That was a wonderful time to be a kid. Every mom in the neighborhood knew all the kids. Every kid had a bike. We rode bikes everywhere. No worries about getting shot. People were friendly, even strangers. George Reeves was a great Superman and he always will be.
Yes. It was great! Absolutely no worries. No one anywhere had to worry about being shot before their time. No economic or societal inequities. No law enforcement or governmental abuses. Let’s Make America Gre… oh wait.
Not stretch... she was being compressed by two walls at this point. Well, she fared much better than the steel rod Han Solo used in the trash compactor scene. LOL 😂😂😂
There's a lady working at the nearby Denny's who looks like Jennifer Aniston but with glasses. Conclusion: Jennifer Aniston has a secret second life where she works at a Denny's.
@@Music--ng8cd Nahh, that'd just be stupid. Besides, Jennifer Aniston would know all about it, but when I asked her, she said she had no idea what I was talking about.
The fake “Paul McCartney” (William Wallace Shepherd / Faul / “Billy Shears”) has been fooling people since 1967, and he didn’t even need to wear glasses to fool millions of people. People are much dumber than you think, thanks to years of programming by the Enemedia.
I grew up on watching Superman after school and I remember this episode--not so much the beginning of it. I thought the bad guys really had him for good that time, but after all, he was The Man Of Steel! George Reeves was my 'Man Of Steel'. Its a shame things didn't end well for him in real life. He will always be a part of my childhood. Thanks for the memories.
Me too! The announcer saying "..in his never-ending fight for Truth, Justice, and the American Way" always made my heart swell with pride. Sure would be great if that slogan became popular again; we REALLY need that sentiment today.
@@The_DC_Kid Except that truth is now in the eyes of the beholder, there is no justice, and The American Way (like "patriotism") has become a warped slogan that means "those we agree with". Very very sad.
Lol, so true. They probably blew most of the season's budget on this scene with deep concrete traps, krypotonite raining down, ray guns and levitating. Not to mention the shot of Jack Larson climbing up the walls...spectacular!
Since his flying up was actually him jumping down played in reverse, having both of them perform this in the same shot would have been much more problematic. So throwing in the line of "climb out" was much more cost effective for the show's production costs 😉
George Reeves once said NOBODY can do the things that Superman can. Well, NOBODY can come close to playing Superman. HE was and always will be the best! So fortunate to grow up in such a great time.
Superman turned a magic act into actual magic. Then, instead of flying her out or throwing her a rope, he told her to risk killing herself by trying to walk up a wall sideways using muscles she probably doesn’t have. Maybe the rays damaged his mind.
I’ve bought all the Adventures of Superman recently with George Reeves. And enjoy them because they remind me of a different, more innocent, time that is sadly gone today.
@@matexf As a kid I always wondered why he refused to help her. (I wondered if it was something to do with "propriety" issues with their having too much physical contact.) While there are a couple of episodes that indicate that she's in love with him, there was definitely much less romantic chemistry here compared to most other Superman universes - even by 1950s standards. He was often very cool and formal with her. It was as if he didn't want to give her any encouragement. The odd thing is, she is actually more independent in many ways than some of the later Lois Lanes.
Yes, indeed -- even the top alpinists would find a narrowing chimney challenging in such footwear! And why didn't our favorite cub reporter take a few seconds to deliver a full-throated yodel when he reached the top? O, wait -- that would have been a Looney Tunes production . . .
At 2:58 into the clip the scene in the bunker where the bad guys are, among the various scientific/weapon control equipment, etc. is a vintage Motorola T1251 "Quik-Call" Tone Encoder used by fire department dispatch centers all over the country to selectively alert fire stations over radio for emergency calls. It's the box near the window with the meter (a VU meter) in the center with vents off to each side of the meter, and two rows of 12 black buttons. That particular equipment was used well into the 1970's. Those tones were often heard on the old "Emergency" TV show about firefighters with the LA Fire Dept. The basic tone signaling format is still in use today but achieved with computerized tone generation.
