Posted By Dan Greenfield on May 11, 2024 | 4 comments

Johnny Rockwell: The Forgotten Superboy…

By ANTHONY DESIATO

Recently, 13th Dimension editor Dan Greenfield guested on my Digging for Kryptonite podcast to celebrate the rare Filmation Superboy cartoon segments that aired from 1966 to 1969. Of course, while that was the first animated adaptation of the Boy of Steel, it was not the first time the character made the leap from the comic-book page to another medium. Rather, that distinction belongs to 1961’s The Adventures of Superboy, a live-action, half-hour television pilot starring John Rockwell as Clark Kent/Superboy.

One of the more obscure pieces of Superman media, Superboy ’61 is notable for its pedigree (it was spearheaded by DC Comics editor and Adventures of Superman producer Whitney Ellsworth), proximity in time to the George Reeves series, and reasons for not going to series. As I delve further into Superboy lore on the podcast, this unaired pilot begged for an examination.

To that end, I invited Always Hold On To Smallville host Zach Moore to join me for a comprehensive discussion of the pilot, its production, and the episodes that were written but unfilmed. Listen to our analysis on all major podcast platforms this coming Tuesday, May 14. And a very special thanks to Chuck Harter, author of Superboy & Superpup: The Lost Videos, which was a tremendous resource in researching this pilot.

Here are 13 QUICK THOUGHTS ON THE SUPERBOY TV SERIES THAT ALMOST WAS:

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Brand Extension. Though not technically a spinoff or prequel to Adventures of Superman, the Superboy pilot still felt like one. It featured key creative forces from the George Reeves series, including writer/producer Whitney Ellsworth, director George Blair (who helmed 27 episodes of AOS), and special effects guru Thol “Si” Simonson. The pilot also shared an aesthetic with its predecessor and — in a throwback to the first two seasons of AOS — was filmed in black and white for budgetary reasons.

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Fidelity to the Source Material. Clark wearing a sweater in a classroom next to Lana? Check. Secret radio setup to take calls from Chief Parker, hidden room in the Kent house, and underground tunnel to hide his comings and goings? Check. Kent General Store? Check (though it’s only mentioned in the pilot). Save for Krypto or the Legion of Super-Heroes, the pilot demonstrated a strong faithfulness to the comics of the day.

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First Adaptation of Superboy. Not only was Superboy ’61 the first adaption of Superboy, it was also the only live-action take on the character during the entire pre-Crisis era, aka a time when Clark’s past as Superboy was an indelible part of the mythology. The Kirk Alyn movie serials, George Reeves show, and Christopher Reeve movie series all skipped over this chapter in the lore. (Ironically, of course, the full-fledged Superboy series that ran for four seasons started in 1988, well after Crisis on Infinite Earths erased Superboy from comics continuity.)

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Adventures of Superman Prequel? The first episode of Adventures of Superman, “Superman on Earth,” omits any discussion of Superboy and makes it rather clear that Clark does not don a costume until he gets to Metropolis. That being said, it wouldn’t have taken too much in the way of mental gymnastics to fit Superboy ’61 into the Reeves version’s back story — especially since one of the unfilmed Superboy scripts would have featured Prof. Pepperwinkle, providing at least some connective tissue.

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Odd Pick for Pilot. Out of the 13 scripts written for the planned first reason, producers chose “Raja’s Ransom” to film as the pilot. That story concerns a classmate of Clark and Lana, Jimmie Drake, who is ashamed of his father’s occupation as a doorman at the local theater. When thieves steal diamonds on display there as part of a movie promotion, Superboy must apprehend the thieves with Mr. Drake’s help, instilling Jimmie with pride for his father. While the script is serviceable — and light on big set pieces, making it relatively budget-friendly — “Raja’s Ransom” devotes substantial screen time to the Drakes, as well as the diamond thieves, relegating the title character to more of a supporting player in his own pilot.

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Comic Book Parallel. “Raja’s Ransom” is nearly identical to Superboy #88, “The Saddest Boy in Smallville,” also published in 1961. According to Harter’s book, it is inconclusive whether the comic book script (which most sites credit to Bill Finger) adapted the pilot or vice versa. One notable distinction between the two tellings: In the comic only, Superboy learns that Mr. Drake was a war hero and travels back in time, where he takes home movies of Mr. Drake in action on the battlefield. In the present, the young Drake is not swayed by seeing his father in his military uniform, complaining that a doorman’s uniform is the only one he wears now. Tough crowd!

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Superboy at the Playboy Mansion? In a wild bit of trivia, Harter’s book discusses how Superboy’s portrayer, John Rockwell, had saved Hugh Hefner’s life in the 1950s when he worked as a lifeguard. Later, Rockwell lived at the Playboy Mansion off and on throughout the 1970s. Speaking of Rockwell, he was 23 at the time of the pilot (not unlike another young Clark Kent actor named Tom Welling). Rockwell still felt relatively age-appropriate here — especially since George Reeves was 37 when he filmed the first season of his show.

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“Truth, Justice, and…?” Breaking with predecessor Adventures of Superman, the opening narration eschews the phrase “and the American way,” though it does resurrect “champion of the oppressed” in a nod to the character’s Golden Age roots.

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Reasons for Failure. The interviewees in Harter’s book offer varying accounts regarding why the series did not move forward. It might have been considered too expensive. Another theory is that audiences would not have accepted Rockwell because George Reeves was too indelible in viewers’ minds. (After all, although Reeves died in 1959, reruns of his series were still going strong in syndication.) The likeliest culprit, however, is that AOS sponsor Kellogg’s did not want a competing series on the air sponsored by a rival cereal company (Wheaties, as it would have been).

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Unfilmed Scripts. The biggest treasure trove in Harter’s book has to be the final chapter, which contains one-page summaries of the dozen written but unfilmed scripts that would have comprised the first season of Superboy ’61. Highlights include an appearance by Mister Mxyzptlk, Red Kryptonite-induced amnesia, an adaptation of Adventure Comics #283 (with “Dimension-X” in place of the Phantom Zone), and time travel to Ancient Greece.

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Full Power Set. Super-speed was coming! Harter writes, “An interesting new effect would be the depiction of super-speed through the use of an animated streak of smoke.” While that was not featured in the pilot, we did get to see Superboy crush coal into a diamond!

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Availability. Lost for years, the pilot (along with The Adventures of Superpup) previously received a VHS release from specialty distributor Video Rarities. Today, it lives as a special feature on a bonus disc included with the Smallville Complete Series DVD and Blu-ray sets.

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It Worked. The audiovisual quality of the pilot as presented on that Smallville bonus disc is rather poor, and “Raja’s Ransom” remains an underwhelming choice for a pilot. Nevertheless, the pilot captured the spirit of the character, trappings of the comics, and sensibilities of the Superman TV series it would have followed. In short, it was far from a disaster, and I lament the fact that we don’t have a full Superboy series to rewatch alongside Adventures of Superman.

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MORE

— The Fabulous Fun of FILMATION’s SUPERBOY Cartoons. Click here.

— GEORGE REEVES: 13 Times SUPERMAN Thought Doors Were Stupid. Click here.

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Anthony Desiato is a documentarian, podcaster, and lifelong Superman fan. He hosts the Superman podcasts Digging for Kryptonite and Another Exciting Episode in the Adventures of Superman. His most recent documentary film, My Comic Shop Country, is out now on Amazon, Apple TV, and Tubi. Visit Flat Squirrel Productions for more film and podcast projects.