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Superhuman Cliche
TIME May 31, 1948
Superman
As the train comes roaring round the bend, a figure ( a bird? a plane?) hurtles through the air. He races the locomotive to the broken rail. Suddenly the screen goes black. Will Superman (who looks slightly flabby in the flesh) reach the broken rail in time to prevent the wreck? Will he weld the rail with the glare of his X-ray eyes? Or will he straight-arm the train to a stop? Here in a superhuman cliche ends the first chapter of Columbia's newest serial, Superman.
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Serial writers ran out of hazards years ago, have been working switches on them ever since; the loose cotter pin on the stagecoach, for example, has been used an estimated 7,000 times. As morality plays, serials unvaryingly make everything black & white. Hero & heroine are Good; villain and assistant villain (brain & brawn) are Evil. Love finds its strongest expression in a frank, manly smile. Sex never, never rears its snuggly head.
Photos by Photo Fest
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