With most people watching these shows on grainy B&W sets with rabbit ear antennas the producers knew that hardly anyone at home would notice things like that 😉
The wall climbing gag worked well enough that they refined it 10 years later for Adam West and Burt Ward in the 1966-68 Batman TV series that had them climbing up the Batarang rope on a regular basis. Gotta love those horizontal building sets and sideways cameras.
I thought those wall climbing scenes in Batman were sooo Boring! Then I saw them again as an adult and realized they were for cameos of really famous people. It's amazing to me to see all those super-famous people on a campy kids show.
I tried climbing up a wall once like Batman. It's really damn difficult, at least for me it was. Some in our little group who were more athletic, it wasn't so bad.
Loved this show! .. Watched it as a little girl: .... I'm 71 & still watch it.... Thanks for posting this.... Had a crush on George Reeves. Loved the cast. 🙏☺️
Imagine shifting from hand walking up the pit to hanging with both hands, feet dangling and then pulling yourself out after that workout. Jimmy has a secret identity too. Super boy. Fun stuff. Glad I couldn’t think at 6 years old.
@@JohnVKaravitis god knows the gays needed a ninja warrior among them in those days. Perhaps Superman knew about Jimmy's secret gay ninja avenger life but kept this knowledge from him while secretly assisting from time to time in his gay ninja adventures. Clark could be the straight pal at the office that does know Jimmy is gay and covers for him. Lois of course would have to know also and this adds a dimension to her relationship to Clark. Come on gay comic artists out there get busy!
I remember this scene but not the complete episode but my guess is Lois chased down a story after being warned not to and yet again got herself and Jimmy in a bind.
This was a much enjoyed after-school daily treat for me in 1962-63, when I was in the 3rd grade. Already years into re-runs (I didn't know), enjoyed on my friend's B&W TV. I've seen this episode, and probably every episode, multiple times.
As a kid, it was my favorite show. One day my eyeglasses broke, had to wait days for them to get fixed. I recall watching the show very close to the TV screen, never missed an episode!
Every single day of the first six years of my life were spent sitting in front of the tv watching this show! Greatest ever!!! To this day I still whistle the theme music!
Loved the show as a kid. One of the great things about being young is the ability to believe anything you want to. Of course, you're supposed to outgrow that as you get older. Sadly, these days too many don't.
Perhaps it is sad that many people do grow out of it? Whats wrong with believing anything you want to? Look at most of the great inventions of our time....most of which would never have been possible if people didn't believe it could be done....because so many people told them that it could not be done.
@doonsbury9656 Immunizations do often lead to innovation. However, it takes a firm understanding of reality to transition to innovation. Often, the greater innovation is the transition itself.
@@Dutch1954 he can levitate his own body to fly. Not a huge stretch to let him do it to other objects. He’s not using wings or rockets, it is essentially anti gravity.
I love the innocence and the imagination of this - As best as I can deduce the implication here is that Superman is transferring what is left of his power into Lois, it's like the 1980s John Byrne 'telekinesis' concept from the comicbooks, he transfers his force of will onto Lois and not only levitates her but due to the transfer she has enough 'invulnerability' to be able to prop the walls. There isn't much sense here no. But this is 1950s childrens television, and I feel that this must have been exciting to watch given the context and limitations of the era. The one thing about it that is hard to accept is that Superman would be cruel enough to force Lois to climb out of that pit!! But then again these two were like competing school-children in this era - lois' single-mindedness and combativeness versus Clark kent's laid back manner was something he had to live with and take. And so he took his 'payback' where and when he could...🐠
Remember that George Reeves' Superman is based on the Silver Age character and because of that there were a lot of things that Supes could do that wouldn't (ahem), fly today. (sorry) Not only could he be affected by all kinds of kryptonite, like yellow, red gold, he could also be affected by magic and therefore he could also do some magic. Superman having a power being shown for the first time was sort of a Silver Age regular thing.
