Nick Canterucci's
Close Encounter With George Reeves

What are your fondest childhood memories? A new bicycle? Lazy summer days under a tree? A special Christmas gift? A tonsillectomy? Wait a second! How could an operation possibly be among your fondest memories? Well, for Nick Canterucci it surely was. But to find out why, we must borrow Prof. Twiddle's time machine and travel back to 1955. Unlike Turk and his Daily Planet "captors," we will not choose a time before paper was invented, but instead will grab our 1998 George Reeves calendar supplements to determine our date of June 1, 1955. As the time machine gets warmed up, let's read what Nick Canterucci remembers from his "Close Encounter with George Reeves."

Jim, I had the very good fortune to actually meet George Reeves when I was a boy. As it happened, I was visiting my aunt and uncle in Memphis that summer and I got sick. So sick that I had to go to the hospital to have my tonsils removed and an ear drum repaired. Back in those days there was no such thing as "out patient" care, so one usually spend several days in a hospital bed recuperating.

I remember being scared as heck despite the constant servings of ice cream. You see, my tonsils were not my only problem -- I also had a bad stutter, so my stay in a strange hospital in a strange city was tough on me. But just when I was feeling down the most, the doctor came into the ward with a big announcement. He said that because we were all so very brave he had a treat for us . . . a treat even better than ice cream. What could it possibly be, we wondered.

Can you imagine our amazement when, just a few moments later, George Reeves, in his guise as Clark Kent came through the ward talking to each and every one of us! He took the time to sign autographs, and he told each of us all how truly brave we were.

Of course, with the passing of so many years I'd can't remember everything he said and did, but I surely remember that great laugh and monster cool smile as he shook my hand and told me that things would be getting better really soon. Sheesh, they surely don't make heroes like George Reeves anymore.

Nick is surely correct on that last statement. As readers of The Adventures Continue know, not only did George visit hospitals, but he served up meals and put on special shows for underprivileged children. No, they surely don't make them like that anymore.

Well, the time machine is at the ready, so hold on as we take a brief look into the past... back to June 1, 1955. Heeeere we go.

In case you're wondering, that's Nick to the right in the picture, lying on the bed. It's lucky for us that Perry White remembered to assign a photographer -- in this case Nick's sister.

Now, we're all ready to attempt a return to the last years of the twentieth century. Wait... what did I do with that Carborium X?

Posted January 1998
Jim Nolt