Lobby Card, Superman’s Peril: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

Promotional lobby card for the 1954 movie "Superman's Peril" The film was a compilation of three previously released episodes of the popular television series "Adventures of Superman." The card, one of a set produced for the film, features a still of Superman punching a man dressed as a sailor. Superman's costume appears yellow instead of blue as the image has discolored over time, a result of the printing process.

Premiering in 1952, the syndicated program "Adventures of Superman" ran on television for 6 seasons and 104 episodes. The three episodes packaged into the movie "Superman's Peril" were all taken from the show's second season (1953-1954.) They include the stories "The Defeat of Superman," "The Semi-Private Eye," and "The Golden Vulture."

The "Adventures of Superman" starred actor George Reeves in the title role. The show also featured Noel Neill as journalist Lois Lane, Jack Larson as cub reporter/ photographer Jimmie Olson, and John Hamilton as editor Perry White.

The character of Superman first flew into action in 1938. The costumed superhero was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, two Jewish teenagers from Cleveland Ohio, who used, among other things, classical mythology and the era's popular science fiction and adventure writing for inspiration.

With his debut in Action Comics #1, Superman became an instant sensation with audiences, inspired by the "Man of Tomorrow's" virtue and heroics at time when the Nation was slowly emerging from the economic catastrophe of the Great Depression and moving closer to World War.

Born on the doomed planet Krypton, Superman was sent to Earth as a child, where our world's yellow sun granted him extraordinary powers such as flight, super-strength, near-invulnerability, as well as other extraordinary abilities including heat and X-Ray vision. As an adult living in the city of Metropolis, the alien, born Kal-El, protects his identity by assuming the persona of Clark Kent, a "mild-mannered" journalist.

Fighting for "Truth and Justice," Superman birthed a cultural fascination with superheroes, and has become one of the most recognizable and influential fictional characters in history. In addition to comic books, the character has been explored in all forms of media, including radio, television, and film, and has been used to promote a variety of successful consumer products, educational initiatives and public service campaigns.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date made: 1954
• copyright holder: National Comics Publications, