Written by Edward Gross
Published by BearManor Media
Prolific writer Ed Gross is back, this time with a new book entitled Men of Steel – 87 Years, 87 Actors. As one might suspect from that title, it’s about Superman and all the various actors who have portrayed him for one venue or another over the years.
I should point out that for several years, I ran a popular Facebook page called Men of Steel that covered much of that same ground. The page was dropped when TV Superman Dean Cain became controversial, leading to political arguments in the comments.
Radio Superman Bud Collyer is here, of course, and the big guns—George Reeves, Christopher Reeve, and Henry Cavill. But the Broadway Supes is here as well, along with various other radio, TV, cartoon, and animation versions of our hero.
Ed has managed to come up with more than a score of new to me actors here, though, including Leonard Teale, Beau Weaver, Max Mittleman, Jason J. Lewis, and Burton Tinapp.
Unfortunately—and I understand why he had to do it—the book starts out with Ray Middleton. For those of you who don’t know, I’m convinced that Ray Middleton was NOT Superman on Superman Day at the World’s Fair in 1940. I’ve actually discussed this with Ed Gross, offering my reasoning and my evidence to the contrary. In his chapter, while the author does thankfully note that Middleton as the Man of Steel is not 100% verifiable, he gives circumstantial evidence that it was him and ignores the more solid evidence that it was not. We agree to disagree.
That’s all out of the way right at the beginning, though. Moving on from there, this book is a treasure trove of not just nostalgic trivia but up-to-date info on so many who have worn the iconic emblem over the decades, at least symbolically if not physically.
Although overall clearly meant to be more fannish than in-depth, nearly every chapter does offer a little insight, and sometimes quotations. Let’s look at the chapter on my old pal Bob Hastings, who voiced Filmation’s Superboy in the ‘60s. It starts with a couple of photos, a section on Bob’s early background, two brief paragraphs on Superboy, a bit about his later live-action career, a segment about his work on Bruce Timm’s Batman, as Commissioner Gordon, and then a summation. Three pages is all but it hits most all the basics. Most of the other chapters follow suit.
One of the highlights of this volume comes right at the end, with a long segment on the about-to-debut Superman, David Corenswet. This section includes an exclusive interview with the new Man of Steel as well as Rachel Brosnahan, his Lois Lane, and James Gunn, his director. With the film still to come as of this writing, no one knows how it will be received but its trailer, with Krypto the Superdog, has been very popular, indeed!
I was surprised there was no mention of Mayo Kaan, though, the con-artist who, for decades, erroneously claimed he had inspired Siegel and Shuster, modeled for them, and eventually played Superman in two movies, including one called “Superman Goes to Mars.” He produced several 1940s shots of himself in costume, and I have to admit, he did look darn good in his super suit! A few years back, I was finally able to solve the Kaan mystery, showing that he had been a lifeguard whose only connection to the Man of Steel was to unofficially dress up in his homemade outfit to promote the sale of War Bonds in Boston before he, himself, went into the Navy.
But then, to bring up old Mayo, or either of the several other pretenders who showed up from time to time, to say nothing of Peter Lupus and Denny Miller, who played Superman in TV commercials, or Chuck Woolery, who donned the costume for a Saturday morning TV special in the 1970s, would have thrown off the synchronicity of 87 actors in 87 years.
Caveats aside, speaking as a longtime admirer of all that wore the \S/ shield, Ed Gross’s Men of Steel is a good all-in-one-place basic reference.
Booksteve recommends.
