Adventures of Superman '53: Faking Out a Crime Boss

February 27, 1953: The episode is titled "Crime Wave," and it might be the show's best one. In spite of Superman's presence, an organized crime gang goes on the offensive in Metropolis, against everybody: The general public, the police, and other gangs. One by one, Superman and the police take down the top racketeers, until there's one left.

That racketeer has a plan, but the scientist he enlists to kill Superman is overconfident. Kryptonite had already been introduced on the radio show, and then in the comic books, but had not yet been on the TV show. Superman was not fooled by the professor: He knew this man was not "Public Enemy No. 1." So he faked being affected by the electric (or radioactive) blasts, to draw No. 1 out and expose him. It had already been established in the comics that Superman could stop his own heart without harm, so he did it here.

Superman (and Clark Kent, whose side of the character does not appear in this clip) was played by George Reeves; Lois Lane by Phyllis Coates; Jimmy Olsen by Jack Larson; Perry White (revealed in this episode to be not just the publisher of the Daily Planet, but a former Mayor of Metropolis) by John Hamilton.

The bad guys: Walter Canby, whose public position gives him great cover as No. 1, was by John Eldredge; No. 2, Nick Marone, by Philip Van Zandt; No. 3, Big Ed Bullock, by Al Eben; and the professor by Joe Mell.

Also in the episode, but not in this clip: Robert Shayne as Inspector Bill Henderson, who often works with the Daily Planet; and Barbara Fuller as Sally, Canby's "gangster moll."