With Part Two of the Special Edition, we restore a much-debated, originally censored line of dialogue to Who Took the Super out of Superman?

We recently had the opportunity to talk with Elliot S! Maggin about his experiences working with co-writer Cary Bates, and his thoughts on the editorial process surrounding this change:

You and Cary Bates worked together on many stories.  What was the collaboration process that the two of you used?

In every case, he did the panel-by-panel story breakdown and I did the dialog.  He lived in the building next door in Queens.  We got this little tape recorder and he would dictate breakdowns into it sometimes, and I would write it all up into a final script.  Sometimes he would give me pages of breakdowns with space for dialog and I would fill in the blanks, but invariably he would estimate the space to allocate incorrectly, and I type really fast -- so the tape recorder method generally worked best.

The most fun we had doing this was on the JLA/JSA crossover that we both appeared in.  We did the whole 24-page second script from scratch in two-and-a-half hours.  I believe that record stands.  The idea was for our self-promotion to be so egregious that people would be grossed-out and never put themselves into scripts again.  Grant Morrison easily outstripped our egregiousness and as far as I can tell his record still stands too.

"Who Took the Super Out of Superman?" is particularly well known for the now famous  "dinner date" scene, giving a new depth to, and forever redefining, the relationship between Lois and Clark.  What was the original line of dialogue that you wanted to give Steve Lombard?

I think it was, "Hiya Lois -- same dress as yesterday, huh?"

I swiped the bit from a recent movie of the time, "Save the Tiger," in which Jack Lemmon keeps getting compliments on a new suit, spends the night with a girl he picks up hitchhiking and Jack Gilford says, "Same suit, huh Jack?" or whatever the character's name is.  Lemmon won an Oscar.  Great movie.  I even liked the hitchhiker.

Who decided on the change?

All the changes were dictated by Julie Schwartz.  The most significant one was the one I quit over.  At some point, I did a story involving Perry White and the idea that as a young reporter he had uncovered the story of the Manhattan Project.  Julie changed the ending not for any artistic or narrative reason, but because he wanted to use the story to make a point to me about editorial supremacy.  I told him to take my name off the story and he didn't, so I went into the production room and brushed out my name with black ink, and that's how the story was printed.  It was a backup story of some sort (maybe a Private Life story) and was attributed to no writer.  I'm sure it must not be on your list because it never had my name on it, but it came out toward the end of my first run on the character.

SCENES FROM PART TWO: