Superman Week: Adventures of Superman: "The Wedding of Superman"

I’ve always enjoyed “what if” stories in the comic-book and superhero milieu.  What if Hal Jordan hadn’t been the recipient of the green power ring? What if Krypton had never been destroyed?  What if Batman’s parents hadn’t died that night in Gotham City?

Adventures of Superman (1952 – 1959) provides a very early televised example of this form in the entry titled “The Wedding of Superman.”  As Lois Lane (Noel Neill) announces at the drama’s commencement -- breaking the fourth wall and addressing the camera -- “this is my story.”

Lois’s story involves the fact that she has been tasked by Daily Planet editor Perry White (John Hamilton) with answering the lonely hearts column, and is buried, literally, in thousands of letters.  She asks Perry for help from the Planet staff, but Perry White, Superman, and Inspector Henderson (Robert Shayne) are too busy attempting to ferret out the identity of the new criminal ring-leader in Metropolis to pay Lois much heed.

That night, Lois falls asleep reading the lonely hearts column, and -- though the audience doesn’t realize it at first -- concocts a romantic fantasy or “dream” about marrying Superman.  First The Man of Steel sends her flowers.  Then, he foils a jewelry store robbery and gives her a diamond.  Then, he proposes marriage, causing Lois to worry about how Clark will receive the news of her impending nuptials.  Superman tells her not to worry, that he is actually Clark Kent.

The wedding ceremony goes off almost without a hitch, except for the fact that there is a time bomb hidden in the wedding cake, one sheathed in lead, and therefore invisible to Superman’s x-ray vision…

When Lois awakens from her dream, she can’t believe it wasn’t real, though even she freely admits that the idea that mild-mannered Clark Kent could be the Man of Steel is incredibly far-fetched.

“The Wedding of Superman” is another enjoyable, fast-paced episode of this classic series, and a good “what if” scenario played out. 

The biggest problem with the episode today is that morals and sensibilities have changed so much in sixty years that at points the story comes off as horribly sexist.  Lois is ignored and generally treated like a child in the meeting with Perry and the other men, and her concerns about being over-worked are shunted aside and ignored. 

Also, the primary idea here seems to be that Lois just wants to get married and have a traditional 1950s family.  But, of course, she’s already achieved incredible success in her career as a reporter at a major metropolitan newspaper.  We all know that Lois pines for Superman, but she also pines for the big journalism “get,” right?  It does the character no service to turn her into a love-sick puppy.

As is often the case, this Adventures of Superman episode veritably thrives on George Reeves’ underplaying of moments that, in the wrong hands, could be campy.   As Superman, he exudes authority and dignity, and more than that even, crafty intelligence.  There’s always the sense with this incarnation of the Man of Steel that he’s thinking two steps ahead of everyone else, anticipating and avoiding pitfalls and land-mines.  I saw it in "Through the Time Barrier," and it is a factor in this story as well.

Reeves brings this high-level of intelligence to his portrayal of Clark Kent, and all his scenes as the “mild mannered” reporter practically sizzle with double-meaning, and with the knowledge that he is interpreting every event through a very different lens than either Jimmy or Lois might.  It’s a deft balancing act for the character, but Reeves is downright graceful in the part.  

Comic-book fans can debate the eras of Superman, and the important question of his identity.  Is Kal-El really Superman, disguised as Clark?  Or is Clark the real personality and Superman the disguise? If one had to choose an option from the Reeves’ portrayal, it would seem that Superman is the real personality, and Clark the disguise.  Lois and Clark inverted this dynamic.

I selected this episode of Adventures of Superman to review today in part because it’s got that ‘what if’ quality, in part because it demonstrates how far we have come today vis-à-vis women in the workplace, and in part because, for a change, the focus is not on crime, but on the Lois/Superman relationship.  This is very much the direction that future versions of the Superman myth, adapted to television, would follow.  Both Lois and Clark (1992 – 1996) and Smallville (2001 – 2011) focus heavily on the central romantic relationships.

In terms of Lois and her psychology, I find it intriguing that in her romantic dream, she knows the truth that Clark is Superman.  Her conscious mind may not let her believe it, but somewhere, her subconscious knows and understands the truth.  Lois’s inability to “recognize” Clark as Superman is a facet of the mythos that irritates a lot of people, I suppose but it seems to mirror a universal human fact that the truth sometimes hides in plain sight.