tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post2122876846770944563..comments2023-11-03T06:02:02.128-07:00Comments on By Ken Levine: Flying Around the World in 3 Hours -- Pack a SweaterBy Ken Levinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17305293821975250420noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-76727723078515907042011-05-18T16:36:55.293-07:002011-05-18T16:36:55.293-07:00A very good friend of my father's, George Blai...A very good friend of my father's, George Blair, directed many of the Superman TV episodes and was a prolific director of 40s movies and 50s and 60s TV shows. I always used to look for his name in the credits of TV shows as a kid and young man.Ron Rettignoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-27986137792397854072011-05-16T06:19:03.279-07:002011-05-16T06:19:03.279-07:00I grew up a little bit outside of the George Reeve...I grew up a little bit outside of the George Reeves Superman (I was born in 1959). I did grow up on the Superman Comics and of course loved Christopher Reeves (who did sell the Clark/Superman thing well). Did want to recomend to anyone who likes the Superman/Lois dynamic to check out Love and Capes by Thom Zahler. He writes a great comic that has the Crusader dating and marrying his Lois, Abby. A great book that has a lot of fun with the romance but never takes it lightly. (LoveandCapes.com)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-79671894157232308552011-05-16T05:43:03.087-07:002011-05-16T05:43:03.087-07:00The hair thing has certainly become confused in Su...The hair thing has certainly become confused in Superman's 70+ years. <br /><br />When the character was created, the ever-cycling fashions for men was to have a load of 'product' (as it would be called today). Watch any old movie of the time with Clark Gable or Cary Grant or whoever. Gleaming, slicked back coiffures. To be part of his generation, Clark Kent also kept his favourite pomade and comb busy.<br /><br />Now, when you're watching those old movies, observe when Clark or Cary or whoever has to slug it out with a two bit hood. When the fight is done, notice how their hair is in disarray, often with an errant lock ACROSS THEIR FOREHEAD. <br /><br />Our boy from Krypton has a natural wave to his hair. When Superman goes into action, he has no time to worry about his hairdo. As such, an unruly lock of curly hair fell down. Only as Clark would he fuss with a comb and set everything in order.<br /><br />It's that simpleBlazenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-2808656593123583252011-05-15T21:46:24.108-07:002011-05-15T21:46:24.108-07:00Christopher Reeve made the Clark Kent / Superman s...Christopher Reeve made the Clark Kent / Superman secret identity work.<br /><br />jbryant said...<br />Didn't one of the Superman iterations try to explain away the recognition issue by suggesting that he vibrated his facial molecules or some such when in his Clark guise, thus making him look different from the Man of Steel?<br /><br />MG: No, other way around. Superman vibrated his facial features so pictures of him always looked blurry. That was John Bryne who did that in the eighties. <br /><br /> crackblind said...<br />2. Because of some Kryptonian property, the glasses acted as a hypnotic enhancement so the image people saw of Clark was actually a weakling man because that was how he wanted them to think of him.<br /><br />MG: That was in a story in the seventies. The story was not well received and was never referenced again before the eighties reboot.MGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-79202874344482075872011-05-15T21:22:59.396-07:002011-05-15T21:22:59.396-07:00In the original comic books, Kent also drooped a l...In the original comic books, Kent also drooped a lock of hair on his forehead to change his appearance when he became Superman.EWA private networkhttp://www.affiliatesrating.com/2010/12/ewa-private.htmlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-54881386149394321142011-05-15T20:52:19.361-07:002011-05-15T20:52:19.361-07:00My favorite scene involved Superman confronting se...My favorite scene involved Superman confronting several villains who proceeded to empty their revolvers at the Man of Steel. Of course Superman just puffed out his chest and allowed the bullets to bounce off harmlessly.<br /><br />Then, in desperation, one villain hurls his gun at Superman. And what does the Man of Steel do? <br /><br />He ducks. Stage prop bullets won't hurt him but that metal gun would sting if it hit him.parnellnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-62707187707777974912011-05-15T20:44:23.666-07:002011-05-15T20:44:23.666-07:00"Remember ... when he levitated Lois and she ..."Remember ... when he levitated Lois and she stopped the compacter walls from closing because she was hynotised?"<br /><br />Yeah, and Jimmy had to inch his way up the walls to turn off the Kryptonite ray that was keeping Supes down there? And how, rejuvinated, Supes flew up out of the compacter and left Lois down there to get out on her own?<br /><br />Ah, well ...<br /><br />I'd explain how the girl didn't freeze in her 'round-the-world flight ... but I don't want to look like a geek.Earl Bnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-20591608764594356502011-05-15T20:41:52.051-07:002011-05-15T20:41:52.051-07:00Dan, you may be on to something. Maybe the produc...Dan, you may be on to something. Maybe the producers of TWO AND HALF MEN should treat the Sheen character like Dr. Who -- recast every season or two. :)jbryantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-85215271433864824942011-05-15T17:42:52.618-07:002011-05-15T17:42:52.618-07:00Ken:
