That's not a typo in the title; I know 'The Adventures of Superman' ran from 1952 through to 1958, with an interruption as they switched from black and white to monochrome. This post is going to be about the first two seasons, the ones in black and white, the pulpy ones.
Superman and Batman were created in the late 1930s and both prospered in that pulpy atmosphere of noir, press hounds, and detective stories. Super villains, extensive uses of science fiction, and the trappings of superheroes came later. First and foremost they and other comic book heroes were detectives and/or adventurers, and an investigative reporter was just as much of a detective as a darkly costumed vigilante.
The first two years of 'The Adventures of Superman' and the first year of 'Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman' really tapped heavily into that pulpiness of the character's origins and then lost steam as they lost that thread, the former as they became distracted by colour and the science fiction craze of the time and the latter by a radical change in writing teams and network meddling.
'The Adventures Of Superman' was a show I barely saw as I was growing up. It probably popped up on Channel 4 during it's classic reruns era, before it flipped to only showing sitcoms and then apparently only 'Friends' for a long long time. This was a series that ultimately defined all the superhero shows and movies that would follow for decades, and one that was born out of its radio show predecessor which famously inspired a lot of the earlier stories. This Superman was the first man to fly on screen in live action, as far as I know, as the flying was animated in his earlier movie serials. This Superman was the first screen version to have Clark Kent as the primary character instead of his costumed persona (reversed largely for the colour seasons), and most importantly he had a Lois Lane to really battle for control of the story in Phyllis Coates. Coates played Lois for the first season and was one of the toughest beautiful versions of the character to appear. The criminals sometimes took quite the battering before Superman even appeared!
Lest we forget the immaturity of television at the time, and the immaturity of myself, 'The Adventures of Superman' was mostly seen as a children's show but it was one which had a lot of implied maturity. There was death, there was creepy insanity, and some real peril for the leads. The realness of the actors really lends itself to some real peril, even the sometimes ludicrous Jimmy Olsen does, and it plays with the black and white on many levels. Just like many of the best television series, they ended up making a miniature movie every week, and doing it well.
All these words, and none of them about George Reeves yet, the titular lead. He's probably the best Clark Kent to have ever been cast, and his Superman is no minor achievement either. Watching it in context, which is an essential part of watching most archive television, his confidence is amazing. From the first episode on, he knows exactly how to play the smart and streetwise performer with a glint of fun, and how to wear the sometimes silly muscle suit of Superman without ruining the whole effect. Reeves was the definitive Superman for decades for a reason, and this was the definitive superhero show for that same reason: The whole show committed to internal consistency.
It was a great show, and it still is if you can get into that 1950s mindset, because when Reeves winks at the end you know you're watching something special.
O.
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