Two things about Jack Larson that surprised me was the fact that he was Jewish and that he was gay. Personal life, Larson was the life partner of director James Bridges from 1958 until Bridges' death on June 6, 1993.
I will always remember that June afternoon when I got home from school and read that Reeves was dead. Shattered my world to bits. Thank you for your sincere efforts Mr Reeves.
WPIX Channel 11 New York used to show The Adventures of Superman everyday when I'd get home from school. Great memories. Easy to see now they had a lot great supporting actors for guest stars over the years.
I came to Canada when I was eleven, in 1968. It was still on the air then, but I think that was the last year. Shows like Gilligans Island, Hogans Heroes, McHales Navy and Star Trek became popular.
@@williamantico7768Hmm, excellent question, I reckon we will never know. There’s an excellent interesting film on this regards (murder or suicide?) a movie call Hollywoodland where George Reeves (played by Ben Affleck) is at the center of the story. I highly recommend watching it, it plays like a documentary, with Adrian Brody, Diane Lane and Bob Hoskins.
lol back in the day, special effects were so crude and we loved them. There was something about the imperfections of devices, stop motion animation, and traveling mattes that was WAY more exciting than the “perfect” CG of today.
@@GodsMan500 Such improvisations made these filmed episodes seem like plays being performed on the stage, and where there was a minimal budget for props; because what really mattered were the actors performing well in their respective roles. But the simplicity is what gave it this show its beauty--and strength, and that is what you are talking about in your comments above, which, by the way, are great comments/insights.
Tvcrazyman: I have the entire "Adventures Of Superman" TV series on DVDs and I enjoy watching them on a regular basis. I have seen what could be described as minor bloopers in numerous episodes from the series, but most of them were so insignificant to the plot of the episodes that trying to reshoot the scenes probably wouldn't have been financially worth the time. The series was really good regardless of the limitations that they had to contend with at the time that it was made. I am a fan of the "Adventures Of Superman" TV series and I have a number of both Superman and Action Comics that I have collected over the years. To me both George Reeves and Christopher Reeve are the best Superman of their times and of all time.
Next time, you might want to include the scene where Superman is letting all those bullets bounce off of his chest but then ducks when the thug throws his gun at him.
@@BlondieSL I give you credit for standing your ground by resisting the urge to brag about the wisdom you had in your youth. I think I would have been overpowered by my poor impulse control .
I remember the good old Electrolux vacuum cleaner when I was a child. It didn't have wheels, but instead had to be dragged on the carpet on wire rails. Other than that. never missed an episode of Superman back in the 50's on a TV built into a cabinet that must have weighed 200 lbs.
One of my favorite TV shows ever! I couldn't WAIT till after school, to watch the reruns in the 60's. The theme music still gets me excited! I too wish they saved the outtakes. Those bloopers would be comedy gold!
For a low-budget show of 1951, the flying effects were damn good! Even with the big bucks, I don’t think the Christopher Reeve effects were all that spectacular!
This isn't on the subject of Superman, but in recognition of your acknowledgment of living in Australia, I would love to visit your country sometime, especially the Outback, including Alice Springs, (other) sheep stations and some billabongs. My primary travel focus would include exploring the provinces of Northern Territory and Queensland. (And as an aside: I am a huge fan of the "Crocodile Dundee" movie franchise. Paul Hogan was really funny, smart and just plain entertaining in his three movies; andI think he is an intelligent actor, along with the many co-stars, and additional character actors, all who gave outstanding performances and support to the main actors, while adding their own unique richness and further believability to the films' various plots.)
@@daler.steffy1047 I've lived here all my life and never seen any of the places you're interested in. Maybe you should look for some episodes of "Bush Tucker Man".
There is just something about George Reeves. I can’t put my finger on it. It’s a mix of charm and likability and being comfortable in his skin. He was so great in this show. No one else would have been this good.
The show was before my time, I was born in late December 1957. I was 60 years old before I got the complete series on DVD and finally got to see it! Wonderful show! I wonder what it would be like now with all our advances in special effects technology!
@tomchris60 I literally lived in the Boonies! We got 1 channel, CBS, Black and White, until late 1969 when we finally got 3 channels and a Color TV. I missed a LOT of Great Shows, due to young age or it being on ABC or NBC. I was also 60 before I got to watch Get Smart, Batman, Rat Patrol, and Addams Family!
I'm surprised. I was born in 1960. For well over a decade, The Adventures Of Superman was an afternoon favorite on WPIX in New York. I assumed kids (and adults) enjoyed the show elsewhere. But then again, I never saw an episode of the Lone Ranger until WPIX ran them in 1976. Glad you enjoyed them!
