Adventures of Superman: Stamp Day For School Children
by Billy Ingram
The Adventures of Superman ran for 6 seasons (1952-1958) in the 1950s, a total of 104 episodes that have never stopped airing in syndicated reruns.
But there’s one episode that never ran on TV, shot specifically in 1954 for the United States Department of the Treasury to promote the purchase of U.S. Savings Bonds. It was distributed as 16mm film prints to schools around the USA.
I kinda feel like I missed out by not seeing this in school, I was a huge fan of the show. I didn’t see it until Warner Bros. released this film as an extra for the Adventures of Superman Season 2 DVD set. This was likely filmed during Noel Neill’s first season as Lois Lane on the program.
Apparently, the idea was for school kids to chip in some cash each week with the teacher collecting the money. “Firs thing you know,” Superman declares. “You’ll have enough for a Savings Bond. Just like dad buys through the payroll savings at work. From then on the sky’s the limit, take it from Superman.”
Just look at the smiling faces on these ‘swell’ kids. School children don’t look like this anymore!
The Adventures of Superman was set to resume production (in color) for a 7th season in 1960 but the death of George Reeves put an end to that. He was only 45. A friend of Reeves, Rory Calhoun, told a reporter, "No one in Hollywood believed the suicide story." As such, it remains an unsolved mystery.
The 2006 motion picture Hollywoodland starred Ben Affleck as George Reeves in a dramatization of the Superman actor’s demise.
