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The DEATH OF SUPERMAN, a reflection by Father Geek
Hey folks, Harry here. Earlier today, a frantic Robogeek was putting me under the hot lamp on whether or not Kirk Alyn had passed away. I told him, "No, if Kirk Alyn died... I would have heard about it from geeks all over the world." Well... I was wrong. Not one letter. I was shocked to hear of Kirk Alyn's passing. Perhaps I'm a child of a vintage generation, but the first image of a person I get when I think... SUPERMAN, is Kirk Alyn. I grew up going to conventions all over the country, and Superman (Kirk Alyn) was there. As were Tarzan, Spanky, Red Ryder, Fu Manchu, Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Lash LaRue, Ming the Merciless and on and on... Names like Commander Cody have real faces and meaning for me, and to hear that Kirk Alyn.... the world's first live-action Superman had passed away put a black veil on an otherwise sunny day. Good Luck finding the Serial... Video stores like BLOCKBUSTER have all but ceased to carry them... Most of them were sold at bargain basement prices a half decade ago. That's where I got mine. Kirk Alyn... He is my Superman! Now, I have to wonder... Is he that officer up in Heaven... You know the one... A GUY NAMED JOE met him once, and hopefully at some point, so will all of us. And so I leave it to the man that put me in Kirk's arms when I was just a year old. Take it away, Dad...
"Atom Man, Your moment of doom is at hand. As sure as I am the Man of Steel,
you will be behind iron bars before tonight!"
"Before tonight you will have ceased to exist, Superman - your atoms will be
scattered among the stars."
It is FATHER GEEK's sad misson tonight to inform you that one of moviedom's
ultimate good guys both on and off the screen has died. KIRK ALYN died Sunday in a
hospital north of Houston, Texas at the age of 88. A dancer in New York vaudeville, Alyn
followed his roommate Red Skelton out to Hollywood and soon landed jobs in B-
Westerns and small studio crime dramas. Superman had been in comics for 10 years before
Tinseltown got around to filming a live action Son of Krypton motion picture. When they
did Columbia Pictures cast a 37 year old Alyn as the lead. All the shifty-eyed crooks,
glory-hungry masterminds, and fame-seeking newspapermen Hollywood could muster
expected nothing more than meek, mild-mannered Clark Kent when they saw Kirk in his
drab business suit, but when the chips were down, not to mention his pants, he gave them
and us SUPERMAN, THE MAN OF STEEL. He did it in 30 Columbia serial episodes,
over 500 pulse-pounding minutes of stunt filled action.
As I write this I am looking at the rare 1-sheet movie poster to chapter one
"Superman Flys Again" of the 2nd of Kirk's Superman serials "ATOM MAN VS. SUPERMAN" that
is hanging on the back wall of Geek Headquarter's dining room just beyond my computer
station. Harry and I first met Alyn at the 1972 Houston Comic Convention. We would
visit and talk with him on over 15 occasions in the following years and a nicer guy just
doesn't walk the earth. Although I haven't seen him in recent years, I feel I've lost a good
friend. I'll carry the stories he told us with me the rest of my life. I've used a variation of
his Tomato, Mushroom, and Ham Omelet recipe that he gave me in 1973 hundred's of
times over the years, the next time it will taste just a little bitter-sweet. One major
ingredient will be missing. How's that for imagery, Clark Kent swapping recipes with the
Hippie, Fanboy, Comicbook dealer from The Simpsons. Bizarre as it seems it's true.
KIRK ALYN flew (pretty damn well too) into the hearts of America's youth 1st in
1948's SUPERMAN. Along with Noel Neill as Lois Lane and Tommy Bond as Jimmy
Olsen he fought to the finish with the malevolent Spider Lady and her fantastic Death Ray.
Through 15 chapter plays he kept audiences on the edge of their seats defending Truth,
Justice, and the American way.
The man from the planet Krypton returned to the silver screen in 1950's ATOM
MAN VS. SUPERMAN. Lois and Jimmy returned too, to butt heads with the sinister Lyle
Talbot in the role of Atom Man. Supes had to battle the mysterious nuclear nemesis and
his arsenal of futuristic weapons including a flying saucer throughout another 15 episodes
of blazing combat, knuckle-busting fist fights, and gut-wrenching car crashes. When all
was said and done our country was safe once again.
In 1952 Kirk would play one more high-flying comicbook hero in BLACKHAWK
another 15 part serial for Columbia. He would portray the aviator as he led his loyal crew
of international allies Chuck, Stanislaus, Andre, and Chop Chop in battle with a real life
menace this time. Alyn's foes were communist saboteurs set loose in America's factorys
and led by the beautiful and seductive, but deadly Laska. Of course our hero prevailed and
the enemy was once more driven from our shores.
After his time at Columbia, Kirk returned to New York and did over a dozen
Broadway plays. He was in 125 commercials on TV in the late 50's and 1960's, then he
retired to The Woodlands outside Houston and began to meet with his fans at shows thru
the south-central US. "When I was first asked to do a nostalgia convention, I didn't know
what to expect." He told Father Geek in the mid-70's. "But I was pleasantly surprised.
There were Doctors, Lawyers, Students, Housewives, a cross section of America, brought
together by a love of movies."
In 1978 he would be reunited on film with his Lois Lane as they played the new
Lois' parents in a brief scene (snipped from some prints) on a train passing thru Smallville
in Christopher Reeve's SUPERMAN. Now, Atom Man's quote at the start of my story has
a new meaning for me. Superman really is..."scattered among the stars."
