Over the 30 years I've collected newspaper articles and have assembled over 260 articles & news bits in 110 pages in one volume.

This book covers the life of George Reeves as told in the newspapers. The image below will give you an idea what this volume contains. You will not find a more comprehensive volume of articles anywhere.

These articles cover mainly George's theatrical and television career. If you are a fan of George, you're already educated in knowing much about his career from books and magazines. But with this book you can read first-hand the original articles that are snapshots of a career in progress. While you know all about George, this volume will offer many new surprises.

It gives me great pleasure to make this available to you because I know there is a lot to offer in this book. You will have hours of reading.

These excerpts from newspapers of yesteryear are extraordinary and unique to much that has been presented before. If you've wanted an abundance of news articles, here is your chance to advance your collection beyond your imagination.

From: Brian McKernan

The George Reeves Historical News Archives is a great read for many reasons, but the main one for me is in learning details I’ve never come across before. These include: Reeves’ first wife acting opposite him in his 20th Century Fox screen test; his use of the name Bessolo when he was in the Army in 1943 (and his paratrooper training at Camp Wheeler); and the “Behind the Movie Sets” features on Superman flying effects and Superman and the Mole Men (which references its original title, Nightmare).

I’ve only just begun to enjoy the book, and look forward to spending more time with it. If anything, it proves there ARE new things to learn about George Reeves and the challenges of producing The Adventures of Superman TV series more than 50 years ago.

From Bruce Dettman

Kudos to Lou Koza and TAC for putting together this treasure trove of George Reeves material now collected in one convenient and handsome package. Lou has spent years of tireless research in compiling this huge reservoir of newspaper articles, magazine clippings and press releases which document the actor's life and career. Even fans who think they know the whole story of Reeves will be amazed at the biographical tidbits to be discovered in these long forgotten and buried items. As with all reporting of this era, the Hollywood p.r. machine often created fanciful stories and biographical hokum for their performers and the publicity buildup for Reeves is no exception. This is all fascinating stuff, however, and a considerable addition to the growing literature on George Reeves. Thanks to Lou for all his diligence and efforts to create this valuable and impressive effort.

From Kirk Hastings

This is a tremendous book full of incredibly interesting articles from a long-bygone time. I really got the "feel" of being back in the 1950s reading those news items, like they were still current! LOTS of interesting stuff.

Yes, George should have opened that restaurant! (Bessolo's Bar & Grill??)

The articles about his marriage to Ellanora were really interesting too. It's a shame that marriage didn't last -- somehow I feel that George's life would have been a lot less "complicated" if it had. And he might have been happier too. And maybe lived a lot longer!

Nice job on the page layout too. Of course, we realize the articles themselves are over 50 years old and not the best quality, but Lou did a fine job laying them out on the pages. And it's great that Lou included dates with most of them too. Geez, how were you able to find all that stuff??

I'm glad that you minimized the articles about George's death, as we've seen a lot of those before. And the two postcard photos were nice extras! (But I noticed the one photo was missing an Elephant Registration Number on the back ... !)

Despite the fact that George's fame came mostly from playing a "TV kiddie character", the press certainly did keep tabs on everything he was doing over the years, didn't they? I guess they realized that he DID have a lot of fans, and that the doings in his life were interesting to the general public too. He really got quite a lot of press coverage throughout his career. He may not have done a lot of "serious" films over the years like he wanted to, but he certainly made his mark in Hollywood and with the general public. He should have found some satisfaction in that ... after all, there have always been a lot of potential "stars" out there in LA who spend their whole lives doing nothing but bit parts and pumping gas on the side to make a living. And they never get any farther than that. George managed to become an immense icon of popular culture in the 1950s, and his memory has not faded to this day, over half a century later. How many other Hollywood actors can say that? Not many.

Wonderful book, Lou. Thanks for taking the time and work to put this together.

From Randy Garrett

Lou, You've most certainly done George's fans a great service by putting all these news articles together. The best feature of the book is the fact that everything is presented in context, in chronological order, making the book function as a virtual time machine that creates an accurate sense of the time and events of George's life and career.

You're to be commended for allowing the articles to speak for themselves, without twisting them to support some preconceived theory. Unfortunately that's exactly what some previous writers have done, as with the case of George's car accidents for example.

The articles about George's digging cesspools are also enlightening. Hollywood Kryptonite presented this episode as happening during the final years George was playing Superman in a desperate attempt to raise some much needed cash "for all those big tips George liked to hand out". Since the actual newspaper article came out in 1949, it's obvious Kashner and Schoenberger were less than honest with the facts. The same goes for their treatment of the "Candid Reporter', which they called "a promotional film" put together by Art Weissman in a sad "effort to try to help his friend and only client find work". Of course the film was actually the first in a proposed series of commercials in which George would "interview guest personalities in conjunction with use and enjoyment of products", as reported in Billboard, Nov. 3, 1956.

