirigible; as a man falsely convicted of murder in "Five Minutes to Doom"; and in the dual roles of Mr. Pebble/Dan Dobey in "The Superman Silver Mine." Greer would become well known years later as Reverend Alden on the television series *Little House on the Prairie*.
* Ed Hinton as Cave Man in "Through the Time Barrier" and as Joe in "The Phantom Ring".
* Russell Johnson as Chopper in "The Runaway Robot". Johnson was later best known for his role as The Professor in *Gilligan's Island*
* Joi Lansing as Sergeant Helen J. O'Hara, a policewoman posing as the titular character in the episode "Superman's Wife".
* Tyler MacDuff as Frankie in "The Boy Who Hated Superman".
* Eve McVeagh as Mrs Wilson in "The Stolen Elephant".
* Vic Perrin as a sailor called "Scurvy" in "The Golden Vulture."
* Ann Tyrrell as Miss Walton in the first-season episode "The Deserted Village."

## Episodes

Main article: Adventures of Superman (Episode Guide)

## Seasons

* Season 1 (1952-1953)
* Season 2 (1953-1954)
* Season 3 (1955)
* Season 4 (1956)
* Season 5 (1957)
* Season 6 (1958)