I don't think there are many of us reading The Adventures Continue who didn't at one time or another act out scenes from the Adventures of Superman. I remember vividly chasing the bus with the faulty brakes, writhing in agony re-enacting the "electric scene" from "Crime Wave," and leaping into the air after regaining my memory after a serious bout with an asteroid.

Despite Jimmy's little speech to the contrary, all this could not have been possible without the aid of some kind of Superman costume. Some of us, like Jack Branson here, were fortunate enough to have the official version direct from Kellogg's of Battle Creek. In the photo below, it looks like young Mr. Branson might have been doing his version of "Shot In The Dark" as this clearly shows him changing to Superman... unless, of course, someone took a picture of Superman and then took a picture of Jack at exactly the same spot... but forgot to wind the film!

If others reading this have "Superman" photos from their past, please let me know, and I'll post them here.

From Mike Clark:

I was 'Zorro' in 1958 but the following year I wanted a more contemporary look and that resulted in the purchase of a Ben Cooper 'Superman' costume! The Cooper costumes were made of a flimsy synthetic material that looked highly flammable. The material was so thin you could see my underwear through them. Instead of creating the streamlined effect achieved on Kirk Alyn and George Reeves, the Cooper 'Superman' costume hung on my frame like a set of ill-fitting loose pajamas. The costume was tightened by a drawstring around the neck that left a large, drafty gap down my back. Fortunately the cape kept me from looking like a gowned hospital patient. This being a 3rd-generation costume it no longer had the "Only Superman Can Fly" warning.

I happily ventured into the 1959 Miami evening as The Man of Steel and did so again for the next three or four All Hallow's Eve. Of course I'd get a new costume every year, usually several weeks before Halloween and I couldn't resist wearing it often before the big night. The photo is from 1960 and was taken in St. Petersburg, Florida, in front of our 1959 Dodge (its swept-wing design also gave the illusion of flight).

I stopped dressing up for Halloween during my junior high years but returned to the Superman costume for Halloween '77 with my own custom-made, better-fitting uniform based on a pair of Sears blue pajamas. I also had a genuine cloth cape and hand-cut felt 'Superman' emblem using the Curt Swan design.

Mike Clark - 7/02/2010

From Ron Gross:

My Dad, My Superman by Ron Gross

From Jack Branson:

And who, disguised as Jack Branson, mild-mannered backyard reporter, fights a never-ending battle for truth, justice, and the American way.

From Unknown Source. If this is you, please e-mail us so we can give you credit and tell us your story.

From Bruce Dettman

From John Rodgers:

Just like White Christmas, or It's a Wonderful Life, here is what has become an annual traditon:

The Stolen Costume (the title to an episode of the old Superman TV show) Happens in Real Life!

I believe this would have been Christmas 1961. I was 5.

I wanted nothing more that year than a "real" Superman suit.

Santa delivered! I must have been "gooder" than I had realized!

Before I received my costume, my mom, wonderful woman that she is, noticed that the dinky cape that came with the outfit probably wouldn't flutter properly when I "flew". She bought a yard of red material and made a much more impressive cape. AND she even sewed it onto the shoulders of the shirt, instead of using that silly yellow string the "real" cape came with. How she did this between the time Santa delivered it and I woke up to find it was a mystery.

It wasn't until much later, when I found the "real" cape, that I realized what a wonderful thing my mom had done for me in making my Superman suit look more like George Reeves's.

I'll never forget Christmas morning when I put the outfit on, Mom taking time to read the advisement printed on the bottom hem of the shirt: "Remember, this suit will not make you fly. Only Superman can fly." And the picture of Superman with his hand on a kid's shoulder. I thought Superman himself wrote me that note!

I wore my Superman suit constantly, even under my everyday clothes, just like Clark. How Mom ever got the thing into the wash is another mystery.

However, unlike Superman's, my suit was not indestructible. The knees gave way, and the patches on the knees followed. Finally the pants were retired altogether.

But that tunic, with its wonderful sewn-on cape, stayed with me for a long time. I didn't care that the silk-screened emblem had started peeling, or that the cape, once a brilliant scarlet, was turning pinkish.

Then, one day, it happened. I awoke and could not find my beloved Superman shirt. I had it on when I went to bed.

Some evil-doer must have stripped me of my uniform, so that he could impersonate Superman and commit some foul crime! The Stolen Costume and maybe even The Face and the Voice were occurring in real life!

Or just maybe, my wonderful Mom gently relieved me of the eyesore so I wouldn't have to bear painful witness to seeing the ragged material taken away with the garbage.

It's a mystery I wonder if even Superman will ever solve.

John Rodgers - December 25, 2009.

From Tim James:

January, 2005...

Jim, after my Mom died recently, we were going through some old family photo albums and came across this picture from 1961. I was an avid fan of the show by then and my Mom had searched the stores for the Superman costume I had to have. I guess since George had died so recently, there were no costumes to be found. So, like Mrs Kent, my Mom took some red and blue material and made my costume on the old Singer sewing machine. (The pants and trunks must have been in the wash when this snapshot was taken.) Several days after she completed the suit, I donned the 'blue and red' under the white shirt and tie of my parochial school uniform and headed out the door for school. I'm not sure how Clark kept his secret all of those years, because Mom busted me on the way out the door that morning. Cultivating my vivid imagination was one thing, but she marched me back upstairs to change before Mass. (Note my brother Mark and sister Maureen in the Jimmy and Lois roles.)
So long, Mom!!

Tim James

From Richard "Dicky" Stammer:

Jim,

After all these years, I can't believe I was there at the beginning. I was a child of the 50's, fortunate to be the only child in a blue collar family that was able to make it because of a hard-working salesman father and a stay-at-home mother. And fortunate to have access to that new-fangled contraption, the television, and to that icon of icons, SUPERMAN. Of course, I had THE SUIT. I even remember fantasizing about flying off the roof of the garage, but remembering that only Superman could fly, just as Superman had told me. I even remember Jimmy telling me that Superman's costume didn't give him super powers, only Superman could do super things. But that didn't stop me from running around making believe. It also didn't stop me from realizing that the costume we wear in public is the one that people see and respect - or don't respect. The costume that George Reeves wore, the wonderful man in it who obviously loved and respected children, and my parents gave me the ideals and truths to live by. I will be forever grateful that I was one of the lucky ones to have such Heroes."

Richard "Dicky" Stammer
2/5/05