To me personally, however, the most enjoyable thing about the booklet is that it's loaded with tidbits that are new, a bit odd, and just plain fun. For example, George planned to open a restaurant, Reeves Retreat, in suburban Los Angeles, according to a 1947 article. I wonder whatever happened with that idea? Also reported is that Lloyd's of London insured George for $200,000 in 1957. True or just publicity? And did George really take a course in bullfighting in Mexico in 1958? Could be I guess. Several career opportunities are reported that didn't pan out for whatever reasons; Hedda Hopper reported in a 1956 plug for Westward Ho, the Wagons! that George would star in another western produced by Whitney Ellsworth and that George was collaborating with Lowell Barrington on a modern comedy in which he would also star.

The information about Art Hammond, production assistant for the 1951 season, was all new to me. Buddy Mason's Behind the Movie Sets article credits him with being the "piano wire expert" who supervised George's wire take offs. Effects man Danny Hayes is usually given credit (and also blame for the crashes).

It's also interesting to see the obviously inaccurate info that was reported about George even during his lifetime. A couple of articles referred to George as being "Mr. America on a number of occasions". Apparently he was being confused with Steve Reeves even in 1955 long before the bodybuilder shot to international fame in the role of Hercules several years later. And I had to chuckle at the lady who wrote to The Daily Review in 1955 asking if George was married to comic singer and actress Virginia O'Brien. Well, yes, O'Brien was indeed married to Superman, but it was Kirk Alyn, not George, a fact that wasn't even given in the answer to the woman's question.

Well, I guess I'm rambling now, but these are just a few of the little gems that make the Historical Archives so enjoyable. The articles are like potato chips; it's hard to stop with just one or two.

Once again, great job, Lou. Thanks for all your hard work and extra effort in getting the printing done correctly.

From Colete Morlock

First, let me say that Lou has put together a GREAT treasure trove of articles that track George's career!

I'm going to post periodically because there are so many wonderful little tidbits that I didn't know. I've always been a huge fan of Lydia and Man at Large, so I really appreciate all of the articles that deal with those two films. One enlightenment for me was the listing of the odd jobs that George had prior to the filming of Lydia. How many of us knew that he had been a truck driver, soda jerker, secretary to a theatrical producer or a band leader(!)? Because we knew he sang songs, I could see the baritone soloist; and because he had boxed in college, I could also envision him in wrestling, but didn't know he was an interscholastic champion!

I've sometimes thought it would have been better if George and Ellanora Needles had stayed married. In one of these articles, George dubbed her his "best friend and perfect partner". I felt that way about her too. She was obviously a positive influence for his budding career as the article mentioned that when George was testing for 20th Century Fox, he had to do a love scene and didn't know if he could act romantic with someone he'd never met. Ellanora suggested that he do the test with her. It worked like a charm because the studio was impressed with "his naturalness and sincerity, his ease of manner and perfect control" (way to go George!). That's what got him a long term contract with them.

I chuckled at an article from the December 21, 1942 Salt Lake Tribune (Salt Lake City, Utah) which said that George took a couple of hours break from shooting So Proudly We Hail to "dash across the street, jump on a horse and do some scenes as Jesse James shooting up a frontier town for Harry Sherman. Then he removed his glued-on mustache, black cape, and returned to Claudette." Talk about working hard for the money! Another interesting tidbit appeared in the Los Angeles Times, July 20, 1943 "Stage and Screen" column. It mentioned that George was "within a week or so of graduation when an officers candidate school which he was attending was discontinued." As luck would have it, this would bring him back to Paramount studios. Just think, George could have been a career officer!

I always heard Moss Hart's name linked to George but only thought it was because he appeared in Winged Victory. Little did I know that Mr. Hart employed George in two jobs and his wife in one so that they could afford to live in New York! Yet another surprise was in an article entitled Reeves Retreat where George was finishing work on The Sainted Sisters (one of my personal favorites). He was referred to as "the popular young leading man" and went on to say that he "will open his own restaurant in suburban Los Angeles. Cooking has long been his hobby, and now he's going to make it pay." So, Looper, tell me, did he ever open that restaurant? And if anyone doubted that George was being groomed for stardom, this article surely dispels any doubts.

Having a great time with this book! More later on!

Colete

Write to me at looper56@aol.com and I will provide you an address to send your payment. I will be taking orders till September 30th. At that point I will go to the printer and as soon as the run is complete the books will be shipped. My target would be to ship by mid-Oct 2012.

Lou (May 1, 2012)   (Updated November 15, 2012)

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