No credit for Kirk Alyn?
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Marvel/DC
vaneyck — 19 years ago(October 28, 2006 08:53 AM)
The titles that run before each episode give the cast list. Each list is topped by the actors who play Lois and Jimmy, followed by whoever is in that episode. But Kirk Alyn's name doesn't appear, either there or on any other page of the opening credits. Seems a bit hard on Alyn, making him keep his identity secret, if that's what happened. Actors get decent roles and decent pay based on how well they are known. An anonymous actor is an out-of-work actor, and Alyn's IMDb page seems to bear that out. Is there a story behind this?
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shall01 — 19 years ago(October 28, 2006 11:09 AM)
I'm afraid there is. The following quotes come from the DVD booklet in the Superman Cartoons DVD that VCI Entertainment released a few months back. It also partly explains some of the problems George Reeves had to faced when he played Superman on TV
"Starting in the (very early) 1940's, a mandate was passed from the comic book publisher stating that every attempt was to be made to create a facade that Superman was a real person. This ensured that (Bud) Collyer (..or Kirk Alyn or George Reeves or anyone else) would not be credited any time in the (then) foreseeable future. This mandate would continue for years and cause actor George Reeves much strife when he made public appearences as the man of steel, because he was never permitted to tell children that he was merely an actor playing Superman, and not Superman himself."
I bet this also caused a problem when Alyn or Reeves came upon a kid that wanted to hit "Superman" with a club or stick to test his strength. -
movibuf1962 — 19 years ago(October 29, 2006 09:56 AM)
I noticed that, too! The Alyn serial only calls him 'SUPERMAN,' and the ruse apparently continued into the 1950's when George Reeves guest-starred on I LOVE LUCY as Superman- and this was after his own series began. His living-room entrance gets applause from the studio audience, but the actor himself is not mentioned anywhere in the episode or credits; rather a strange disclaimer-like credit at the very end only acknowledging SUPERMAN as a creation of DC/Action comics- all rights reserved, etc.
The serial is fun to watch on TCM, however. They seem to be running in 5-episode intervals over several Saturday mornings at 10:00 am. Good for them!! I'm gonna record all of them if I can!! -
vaneyck — 19 years ago(October 29, 2006 10:55 AM)
Thanks, shall01. That's really too bad. I doubt if Kirk Alyn was a great actor, but it seems really unfair to deprive him of a chance at a career, in order to try and sustain an unsustainable fiction. Would any child young enough to believe the actor really was Superman bother to read the credits, even if it could? Would any child old enough to recognize the difference between fact and fiction care that it's an actor in those tights and cape?
Anyone who had dealt with the concept of a department-store Santa would know kids take such things in their stride. The young ones believe they've talked to Santa Claus, while the older ones know they're in on one of the grownups' little secrets. The same would apply to promotional appearances by the actor playing Superman.
But I guess it's too late to argue the point with the Superman rights-holders of 1948. I'm just sorry for Alyn's sake that they acted as they did. -
superman_scott-forever — 18 years ago(November 12, 2007 08:19 PM)
kirk alyn was a good actor but his serials killed his career. i still get a thrill every time i see anything he was inespically superman the movie where both he and noel neil play lois lanes mom and dad.
superman_scott.forever !! -
Adam_P_L — 13 years ago(November 01, 2012 07:49 AM)
I think if this had started with the serial, the idea that "no child young enough to believe in Superman or the Easter Bunny would read or understand the credits" might have made sense, but the whole thing with the lead actor not being credited started before any movie or cartoon, with the daily radio show that starred Bud Collyer. On more adult shows, actors would have names (e.g., "Tonight, on 'Suspense' Agnes Moorehead!"), but on all the kids' shows, like The Lone Ranger and The Green Hornet, the hero was never acknowledged as being played by an actor.
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