@@theessentials450 Not in my area it didn't. All we ever got was endless reruns of I Love Lucy and the Dick Van Dyke show! We never got reruns of anything good. Okay, those were good shows, but after you have seen the same episode 8 times? Local station was too cheap. That's why on Saturdays and Sundays it was all Country Music from 9 in the morning to 9 at night! Endless episodes of Bill Anderson, Porter Wagoner, Grand Old Oprey, Hee Haw and others! And at night, on Saturday, it was Johnny Cash, on Sunday, Mac Davis. It's no wonder I can barely stand Country Music at age 66!
Oh, and our town was so Stone Age, we didn't even have a Rock Station until 1972, it went off at 8:00 PM, and it was all soft Rock. The only Rock I ever got to see was on Ed Sullivan. And not even that all the time. Parents sent me out of the room for the appearance of the Doors!
I always enjoy your videos. You respect the subject matter while obviously having a good time reporting on what you've seen. I particularly liked that you found an example of when you could see the support bar on the belly pan in a flying scene!
My favorite episode is the one with the criminal hiding in that indestructible cube. I also like the meteor episode where he loses his memory, he lands out in the middle of nowhere and steps behind a rock to change into his suit and hat that were apparently waiting on him there.
I hope you all enjoy my latest look at the Adventures of Superman. I found some new goofs and I look more in detail into the special effects of the series.
@@detpak I believe that George Reeves' pinky ring was a gift that he received from an old girlfriend years earlier, he would leave it in his dressing room when he was playing Superman.
Thanks for another fun look at Superman , tv crazy man it is always neat to learn about a favorite subject and adds further enjoyment when watching again.looking forward to your next subject!
I remember the cartoon of superman in the 60s along with the lone ranger cartoon s in the 60s also casey Jones and cannon ball late 50s I believe as a TV series show they done pretty well for the effects side but of course there wasn't any video rewinds to stop or pause to check out the mistakes but fun to watch today interesting reeves same name as Christopher in the 78 movie superman my favourite Christopher reeves and miss Lane played by the beautiful maggot kiddler at the time but all those 50 and 60s Cannon ball lassie Casey Jones like the puppets fire ball stingray all had great bloopers and goofs thank you again
When I first viewed this channel, I thought it was a piss take on the old shows. I soon realised where you were coming from and have enjoyed them ever since.
We got T.V.-in Sydney Australia in 1956,-one of the first shows,was Superman !!-(in black/white-)-it was a "Sensation"-one of the kids a school,had a "Super-man"T--Shirt-with Superman "Breaking a chain"--Man-I was so Jelous-!!-(he was a short-ass-fat kid too.)-with one of Beanies-with-a-Propeller !!--did you have "Jet-Jackson"-the flying Commando ??-
in the episode Dagger Island - when Superman goes into the pit / well - he repeatedly punches the wall to try to find water. You can see that the brick wall resists to break and it clearly hurts his fist / hand.
9:33 Of course his arm would move since he was holding the halter as we see in the previous shot. In fact, it would be IMPOSSIBLE for his arm not to move! That is not a goof, it is perfectly natural!
That mole men episode always freaked me out. It had such a strange vibe to it. At least as a little 6 year old. I wonder if it is available to view. At age 67, perhaps I would be a little less freaked out.
Love it! Enjoyed watching these episodes and how they were made. Might be interesting to do a video on the Cars and Trucks of the Series which were pretty cool to see when they were used in the episodes if you had not done one yet.
Well, this really took me back, and the behind-the-scenes info was fascinating! I never missed an episode when I was a little kid - a VERY long time ago (71). The image quality of t.v.'s back then was very poor and mostly black & white, so they could get away with a lot of stuff that you just couldn't detect while watching it on an old scan screen b&w t.v. No digital tech, high definition color flat screens back then.
Great video. It amazes me even today how editors have 1 job to do and still miss things. 😑. Like the diving board that Reeves jumped on to do a take off. The cameraman should not have had the camera that low, and the viewer could still see the jump. I could see the bar Reeves used to go through a window. Thankfully we can watch and laugh at the goofs and bloopers. 😂😂
You have to be amazed how the technical people created this. It was the early days of using materials for that time to create illusion. They were the true inspiration for what we have today. Today it doesn’t require a lot of thinking. All you need is a 15 year old in front of a computer and a AI/CGI program to create special effects.
You have a great eye for detail, especially when you are able to notice so many of the mistakes/errors that were made during the filming of all of these shows that you've been presenting to us through your video compilation. And while also providing us, your viewers, with interesting technical points as they arise in your program selections, you are also a good researcher!