Features—
1942 LUCKY JORDAN performer
1943 A GUY NAMED JOE performer
1943 OVERLAND MAIL ROBBERY performer
1943 PISTOL PACKIN' MAMA performer
1944 FORTY THIEVES performer
1947 LITTLE MISS BROADWAY performer
1947 SWEET GENEVIEVE performer
Serials—
1946 DAUGHTER OF DON Q performer
1947 THE TRAP performer
1948 SUPERMAN performer
1949 FEDERAL AGENTS VS. UNDERWORLD INC. performer
1950 ATOM MAN VS. SUPERMAN performer
1950 RADAR PATROL VS. SPY KING performer
1952 BLACKHAWK performer
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That picture says it all. That guy was a great Superman. Not a potbelly like George Reeves, no this guy's ass didn't jiggle as he leapt out a window. This guy was a respectable Kryptonian. Not some Hawaiian on ABC. Not some bald, ugly freak. NO this guy was Superman, the Man of Steel. Good bye Superman. You were the man.
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Maybe Supes' death will prompt Columbia to rerelease some of his old Serials to video?..well..one can hope.
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Well, this was one Superman actor that had no disaster befall him at a young age. I have a pool going on what will happen to the flyin' Hawaiian, Mr. Cain, with death by speeding train the fave at 5-2.
No, his career going down the drain does not count.... -
Harry mentioned that these videos are hard to find, but I think you can still get them through mail order or the internet. Reel.com could search for them, or order a catalog from MoviesUnlimited.com, a terrific resource. It's incredible to me that these aren't easier to find, although I have seen the odd copy recently at Saturday Matinee and Suncoast. Any Supes fan owes it to themselves to check these out. Mr. Alyn's Blackhawk serial is widely available right now, too. Y'know, I saw Mr. Alyn at a collectibles show in Orlando a few years ago, and now I really regret not standing in line to meet him.
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I don't know if the Kirk Alyn serials are specifically included, but there are large numbers of movie serials available on video from Facets Video (800-331-6197 or online at www.facets.org), or (as mentioned above, at Movies Unlimited (800-668-4344 or moviesunlimited.com). Movies Unlimited has an especially huge selection.
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Thank you, Father Geek, for paying fitting tribute to a man whose passing the world should take notice of. I am still stunned that his death -- the death of _Superman_ -- went virtually unnoticed by the mainstream media. We should all take a moment to remember the Golden Age Superman, whose likes we will never see again. "Up, up and away!"
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I have lived in Houston on and off now for the past 25 years. To know that I was so close to a wonderful actor and to have missed the chance to converse with him saddens me greatly. Father Geek, I envy the pearls of oral history he has inparted upon your soul. I thank you for passing along your memories so all of us could be reminded that things of this nature are just as clear in black and white if not better than 70 mil. The Earth seems lighter now that all the giants are leaving us behind.
Sony is good at re-releasing titles. Maybe we will see a remastered DVD set someday. As said above "one can hope'. -
I am a big Superman fan - I collect the action figures, get all the titles every month, love the movies and am looking forward to see what my favourite actor (Nicolas Cage) does with the part. I therefore regret that I have never seen Mr. Alyn's portrayal of the Man of Steel. I will go out of my way to find his serials now. I also had no idea that he done Blackhawk - he looked great in the uniform. Rest in Peace, Kirk.
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The serials have been available from Warner Brothers for several years at a list price of $29.95. THey're wel worth the price.
And why is everyone so shocked? It was on the front page of USA Today's Life section Monday. -
Wow. Thanks for a really, really great article on a man I knew little to nothing about. I'm sure if Mr. Alyn had gotten a chance to read that piece, he would've been beyond flattered. Thanks a lot and rock on, Father Geek.
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I heard about Alyn's death via the Superman CINEMA site on the day of his passing. Having enjoyed his Superman greatly (he was better--and better-dressed--than George Reeves and ranks right up there with Chris Reeve and Tim Daly), I was crushed. And when the Superman CINEMA site hosted a memorial chat hour the next day in Alyn's honor, only four people showed up. Now where's the justice in that?
I think it's a shame that Alyn is so poorly remembered by Superman fans; odds are they think George "I was an overweight alcoholic" Reeves was the first Supes. But as someone who appreciated his contributions to the legend, I can say that he will be remembered...and missed.
On the plus side, it's probably better that he died now. Seeing Tim Burton, Jon Peters, and Nic Cage's desecration of the Man of Steel would have killed him! -
I heard about Alyn's death via the Superman CINEMA site on the day of his passing. Having enjoyed his Superman greatly (he was better--and better-dressed--than George Reeves and ranks right up there with Chris Reeve and Tim Daly), I was crushed. And when the Superman CINEMA site hosted a memorial chat hour the next day in Alyn's honor, only four people showed up. Now where's the justice in that?
I think it's a shame that Alyn is so poorly remembered by Superman fans; odds are they think George "I was an overweight alcoholic" Reeves was the first Supes. But as someone who appreciated his contributions to the legend, I can say that he will be remembered...and missed.
On the plus side, it's probably better that he died now. Seeing Tim Burton, Jon Peters, and Nic Cage's desecration of the Man of Steel would have killed him! -
Well, that Brandon guy is still around.
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