MovieChat Forums > Adventures of Superman (1952) Discussion > Foot note on blooper

Foot note on blooper

posted 8 years ago by leroykevin
7 replies | jump to latest

In "The Birthday letter" a Blooper mentions The little girl reading a "Superman" Comic which shouldn't exist in Superman's universe because then they'd discover Superman's secret identity, well there was an April Fool's story where the villains do find out his secret by reading the comic

[–] pt100 8 years ago

there was an April Fool's story where the villains do find out his secret by reading the comic

What do you mean by this? Are you talking about another AoS TV episode? If so, which one? (There was a DC Comics story, "The Night of March 31st," in Vol. 1, #145, also known as the April Fools story, but I don't recall a TV episode like that.)

By the way, Superman comics appear in at least one other episode--e.g., on the newsstand at the very end of the episode "A Ghost for Scotland Yard," which aired just over a year later than the episode you mentioned. It is hard to see, but occurs when the newsstand proprietor shows Jimmy a comic, and one can just barely see the distinctive Superman title near the top. Here's a still from that final scene:
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm4283173888/tt0506550

The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine.–J.B. Haldane

[–] StayInTheCarChuck 8 years ago

At the very end of "A Ghost for Scotland Yard" episode they actually show the guy reading the Superman comic.

http://i.imgur.com/lcnfVxc.jpg
He's reading Superman Vol. 1 #83

[–] SixtiesHoldout 8 years ago

It isn't a blooper. They were doing it intentionally as a sort of joke.

❇ If you can remember the '60s, then you probably weren't there. ❇

[–] Moon_Doggie 8 years ago

Yes, it was likely intended both as a joke and as a product-placement/cross-promotion for DC Comics.

A person's a person, no matter how small. -- Dr. Seuss

[–] grizzledgeezer 8 years ago

There's a Golden Age comic-book story in which Lois and Clark go to a movie that includes a Superman short. (The story was no doubt intended to promote Paramount's new Superman cartoons.) Every time the film reveals that Clark is Superman, he has to distract Lois so she doesn't see it. Talk about weird self-reference!

Self-reference is extremely rare in TV series. The only other one I've seen occurs in a Gunsmoke episode in which someone delivers a sheaf of wanted posters to the marshal's office. Festus pages through them, singling out one villain whose beady eyes and shifty expression prove he's someone not to be trusted. The picture, of course, is of a fully bearded Ken Curtis.

[–] ZurichGnome 8 years ago

Self-reference is extremely rare in TV series.

Yes, it certainly is. And the nearly unique, quintessential example would be the TV series It's Garry Shandling's Show, the theme song for which has the following self-referential lyrics (Theme by Joey Carbone, Garry Shandling, and Alan Zweibel):

"This is the theme to Garry's Show,
The theme to Garry's show.
Garry called me up and asked if I would write his theme song.
I'm almost halfway finished,
How do you like it so far,
How do you like the theme to Garry's Show.

This is the theme to Garry's Show,
The opening theme to Garry's show.
This is the music that you hear as you watch the credits.
We're almost to the part of where I start to whistle.
Then we'll watch "It's Garry Shandling's Show".

(whistles)

This was the theme to Garry Shandling's show."

Source: http://www.lyricsondemand.com/tvthemes/itsgarryshandlingsshowlyrics.html

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. - Arthur C. Clarke

[–] vpilutis 7 years ago

On one ep of LOIS & CLARK Kids are seen reading SUPERMAN COMICS