Superman
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6 “THE SUPERMAN FORMULA”: Legman, Love & Death, 39–40. Similar warnings were coming from Moscow. “The word superman, as is known, comes from the ideological inspirer of the German Fascists, Nietzsche,” charged Korny Chukovsky, a leading writer of children’s books. “Mass fascisization of the children fully corresponds to the perspectives of the present bosses of America” (“Russian Says Comic Books ‘Fascisize’ U.S. Children,” New York Times).
7 “COMIC-BOOK READING”: Crist, “Horror in the Nursery,” Collier’s.
8 YEARS LATER: Nyberg, Seal of Approval, 1–21.
9 “WE ARE”: Crist, “Horror in the Nursery.”
10 “BELIEVING THAT”: “600 Pupils Hold Burial Rites,” Washington Post.
11 A GALLUP POLL: Hajdu, The Ten-Cent Plague, 294.
12 IT WAS EASY: Hajdu, The Ten-Cent Plague, 190.
13 “YOU FIND”: Crist, “Horror in the Nursery.”
14 HE WAS ONE OF FOUR: Hajdu, The Ten-Cent Plague, 149, 264.
15 MAXWELL AND HIS DIRECTOR: Grossman, Superman: Serial to Cereal, 80.
16 NEVER SERIOUSLY: Whitney Ellsworth heard Alyn’s claim that he was offered the TV role, but said, “It just is not true” (transcript of Grossman interview with Ellsworth). And Noel Neill says, “I found out later that [Alyn] was very, very depressed by not being asked to do Superman on the television show” (author interview with Neill).
17 MAXWELL’S CO-PRODUCER: Grossman, Superman: Serial to Cereal, 80, 316. Studio releases told a more dramatic story about casting George: “Maxwell was on a vacation when he saw a man taking a sun bath on Southern California’s Muscle Beach. In his sunglasses the man surprisingly resembled Clark Kent.” Glut and Harmon, The Great Television Heroes, 26.
18 “TAKE THE MONEY”: Grossman, Superman: Serial to Cereal, 82.
19 “WELL, BABE”: Author interview with Phyllis Coates; and Weaver, Science Fiction Stars and Horror Heroes, 22.
20 “I’D NEVER”: Author interview with Coates.
21 “WEAR A SUIT”: Warren, “Superman’s Girl Friday,” TV People.
22 “I MET BOB”: Weaver, Producers and Writers, 20.
23 “MY GOD”: Grossman, Superman: Serial to Cereal, 128.
24 “WE WENT”: Weaver, Producers and Writers, 21–22.
25 OTHER MONEY-SAVING: Glut and Harmon, The Great Television Heroes, 28–29.
26 ON BUDGET: There were varying recollections of what that budget was. Co-producer Robert Luber said it was $18,500 per episode. Outside producer David Wolper recalled it being $20,000. Jack Liebowitz said the ad agency paid $17,000, Maxwell said he could do it for $14,000, and it ended up costing $28,000. (Grossman, Superman: Serial to Cereal, 316; Wolper, Producer, 18; and Liebowitz memoir, 52.)
27 “THAT’S ENOUGH”: Hayde, Flights of Fantasy, 155.
28 “GEORGE CAME”: Grossman, Superman: Serial to Cereal, 127.
29 “HE DECKED”: Weaver, Producers and Writers, 24; and Bifulco, Superman on Television, 3.
30 “WHAT IS A MAN”: Noel Neill in Biography TV show, February 9, 2000.
31 THERE WAS A SILK: Hayde, Flights of Fantasy, 144.
32 “THIS DROVE”: Weaver, Producers and Writers, 25–26.
33 “THIS,” HE: Author interview with Jack Larson.
34 TRADEMARK BOW TIE: Smithsonian officials say the tie is in their collection and that while it isn’t currently on display, it may be soon.
35 SHOW’S SPONSOR: Whitney Ellsworth reportedly said that Kellogg’s wanted Shayne fired and that Ellsworth insisted the actor be retained (Will Murray, “The Driving Force That Really Made DC Great,” Alter Ego No. 98, 17). But Ellsworth told Gary Grossman that “never did either Kellogg or their agency make any suggestion that we not use Shayne or anybody else, in spite of all the talk about the blacklists and everything else” (Grossman interview with Ellsworth).
