The first Superman Celebration was celebrated in June 1979 in the real Metropolis located in Illinois. This was 24 years after the broadcast of The Adventures of Superman episode Superman Week.
The episode starts out with Superman getting his portrait painted for Superman week. The painter (Tamar Cooper) quotes "I think Superman Week is a wonderful idea. Metropolis should celebrate one every year."
It was just two and a half decades later that the real Metropolis did just that. Celebrate Superman Week every year.
After leaving the female painter Superman flies back to The Daily Planet where we see Lois Lane (Noel Neill) making phone calls. There is going to be a testimonial dinner and Lois is getting people to send telegrams and cables to thank Superman for the ones he had helped.
Jimmy walks in, picks up a piece of paper and hurries out the door. Just at that time Clark comes to the office and wonders if Jimmy saw the memo about Sy Horton on his desk.
To get the scoop, Jimmy goes to Cy Horton (Herb Vigran) disguised as a Telephone Repair man with a very bad false mustache. Cy saw right through the disguise when he ordered Jimmy to untangle the phone cord. (I thought this was humorous the way Jack Larson delivered the dialog "I learned this method in the efficiency course they taught at school." Cy and his partner Matthew (Paul Burke) gave jimmy a truth drug and Jimmy told them all about Superman's weaknessKryptonite.
Jimmy tells the two about the effects of Kryptonite and the only known piece is in a lead pipe at the bottom of Metropolis Bay. (This is a reference from an earlier episode The Defeat of Superman written by Jackson Gills).
When Jimmy comes out of the trance, Cy sends him away warning that if he tells anybody what had happened, Cy will tell every mob in Metropolis about Kryptonite.
Clark is upset when Jimmy tells him the news and Clark asks Jimmy to meet him at his apartment that evening. When Jimmy gets there, Clark shows him the lead pipe containing the Kryptonite. At that moment Cy and Matthew show up. They grab the lead pipe and leave. Clark uses his x-ray vision to see Matthew cutting the lead pipe and Cy removing the Kryptonite.
Next we are back at The Daily Planet where Lois, Clark and Jimmy are going through Superman's schedule. Great dialogue in this scene. Lois "Superman certainly has a busy schedule. I don't know how even he can survive Superman Week."
Jimmy "I've never seen such rushing around in my life."
Clark "And all because of Superman week. Which if you recall I've been against since the beginning."
Clark leaves his office to change into Superman. Superman is having a bust done of him and he has an appointment with the sculpture name Van de Glass. (Jack George)
Cy and Matthew barge in on Van de Glass' studio where Matthew knocks him out and Cy impersonates him.
Matthew digs a hole in the back of bust to put the Kryptonite in it while Cy is drawing a line five steps away from the bust. Cy thinks when Superman steps over that line the Kryptonite will render him unconscious.
When Superman steps into Van de Glass's studio, Cy insists he comes closer to admire his craft. As soon as Superman steps across the line, he gets weak and stumbles to the ground. Cy and Matthew leave to steal a pay roll at a bank. The two put knockout drops in the guard's coffee. The guard is on the floor and our two criminals take the keys off of him to open up the bank door. (This does not look like a bank door but a jail cell door).
Superman bursts through the wall to stop Cy and Matthew. The guard gets up from the floor and holds a gun on Matthew. Cy fires at Superman but the bullets bounce off his chest. After crushing his gun, Superman puts Cy's head through the bars of the door. Then he does the same thing to Matthew.
Buddy Mason plays the guard and he delivered the worst line of the episode"I hate to think what would have happened if you hadn't phoned in that warning. You know that coffee turned the sink purple."
Cy wandered about the Kryptonite but Superman exclaims he does not know how that rumor got started. But Cy thought it would harm Superman so he swallowed the bait and hung himself.
Now back at the Planet, Lois scheduled Clark to interview Superman. Clark explains to Jimmy that the Kryptonite was a harmless rock painted with glowing phosphorus. He did not tell Jimmy of his plan because he thought Jimmy would get another "Truth Serum Milkshake". Clark lets Lois and Jimmy go to his apartment so they can watch the interview on his TV set. This was another way Lois tried to prove Clark and Superman was the same.
Clark uses the white bust dressed with his suit, hat and glasses while he is dressed as Superman in front of the television camera. Clark asked questions to Superman using a tape recorder. After the interview, Lois and Jimmy are disappointed that Lois' plan to reveal Clark as Superman did not go as she had planned.
The episode ends with a ticker tape parade and Superman waving to his fans.
Jim Hambick owns the Superman Museum in Metropolis Ill. From this episode he has an exact copy of the painting that was seen in the episode.
Jim also has The George Reeves bust in the museum is not the actual one from the episode but was cast from the same mold as the one that did appear in the episode
.
The TV set used at the end of the episode, Jim has a set of the same year, make and model and not a reproduction.
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Episode Summary
EDIT
While plans are made to celebrate "Superman Week," Sy Horton's mob forces Jimmy to reveal the secret of Kryptonite.
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GUEST STAR
Paul BurkeTips
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GUEST STAR
Tamar CooperArtist
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GUEST STAR
Jack GeorgeVandeglas
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Jack Larson
Jimmy Olson
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Robert Shayne
Inspector Bill Henderson
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George Reeves
Clark Kent/Superman
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John Hamilton
Perry White
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Noel Neill
Lois Lane (9-18-53)
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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions
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TRIVIA (2)
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Since this episode involves kryptonite, the episode title could have been intended to be a play on words: "Superman Weak?"
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Goof: Superman supposedly retrives the lead pipe holding the Kryptonite. Clark Kent has it in his apartment and is showing it to Jimmy when Si Horton and his accomplice burst in and take it. There is no word given as to how the two men knew that Clark Kent had the pipe. They only knew that the pipe was in the harbor, they had no idea that Superman had retrieved it.
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QUOTES (0)
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NOTES (2)
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This is a sequel to the previous season's episode "The Defeat of Superman", using the same kryptonite fragment.
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ILLOGICAL: How is it that Superman retrieved his bust from the sculpter,dressed it as Clark Kent, and was able to be broadcast in an empty TV studio for air? If you notice, the camera sweeps from the bust of Kent to Superman with the hopes in fooling everybody that Superman is actually being interviewed by Clark Kent. If we are to believe that Superman had the studio all to himself and knew how to run the equipment,then who was running the camera as it panned from Clark to Superman?
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ALLUSIONS (0)
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What did you think of George Reeves playing Superman
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Perry White
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