WINDING down its uneasy way down a twisting, unsure path towards an unsure destination, an unknown time, the ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN reached a point which seemed to be neither here nor there. Whereas, no one figured that it would go on forever (which it has in a re-runs sense), neither were they aware that this was their next to last episode to be made.
FOLLOWING a hiatus after the next episode, the decision was reached to go on with 13 more half hours to be aired in the 1959-60 season. Reeves would be back in the Super-suit; as well as continuing to direct at least some of the episodes (George also had lined up a full series for his directorial skills as well as another personal appearance tour as Superman.
THEN two events interceded. The first was the death of John Hamilton in October of 1958. Story has it that the Show must indeed go on; as the National Comics Production Company is said to have lined up Pierre Watkin as replacement. Mr. Watkin, after all, had originally essayed the role in the two serials, SUPERMAN (Columbia Pictures, 1948) and ATOM MAN VS SUPERMAN (Columbia, 1950).
EVERYTHING came to a crashing halt in June of '59 with the sudden and still mysterious death of Mr. Reeves.
THE point of all of this previous expositional material being that no one but no one knew that this would be their next to last episode. It was also the second of three installments to be directed by George, himself! There surely must have been some psychic energy flowing as to the subject matter of Episode # 103.
'THE PERILS OF SUPERMAN' did both a sort of parody of the Theatrical Film Serial (also called Cliff Hanger or Chapter Play); production of which had been ended the previous year. The story had situations in which Superman was called on to save Lois Lane (Miss Noel Neill), Mr. Perry White (Mr. John Hamilton) and young Jimmy Olsen (Master Jack Larson) from far flung and nearly simultaneous Serial-type death traps. They were subject to the buzz saw on the logs, the mechanically tampered auto brakes & steering and such.
THE Serial theme was well done and manage to be both amusing and yet served to enable the bad guys almost to get away with their nefarious scheme. Almost that is! THE notion that a show's episode could be intended to serve as an homage to a film type or genre certainly never occurred to our innocent, youthful minds back in the 1950s. Although there is no dedication in the credits or anywhere, it was certainly so; as the last of the Movie Serials had come down the pike in the two or so years prior to the filming of this PERILS episode.
THEY were THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN Africa (Columbia, 1955) and KING OF THE CARNIVAL (Republic, 1955). Oddly, both had June 1955 releases, within a couple of weeks of each other.* WHEREAS the SUPERMAN Show was not a Serial, but rather a Series, there was not a direct correlation; other than the two Columbia SUPERMAN Serials previously mentioned.
FAMILIARITY with the Movie Serial was certainly a qualification that big George possessed; as he doubtless had grown up on them and even starred as the title character in one, before taking on the Superman duties. It was as another 'Man of Steel' in THE ADVENTURES OF SIR GALAHAD (Columbia, 1949), that Reeves had first hand, on hands experience with the form.
NOTE: * The two last chapterplays were both rehash of previous serials from the salad days of the cliffhanger. CAPTAIN Africa had John Hart in the role, which used plenty of long shots from Columbia's 1943 THE PHANTOM. It could be properly called a knockoff of the Lee Falk, King Features Syndicate Phantom Comic Strip. KING OF THE CARNIVAL had Harry Lauter in a rehash of the carnival theme using tons of footage from Republic's DAREDEVILS OF THE RED CIRCLE, 1939.
POODLE SCHNITZ!!