36 “MONITORED PROGRAMS”: Hayde, Flights of Fantasy, 180.
37 “TELEVISION HAS”: Wertham, Seduction, 381.
38 WAS AFRAID OF: William H. Young and Nancy K. Young, The 1950s, 42. In those earliest years of television, sponsors routinely engaged in the kind of content control that Kellogg’s did with Superman.
39 “THAT FAVORITE”: Hayde, Flights of Fantasy, 165.
40 “HEY JIMMY”: Author interview with Larson.
41 “I HAD TO”: Warren, “Superman’s Girl Friday,” TV People.
42 “SO HE WAS”: Liebowitz memoir, 52.
43 WHITNEY ELLSWORTH: He wrote under several pen names, including Fred Whitby and, when he collaborated with Robert Maxwell, Richard Fielding.
44 HE DID: Ellsworth letters to Siegel on February 21, 1940, November 4, 1940, and February 19, 1941.
45 “WE NEVER”: Grossman interview with Ellsworth.
46 “MAXWELL’S FIRST”: Grossman interview with Ellsworth.
47 A RECENT COMIC: “The Menace from the Stars” was published in World’s Finest Comics No. 68, which hit the newsstands just as “Panic in the Sky” was hitting the airwaves. While it is impossible to say for sure which came first, it’s likely that “Panic” was inspired by “Menace.” Comic books then were written as long as six months in advance of the cover date, whereas Jackson Gillis, who wrote “Panic,” said he often gave an idea to his producer at lunch, then sat down and wrote the screenplay almost immediately and not long before its airing. But Gillis also said that the rip-off process was a two-way street, with comic book writers both borrowing from and offering up ideas to the TV screenwriters (Hagen, “From Lassie to Superman: Jackson Gillis,” Comics Interview).
48 “PURE FANTASY”: Author interview with Jackson Gillis.
49 LISTENED CLOSELY: www.tv.com/shows/adventures-of-superman/panic-in-the-sky-90378; and Bifulco, Superman on Television, 75.
50 “I HAD TO”: Grossman, Superman: Serial to Cereal, 128.
51 “I LOVED”: Author interview with Larson.
52 SHE ALSO WORRIED: Author interview with Coates.
53 “I’VE HAD”: Weaver, Producers and Writers, 24–25.
54 “COMIC BOOKS IN”: Author interview with Neill.
55 NEILL FOUND IT: Author interview with Neill; and Ward, Truth, Justice, & the American Way, 82.
56 DIDN’T LIKE ONE: Ward, Truth, Justice, 73; The Adventures Continue No. 2, 66; and Weaver, Producers and Writers, 27.
57 “JACK, I GOT”: Grossman interview with Ellsworth.
58 THAT SAME KID-FRIENDLY: Hajdu, The Ten-Cent Plague, 326, 329, 800.
59 “MERCENARY MINORITY”: Weisinger, “How They’re Cleaning Up the Comic Books,” Better Homes and Gardens.
60 “THE SAME TYPE”: “Are Comics Fascist?” Time.
61 “EXPRESSIONS HAVING”: Memo from Ellsworth, “Editorial Policy for Superman-DC Publications.”
62 NEWSPAPERS GLOMMED: “Superman Emulation Puts Boy in Hospital,” Washington Post; “Miscellany,” Time; “ ‘Death-Defying’ Leap Kills Boy,” Los Angeles Times.
63 “WE WERE VERY”: Author interview with Jay Emmett.
64 “NO ONE”: Grossman, Superman: Serial to Cereal, 84.
65 NATIONAL CAPITALIZED: Author interview with Emmett.
66 EMPEROR HIROHITO: Grossman interview with Ellsworth; and “Reeves, Superman of TV, Kills Himself,” Los Angeles Times.
67 $1,000 A WEEK: Grossman interview with Ellsworth.
