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Does anyone else on this board know that Doc Savage............... ......

posted 16 years ago by eugene1001us
9 replies | jump to latest

Was one of many inspirations for Superman (along with Philip Wylie's "Gladiator"). And of course Greek Mythology.

But more interestingly is that Ron Ely is the only actor ever to portray BOTH Doc (Clark) Savage AND Superman. Yes It's true. In two episodes of the "Superboy" series, entitled "The Road to Hell. Parts 1 and 2", he plays the adult Superman whom Superboy accidentially encounters due to a rip in the time/space continium.

[–] dalbrech 16 years ago

Yeah, we know that.
This is pretty well known .
The whole idea of the Fortress Of Solitude was out and out swiped from Doc Savage in the late 50's. The editor of Superman at the time, More Weissburger, was an assistant editor at Street and Smith when the Savage novel "fortress of Solitude" as published in 1938. The Fortress did not enter the Superman saga until 1958, ten years after Doc Savage had ceased publication.
For further details, see the first of the current series of Doc Savage reprints, which goes into detail on the influence..and at times out and out swiping...that Savage had on the man of steel.
And there is a whole other story on the influence that Savage's Street and Smith stablemate,The Shadow, had on Batman....

I'll Teach You To Laugh At Something's That's Funny
Homer Simpson

[–] drschnk 15 years ago

Someone missed a sure bet in the 1970's: as Ron Ely played both Tarzan and Doc Savage, he could have starred in a film version of Philip Jose Farmer's X-Rated Tarzan/ Doc Savage pastiche A FEAST UNKNOWN.

Incidentally, few people seem to know that Siegel and Shuster took the first names of Doc Savage ("Clark") and the other great pulp hero The Shadow ("Kent" Allard) for the secret identity of Superman.

[–] TheSolarSailor 13 years ago

Thanks for the interesting facts about Doc Savage. I am not very familiar with the character, having only began to explore it thanks to Dave Stevens having used some of the characters (Ham and Monk) in his comic book of The Rocketeer. I knew that Doc preceded Superman and Batman, just like The Shadow does, but I never realized that so much had been taken from him, such as the Fortress of Solitude. Anyhow, thanks for posting the interesting facts!

- - - - - - -
Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?

[–] grendelkhan 10 years ago

Actually, I believe they said that Clark came from Clark Gable. However, Doc was an influence, but Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter was a stronger influence, including the rationale for Superman's strength and leaping ability (he didn't fly in the earliest stories).

Let's face it; everything in literature is inspired from something that came before. Without the Scarlet Pimpernal, there is no Zorro, which means there is no Batman. Without Mowgli and Allan Quatermain, there is no Tarzan. Without Gulliver Jones there is no John Carter.Without Mr Hyde and Frankenstein, there is no Hulk. Etc, etc, etc....

"Fortunately, Ah keep mah feathers numbered for just such an emergency!"

[–] srb-3 10 years ago

Was one of many inspirations for Superman (along with Philip Wylie's "Gladiator"). And of course Greek Mythology.

Yes we know.

But more interestingly is that Ron Ely is the only actor ever to portray BOTH Doc (Clark) Savage AND Superman. Yes It's true. In two episodes of the "Superboy" series, entitled "The Road to Hell. Parts 1 and 2", he plays the adult Superman whom Superboy accidentially encounters due to a rip in the time/space continium.

OK, *that* I didn't know and I *watched* Superboy.

[–] thingmaker (32) 6 years ago

Also, it seems for Batman. I've been reading the first couple of volumes of the "Batman Chronicles", covering the origin in May of 1939 through late 1940, and I found a number of Doc Savage connections.
1) Batman's "utility belt" in the early stories is often a source of tiny gas bombs and grenades.
2) On one occasion, that I noticed, Batman reveals that he is wearing a bulletproof garment... It is clear from his costume that it would have to be much like Doc's lightweight bulletproof underclothing, totally unlike any real-world body armor. This doesn't seem to have been adopted as standard Batman attire, based on him getting shot in a couple of other stories.
3) In Batman no.1 (Spring 1940) is an untitled story (called in the collection, "Professor Hugo Strange and the Monsters") which contains enough elements of the Doc Savage novel "The Monsters" to leave little doubt that Bill Finger, or somebody read and borrowed from it. In the comic, a mad scientist grows lunatics (not a gang of thugs) into fifteen foot giants, which are provided bulletproof clothing (not metal armor) and driven to the site of crimes in a moving van. Of course the finale of Batman flying a plane to machine-gun the last giant off the top of a tall building with a familiar sort of spire... That's stolen right outa "King Kong".
4) On at least one occasion, Batman used the ultraviolet lamp and tracking-powder that Doc was fond of.

[–] PSville (129) 6 years ago

The Italian movie character Maciste, created in the 1900s, might have been another important source of influence on the making of doc savage.

[–] PaladinNJ (20310) 6 years ago

Actually both Doc Savage and Superman were based in part on two different characters created by author Philip Wylie:
Doc Savage was based on the Savage Gentleman and S was based on Gladiator.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

Interesting.