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5. My Pal, George

I am the product of solitude. Growing up at the end of a long, winding bus route, with parents who worked, with few social contacts, I did a lot of things alone. That included watching my favorite TV show, The Adventures of Superman. Looking back, I don't see myself sharing the experience with anyone - not with my sister, my parents, nor any of my classmates. Maybe that's why George Reeves made an indelible impression on me. I had him all to myself.

Not that I thought of him as George Reeves at the time. "George Reeves" was just a name that flashed at the end of each episode. It was Superman I watched, thrilled to,�hung out with, not George. I sometimes wondered why the TV Superman didn't do the same things the comics version did - fight Luthor and Brainiac, fly to other planets, visit the bottle city of Kandor. It didn't really matter, though. Television was my virtual reality and the Superman I saw on it was virtually the real thing.

I watched the show religiously. Like many of you, I learned its liturgy by heart: "Yes, it's Superman! Strange visitor from another planet who came to earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. Superman! Who can change the course of mighty rivers, bend steel with his bare hands. And who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, fights a neverending battle for truth, justice, and the American way!"

(I can't quote the above without thinking of a college roommate of mine. Jim Roach, of Middleport, OH, loved to transpose the letters of the liturgy: "Mupersan! Who can cange the chourse of righty mivers, stend beel with his hare bands!")

Though less than half the 104 episodes were shot in black-and-white, I never saw the program in color. The Robinsons didn't buy a color TV until the early seventies. By then, the series was no longer being broadcast in our area. The last time I saw it as a child was early one Saturday morning in either 1964 or 65. I was in the fourth grade. The episode featured Inspector Henderson's French counterpart and double. I was watching along when, all of a sudden, the illusion was shattered. The film shuddered to a halt, then began to melt! It was the premature end of that episode and the beginning of a long, dry spell. I wouldn't see George Reeves on television again for ten years.

During that decade, I became a teen-ager, then a college student. As I matured, my eyes became less cloudy with fantasy and more open to reality. Not that reality hadn't occasionally intruded into my child's consciousness. I'd already been exposed to one very disconcerting truth about the actor who'd played Superman: he'd died. I remember the subject coming up on the school bus. I can still hear the cold contempt in the voices of these adult-wannabes:

"Superman?! Aw, he's dead!"

"Yeah, shot himself. Thought the bullet'd bounce off 'im!"

"Naw! He jumped out a window! Thought he could fly!"

The knowledge that George Reeves had killed himself affected me as a child. Yet, I don't think I was truly able then to grasp the fact that this was the same person I saw onscreen, the marvelous being who flew and stopped bullets with his chest.

I remember the day fantasy and reality finally collided in my head - and fantasy came away limping. Sometime during the mid-seventies, I was watching the Mike Douglas show. Noel Neill was a guest. She told about doing the college circuit, entertaining students who'd grown up with Adventures of Superman. They ran a clip from an episode in which Noel had played a prominent role, The Wedding of Superman. Remember, the last time I'd seen George Reeves, I was nine. The clip began - and I was startled to say the least. This wasn't the hero I remembered. This guy was older and, well, fatter than Superman. As a matter of fact, he reminded me of my dad got up in a pair of long johns. But it wasn't Dad, anymore than it was really Superman. It was only George Reeves, a fortyish actor who liked the bottle better than the gym. Thus do childhood dreams evaporate in the cold light of truth.

One of the compensations of growing up, however, is finding out there's plenty of truth to go around. Yes, George got older as he played the part. But it's also true that he made a dandy Superman anyway.

With the advent of the Chris Reeve blockbuster, local TV outlets took advantage of the renewed interest in Superman. They trotted out the old series and put George through his paces again. Thanks to local Superman "marathons" and, later, Nick-At-Nite, eventually, I got to see the entire run of the series afresh. I liked what I saw.

Warm up the DVD player. Slip in a disk. Watch ol' George do what he did so well, e.g.:

Takeoffs: Three running steps and he'd hurl himself out the Daily Planet window. Notice how, in some of these, George is actually perpendicular to the floor. Now that's flyin'! Brief, yes, but without CGI. You may have read how, for some takeoffs, he'd leap over a low-lying camera, somersaulting onto his back on a mat. Granted, if a man could fly under his own power, he probably wouldn't need to run and jump to get airborne. But then nobody's ever come up with a satisfactory explanation for how Superman can fly in the first place. Taken as they are, Reeves' leaps are not only wonderful athletic feats, they heighten the excitement.

Landings: He'd stand outside the window. At the director's cue, he'd grab a hidden bar and swing himself into the room. A quick glance toward the camera and he'd run out of the shot. The execution of the maneuver is as simple as it is flawless. Other landings involved jumping off a ladder. If that sounds quaint, ask yourself when you last stood at the top of a six-foot ladder? You're not looking down a mere six feet, but, depending on your personal height, as much as twelve! Not only did leaping off a ladder require a certain amount of skill (to keep it from wobbling over, among other things), it took courage as well!

Fight Scenes: I know a genuinely super-powered man wouldn't have to engage in fisticuffs with any number of thugs to subdue them. That doesn't rob me of the pleasure of seeing George perform in expertly choreographed fight scenes. Watch him in action at the climax of The Golden Vulture and No Holds Barred. Great stuff, isn't it?

Of course, as the series progressed, George did get older, grayer, and heavier. He did fewer stunts and the show suffered for it. Yet, if we look at it from another angle, how about a Superman who doesn't feel he has to prove anything? If he needs to push through a wall, he does. If he needs to jump between Lois and a gun, he's there. Reeves continued the role with aplomb and good humor. It's been famously reported that he had nothing but contempt for the part. If so,�give us�more actors with the same contempt! If he thought dressing up in long underwear and crashing through walls beneath him, the attitude seems only to have increased his comfort in the role. He wore those colors like his own skin. He made my generation believe he was Superman. I can't tell you how gratifying it was to find he had that same power over my own children.

I know he's the hero of us rapidly aging Boomers. I wouldn't declare the Adventures of Superman or its star to be immortal. George Reeves was my Superman. I certainly don't begrudge you yours, be it Chris Reeve, Dean Cain, Tom Welling, or ol' Kirk Alyn. It isn't easy for anybody to play that part. I admire anyone who takes on the challenge. But, for me, George was the Man. He always will be. I wish I could tell him how much I appreciate him.

I don't know whether he shot himself or, as many believe, was murdered. To me, it's a moot point. Death, however it comes, remains the enemy of us all. All I can say is, I would really like to meet him some day�across the finish line�where�all bullets�come in second�and men really can leap tall buildings in a single bound.

God bless you, George Reeves.

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5. My Pal, George

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