Daniel Dae Kim, Tim Daly (the voice of Superman in Superman: The Animated Series), and Wilson Cruz (Doctor Hugh Culber on Star Trek: Discovery) will lead an all-star cast in a re-creation of the original The Adventures of Superman radio serial during the second installment of DC FanDome, Warner Bros. announced Friday.
The event is being held in support of The Creative Coalition, a Hollywood nonprofit that aims to address entertainment industry issues as well as urgent social issues.
The production will be an hour long, and produced using original scripts recently found in Warner Bros. archives – which may mean that these are scripts that may not have been heard performed since the 1940’s.
Joining Kim as Superman in the production is Wilson Cruz (Star Trek: Discovery) and current Creative Coalition president Tim Daly (Madam Secretary). Also appearing are Jason Alexander, Troian Bellisario, Erich Bergen, Anthony Carrigan, Terry Crews, Sam Daly , Lea DeLaria Orange Is the New Black, Giancarlo Esposito, Sean Giambrone (The Goldbergs), Nicholas Gonzalez, Jason Isaacs (Star Trek: Discover), Richard Kind (American Dad), Eric McCormack, Dean Norris , CCH Pounder, Anthony Rapp (Star Trek: Discovery), Yolonda Ross, Caterina Scorsone (Grey’s Anatomy), Tony Shalhoub (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), Tamara Tunie (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit), Henry Winkler, Alfre Woodard, and Constance Zimmer (House of Cards).
The performance of The Adventures of Superman will be available beginning on demand for 24 hours beginning Sept. 12 at 10:00 AM as part of DC FanDome: Explore the Multiverse, the second installment of the successful virtual Comic-Con alternative, which debuted in August. The event can be accessed at DCFanDome.com.
“We are thrilled to join comic fans and creators at DC FanDome: Explore the Multiverse to bring the original Superman to life and celebrate the arts,” The Creative Coalition CEO Robin Bronk said in a statement. “We encourage Superman fans to learn more about The Creative Coalition’s mission to support the arts by visiting TheCreativeCoalition.org. We are grateful to Warner Bros. and DC for supporting that work.”
The Original Superman Radio Serial
The Adventures of Superman was one of the most popular radio serials of its day. Many of what we consider core elements of the Superman mythology actually had their genesis in the radio show, not the comics. The Daily Planet, Perry White, Kryptonite and Superman’s pal Jimmy Olsen were all inventions of the radio scriptwriters. So was the iconic catch phrase used in the introduction: “It’s a bird – it’s a plane – it’s Superman!”
The show is also widely credited with destroying the reputation of the Ku Klux Klan and causing membership to plummet, thanks to a 1946 storyline in which Superman took on the racist terrorist organization.
The Adventures of Superman was originally a radio serial that began on New York’s WOR, and was produced live, between three and five times a week at first, then only on Saturdays, then twice a week until its final episode on March 1, 1951. In all, 2088 episodes were broadcast, but only 1294 episode recordings survive today.
Superman was also used as a vehicle to get gets to brush their teeth, eat their vegetables and stay in school – these advertisements were the first radio public service announcements.
You can all these surviving episodes of the original Adventures of Superman radio serial every evening at 9 pm Eastern / 6 pm Pacific, and at 5 am Eastern / 2 am Pacific, right here on SCIFI.radio. We have every surviving episode of the original radio transcription series, and we play a new episode every day, in order in which they were originally broadcast.
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And here it is!
If you missed the live broadcast, Variety gives us the exclusive video of all three episodes! Each are from the earliest days of the radio serial, recreating episodes already in the SCIFI.radio archives of the show. Remember to pause the SCIFI.radio stream before watching. Enjoy.
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