Look, Up in the Sky! The Amazing Story of Superman Page #6

that the guy who saves everybody. . .

. . .can't enjoy his Life.

But no matter what conflicts

he faced...

...Superman reflected the same

unwavering optimism of his readers.

And as the 1960s dawned

Superman seemed completely in-tune...

... with a hopeful new decade...

...symbolized by the election

of a vigorous...

... young president who promised a future

of space exploration and social justice.

We choose to go to the moon.

One Superman comic written in 1963,

even suggested a friendship,,,

...between the American president

and the Kryptonian crime-fighter.

The comic was set to go to press

that November...

...just as shots

rang out in Dallas, Texas.

Shooting in the motorcade--

At the age of 46,

John F. Kennedy was dead.

And his assassination shattered

the dreams of a new frontier.

Another generation grew disillusioned.

Institutions, traditions, convictions

all became candidates for radical change.

And change they did.

A decade that began

with great optimism...

... was marked by race riots,

political protest...

...and militant activism

against the Vietnam War.

paper heroes like Superman

now seemed irrelevant, even silly.

It was a time of, you know, long-haired

hippie freaks running the streets.

And Superman was still,

like the agent of the status quo.

cape Kennedy could be next.

This is a job for Superman.

Up, up and away!

He made me see stars that time.

In 1966, DC's number-two hero,

Batman, came to television...

...as a straight-faced parody

of comic-book heroes.

It was part of a resurgence,

if you will, in pop art.

And we were adding our slice

of the cultural pie.

We had the comic balloons

and the sounds like ''zap'' . . .

. . . ''barroom,'' ''crunch,'' and so on.

-Ringside table, Batman?

-Just looking, thanks.

I'll stand at the bar.

I should wish to attract attention.

The same year that Bat mania gripped the

country, Superman landed on Broadway...

...in a musical comedy.

It's a Bird. . .It's a plane. . .It's Superman

boasted a talented cast...

...direction by the legendary

Hal Prince...

...and songs by the team

who'd earlier written "Bye Bye Birdie."

But the tongue-in-cape spoof

closed after 128 performances.

Although it did resurface

as a 1975 television special...

...starring David Wilson

and Lesley Ann Warren.

-Not so fast.

-Oh, Superman, you're wonderful.

I just got a call from ABC (network) that said:

''could you give us a musical

for the late night?''

That was 1:
30 at night.

The whole thing was shot in four days

with a couple of cameras.

Hi there, America,

and friendly nations everywhere.

Glad we could get together.

Come on, paw!

Let's go, bam!

I need a little exercise

Take that, paw!

And that, oink!

Let's see what you can do

The man that played Superman

is David Wilson.

He was wonderful to work with and

we had a Little crush on each other. . .

. . .which was perfect.

It worked out well for the piece.

-Oh, Superman, you're terrific.

-Yeah, I know.

He wasn't a dancer and that was,

you know, that drove him crazy.

You know, putting on those tights

and leaping across the stage.

I mean, he was like, not thrived

about that, but he was a great sport.

Good night, sweet dreams

So sorry to mess up your plans

But now you know

Splat, paw!

Don't fool around

Wham, sow, with Superman

I really don't think it did well.

The reviews in the paper were kind

of okay, but I would have no idea. . .

. . .how it did number-wise,

or who came in, who turned in.

I don't think a heir of a Iota of people.

By the 197 0"s the future looked bleak

for the Man of Steel...

...and it seemed the world's

most powerful superhero...

... was, at best, a fond memory...

...or a figure of fun.

Everyone knows that you can leap

tall buildings in a single bound.

Certainly we all have heard that you

are more powerful than a locomotive.

-I love a good race with a chow-chow.

-I'm sure.

-Faster than a speeding bullet?

-Are you kidding? I'm ten times faster. . .

than a speeding bullet

-I have a pistol here, Superman.

-Bullet race, huh?

-And I would like to test it out if I can.

Okay, any time you're ready.

Superman?

As comic-book sales plummeted,

DC eagerly brought in a new editor...

...Julius Schwartz.

Schwartz encouraged

a new generation of writers...

...raised on Superman to update...

...and reexamine the character,

with intriguing, if mixed results.

Julius Schwartz

was not a great Superman fan.

He felt kids didn't pay attention

to newspapers anymore.

So maybe we should make Clark

a television reporter, and it didn't stick.

perhaps it's because

it makes Clark more glamorous. . .

. . .than he ought to be, somehow.

Under Schwartz? direction,

Superman became more introspective.

And Lois Lane received

a feminist makeover.

We almost went too far

the other way. . .

. . .in that she just became a really bitchy,

cynical female character. . .

. . .that I don't think Superman

would fail in love with.

As the Vietnam War escalated,

and political scandals,,,

...and presidential resignations

brought a nation to its knees...

well, I am not a crook.

...Broadway musicals like Jesus Christ

Superstar and Godspeed. . .

...reflected a rekindled interest

in spirituality.

Superman was now seen

in pop culture and in the comics...

...not just as a superhero,

but as a secular messiah.

There's definitely an allegory,

a Judeo-Christian allegory. . .

. . .that's happening

in the mythology of Superman. . .

. . .right up to the fact

that he descends from the heavens.

They took an Old Testament story,

which is Moses. . .

. . .whose mother and father were about

to be killed by the Egyptians. . .

...in this case it was Krypton.

And just like Moses

went down the Nile. . .

. . .and he landed on Earth

as an immigrant. . .

. . .and was adopted.

I don't think Superman

becomes a substitute for religion.

I think he becomes a substitute

for mythology.

Superman is the mythology of a hero.

This is what a hero can do.

This is perhaps what you can do

if you choose to be a hero.

There is morality in that,

that's very important.

Unfortunately, making Superman

comics more socially relevant...

,,,didn't make them more popular.

And even the success of Saturday morning

incarnations like the Super Friends. . .

...could't dispel the notion that

Superman's best years might be behind him.

I can't break the grip.

I'm powerless.

help!

help me, someone.

I think Superman needs help.

help! please, help.

I can't hold up much Longer.

But although heroes may fall

and their powers fade,,,

,,, they always come back fighting.

And thanks to a combination

of talent and good timing,,,

... the Man of Steel was about to

experience a remarkable resurrection.

Superman was losing popularity

in his native country.

But ironically, he was about to be revived

by a Russian-Mexican movie producer...

,,,living in Paris.

I was waking in front of a cinema

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