The Adventures of Superman (radio)



"Look! Up in the sky!

It's a bird!

It's a plane!

It's Superman!"

- Opening Narration

Technically comprised of five different radio series which ran consecutively from 1940-1951, all produced by Robert J. Maxwell. Most of the episodes starred Clayton 'Bud' Collyer as Superman, Joan Alexander as Lois Lane, Julian Noa as Perry White and Jackie Kelk as Jimmy Olsen. Aired for the majority of its run on the Mutual Broadcasting System.

This show provides examples of:
"Yes, it's Superman! Strange visitor from the planet Krypton, who came to Earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal
 * Canon Foreigner
 * Jimmy Olsen, who later immigrated.
 * Kryptonite. Not created to give Collyer a vacation, despite the myth.
 * Inspector Henderson, who followed in Jimmy's footsteps and became a Canon Immigrant as well.
 * The names "Daily Planet" (for Clark's newspaper) and "Perry White" (for its editor), which quickly made their way to the pages of the comic.
 * Catch Phrase
 * "Up, up and away!"
 * "This looks like a job... for Superman!"
 * "Great Caesar's ghost!"
 * Clark Kenting: Bud Collyer shifted vocal registers to differentiate between Clark and Superman.
 * Counter-Earth: Krypton is said to be this.
 * Cowboys and Indians: Legend has it that this trope was ingeniously invoked to discredit the Ku Klux Klan. A journalist who'd infiltrated the KKK gave details of secret meetings, passwords, titles etc. to the show's writers to use in a Supes vs. the KKK storyline. Soon enough, there were kids running around neighborhoods all over America dressed in pillowcases, being beaten up by their friend with the Superman pyjamas. The truth of all this is uncertain but there was such a storyline on the show.
 * Crossover: Batman and Robin appear in many episodes.
 * Evil Sounds Deep: Inverted. Collyer's Superman voice was deeper than his voice for Clark.
 * Expanded Universe
 * For Great Justice: As stated in the Opening Narration.
 * Intrepid Reporter: Everyone who worked for the Daily Planet.
 * Opening Narration: It varied over the years, but the most familiar version (since it was heavily borrowed from in subsequent adaptations) starts with the page quote and continues:

men. Superman, who can leap tall buildings in a single bound, race a speeding bullet to its target, bend steel in his bare hands!

And who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, fights a never-ending battle for truth

and justice!"


 * Reality Subtext: Stories would occasionally completely shift focus to Batman and Robin in order to give Collyer a little time off.
 * Right-Wing Militia Fanatic: The Clan of the Fiery Cross, a thinly-disguised Ku Klux Klan.
 * Take Care of the Kids: In this version of The DCU, Robin's father asked Bruce Wayne to take care of his son.
 * Those Wacky Nazis
 * World War II: All of the characters were active participants in the war effort.