Category Archives: Superman

A Daily Planet contest saves the world

Less than a year after the United States dropped the first atomic bombs on Japan, young listeners to “The Adventures of Superman” radio serial heard of another dictatorship’s threat to destroy American cities with 100 planes loaded with atom bombs. … Continue reading

Posted in 1940s, adventure, Clark Kent, detectives, Lois Lane, newspaper crusades, newspaper readers, newspapers, Perry White, reporters, reporting, Superman | Leave a comment

The Case of Exploding Dolls

The opening episode of this six-part Superman story from 1940 shows reporters Kent and Lane on assignment, tracking down a fatal industrial explosion at an unlikely place — a doll factory. Hans Honin’s Doll Factory, episode one Hans Honin’s Doll … Continue reading

Posted in 1940s, adventure, Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Perry White, reporters, reporting, Superman, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Not Lois — it’s Margo Lane, reporter

I’ve written in the past about the Shadow having his partner Margo Lane impersonate a reporter from time to time, but now I have found a Shadow episode in which Margo actually does take on a writing assignment. It’s not … Continue reading

Posted in 1940s, adventure, crime, Lois Lane, magazines, reporters, women | Leave a comment

Newspaper legwork, 70 years ago on radio

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

Clark Kent finds swell story via turtle

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

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Merry Christmas from Superman, 1945

“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

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Hate mongers vs. refugees and minorities

In the wake of World War II, radio’s fictional journalists were defenders of immigrants and religious and ethnic minorities. A Big Town Christmas episode about a Polish refugee newspaper editor, and Superman and The Daily Planet’s fight against “The Klan … Continue reading

Posted in 1940s, Brotherhood, Clark Kent, Jimmy Olsen, Superman, World War II | Leave a comment

Calling Clark Kent — not Superman — to the rescue

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

What a reporter can do…

Clark Kent may have been Superman, but most of his early radio adventures opened with him hard at work as a newspaperman — in this case driving dangerously rain-soaked mountain roads in fog and hail to interview a scientist, on … Continue reading

Posted in 1940s, Clark Kent, ethics, Lois Lane, Superman | Leave a comment

Clark Kent’s Nuclear Meltdown

There isn’t a lot of journalism in the epic 39-part Atom Man vs. Superman radio story, but it did provide a glimpse of employee relations at the Daily Planet — when Clark Kent was twice suspected of having a mental … Continue reading

Posted in 1940s, Clark Kent, editors, Lois Lane, Perry White, reporting, Superman, World War II | Leave a comment