The Adventures of Superboy (1961)

Jimmy, Clark Kent and Lana Lang's friend, is ashamed that his father works as a doorman at the Smallville theater. His opinion changes when Superboy is able to thwart a robbery with Jimmy's... See full summary »

Director:

George Blair

Writers:

Vernon E. Clark, Whitney Ellsworth,

Stars:

John Rockwell, Bunny Henning, Ross Elliott

Cast

Cast overview:
John Rockwell	...	Superboy / Clark Kent (as Johnny Rockwell)
Bunny Henning	...	Lana Lang
Ross Elliott
Monty Margetts
Charles Maxwell
Robert Williams
Richard Reeves
Yvonne White
Stacy Harris
Jimmy Bates
Ray Walker
True Ellison	...	Donna (as Trudy Ellison)

Storyline

Jimmy, Clark Kent and Lana Lang's friend, is ashamed that his father works as a doorman at the Smallville theater. His opinion changes when Superboy is able to thwart a robbery with Jimmy's father's help.

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Plot Keywords:

superboy | superhero | based on comic | dc comics | teen | 

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Genres:

Action | Short

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

26 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Star John Rockwell was dumbfounded when he received his Superman costume, which was gray and brown. He was told that since the pilot was to be filmed in black and white, the gray and brown costume would read better on-screen than the traditional red and blue Superman outfit.

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Connections

Edited into Superboy: Spies from Outer Space (1996)

User Reviews

Frugal Pilot, True to its Source and Times

The notion of making any more episodes of the TV series THE ADVENTURES of SUPERMAN ended with the death of series Star, George Reeves, in the summer of 1959. The copyright owner of the Superman empire (which had included comic books,newspaper strip,radio show, movie serials,feature films, animated cartoons as well as all sorts of merchandising)came up with this pilot for a TV series featuring "the Adventures of Superman,when he was a boy"! The idea had done well in the comic books,so why not on the small screen?

Apparently the publisher, NATIONAL COMICS(ALSO KNOWN AS DC COMICS) had leaked out this info, as it was soon reported in the TV sections of the daily newspapers. They even mentioned it in the letter columns of their comics and sent a mailing(post card) to readers that they should watch for Superboy on Television.

The series never materialized. It's unfortunate that it did not. After having viewed the Pilot film one finds a decent, family oriented story which was not ashamed to endorse an ethical and law abiding way of life. In short,although it featured the presence of the young Superman, it was a story that could be anyone's story happening anywhere. It was at least as good as so much of the series Television that was around in 1961.