Adv. of Superman Thanksgiving Tradition

[MichaelBailey]

I was thinking today that Thanksgiving was not the biggest deal in the world until I met my wife  Rachel. Sure I enjoyed the holiday and all of the food and pumpkin pie that came with it, but it was never one of those big deals for me.

Well, that's not exactly true. For a few years when I was in junior high school ) circa 1988-1991) Thanksgiving was a pretty neat day. You see the cable company that we subscribed to, Service Electric, was kind of weird. I guess Allentown was caught in this weird place between New York City and Philadelphia and because of this we got what would become the WB and Fox networks for both cities. We also got Channel Nine, which was another New York station that ran this messed up kid's show called Steam Pipe Alley hosted by Mario Cantone and other syndicated programming.

For several years it also hosted a marathon of the 1950s Adventures of Superman television show on Thanksgiving Day. The marathon was hosted by Jack Larson and it was the first time I ever actually watched the show with any kind of interest. (When I was younger and they aired the show on PBS I didn't like it all that much.) Usually I would be in my sister Mary's room (as she had one of the three televisions in the house) and just sit for hours watching Superman until dinner was ready.

Those were the Thanksgivings I remembered the most (outside of the Thanksgiving when I read Crisis on Infinite Earths #7 for the first time) or at least the ones I remember fondly.

So here I sit well over a decade later. I really look forward to Thanksgiving now because Rachel works so hard to make it special and while I do a little more work than before I tend to enjoy myself more. This year, though, I plan on digging out my DVDs (whereas last year I had to rely on my Columbia House tapes of The Adventures of Superman ) and plan to watch them here in the office as I surf the 'Net and burn some Christmas CD's. I really like the show now, especially the first season when Phyllis Coates played Lois Lane and the shows had a film noir feel to them. It's not that I have anything against Noel Neil ... well actually I do. I never really liked her portrayal of the character, but that's beside the point.

It will be nice to sit down and watch Superman on Thanksgiving again.

[Michel Weisnor]

I am so glad someone else remembers channel 9 WOR Superman on Thanksgiving marathons. When I was a kid, my family loved sitting by the fireplace and watching Jack Larson's intros followed by a heavy dose of AoS. I too miss it this time of the year, goodtimes.

Superman @ Thanksgiving

Batman (Adam West naturally) @ Easter (not on WOR, though)   

[davidelliott]

Hey Michaels...

I'm a transplanted Jerseyan (grew up in Parsippany but now in Northern California) and man, I have been thinking of those marathons on WOR... Jack Larson hosting was cool and I recall he gave insights on some of the episodes, or on Reeves and other stuff.


Thanks for remembering!

[MichaelBailey]

Hey Michaels...

I'm a transplanted Jerseyan (grew up in Parsippany but now in Northern California) and man, I have been thinking of those marathons on WOR... Jack Larson hosting was cool and I recall he gave insights on some of the episodes, or on Reeves and other stuff.


Thanks for remembering!

Jack Larson's intros were how I first learned about the George Reeves series.  The anecdotes were interesting and they always revealed something about the episode they were either about to or were airing.