"Funner" With Frank

Something unique happened to me last Friday afternoon. It was chilly and raining in Taylor, Texas that afternoon but inclement weather was not going to stop me from seeing the first six Superman cartoons from 1941-1942 at the newly restored and reopened historic Howard Theater. These pulse-pounding, full color adventures of the Man of Steel were produced by the Fleischer Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures.

Way back in the 1970s when the first comic book conventions in Austin were held, the Superman cartoons were always a source of buzzy, you-gotta-see-this hype. As I recall, some fan had at least one sixteen millimeter bootlegged print that was shown in the film room. Anyone remember when cons had film rooms? As years went by, bootleg VHS tapes of the cartoons were available in the dealer’s room at various cons. I ponied up my money for a tape even though the image and sound were less than satisfactory.

Various Fleischer Superman cartoons have appeared on DVD releases of other Superman films but the complete series in the Blu-Ray format was long in coming. Finally in 2023, the complete series of seventeen films including both the nine films produced by the Fleischer studios beginning in 1941 and the eight films done by Famous Studios.

By the way, I’d dearly love to have a copy of this Blu-Ray collection. If any of my dear readers would like to gift me this item, here’s the link. https://www.amazon.com/Fleischers-Superman-Blu-ray-Clayton-Collye12,

I don’t usually beg (in fact, this is the first time I’ve done this) but I figure it’s at least worth putting it out there and see what happens.

Back to last Friday. When I arrived at the theater, I was greeted by owner Channing Kingery-Boles with the news that I was the only ticket holder for the 2:00 p.m. screening. No one else had purchased tickets online or at the theater box office.

Now, if you’re a hardcover film fan, this is one of the fantasies that all of us have had at one time or another in our lives, the chance to have an entire theater to yourself while you enjoy a favorite film on the big screen. It was just me, a big bag of popcorn and an ice-cold Dr. Pepper. All alone. The Howard Theater, for the next hour or so, was truly my very own Fortress of Solitude.

The program featured the first six films, made from 1941-1942. They were SUPERMAN, which included Kal-El’s origin and his battle against a mad scientist (with a pet vulture) who threatens Metropolis with a death ray mounted on an impossibly tall mountain just outside of the city. Next, THE MECHANICAL MONSTERS featured an army of flying robots looting the city. BILLION DOLLAR LIMITED was a mile-a-minute train chase as villains attempt to rob the locomotive. ARCTIC GIANT finds a thawed-out dinosaur wreaking havoc in Metropolis. This is an important film in the giant monster film genre as it follows KING KONG (1933) but predates BEAST FROM TWENTY THOUSAND FATHOMS (1953) and GOJIRA (1954). The monster is a bit cartoony but it’s still an exciting landmark film.

Next, up was THE BULLETEERS, a gang of crooks who use a flying needle-nosed vehicle to rob the city. And finally, THE MAGNETIC TELESCOPE is an apocalyptic vision of the end of the world as a mad scientist uses a magnetic telescope to draw a comet to earth causing enormous earthquakes and other threats to the good citizens of Metropolis.

I LOVE everything about these films. The color is lush and saturated; the characters of Clark/Superman and Lois Lane are consistently on model. They look exactly as if Joe Shuster had drawn them himself. But it’s the entire look and design of the films that draw me in. Whether the object is a human being, a mechanical marvel, a giant beast or just the world of the cartoons, everything is brilliantly designed and brought to vivid, exciting life. The plots do get to be a bit repetitive but hey, these were never designed to be viewed back-to-back-to back. So what if they all end the same way with Lois getting the scoop and a front page of THE DAILY PLANET while Clark knowingly looks at the camera and winks. That’s all part of the immense charm these films provide to audiences then and now.

Even if that audience is only me.