Flights of Fantasy

The Unauthorized but True Story of Radio & TV's Adventures of Superman

By: Michael J. Hayde

Narrated by: Nat Segaloff

Author Michael J. Hayde's definitive work about Superman on radio and television. Hayde is well-known for My Name's Friday: The Unauthorized but True Story of Dragnet and The Films of Jack Webb and Little Elf: A Celebration of Harry Langdon, and this new treasure trove of information on the Man of Steel covers comprehensive episode logs for the radio series and the original television series, plus the complete story lines for two unproduced television series episodes, and dozens of "deleted scenes" taken right from the scripts.

©2018 Michael J. Hayde (P)2018 BearManor Media

A loving and detailed look

Nostalgic, fascinating, and authoritative; Superman fans will enjoy this immensely. A very pleasant listen, very well read by Nat Segaloff.

Detailed Superman Radio/TV History

Growing up on Superman TV in the late 50's, I was very interested in hearing this historical account of both TV and radio. I still recall racing home on Monday afternoons after school looking forward to the latest TV episode of..."The Adventures of Superman". There is nothing that can clearly communicate the thrill a ten year old child would feel sitting in front of the TV anxiously waiting for Clark Kent to make that magical transformation to Superman.

With this documentary, we get the chronological history starting with the radio adaption starring Bud Collier all the way through the end of the TV series. Since I was not around for the radio version, the detailed history provided a lot of information unkown to the listener of my generation. As an adult, I have heard some of the episodes on the XM Radio channel Classic Radio. To my adult listening, the stories come across as very childish. Of course, the novel makes it clear that was the target audience at the time. I did watch the Hanna Barbara cartoon as a teen when Bud Collier returned as the Man of Steel and recall how his voice changed when he became Superman. As the novel points out, this was a big deal for the radio show. How could anyone believe a soft spoken meek and mild Clark Kent be Superman.

Overall, this was an interesting slice of history detailing the rise and fall of the Bud Collier radio and George Reeves version of Superman TV. Nat Segaloff did a fine job with the narration and included some amusing attempts to rehash of scripts that were altered with the TV version. I did find the appendix section long and overdone. The first part detailing the death of George Reeves was worthwhile, but the final chapters detailing each and every chapter of the radio show and tv series in order was a pretty useless exercise IMO. That is the primary reason I rated the listen with a three star for the story. I would have given it 3 1/2 if possible, but could not see moving it up to a four. Again, for the true fan of the series, enjoy.