Like you, even at 57, I still love the old bl...Ken:<br />Like you, even at 57, I still love the old black and white Superman.<br /><br />A Friday question:<br />You've discussed Two and a Half Men before, so I'm sorry if I'm repeating a question. How would you handle Sheen's replacement?<br />Superman, Rosanne, Bewitched and many others replaced actors without changing characters.<br />George Burns replaced one of the actors playing his neighbor by simply telling the audience that the previous actor had asked too much money to return.<br />I thought it would be neat, but probably not profitable, to have a different actor each week portray Sheen's character. The idea would probably grow old.<br />I don't watch the series, but I'll watch the first couple of new episodes to see how this is handled.<br />Dan in MissouriDan in Missourinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-87726510648075145832011-05-15T17:24:00.974-07:002011-05-15T17:24:00.974-07:00The first season episodes of "Superman" ...The first season episodes of "Superman" were actually considered a little too dark for the kiddies (no that's not why they started shooting the episodes in color), because the show runners had been the ones involved with the Superman movie serials and were trying for a broader audience appeal. So you got things like Superman taking a two-bit hood and his girl who've discovered his secret identity and dropping them on top of a glacier until he could figure out what to do with them, and having them conveniently fall off the thing to their deaths. Pleasant dreams kids, and don't think about the mole men zapping that guy with their ray gun, either. <br /><br />Once they decided they were more interested in pushing the other kind of cereal that show sponsor Kellogg's was try to sell to the yutes, they dumbed the plots down and also replaced the more abrasive Phyllis Coates with Noel Neill and made sure there was at least one comic "dese, dem dose" type of comedy relief bad guys in every other episode (which apparently gave the writers of the Superman movie their inspiration for Gene Hackman's Otis role 20 years later).Johnnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-9455339703023907412011-05-15T16:00:34.901-07:002011-05-15T16:00:34.901-07:00@jbryant -
They've used a explanations a bun...@jbryant - <br /><br />They've used a explanations a bunch of along those lines. My favorite was when they claimed that he used glass from his spaceship as the lenses in his glasses. This explained: <br /><br />1. how his glasses survived if he used his heat vision while wearing them (never mind the times you saw him lower his glasses when he needed to do that trick) <br />2. Because of some Kryptonian property, the glasses acted as a hypnotic enhancement so the image people saw of Clark was actually a weakling man because that was how he wanted them to think of him.<br /><br />I think I am officially the geekiest man on this blog (sorry Ken).crackblindhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13088682009537848311noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-81455781760013405222011-05-15T15:27:21.258-07:002011-05-15T15:27:21.258-07:00A "gurdle"? On the other hand I wasn'...A "gurdle"? On the other hand I wasn't even around for when the Superman series originally aired (except for the last couple of years) but did watch it in reruns when I was growing up. Even back then, in my single digit age, I was thinking "Why does Superman look like he's almost old enough to be retired and collecting Social Security?"YEKIMIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01921751875397071034noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-26728013735746197592011-05-15T13:34:45.190-07:002011-05-15T13:34:45.190-07:00I liked the Nash Rambler convertible that Lois Lan...I liked the Nash Rambler convertible that Lois Lane drove in the early episodes. Its side windows were always rolled up, maybe because she wouldn't have recognized the car without its [window] glasses on!Powerhouse Salternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-35598818519539887352011-05-15T13:24:20.221-07:002011-05-15T13:24:20.221-07:00Didn't one of the Superman iterations try to e...Didn't one of the Superman iterations try to explain away the recognition issue by suggesting that he vibrated his facial molecules or some such when in his Clark guise, thus making him look different from the Man of Steel? I don't think this was ever reflected in the artwork, however.jbryantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-88372612747279271422011-05-15T13:12:40.542-07:002011-05-15T13:12:40.542-07:00In the original comic books, Kent also drooped a l...In the original comic books, Kent also drooped a lock of hair on his forehead to change his appearance when he became Superman. On radio, his voice became deeper and bolder as Superman. Worked for me.Cap'n Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11783977137812876489noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-10770093790839215702011-05-15T12:37:13.560-07:002011-05-15T12:37:13.560-07:00George Reeves played a very wry Superman, which is...George Reeves played a very wry Superman, which is why I still enjoy watching the show whenever I come across it, no matter how lousy the special effects.<br /><br />Watching as an adult, I notice the show had a kind of tounge-in-cheek attitude about it. Nowhere near the extent of the later Batman series, but it was there. I remember one episode where a crook invents a fireproof costume. He sets banks on fire, and then robs them as they burn. When his otherwise thickheaded accomplice asks him, quite reasonably, why he just doesn't sell the suit to a giant corporation and get more money then he ever could robbing banks, the crook replies,<br /><br />"Because that would be honest."