I remember seeing this episode, fortunately it was in reruns 😁 It's interesting how Jimmy "climbing", facing downwards but the back of his jacket is "floating" upwards.
I don't understand to this day how Jimmy could climb out with the walls closer to hold him on both ends! I guess that is what made those 1950s stories so enchanting and fun for kids and adults!
I actually remember this very episode when it first aired. I was a month short of 7 years old. I must have gained some insight in the last 65 years because at the time I never doubted any of it. Now, it seems a little hokey.
I love Superman but don't remember the special effects budget being that good in those shows. They did a great job with the available early technology and small budget. It takes a lot of creativity to find solutions like that.
Interesting to see it in colour. We didn't have TV with colour till years later. I always got a kick out of Perry White exclaiming, " Great Caesar's Ghost! "
A wondered for years why some of the "Superman" series was shot in color when color TV's were a rarity. Then years later I found out the series was shown in theaters as fillers and short subjects in parts of the country that didn't have television broadcasting. Then it made sense, many areas didn't get TV until the early 1960's and some didn't get it until the earliest cable systems came into use.
For those who are asking how Superman could levitate and cause Lois to be as strong as a steel girder. It has been a long established canon at that time that Superman had many powers that he did not often use, nor did he allow them to be generally known. Also remember that Chris Reeve's Superman hypnotized Lois into forgetting about their relationship in Superman ll.
The Writing in some of these episodes was a little Lazy. Sometimes they would Invent a Superpower for Superman as a Plot Device-For Instance there was a Story where Superman Split into Two People. After It was over Superman never used this Power again.
It was just “Plot Device Powers” that were never used again, even as a kid I felt was ridiculous in comics and to actually see them on a live action show made it even more silly😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
That series was always giving Superman strange, arbitrary powers, like being able to pass through solid matter, or being able to split himself in two by sheer will power. Still, it was a fun show.
@@MrSpanky2001 because money. that's what they call a "hero" suit (the main onscreen costume), and that cost too much money to make a hole in it, for just one episode, ruining the entire costume, and then having to make a new one. tv westerns of this era did the same thing. it's the budget.
There was a narrow corridor leading to the backyard of our building. As kids we used to climb up the sides of the wall all the way to the top just like we saw Jimmy Olson do.
Trust me it gets Super-stranger (pun intended) Superman During the Silver Age, could time travel, utilize telekinesis, duplicate mini version of himself, had limited mind control, can shapeshift, was introduced to using heat vision and freezing breath. Some but all of these power made their way to the Donnerverse movies
George Reeves' Superman from the 50's was made during an era where writers decided to give Superman (comic-wise) a dubious amount of abilities during the Silver Age of Comics; These included: - near infinite super strength and speed - true invulnerability - hyper-intelligence - heat vision - time travel - telekinesis - the ability to create his own abilities - duplication of mini supermen - mind control - shapeshifting - freezing breath/wind breath - solar system destruction via sneeze FYI: heat vision wasn't Superman's original powers, he simply used the heat of his x-ray vision to burn or melt objects, until it became a separate power in the 60's.
It was 1962. Before then, there'd be references to "the heat of his x-ray vision," and Superman sometimes expressed caution about how long he could look through a wall because of the heat he was generating. Somebody at DC finally realized that x-rays aren't hot. I think "heat vision" first showed up in a Superboy story in Adventure Comics.
It was a different time. We never locked our cars or houses. We didn't talk back to our parents or even strangers. We played all day until the street lights came on, and our parents never had to worry about us. How times have changed.
Five takeaways from this episode: 1. Lois could have stopped the wall laying flat on the ground instead of levitating. 2. Lois has an incredibly strong spine and hard head, which we already knew. 3. Jimmy Olsen has mad ninja-like climbing skills. 4. The bad guys don't know how to design a spine-crushing drive system for their movable wall. 5. Superman is an a-hole for not rescuing Lois and for using her head as a doorstop.
