The Ghost Dog Face and the Lead Mask Experiment

Four new episodes of The Adventures of Superman aired in November of 1953. The show is hitting its stride and a lot of good, quirky episodes are coming out. If you are British, though, you'll want to steer clear of A Ghost for Scotland Yard. It isn't flattering.

A Ghost for Scotland Yard- Brockhurst, An insane magician from London, fakes his own death five years before as part of a trick to get revenge on the people that hate him. This appears to be only two: Arthur McCready, owner of the theater Brockhurst used to perform in (and close friend of Perry White), and Inspector Farrington from Scotland Yard. Why McCready continued to employ someone he didn't like (or continue to keep a giant picture of him over the mantle in his living room) is beyond me, but the feeling must have been mutual because Brockhurst claimed he would return in exactly five years as a ghost to exact revenge. Clark and Jimmy get caught up in the hysteria and try to convince everyone that there are no such things as ghosts. Eventauly Superman steps in to reveal everything. Londoners don't come off very well in this episode, as they appear to be a superstitious lot. A phone call from the ghost seems to put everyone on edge, but Jimmy figures out what is really going on and Superman flies around collecting clues. It's a mediocre episode filled with accents that seem a little forced. It's interesting that in England nobody believes in Superman, but you can get his comic book at the local news stand. Is it weird that there is a Superman comic in the Superman universe?

The Dog Who Knew Superman- Corky is dog. This dog is owned by Joyce, the daughter of the gangster who runs all the bookies in Metropolis. Her husband, Hank, hates the dog, and throws him down a well. The only smart thing Hank has ever done is marry Joyce, because her father died and passed the organization to him. Clark witnesses Corky's predicament, becomes Superman and saves him. He even dives straight at the ground to tunnel into the well. With Corky safe Joyce and Hank drag him back to the car, but Corky picks up a glove Clark lost and gets Superman's scent. Back home Hank purposfully loses the dog again before figuring that Corky can lead him to the real identity of Superman. Meanwhile Corky ends up in Clark's office (following the scent trail). Some missed communications and screwy high-jinks puts Corky in a pound, a kidnapped Jimmy at Hank's place and Clark wandering the streets. Hank uses a lie-detector on Jimmy (why does he have one in his apartment?) who accidentally reveals the kennel Corky is in. Hank sends his underling, Louie, to pick him up, but Louie doesn't think it's right to know Superman's identity and leaves Corky with a dogcatcher, sure to put him to death. Jimmy gets free, Superman saves Corky, Lois calls the police and Hank does a bunch of time for kidnapping. Corky goes back to Joyce and no one thinks to use him to track Superman again. A fun story that would have been dumb except for the overacting husband and wife team of Joyce and Hank. She berates him something aweful and he's an idoit. Surprisingly entertaining. Jimmy has a great time lieing to the lie-detector and we learn he lives in the North Side. The best episode of the bunch.

The Face and the Voice- There's an ugly gangster in Metropolis that gets some plastic surgery. Turns out he looks just like Superman. He doesn't sound like him though, so Scratchy goes to Perry White's office and steals a record of a Superman speech, dated July 4th. Jimmy sees the guy but can't give a description. Neither can the story explain why Scratches knew where to find the record. Some time passes for Boulder and his voice coach, when he finally learns to sound like Superman. Then all the rival papers to The Daily Planet declare Superman is robbing people. The fake Superman even confronts Perry in his office and threatens the whole city to stay away from him. The cops believe Superman has lost his mind. They're afraid of him. Clark, for some reason, thinks he might by sleep-walking as Superman, but finally comes to his senses. When Jimmy is captured (again) chasing a lead, the real Superman goes to the police to get them to see the light. When that actually works Superman stops a gold heist and saves Jimmy. George Reeves had to play both real and fake Supeman and does a fantastic job, in an overacting dim-witted thug way. A fun episode. This is the first time he uses his Super-breath to blow out a fire.

The Man in the Lead Mask- Some of the criminals in this show are dumb. They do stupid things and get caught. I chalk it up to bad writing. Most of this episode I thought the criminals were just being stupid putting a lead mask on so Superman can't see who they are (or anyone else for that matter). But all Superman needs to do is beat one of them up and arrest him any way. The mask doesn't really help. Speaking of arresting, it appears all members of The Daily Planet are authorized to arrest people. I suppose to make it easier on the police. The actual point of the episode is about America's most wanted, Marty Mitchell, wanted dead or alive for $20,000. Clark spots him in a diner, but the face is wrong. After "stealing" his finger prints they turn out not to match police records either. Jimmy arrests him anyway, but the police can't hold him due to the finger prints not matching. Clark swears his voice and mannerisms are the same, though. The last episode was about plastic surgery and voice training, so these themes carry over well. Marty has a group of gangsters on the most wanted list who want their faces and finger prints changed too. They are given each a lead mask and told to rob $50,000 for the procedure. Superman intervenes but dresses up as one (including the lead mask) and spoils all their plans. It is finally revealed that there was never any surgery, it as all a scam for Marty to get a bunch of money from dumb criminals. A smart ending to an odd episode. Part way through Lois points out the use of a lead mask would indicate common knowledge of Superman's X-ray vision weakness. When did this get out? Sometime prior to The Big Squeeze?