#the mind machine

[chernobog13]

ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN

S1E08 The Mind Machine

[chernobog13]

HAPPY SUPERMAN DAY!

George Reeve as Clark Kent goes to change into Superman...

...and also changes into stuntman Cary Loftin.

Earlier in the series George Reeves, while wearing the flying harness, had been injured when one of the wires broke and he plummeted to the ground. Reeves refused to wear the harness ever again, which lead to Loftin being strapped into the harness.

This lead to experimenting with various ideas for Superman's take-offs, until Reeves running to a spring-board to jump over the camera became the approved method.

Scenes are from Adventures of Superman first season episode The Mind Machine.

[chernobog13]

George Reeves as Superman in the episode The Mind Machine from the Adventures of Superman television series.

[chernobog13]

Oooh, oooh! I know this one!

Clark Kent and John Hadley are flying in a plane full of scientific equipment to track down a deadly device.

Clark finds out via radiophone that Lois Lane is in danger. He knocks Hadley out with a punch to the jaw, activates the autopilot, and exits the plane as Superman.

Later, with everyone else saved, Superman has to catch the plane as it has run out of fuel and is plunging toward the ground.

Clark then gaslights Hadley into thinking he landed the plane while unconscious.

How Hadley didn't have a broken jaw, or at least a huge bruise, we'll never know.

[chernobog13]

George Reeves as Superman in The Mind Machine, the eighth episode of the first season of Adventures of Superman (1952).

[chernobog13]

I've posted a version of this picture before, but here's a better shot of stuntman Cary Loftin as Superman from the Adventures of Superman first season episode The Mind Machine. The wires holding Loftin, as well as the shadow of the boom the wires are attached to, are clearly visible.

There were at least three take-off shots like this in the episode.

Superman actor George Reeves had initially used these rigs in the feature film/series pilot Superman and the Mole Men (1951), as he insisted on doing his own stunts. However, twice the wires broke and Reeves fell, injuring himself. He thereafter refused for the rest of the series to use wires at all.

The cost and safety issues involved with the wire take-offs, as well as the stuntmen not looking anything like Reeves, eventually led to the whole process being dropped. Instead, Reeves would run toward the camera and jump on an out-of-frame springboard that would give him the appearance of taking flight.

[gameraboy2]

Adventures of Superman (1952), "The Mind Machine"

[fyeahsupermanandloislane]

Adventures of Superman ("The Mind Machine")