68 “NOTHING WAS BOTHERING”: Author interview with Gene LeBell.
69 “TO SEE IF”: Ames, “Superman George Reeves and Producers Disagree,” Los Angeles Times.
70 HIS OWN VARIETY: Ward, Truth, Justice, 100–101.
71 “MOTEL OF THE STARS”: Hayde, Flights of Fantasy, 277.
72 “HERE I AM”: Grossman, Superman: Serial to Cereal, 275–76.
73 GEORGE HAD ALMOST: Hayde, Flights of Fantasy, 260.
74 THREE YEARS LATER: “TV Superman Hero Injured in Auto Crash,” Los Angeles Times.
75 HE WAS LOOKING: Hayde, Flights of Fantasy, 283.
76 “HE’S PROBABLY”: Transcript of Lee
Saylor interview with Leonore Lemmon.
77 FORENSIC DETAILS: Author interviews with Craig Harvey, chief coroner investigator, Los Angeles County, and Dr. Eugene Mark, pathologist, Massachusetts General Hospital.
78 RESEARCHERS WHO: Author interviews with Jim Beaver, Chuck Harter, Hayde, and Jan Alan Henderson
79 “ONLY LEM”: Thomas, The Man to See, 145.
80 TONI VISITED: Author interview with Larson.
81 PUBLIC RELATIONS MAN: Edward Lozzi says Toni kept George’s clothes in a bedroom in her mansion that became a shrine to him. “Her deathbed confession was totally the opposite of what she had been telling me,” Lozzi says. “She was blaming it all on Leonore Lemmon.” Author interview with Lozzi.
82 GEORGE’S YOUNG: Grossman, Superman: Serial to Cereal, 102; and Hayde, Flights of Fantasy, 272.
83 NO ONE WILL: Author interviews with Beaver, Harter, Harvey, Hayde, Henderson, and Eugene Mark.
7. IMAGINE THIS
1 STORY LIKE THIS: “Mr. and Mrs. Clark (SUPERMAN) Kent!” Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane.
2 ACTION ON TV: The airwaves were dominated then by Westerns like Bonanza and Wagon Train and personality-driven comedies like Red Skelton’s and Andy Griffith’s.
3 “EVERYONE KNOWS”: Weisinger, “I Flew with Superman,” Parade.
4 HE “GLOWED”: Joyce Kaffel, “Digging up Superman,” Alter Ego No. 98.
5 EIGHT DIFFERENT: The eight were Action Comics, Superman, World’s Finest, Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen, Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane, Adventure Comics, Justice League of America, and Superboy.
6 “MY GREATEST”: Will Murray, “Superman’s Editor Mort Weisinger,” The Krypton Companion, 12.
7 “HERE LIES”: Jones, Men of Tomorrow, 131.
8 “I HAD TO”: Author interview with Adler. Jim Shooter says Weisinger called him a “fucking retard who couldn’t spell.” But his family was poor, Shooter adds, and the work Weisinger gave him “saved our house and kept us alive. That was the two sides of Mort” (author interview with Shooter). Others say that various DC staffers were so frustrated with Weisinger that they tried to toss him out the window, although with steel mesh surrounding the frame he wouldn’t have gone very far.
9 “I’LL TELL”: Michael Eury, “Neal Adams Interview,” The Krypton Companion, 101.
10 “MORT KEPT IT”: Author interview with Carmine Infantino.
11 CURT SWAN: Zeno, Curt Swan: A Life in Comics, 173, 734–75.
12 “DO YOU NEED”: Pachter, “A Rare Interview with Superman’s Godfather,” Amazing Heroes No. 41, 33. After he was fired from DC, Boring worked on several newspaper strips, then took a part-time job as a security guard.
13 STEERED CLEAR: There were exceptions, like the imaginary story in 1963—“The Amazing Story of Superman-Red and Superman-Blue”—in which the hero got Khrushchev to dump all his missiles into the sea and Fidel Castro to free all his political prisoners. And in 1969, Mort sent Clark Kent, Lois Lane, and Superman to Vietnam in a story entitled “The Soldier of Steel!” It was written by DC’s war comics whiz, Robert Kanigher, and illustrated by longtime war artist Joe Kubert.