<br /><br />OK, you had to be there.Kirkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02155991693956178030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-85081404815845722282011-05-15T12:36:58.646-07:002011-05-15T12:36:58.646-07:00A large metropolitan newspaper with only three rep...A large metropolitan newspaper with only three reporters is probably pretty accurate these days. I'm pretty sure the LA Times is just two paid reporters and three dozen bloggers who get paid a penny per word.Paulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16721491637510090251noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-44871735609722515222011-05-15T12:18:41.782-07:002011-05-15T12:18:41.782-07:00The Daily Planet was a great metropolitan newspape...<i>The Daily Planet was a great metropolitan newspaper with a staff of three reporters. Yeah, that sounded about right at the time.</i><br /><br />Pretty much the same as the Los Angeles Tribune in "Lou Grant." And, for that matter, the real-life Los Angeles Herald Examiner.tenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-6422686375627061952011-05-15T11:28:05.960-07:002011-05-15T11:28:05.960-07:00I remember as a young girl being shocked and confu...I remember as a young girl being shocked and confused when my mother told me Superman (George Reeves) killed himself. That was just so unexpected from The Man of Steel.Nazhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00316554604305098721noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-51913682669433301882011-05-15T11:01:31.939-07:002011-05-15T11:01:31.939-07:00"Smallville" -- the occasionally fun, mo..."Smallville" -- the occasionally fun, mostly dopey teen-Superman show that just ended its run -- actually solved the secret-identity problem in an interesting way.<br /><br />When Clark Kent is finally ready to take his Superman persona public, Lois Lane convinces him to turn "Clark" -- who up to then is a rugged, good-looking farmboy-reporter -- into a wimp. He starts wearing glasses he doesn't need and becomes shy and clumsy around the office. The idea is that even if people noticed the resemblance, it wouldn't occur to them that this, yes, "mild-mannered" reporter could possibly be a superhero.<br /><br />It's a slightly more positive version of what Quentin Tarantino wrote in his screenplay for "Kill Bill": <br /><br />"When Superman wakes up in the morning, he's Superman. His alter ego is Clark Kent.... What Kent wears - the glasses, the business suit - that's the costume Superman wears to blend in with us. Clark Kent is how Superman views us.... Clark Kent is Superman's critique on the whole human race."BigTednoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-45413215672798679742011-05-15T10:52:51.614-07:002011-05-15T10:52:51.614-07:00"There’s no lead anywhere in a straight line ..."There’s no lead anywhere in a straight line between the Daily Planet building and India?"<br /><br />There's actually a lot based on my experience. As I have learned, women's blouses and bras contain a lot of lead because my x-ray power is blocked by those things as well.<br /><br />"OK, maybe that wasn't right at that time -- the Daily Planet was just 55-60 years ahead of current newspaper staffing concepts."<br /><br />Today, Superman would be living in his mom's basement. When not writing his blog, he would be making occasionally witty comments and observations on someone's else blog.bevonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-84490418087320200792011-05-15T10:50:23.810-07:002011-05-15T10:50:23.810-07:00What sticks out to me from those black and white s...What sticks out to me from those black and white superman shows was when it got caught up in stuff that should not have anything to do with superman. Remember when he was taught how to slowly disolve into a wall and come out the other side? Or when he levitated Lois and she stopped the compacter walls from closing because she was hynotised? I remember watching the Molemen episode when I was 8 or 9 and getting really anxious about what the townspeople might do to them. Now when I watch it I wonder why they didn't just call an exterminator.Pat Quinnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06078125270417015970noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-79558013116682334732011-05-15T10:25:01.694-07:002011-05-15T10:25:01.694-07:00Clark Kent was Superman? Wow! It's never too l...Clark Kent was Superman? Wow! It's never too late to learn...Bob Levinsonhttp://www.robertslevinson.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-91009443940564866962011-05-15T08:57:41.328-07:002011-05-15T08:57:41.328-07:00And, how about all those Nash Ramblers as police c...And, how about all those Nash Ramblers as police cars? I also recall that TV Guide blew the whistle on George Reeve's Superhero launchings. He trotted out on a diving board and jumped off camera into a trampoline.Mike Botulahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03280479229678291508noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-56789630363356684912011-05-15T08:04:13.905-07:002011-05-15T08:04:13.905-07:00Excellent point - Reagan got elected twice, as did...Excellent point - Reagan got elected twice, as did Bush (well, once, anyway). We can say the same thing about Obama. Whoever thought we'd see a Hawaiian elected president?Ronald Drumpnoreply@blogger.com