They animated super flight then like they do today, by swapping out the actor with an animated version! Only today the animation is in 3D. But it's basically the same idea
Use the door like everybody else? Ha! I'm pretty certain there's a late episode where, after Superman busts through the wall, Jimmys even asks him why he didn't just use the door. George said something to the effect that "Well, Jimmy, I thought my way was a little more dramatic!" Funny stuff and George could pull it off with just enough tongue-in-cheek.
Watching the opening where the speaker said "Look, up in the sky! Is it a bird, its a plane? No, it's Superman, strange visitor from another planet, Superman, faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to bend steel with his barehands, who disguised as a mile mannered reporter for a great metroplitan news paper,, fights for for truth, justice and the American way! I was so proud as he stood with the American flag in the background waving. I believe that introduction was when I really began to learn what love for one's country is all about. I dreamed of being Superman, rounding up crooks, fighting aliens, and for law and order. Maybe we should require all children to watch the reruns. I still do today when I can find them. Thank you Tvcrazyman, I am 75 now and cherish the memories. I also wanted to be the Lone Ranger and have a sidekick like Tonto. These are the programs that inspired our country to have pride in being Americans.
I do seriously believe that parents should monitor closely everything their kids watch these days, and old re-runs like Superman would not be a bad idea. It's safe and you don't even have to worry about what the kids see while their watching it.
I thought they used a glass plate that was a little reflective. They then would shine the light on the subject, Superman, and it would look like he was duplicating himself.
Could be. I know typically they used to use split screen for putting doubles in a room on TV, but for the initial splitting off part they may have used something like that. I haven't ran across any specific information for that scene.
Excellent! I was hoping to see the scene where the bad guy attempted to stab Superman, and the knife bent, defying all laws of physics. I distinctly remember seeing it, on TV, as a kid and thinking "What the Hell". Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed your video.
I do talk about that scene on a previous video - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-n5y-XCQgOIk.htmlsi=SIBjQyi8v0SjuPPe It's about 2 -3 minutes into the video.
The Sterling Holloway boost was Superman using his super breath. Super breath was a default for moving anything in 50s and 60s comics.😉 Wonder Woman and the Martian Manhunter blew or inhaled all manner of things around. Sorry for being such a comics nerd.
@@tvcrazyman I remember my grandmother making me a cape. I thought the cape would make me fly. I remember her telling me "now fly Superman! I took off running with clinched fists!
It's a shame there aren't any bloopers from this show. At least we have the Star Trek ones. I used to work at the Superman museum in Metropolis Illinois long ago. It's still there, bigger and better than ever. I'm going to share this video with their Facebook group. It was most excellent!
Something you and everyone else has missed is that Perry Whites desk is not a desk at all. Its 2 filing cabinets with a board strung across it. Perhaps to make it look bigger? Or maybe budget issues? Compare it to Clark's and Lois's desks.
I especially liked the shot of the stand-in on the body pan apparatus. Also, it's too bad a shirt with the reverse emblem wasn't created. That way, when the film was flopped, the "S" would appear to be right. Maybe AI can fix that goof for us someday.
all the scenes where Superman is flying you are slowing the footage down on video or DVDs which you can ONLY see when you slow it down! remember in the 1950s people were watching superman on TV so they were not able to slow the picture down to spot blooper & analyze the scenes, that's why it worked.
One of the things that always drove me crazy, even as a child, was the fact that Superman had super strength, yet he would draw back his arm and punch people as hard as he could which should have killed them while throwing their limp bodies hundreds of yards. In some episodes he does visibly pull his punches, but far too often he does not.
In all my years watching the show I never realized all these imperfections in the filming, but then, I have always been a sucker for not recognizing a person wearing a hat and glasses. I love almost everything, Superman. I was never much into the comic books though. In the scene where the professor was the last one pulled out of the basement, couldn't it be that it got flooded and he floated toward the top?
I used to watch those episodes when I was a kid. We noticed a few of the special effects that were used like to wires and fake walls. However, can you talk about the transition from B&W to Color ? When and why did they decide to start filming in Color, when Color TV's weren't on the market yet ?
Thanks. I'll try and remember to address that in my next Superman video. They were definitely thinking ahead by a few years. I do wonder if it caused the production value in other areas to shrink though just a bit due to the expense.
One scene not mentioned here I found a little perplexing. The episode where Superman has to levitate Lois to shield him from Kriptonite rays. They were way down in a shaft of some kind. How do they "walk" up the walls to get out?