I watched this as a kid, and this is the only scene I remember from back then. Even as a kid I thought it was an odd power to have, but my memory of Lois stopping that wall is vivid.
When I was a kid I loved this episode. When I saw it it was on a black and white t v. Sometimes when it would be raining outside my mom would let me go and play out in the rain. I would have my cape on, and I would pretend the rain was kryptonite rays. Sometimes I would even do it in the shower.. And even to this day when I take a shower? I still think of those days, and sometimes I still. imagine the water as being Kryptonite. I'm 70 years old. LOL
Haha. I'm 66 and had the whole Superman costume. I used to pretend to fly by running down our small hallway, into my parents bedroom, and jump on the bed, arms stretched out like I was flying. I'd land by standing on the bed and jumping down to the floor. Created my own sound effects. First color TV I ever saw was at a neighbor's apartment and it was Superman! Wow that was incredible!
The simplicity of the situations made it sublimely entertaining- it let your IMAGINATION take over. Now ppl are on their phones during a movie or TV show. Lemmings, all.
Hypnotism was a popular fad in the 1940s and 50s. In real life a hypnotist might suggest a subject's arm was like a rigid steel bar to see how strongly the suggestion took. Hollywood dramatized that as super strength, magical powers, awareness of past lives, etc.
the script writters for this said "you know what, lets see how far we can stretch reality in this one" then they laughed and made 10 dollar bets on who can out do the other...and well..here we are :)
Isn't the camera work at the beginning fantastic. How they managed to have someone flying along next to him with perfect focus is amazing. They don't make cameramen like they used to!
Oh yeh? What about those brave cameramen who stood front of T-Rexes and Raptors in the Jurassic Park movies? Flying through space with no one shooting lusers at you is easy, even I could do it.
In season one, episode 13, Superman's identity was discovered by a couple who robbed him. He flew them to the top of a snow-covered mountain and said he would be back. After he didn't return, they both died trying to get off the mountain.
I remember that episode. I was thrilled to see them actually bringing in something from the comics (Kryptonite!) They were actually mining something imaginative from the books. Of course now I realize that you couldn't do much with television budgets from the Fifties, but it always a little disappointing that he was rarely fighting anything tougher than crooks. That bit about Jimmy climbing up the walls? Looking at it now I realized how impossible that would be. It's not the same thing as being scrunched up with your back against the wall and the souls of your feet on the other one. No, Jimmy was stretched out almost full length. I doubt he would have even been able to get three feet off the floor before being physically exhausted. But that part of the hypnotized Lois, I remember how weird that seemed to me when I saw it all those years ago.
I wish the movies would start with this kind of low-power Superman who proves his worth fighting city crooks and stopping their wreckless destruction of public property. Then in later movies expand his strength to international rescues and punching missiles.
@@DesertBro yes, finally... a like-minded fan. start with leaping tall buildings in a single bound, then at the end of the trilogy... full power. henry cavill was fun, but a beyond overly powered superman right off the bat makes for very a uninteresting story of growth.
@@dennisznaniecke490 Odd that you make this statement yet give no reasons or logic behind it. Is your reason merely that this show is outside the realm of your personal experience and you assume that things outside your life experiences cannot be good? You're a child, right?
@@brandonflorida1092 funny how you also gave no reasons or logic behind your assertion. He gave his opinion, as did you. And that's all they are: opinions. There is no objective fact behind either of them.
Jimmy going up the wall is just so realistic, I like how Lois became stronger than steel, while the Man of Steel was crumbling like a scared little girl. Classic show, as a kid, I never missed an episode
I agree with you completely - was very ungrateful of him to have Lois climb out after she practically saved the day with her rigid body! I always thought he could have been more chivalrous than that!