14 “CALLED HIM”: Schelly, Words of Wonder, 39, 142; and Lupoff email.
15 “THE MOST COMPETENT”: Murray, “Superman’s Editor Mort Weisinger,” 13.
16 “WHAT I FIND”: Letter from Siegel to Liebowitz, July 13, 1946.
17 WEISINGER MET: Murray, “Superman’s Editor Mort Weisinger,” 14. 166 “WHEN PEOPLE”: Lillian, “Mort Weisinger: The Man Who Wouldn’t Be Superman,” Amazing World of DC Comics.
18 “ANY TIME WE”: Murray, “Superman’s Editor Mort Weisinger,” 17.
19 “DID YOU GET”: Weisinger, “I Flew with Superman.”
20 AN “INVESTIGATION”: Weisinger, “How They’re Cleaning Up the Comic Books,” Better Homes and Gardens.
21 “I WANTED”: Author interview with Lee.
22 “DONE CORRECTLY”: Author interview with Shooter.
23 BATMAN TUMBLED: Evanier, Beerbohm, and Schwartz, “There’s a Lot of Myth Out There!” Alter Ego No. 26, 23; and author interview with Infantino.
24 FINALLY, AS HE REPORTED: In another version, Mort said he had the economic security to quit DC after Columbia Pictures paid him $250,000 for his novel The Contest. How did he feel about leaving Superman after all that time? “I guess my baby has grown up,” Mort said, “and doesn’t need daddy any more” (Peterson, “Superman Goes Mod”).
25 CARMINE INFANTINO: Author interview with Infantino. Julie Schwartz’s version is that “every year or so Mort would tell our boss Jack Liebowitz that he wanted to retire, and Jack (he always wanted us to call him Jack) would talk him out of it. Then one day in 1970, (surprise! surprise!) he accepted the resignation since he himself was leaving DC” (Schwartz and Thomsen, Man of Two Worlds, 131).
26 THE MOST EMOTIONAL: Siegel, “Superman’s Return to Krypton!” Superman No. 141.
27 TENTH-LEVEL: Lex Luthor would amp up Brainiac’s intellect from level ten to twelve.
28 “ANYTHING SUPERMAN”: Siegel, “The Bizarro Invasion of Earth!” Superman No. 169.
29 THE ENEMY: Waid, “Red Kryptonite,” Amazing Heroes No. 41, 44–45.
30 IN ITS ANNUAL: Bart, “Advertising: Superman Faces New Hurdles,” New York Times.
31 SOCIAL SECURITY: That number was issued to a real person, Giobatta Baiocchi, who was born in 1887 and whose relatives say they don’t know of any connection he might have had to Superman.
32 BEFORE EXECUTING: Eddy Zeno, “A Fond Remembrance of Mort Weisinger by His Son,” The Krypton Companion, 17.
33 COMIC STRIP DREAMS: Those dreams lasted from 1949 to 1952, with Clark waking just as he was about to tell Lois he was Superman. The story was dreamed up by Whitney Ellsworth, who started to write it, but then got distracted, and Alvin Schwartz claims he wrote nearly all of it.
34 “YOU’RE NOT”: Newman and Benton, It’s a Bird … It’s a Plane … It’s Superman: The New Musical Comedy.
35 “A CHILL”: Holiday and Harter, Superman on Broadway, 18.
36 THE FIRST TEST: Schier, “ ‘Superman’ Needs a Quick Course in Muscle Building,” Philadelphia Bulletin; and Murdock, “ ‘Superman’ Lands in Town,” Philadelphia Daily News.
37 IT’S A BIRD OPENED: “Paper Cutups,” Time; Coe, “Not Peter Pan, It’s ‘Superman,’ ” Washington Post; Nadel, “ ‘Superman,’ Airy, Merry,” New York World-Telegram and Sun; and Kauffmann, “ ‘It’s a Bird … It’s a Plane …’ ” New York Times.
