So sometimes you just need to appreciate a Superman TV show trading card from 1965.

§ June 22nd, 2011 § Filed under superman, trading cards § 11 Comments

Just so happened that we had one just hangin’ around in the shop, here. Let’s take a look, shall we?


“I really wish they wouldn’t hold the cue cards so high.”

 

Superman’s greatest adventure? I believe there is really only one contender for that title.

Also, I suddenly have the urge to WATCH SUPERMAN ON T.V., for some odd reason.

11 Responses to “So sometimes you just need to appreciate a Superman TV show trading card from 1965.”

  • Joe S. Walker says:

    “Superman and his friends stood discussing the many adventures that had been encountered by the Man of Tomorrow since he had come from the planet Krypton…”

    They had a card for a clip episode??

  • Garrie says:

    I’m wondering if E. Nelson Bridwell wrote the text on these cards. Who else in 1965 would see fit to mention George Taylor? Was he ever brought up in the actual show?

  • David Thiel says:

    I was wondering that too. Can’t imagine that the show would have had cause to mention George Taylor.

    And was Perry the mayor of Metropolis, or was that text poorly written?

    Side note: “The Adventures of Superman” ended in ’58, so it would’ve been in reruns for years by the time these cards came out and implored their owners to watch Superman on TV.

  • g23 says:

    Thanks David… I was wondering when that show ended… kind of thinking that color TVs were starting to become more common around 65 when this card was made…

  • philip says:

    Is it me or did people used to look older? George Reeves was in his late 30s/early 40s when that show ran and he looks much older to me. Jack Larson (Jimmy) was in his 20s and he looked 35. Is it the bowtie?

  • "O" the Humanatee! says:

    “Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s—-oh wait, I’m down here with you guys.”

    I too enjoyed the episode where Superman fought Rocky Marciano.

  • Andrew Leal says:

    Wow, that card text *is* uber geeky for 1965. Perry White did became mayor of Metropolis on the radio (where he originated), in the late 40s/early 50s shows, and somewhat confusingly remained editor at the Daily Planet (conflict of interest much?) Then they switched to a half hour format, for awhile still with Perry as mayor but finally they dropped that, and when the show moved to TV (some scripts, especially those by radio writer Ben Freeman, were just recycled whole cloth or reworked slightly from the half hour era), he remained merely an editor.

    I’m not entirely sure if Perry was ever mayor in comics continity (it’s not impossible or even that unlikely) but basically the card shows the copy writer had a full awareness of the character’s history in all media and was trying to write it into a single bio form, on the back of a trading and/or publicity card for no clear reason. So kudos!

    P.S.
    On radio, Perry also had a personal chef at home, an alien (extraterrestrial, though legal status may bear investigation too) named Poco who spoke in rhyme at all times and was the sole survivor of the planet Utopia. He frequently had wacky adventures with Jimmy Olsen, naturally (when he wasn’t being duped by con men or beaten up by bigots as a warning to Mayor White). Mike, given your love of the strange and wonderful in comics, if you haven’t listened to much of radio Superman, you really should. Classic radio Perry line, when Lois says “Chief, you’ll blow a gasket!”: “It’s my gasket and I’ll blow it if I want to!”

  • Andrew Leal says:

    Oh, also P.S., as far as I know such an episode never occurred on TV, but on radio, they did have a few episodes where the Planet wanted to run a story on Superman’s greatest adventure or his origin. Since “reruns” as such didn’t exist at that time, due to a combination of technological limitations and network rules against transcriptions for network origin shows (it was limited to syndicated shows, which thus had more of a “canned” sound), many series occasionally did “encore” presentations, doing a script over (with the same or different cast) or for Superman, reworking or shortening a past serial as a sort of recap or for those who missed it the first time (and in episodes dealing with his origins, it was mostly updating the radio continuity, since the first radio show had Superman landing on earth fully grown *and* costumed and a random professor whose life he saves suggests he adopt the alias “Clark Kent” and a job as a reporter; later episodes had Superman revealing bits such as how he was adopted by Pa Kent [then named Eben], or making the sequence of events involving and following the destruction of Krypton and Superman’s arrival clearer.

  • Bear says:

    @ Andrew – That’s cool, I never knew about any of that. Thanks for sharing. :)

  • Paul says:

    Can I buy that? Dibs, if possible.

  • Paul says:

    Oh, and I second what Bear said re: Andrew, and what Andrew said re: the Superman radio series, which I can also attest is great/fun/crazy/awesome.