Superman on Television

Adventures of Superman: Episode Reviews

Season 1 - Episode 14: "Mystery in Wax"

Reviewed by: James Lantz

Original Broadcast Date: December 19, 1952

Writer: Ben Peter Freeman

Director: Lee Sholem

Guest Cast:
Mira McKinney as Madam Selena Dawn
Lester Sharpe as Andrew Dawn
Stephen Carr as Doctor John Hurley

"Mystery in Wax"

Famous psychiatrist Doctor John Hurley has received an invitation to a private unveiling of the newest wax figure created by Madam Selena Dawn. Madam Selena has recently made statues of prominent men whom she has predicted will die in six months. The curtain opens, and a sheet is removed to reveal a sculpture in the form of Doctor Hurley himself. Hurley is later seen in a dazed and shocked state as he walks through streets at night before jumping off a pier to his death in the waters of Metropolis Harbor.

News of Doctor Hurley's death is all over the city. Daily Planet editor Perry White is surprised by Hurley's actions. He always knew the psychiatrist as a happy person who had enjoyed his life. Hurley is the third person to suicide after Madam Selena had shown their statues at a private party in her wax museum. Lois Lane and Clark Kent, seeing something amiss, go to meet with Madam Selena. Her husband Andrew leads them to her. Clark and Lois go down a corridor where they see wax replicas of John Hurley and other men whom Madam Selena had said would perish. This could be an omen of things to come for Superman and his friends.

During the conversation with Lois and Clark, Selena claims to see visions of the person whose figure she is to craft. A voice then tells her that that individual will meet his or her demise within six months of the piece's debut. Both reporters are suspicious, but Lois is more open about this with Selena. As a result, the sculptress is more polite with Clark than with Lois. Neither realizes that Madam Selena has another fiendish sculpture in mind for someone else in Metropolis.

Clark has discovered that the men in Madam Selena's wax portraits are around the same weight and height. In the meantime, he, Lois and Perry have received invitations to see Madam Selena's next macabre creation. The trio is shocked to see a statue of none other than Perry White himself standing before the audience. The chief does not take kindly to this and promises Madam Selena that the Daily Planet will make things difficult for her. Afterwards, Clark is unsuccessful in convincing his editor to have a bodyguard on hand. Perry may have been better off with someone watching out for him, for later that night, Metropolis Police Inspector Bill Henderson has given Lois and Clark some terrible news. Perry White is dead.

In spite of evidence showing that Perry had jumped in the Metropolis Harbor from the same pier as John Hurley and the other victims of Madam Selena's predictions, Clark has some doubts. While he meets Inspector Henderson at the harbor, Lois sneaks into the wax museum just as it's about to close. Andrew Dawn locks up and helps his wife to exit from a secret door in the gallery's floor. Selena and Andrew go into another room for coffee while Lois tries to find out what is beneath Madam Selena's terrifying displays. She is very surprised by what she finds. Perry White, John Hurley and the men who had apparently killed themselves are alive and trapped in cages. Madam Selena is keeping them as part of her demented exhibition of living art.

Andrew Dawn is roughly the same height and weight of Perry and the other men who had jumped into Metropolis Harbor. Clark tells Inspector Henderson this as they examine the pier. There are pilings in which someone could use underwater while climbing a rope to the dock. Clark believes that Andrew wore wax masks to impersonate the victims of Madame Selena's death sculpture scheme. Meanwhile, the insane Madam Selena has placed Lois in an empty cage. The sculptress intends to make her a part of the secret art gallery of madness.

As Henderson examines Andrew and Selena's living quarters in the wax museum, Clark proves his theory as Superman. The Man of Steel finds Lois and Perry imprisoned with Madam Selena's other victims. The mad Selena attacks Superman, but she and her husband Andrew are no match for the Last Son of Krypton and Inspector Henderson. Madam Selena's wax museum of death has closed thanks to Superman.

With Selena and Andrew Dawn in prison for using their sculpture of death scheme to give their wax museum publicity, Perry, Lois, Inspector Henderson and Clark Kent can celebrate that fact that everyone Selena had captured is free. Perry, Lois and Henderson, however, would like to know what happened to Clark while Superman had rescued everyone trapped in Selena's underground art display.

"I'll bet you were hiding behind one of those wax figures," Perry says with a laugh to Clark.

"Behind Superman, chief," the smiling, mild mannered reporter replies.

5Rating - 5 (out of 5): Both Mira McKinney and Lester Sharpe were character actors with a wide variety of parts in their filmographies. In addition to being the villains in this episode, they have appeared separately in different episodes of The Lone Ranger. Universal horror film buffs can see Ms. McKinney as Vic's Wife in the Lon Chaney Junior classic The Mummy's Tomb.

This is the first and only episode to list Robert Shayne as a member of the guest stars. Normally, he is credited in the main cast when Inspector Henderson appears.

Stephen Carr does not have any lines in "Mystery in Wax". The only dialogue from the Doctor John Hurley character comes from a recording in the wax museum. Still, Carr gives one of his most powerful performances in this episode of The Adventures of Superman.

"Mystery in Wax" has an atmosphere similar to The Shadow radio program. As I've mentioned numerous times, many episodes in the first season of The Adventures of Superman feel like film noir stories. However, this one seems to be creepier than most stories seen so far. Perhaps the exception to that could be "The Haunted Lighthouse", but that had some light moments in its conclusion. "Mystery in Wax" is the perfect show for Superman fans that enjoy a good scare on Halloween.

This is probably the first time we see Perry White outside of his office in The Adventures of Superman television series. I must say that it's good to see John Hamilton do more than yelling and firing his staff every five minutes. Hopefully we'll see Perry be the central character in future episodes.

Mira McKinney's performance as Madam Selena is over the top, but that works for this episode because the character is totally insane. Like the Joker, her madness allows her exaggerated actions to work into the show's story. Had Madam Selena been a spy or a jewel thief, McKinney's acting would perhaps have been forced to be more subdued because portraying a crazy woman just would not work in that case. However, Ms. McKinney does perfectly in "Mystery in Wax".

There aren't any real complex elements in the plot as there have been in previous episodes in this season, but "Mystery in Wax" is an entertaining outing nonetheless. The team of Ben Peter Freeman and Lee Sholem, who worked together on "The Stolen Costume", collaborate with a cast that gives another outstanding, first rate performance. If you're looking for a half hour of fun that will put chills up and down your spine on a rainy, stormy night, "Mystery in Wax" will most definitely not disappoint.



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