Superman - What People Told Me About George Reeves

The George Reeves Files:
WHAT PEOPLE TOLD ME ABOUT GEORGE REEVES

	Production Still from "Whatever Goes Up" (1955) with Jack Larson, George Reeves and wardrobe assistant

JACK LARSON
"George was a wonderful person. He called himself 'Honest George the People's Friend.' My suspicion is that he loaned out nearly as much money as he earned. But my most vivid memory of George - the one I treasure and that's making me smile at this moment - is that George was one of the few people at that time who smoked with a cigarette holder. He held it very elegantly, and it used to be so funny; George with his Superman outfit, cape, tights, and the inimitable cigarette holder. It looked so funny, charming and made. It was completely incongruous."

Phyllis Coates, George Reeves and Jeff Corey (Luke Benson) from the feature film "Superman and the Mole Men" (1951), broadcast on television as "The Unknown People"

PHYLLIS COATES
"I felt badly when I had to leave. We had a rhythm, and we kidded each other an awful lot. It was very hard work, but we liked one another. We were really good buddies. If something went wrong, somebody would cover; the three of us protected each other. If somebody didn't like something, the other two would complain. And George, Jack and I - even if it meant we had to hang around late - stood by to feed each other lines off camera. Anywhere else you would have seen a script girl handle the chore. Many times I'd tell Jack or George to leave early, but they'd say no. George, Jack and I had a tight little unit, and we worked for the best crew in television, the very best."

	Production Still from "The Jolly Roger" episode (1955) Noel Neill and George Reeves

NOEL NEILL
"Back then we were doing two a week, thirteen a year, from 1953 [when Noel returned to the role she had created for the screen in the 1948 'Superman' serial] to the end, and it was impossible for me to bank more than a few thousand dollars. ...The only thing we walked away with after that were the fond memories of our relationships; that's why it's just kind of fun to see everyone on the reruns."

Production Still with Robert Shayne, George Reeves and John Hamilton (1954)

ROBERT SHAYNE
"You know, we used to have a lot of laughs on the set because it was impossible for us as actors to take this all too seriously. We tried to give a good performance, yet sometimes the ridiculousness of the dialogue or the situation would bring on cracks. But George didn't have an easy time of it. I was able to go home at night as Bob Shayne. George had more difficulty. He was Superman in too many people's minds, he couldn't walk away from it at 5 P.M."

	Production Still between scenes Whitney Ellsworth & George Reeves

WHITNEY ELLSWORTH
(Producer)
"George went through at least four of the $500 uniforms each years ... and sometimes he even forgot when he had it on. He was back east on a publicity tour and visited my daughter Pat who was working in Audience Relations at ABC in New York, and George went there to make some publicity stills in his Superman suit. When he got through with the pictures he didn't even wait to change; he charged downstairs to Pat's department, and the looks she tells me he got were enough to make you cry. He just cared about people too much to worry about himself. But that's how old George was."

(L to R) George Blair, director; Hal Stine; director of photography; Whitney Ellsworth, producer; Thomas Carr, director (1953)

TOMMY CARR
(Director)
"It all happened the day George dropped by with his agent. From that moment on he was my first choice. He looked like Superman with that jaw of his. Kirk had that long neck and fine features, but although I liked Kirk very much (directing him in the serials), he never looked the Superman Reeves did."

	Jack Ingram (badguy), Kirk Alyn (Superman) and Pierre Watkin (Perry White) 1948

KIRK ALYN
"George's portrayal of Clark was always getting in the way of his Superman. I kept them separate. But George wanted Clark to be a strong character, different than mine, and able to stand tall in his own right next to Superman."

LEE SHOLEM
(Director)
"Oh did George have a problem one day! He had to crash through an apartment door constructed of balsa wood, temporarily set in place by a series of two-by-fours. The door and frame were brought to the studio from the workshop, then nailed to the existing set pieces. The design allowed Reeves to split the door apart without destroying the frame. Under normal circumstances, the propmen would remove the supports before the actors played the seen. But we forgot to take out the extra lumber and I called for the camera to roll. George came running up the stairs right into the frame. The balsa wood barely gave way because George bounded off the heavy wood, and fell to the floor - unconscious. We shot the scene again a few days later. He told me 'the effects' would have to be tested before he'd try anything new. I didn't blame him."

HARRY GERSTAD
(Director)
"We were horrified to discover we had nearly completed an entire picture - and it was a good one - but we didn't have Superman in it. Just Clark Kent. Just George as Clark. Whoops."

JOE BIROC
(Director of photography)
"We moved so fast the only thing I can remember is that the paint on half the sets was still wet when we left them. We worked that fast!"

BOB JUSTMAN
(Assistant Director)
"George would just stand there for the opening credits, his hands on his hips, looking slightly three-quarters to one side. Jaw out. In the meantime his knees would come together knock-kneed. That just tickled me. Here's this guy fierce and determined with his damn knees touching each other."

	Ben Welden with Noel Neill and Jack Larson in "Disappearing Lois" (1956)

BEN WELDON
(regularly co-starred as a badguy)
"It was only in the last of the last year that George showed signs of being weary. Before that he seemed okay. George enjoyed life quite a lot, but he got very down. Not that he didn't think he could do well, he was a good actor, and still a young man. He knew what he was doing, and he could have carried on very well. But it was no longer a challenge. George simply became too emotionally involved outside of it."

	Production still Herb Vigran with George Reeves in "Blackmail" (1955)

HERB VIGRAN
(regularly co-starred as a badguy)
"I remember George was signing autographs, pictures of Superman for a group of kids. He signed them George Reeves, and I said, 'Gee, George, why don't you sign Superman?' He answered, laughing, 'I don't want Superman to get the publicity, I want George Reeves to get it!'"

	Production Still with Milton Frome, Superman cast and director Phil Ford (knelling) waiting for camera reloading during "The Wedding of Superman" (1955)

MILTON FROME
(co-starred as a badguy)
"I'm happy I knew him, because in my mind, and to millions of others, George Reeves was a great man. A truly great man."

	Arelene Towne, George Reeves and Sterling Holloway, observed through laboratory window by Joseph Vitale and Toni Carol in "The Whistling Bird" (1953)

STERLING HOLLOWAY
(guest star)
"I met Reeves for the first time on 'Superman' and I liked him so very much. He had a great sense of humor-he was so full of life, it was quite a shock when there was none left."

	George Reeves and his lifelong friend Natividad Vacio in "The Brainy Burro" (1957)

NATIVADAD VACIO
(guest star and friend of George Reeves)
"George loved life so much. With me he'd say, 'Let's go off to South America,' or Let's buy a horse and go prospecting into Mexico.' This would be in two minutes. Five minutes later he'd buy the damn horse and we'd go. He didn't stop at anything. Every day was a ball with this man."