Stamp Day for Superman

Seen as part of the MST3K reunion, the temptation to think this is not fair to look at on its own is silly. It's still pudgy George Reeves doing a glorified PSA so that kids can know that stamps are important. Woop-dee-do. But I actually enjoyed the villain here, who kidnaps and ties up Lois (Noel Neill as the least conventionally attractive yet probably most real-world accurate Lane), and gets his jollies being a jerk about stamps (it may have been the actor more than the material he was given, fair enough). And there's just sheer joy in seeing a 1950's Superman jump (!) out of a window and break through a wall to save the damsel in distress in an age where there's nothing but 28489292 million dollar special effects to show the same thing. It's dumb and silly but it's for the kids, you know? It's a PSA that holds up in its frozen-in-its-time place, if that makes sense: it's from an era of showing kids things with Clark Kent and Superman and Jimmy and everyone else and them buying into it knowing it's fake.

Produced by Superman Inc. For the United States Department of the Treasury to promote the purchase of U. S. Savings Bonds.

Old DC live-action adaptations were the best.

This 1954 short was donated by Superman, Inc. to the U.S. Treasury to encourage the youth of the day to enroll in their school Stamp Day saving program. It is the only portion of the 1950's TV series in public domain, so whenever clips of the show are aired, this is the program they choose.

Stamp Day for Superman opens with Lois and Clark window shopping, when a burglar alarm sounds. Superman responds, and finds a contrite robber, who bemoans he never saved money and is reduced to crime to pay his bills. The rest of the story includes flying, crashing through walls, and a savings stamp book for Lois, Jimmy, Clark, and Superman. (yes, Superman!) Worthwhile for camp purposes, and the fact it was the last Superman segment shot in black and white

This is an obscure little curio--a special episode of "The Adventures of Superman" that was made as a public service announcement. The aim was to get children to buy stamps which would, in turn, be traded in for US Savings Bonds. But before Superman (George Reeves) preached at the kids about doing this, there was a short (and rather lame) episode involving a dumb criminal named Blinky...and Lois, who as usual, isn't too bright herself! It seems that Lois is the only witness who saw Blinky commit a crime and she lets herself be taken prisoner by him quite easily. Fortunately, Blinky isn't exactly a rocket scientist and Lois is able to get word to Superman of her predicament.

Overall, this isn't a great installment of the series but is worth seeing just because it's so odd. If you are curious to see it, check it out on YouTube.

This is obviously just a very mid-fifties, government-issued propaganda short film that was meant to inspire kids and adults to buy stamps and save their money. It's the old "pay war bonds" ad that circulated ad nauseam in those days, so in that regard it is in no way original. However, the short nature of the film puts a huge constraint on any plot or narrative, but director Thomas Carr actually manages to pull it off quite well, all things considered. There are definitely a decent amount of chuckles and decent writing throughout, and while dated, it's honestly not the worst Superman thing ever made.