Category Archives: adventure

A brotherhood of reporters and ex-reporters

Posted on January 15, 2018 by Bob Stepno

The 1948-49 series Box 13 featured a former newspaper reporter, Dan Holiday, now a novelist. He had become a detective/adventurer, advertising for tips sent to his classified-ad box, to dig up plots for his works of fiction. The newspaper’s main … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, adventure, detectives, reporters, World War II, writing | Leave a comment

Newspaper legwork, 70 years ago on radio

Posted on December 5, 2017 by Bob Stepno

In the continuing story “Pennies for Plunder,” the Daily Planet and Superman waged a month-long battle against a punchboard lottery racket, throughout December 1947, in the era when Superman was a daily 15 minute cliffhanger radio serial (and seller of … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, adventure, Jimmy Olsen, journalism, newspaper crusades, Perry White, reporting, Superman, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Radio reporter killed; Hornet on the case

Posted on September 14, 2016 by Bob Stepno

“A Man of Many Words,” July 7, 1946 https://archive.org/download/TheGreenHornet/Thegreenhornet-460706AManOfManyWords.mp3 This unusual 70-year-old episode of The Green Hornet begins with a heroic  (or foolhardy?) journalist defying death threats — but he’s a radio columnist, not one of the series’ usual newspaper … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, adventure, GreenHornet, radio | Leave a comment

Fighting drugs with a radio-comicbook crossover

Posted on March 28, 2016 by Bob Stepno

Radio and movie star Frank Lovejoy would have been 104 today. Better known as the leading man reporter on Night Beat,  Lovejoy also took a turn as The Blue Beetle, a radio and comic book superhero who appeared to borrow … Continue reading →

Posted in 1930s, 1940s, adaptations, adventure, comics, detectives, reporters, science fiction | Leave a comment

Clark Kent finds swell story via turtle

Posted on March 26, 2016 by Bob Stepno

In 1940, Superman didn’t need a world-threatening super villain or a city-destroying duel with another “hero” to be an entertaining role model. In this early “Adventures of Superman” radio tale, Clark Kent’s reportorial curiosity gets the better of him — … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, adventure, Clark Kent, Jimmy Olsen, Superman | Leave a comment

Merry Christmas from Superman, 1945

Posted on December 22, 2015 by Bob Stepno

“Christmas today is very extra-special,” the Man of Steel announced to listeners seventy years ago, at the start of the “Adventures of Superman” episode broadcast on the first Christmas Day after the end of World War II. With Germany and … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, adventure, Superman, World War II | Leave a comment

Calling Clark Kent — not Superman — to the rescue

Posted on October 6, 2015 by Bob Stepno

News stories about September 2015 death of Jack Larson — “Jimmy Olsen” on the 1950s Superman television series — often mentioned the actor’s dislike for story-lines that repeatedly had “Jimmy” dripping wet, threatened by rising tides or torture-rooms filling with water. … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, 1950s, adaptations, adventure, Clark Kent, Jimmy Olsen, Perry White, reporters, reporting, Superman, television | 1 Comment

Little Orphan Annie in the newsroom

Posted on January 14, 2014 by Bob Stepno

Popular radio series characters of the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s often visited or were visited by newspaper reporters and editors. Little Orphan Annie, decades before her Broadway debut, paid a visit to a local editor on the occasion of her … Continue reading →

Posted in 1930s, adventure, children, comics, editors, local news | Leave a comment

A Christmas story – Superman versus the Nielsen racket

Posted on December 18, 2013 by Bob Stepno

December 1946 — The bad guy in this Superman story isn’t threatening the world, but he could cost Clark Kent his job, and right before Christmas too! Yes, as the headline above suggests, the villain is a racketeer named Nielsen, … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, adventure, Clark Kent, comics, editors, Jimmy Olsen, journalism, newspaper crusades, newspapers, Perry White, reporting, Superman, World War II | Leave a comment

An honest newspaperwoman fights for a clean election

Posted on October 24, 2013 by Bob Stepno

Juvenile listeners to the 1950s Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok radio series heard at least one or two episodes suggest that some Western heroes were journalists, not just gun-fighters. And, while the program’s introduction sings the praises of “a few … Continue reading →

Posted in 1950s, 19th century, adventure, newspaper crusades, newspapers, political corruption, westerns | Leave a comment