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SUPERMAN ON TELEVISION: TENTH ANNIVERSARY EDITION (ISBN 0-9619596-3-0) by Michael Bifulco. 222 pgs. ($24.95) SPEEDING BULLET: THE LIFE & BIZZARRE DEATH OF GEORGE REEVES (ISBN 0-9619596-4-9) by Jan Alan Henderson. 161 pgs. ($19.95)
Back in the days when truth, justice, and the American Way meant much more than it does today, super heroes were given the respect they deserved. Superman wasn't just a product of someone's imagination, nor did he merely fight evil each week on TV; he lived, breathed, and existed in the hearts of young Americans everywhere. Each week, we eagerly plunked in front of the TV and anxiously awaited each episode. By the story's end, the world suddenly seemed a much safer place.
Things have changed since then, and I can't help but think that if Superman were introduced to the world today, some moral majority leader would object strenuously on the grounds that he often disrobed in public phone-booths, wore his underwear on the outside of his tights, and therefore was an immoral and indecent role-model for our youths. It's also a damn good thing that Superman's creators didn't think to cap off his costume in a grand flourish, with a hat featuring a purple triangle on top, or he may have been branded for life. I can also assure you that the red S on his costume did not stand for "sinner."
Christopher Reeve gave life to the Man of Steel in four feature motion pictures before his unfortunate accident but, for those of us growing up in the '50s during the golden age of television, George Reeves was the real Superman. Reeves brought the world-famed comic book character's adventures to life in 104 TV episodes of The Adventures of Superman, and even got to try his hand at directing a few. The fact that both Christopher and George held similar sounding surnames, and both men fell victim to strange accidents, is purely coincidental. I don't really believe there is any such thing as a Superman curse, but I am familiar with at least one incident of a childhood friend who broke his leg the second he donned a Superman cape and jumped off the garage roof-and they said that the Three Stooges were a bad example to young children.
The Superman series also starred
Phyllis Coates as Lois Lane, (later replaced by Noel Neill) and Jack Larson
as Jimmy Olsen throughout its run. John Hamilton played the part of Perry
White, editor at The Daily Planet, the great metropolitan newspaper
where Superman's mild-mannered alter ego, Clark Kent worked.
The tenth anniversary edition: Superman On Television by Michael Bifulco is dedicated to the lasting memory of George Reeves. In addition to facts on how the Superman character came into being, it contains rare photographs and a behind-the-scenes look into the ordinary man who portrayed the extraordinary character for 104 action-packed episodes. A plot synopsis of each episode is included, as well as photos taken from the actual sets.
The book also includes a who's who of guest stars-featured in the Superman television series-who went on to make notable contributions in TV and films. Original script pages are also reproduced with their hand written changes, cross-outs, and omissions.
Another fine book on America's #1 super-hero is the fascinating Speeding Bullet-The Life and Times of George Reeves by Jan Alan Henderson, ( Michael J. Bifulco Publishing) which delves more into the personal life of the man in front of the cape and the cameras. Henderson has done a magnificent job in researching the life of George Reeves, and the book is filled with reminiscences given to the author from the people who were close personal friends of Reeves, as well as rare, never-seen-before photos taken throughout his life and career. The book provides insight into who George Reeves was, and how he went from a small-time player to TV fame. His films, sans Superman costume, are also included (most notably the all-time classic Gone With The Wind) as well as how he landed the Superman role.
Henderson also helps sort out and piece together the known facts surrounding the mysterious circumstances that led to Reeves's death in June of 1959-a mystery to this day that reads like an episode of Columbo or Murder She Wrote. While we may never truly understand how Reeves was killed, the testimonies of the people that were closest to him before his death seem to indicate that suicide can be ruled out. If crime labs and DNA testing had been available in 1959, this unsolved Hollywood homicide might not have been so easily and hastily recorded as a suicide. Because of this snap conclusion, the investigation was abruptly ended, the body of Reeves quickly embalmed, and important clues ignored. What of the reports that the body had entry wounds to both temples? If the suicide theory is true, there can be no satisfactory explanation for this fact.
Speeding Bullet also addresses yet another George Reeves mystery. Just west of Beverly Hills is the elite area known as Benedict Canyon, which has had a notoriously checkered reputation for murder and mayhem. Within its lavish boundaries, Jean Harlow's husband, Paul Bern, blew his brains out. It is also where Charlie Manson's drugged-out minions attacked Sharon Tate and her house guests in one of the most hideous and savage crimes on record. It is also where Elke Sommer and her husband Joe Hyams experienced more than one haunted house phenomenon. Benedict Canyon is also the site of the mysterious death of George Reeves.
After the controversial death of
Reeves, real estate agents had difficulty selling the house. Tenants would
not stay very long because they would report inexplicable noises in the
upstairs bedroom where Reeves was found dead. When they would investigate,
the room would not be as they had left it, bedding would be torn off,
clothes thrown everywhere. One tenant reported that their German Shepherd
would stand at the bedroom door barking furiously. Reeves's ghost was
seen by many tenants, wearing a Superman costume for several materializations.
There is also documentation of an extraordinary occurrence when two Los
Angeles sheriffs were assigned to watch the house after neighbors had
been reporting screams, gunshots, and lights going on and off during the
night.
Whether or not you believe the bump-in-the-night aspect, these two amazing books are a wonderful tribute to the Man of Steel and George Reeves's truly compelling story. They are a must for collectors and Superman fans alike, wherever the forces of evil need to be conquered. My advice-get them both and stay off the garage roof.
-John Rossi