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Superman, the 1948 Spencer Gordon Bennet & Thomas Carr science fiction (sci-fi) comic book superhero serial ("A Columbia Serial"; "Rocketing Into A Mighty Adventure!"; "Challenged by treachery!"; "Racing toward doom!"; "By arrangement with National Comics Publications, Inc."; "Based on the Superman adventure feature appearing in Superman and Action Comics magazines, in daily and Sunday newspapers coast-to-coast and on the Superman radio program broadcast over the Mutual Network.") starring Kirk Alyn (in the title role as Superman/Clark Kent), Noel Neill (who later reprised her role as Lois Lane in the TV show), Carol Forman (as "Spider Lady"), Tommy Bond (as Jimmy Olsen; best remembered as Butch the bully from the Our Gang series), Pierre Watkin (as Perry White), Wheeler Oakman, Nelson Leigh (as Jor-El), Luana Walters (as Lara), Virginia Carroll (as Martha Kent), and Ed Cassidy (as Eben Kent). Note that Superman was created in 1938 as a comic book hero, but it took ten long years for a movie to be made depicting him (perhaps moviemakers were deterred by the expensive budget required to have Superman perform his great feats of strength and flying!). This item is from that very first movie, the serial entitled "Superman"! Republic Pictures had tried to make a Superman serial in 1941, but DC wanted more money than they were willing to pay, and they ended up making a Captain Marvel serial instead. Two years later, they made the first Batman serial, and it would not be for five more years before they finally made this serial!
NOTE: Click on linked names to see a biography.

Important Added Info: Note that these are fascinating letters! Some background is required. Superman was created in comic books in 1938. In 1940, Republic Pictures approached DC Comics about doing a serial based on Superman, and they had protracted negotiations with Paul Kohner (who apparently was connected to Republic at this time; see below) and the negotiations broke down, and Republic ended up making a serial based on Captain Marvel in 1941. Those negotiations resulted in legal action taken by Republic Pictures against DC Comics during 1942 and 1943 (the legal action was called "Paul Kohner, Inc., against Superman Inc., and Detective Comics, Inc."!). The six letters here give fascinating information about the legal action. We don't know how it was settled, but apparently Republic lost access to the rights for any DC characters (perhaps as a result of this lawsuit!). We know that in 1941 Republic signed a deal with Superman's leading rival, Captain Marvel, and made "The Adventures of Captain Marvel" that year. In 1948, Columbia Pictures made a Superman serial, called "Superman", and two years later, they made a sequel called "Atom Man vs. Superman". The six letters here were found in Mr. Kohner's files and are in the original file folder that they were stored in for decades! Note that these items come from the estate of Paul Kohner, who had a remarkable life! Kohner was born in Czechoslovakia in 1902, and he was a journalist working at his father's newspaper. He came to Hollywood after interviewing Carl Laemmle, who gave him a job as a publicity man. He became the head of Universal's European department in Berlin, and returned to the U.S. in the early 1930s, and left Universal in 1938, becoming a publicity agent. Among his clients were some of the greatest film stars ever, including Greta Garbo, Ingrid Bergman, and also great directors such as John Huston and Billy Wilder. He had close personal friendships with many of his clients, and he saved every bit of correspondence and paper work from his agency! He was married to actress Lupita Tovar from 1932 until his death in 1988. Amazingly, after his death, few institutions showed interest in his immense files, and only a small amount ended up being saved, with a lot literally thrown away! Our consignor purchased the item offered here from Mr. Kohner's estate in 1989, and he has held it until now, when he has consigned several items from Mr. Kohner's estate to eMoviePoster.com, and each item is being auctioned separately.

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