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| Show Tidbits | In the black and white episodes, Reeves' Superman costume was brown (for red), grey (for blue), and white (for yellow), so that it would appear in appropriate gray tones on black and white film. The show switched to filming in color for the 1955 season onward, though it was broadcast monochromatically. The switch rendered the gray tones of Reeves' new blue and red costume nearly indistinguishable.
| The establishing shot of the Daily Planet Building in the first season was the E. Clem Wilson Building in Los Angeles, California. A few blocks east, the Carnation Milk Company Building served as the Daily Planet's front entrance. In the remaining seasons, Los Angeles City Hall served as the Daily Planet building, with the sidewalk and doorway to the Daily Planet then becoming a studio set. Locations in and around the Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley served as exteriors. In the last seasons, exterior scenes were often filmed in the studio. The Griffith Observatory was occasionally used for location shooting.
| With the switch to more expensive color film in 1954, the seasons would be slashed from 26 to 13 episodes per season. There was also a mandate to shoot no more new effects scenes than absolutely necessary. Most Superman-in-flight footage was filmed right-to-left. When the plot unavoidably required Superman to fly in the opposite direction, the footage was "flipped," as can be detected by the reversal of the "S" chest emblem. Another explanation is that George Reeves' 'body pan' was attached to a pole that was blocked from view by his body. Unfortunately it was attached on only his right side. If he had to be shown flying in the opposite direction the film had to be reversed. This not only occurred in the color episodes but the black and white ones as well.
| Lighting for color was brighter and hotter than for black and white and perspiration proved a problem for Reeves. His costume was consequently re-engineered into thicker, full-body suit of foam rubber which would not show perspiration. While in theory this was a good idea, it was a disaster in practice for sweat caused Reeves severe rashes and frequent heat exhaustion. A half-hour stretch was the maximum he could wear the new suit safely, making for long shooting days.
| Reeves did most of the stunts which required impressive athletic ability including frequently jumping from substantial heights (to simulate Superman landing in the frame), hitting a springboard with sufficient force to propel him out of frame (to simulate Superman taking off in flight), swinging through windows, and the hours spent doing wire work and being in a body support platform to create the scenes of Superman flying. In some shots where Superman uses the springboard to leap out of frame, the tip of the springboard would bounce back up and appear at the very bottom of the frame. Superman's outdoor landing scenes were accomplished by having Reeves jump off a ladder. When he flew through a window, Reeves would swing into the room from an off-camera bar positioned outside the window.
| The series was filmed like movie serials in that the principals wore the same costumes throughout the show to expedite out-of-sequence shooting schedules and save budgetary costs. For instance, all scenes that took place in the "Perry White Office" set would be filmed back to back, for future placement in various episodes, which was often confusing to the actors.
| In 1952, cereal titan Kellogg's agreed to sponsor the show. Some of the cast members made extra money by appearing in the company's commercials. Phyllis Coates and Noel Neill did not appear, however. Producers believed Lois Lane having breakfast with Superman would be too suggestive.
| A running gag on the show was to have a thug fire his gun at Superman until it was out of bullets. Superman, being bulletproof wouldn't move and let the bullets bounce off of him. When the villain realized his gun was empty he would throw his gun at Superman and Superman would then duck after having bullets fired at him.
| In the early episodes, George Reeves wore eyeglasses without lenses when he played Clark Kent. Reeves eventually needed prescription eyeglasses and began wearing his own glasses during filming. Stage lights are sometimes reflected from the lenses of his eyeglasses..
| During the course of the show's run, George Reeves made an appearance as Superman in episode 165 of I Love Lucy (January 14, 1957). In the episode, Superman rescues Lucy from a narrow window ledge outside her apartment.
| The show was low-budgeted by anyone's standards with its performers being paid $200 per episode. They threatened to quit the show unless given a $50 raise. By the end of the run, star Reeves was making at least $2500 per episode, but the rest of the cast still made considerably less. The stars had signed a "run of the show contract," meaning the producers could demand they shoot a new season within thirty days' notice. The clause effectively prohibted actors from signing-on to long-term commitments like movies or plays.
| Steve Carr appeared as an unbilled extra in nearly every one of the first 26 shows. He was director Tommy Carr's brother, the show's assistant director, and the man pointing "up in the sky" in the black-and-white introduction.
| The bad guys on the show were usually generic thugs, crazy scientists, foreign agents, shady businessmen, or spies of fictitious countries. Tris Coffin, Herb Vigran and Ben Welden made multiple appearances as different villains on the show. Guests include Maudie Prickett, George Chandler, Chuck Connors, Hugh Beaumont, John Beradino, Billy Gray, Claude Akins, Vic Perrin and Dabbs Greer.
| Superman's take-offs, flights, and landings were accomplished through several means. At first, wires were used for take-offs but were abandoned when Reeves nearly suffered a concussion when the wires broke. A springboard was brought in with Reeves running into frame, hitting the springboard which then would launch him out of frame and onto padding. The springboard had enough force, along with subtle camera manipulation, to make it look as though he was actually taking off. The springboard was used through the remainder of the series. A relatively small amount of "flying" stock footage was used and redone for each of the three distinctive periods of the series. The typical footage saw Reeves stretched out on a body shaped board, with fans or other means used to ripple his cape. The footage was then matted onto various backgrounds (clouds, buildings, etc.) depending on the needs of the episode. Reeves "landed" in a scene by jumping off a ladder or holding a horizontal bar and swinging down into frame. Reeves was athletic and did many of his own stunts but very occasionally a stuntman was called upon.
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