38 “THEY SAID, ‘MY’ ”: Author interview with Hal Prince.
39 EVERYONE HAD: Author interviews with Prince, Charles Strouse, and Robert Benton.
40 “I DON’T THINK”: Author interview with Bob Holiday.
41 SUPERMAN WAS: Shabecoff, “Look! Up in the Air!” New York Times; and Weisinger, “Superman and His Friends Around the World,” Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen No. 113.
42 STUPOR-MAN: Not to be confused with Mad magazine’s Superduperman.
43 “WHEN SUPERMAN”: Feiffer, The Great Comic Book Heroes, 17.
44 “THEY LOVED IT”: Thomas, “Superman Teaches School,” Magazine Digest.
45 “I COULDN’T READ”: Author interview with Ron Massengill.
46 TWO OF HIS BEST: The two writers were Bill Finger and E. Nelson Bridwell. “Superman’s Mission for President Kennedy,” Superman No. 170.
47 WHEN THE NEW: “Superman Meets Kennedy on Vigor,” New York Times.
48 “WE’RE WAITING”: Weisinger, “I Flew with Superman.”
49 IT WAS NOT: The Essential Superman Encyclopedia, 151–52.
50 COMPLIANT PARTNER: Sampliner served on the boards of the Anti-Defamation League, the New York City Anti-Crime Commission, and the New York State Commission Against Discrimination. He stayed on as an owner of DC Comics until 1967, and in 1969 he was named chairman of the board of Independent, the distribution company (Kleefeld, “Paul Sampliner,” kleefeldoncomics.blogspot.com).
51 AS EARLY AS: L
iebowitz memoir, 55–56.
52 HE NEVER KNEW: Others, including Jack Adams, say the accident happened after the company went public.
53 “WE ALL SAID”: Author interview with Peachy Donenfeld.
54 HAVING A CHAUFFEUR: Liebowitz memoir, 56, 62.
55 “WE DIDN’T WANT”: Liebowitz memoir, 51.
56 “TURNED TO ME”: Barr, “The Madame and the Girls,” Words & Pictures No. 5, 5.
57 “THEY WERE THE”: Barr, “The Madame and the Girls,” 10.
58 WAS DESPERATE: Knutzen, “Man of Steel Splinters an American Dream,” Los Angeles Times.
59 “I WAS THE OLDEST”: Knutzen, “Man of Steel Splinters an American Dream.”
60 IT LOOKED WORSE: Author interview with Neal Adams.
61 THE BEST MEASURE: Yoe, Secret Identity: The Fetish Identity of Superman’s Co-Creator Joe Shuster.
62 “PORNOGRAPHY, UNADULTERATED”: City of New York v. Kingsley Books, Supreme Court of New York.
63 WHY DID JOE: Author interviews with Robinson and Craig Yoe.
64 “I SPENT ALL”: Liebowitz memoir, 57. He could, of course, have brought his daughters into the business, but that was unthinkable to an old-school father like him.
65 SO HE HIRED: Liebowitz memoir, 57.
66 STEVE ROSS: Bruck, Master of the Game, 129–33.
67 EMMETT SAID: Author interview with Emmett.
8. BELIEVING A MAN CAN FLY
1 “WHY DON’T WE”: Author interview with Ilya Salkind.
2 HIS LAWYER: Author interview with Tom Pollock.
3 OWN BIG FILMS: Curiously, Warner Bros. was willing to make a movie about Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze, but not about Superman, the caped hero who had borrowed from Doc, then left him in the dust.
4 “IT WASN’T”: Author interview with Terry Semel.
5 MORE THAN A: Petrou, The Making of Superman the Movie, 21.
6 BOUNCED OR DELAYED: The Salkinds’ producer and money man, Pierre Spengler, concedes, “there were times of extreme cash flow difficulties.” But he adds that “everybody got paid in full” (emails to author from Spengler).
7 GROSS SALES: That is money received by the distributor(s) of the film, in this case mainly Warner Bros. It includes about half of box office receipts along with the distributor’s share of proceeds from television, VHS/DVD, and other offshoots.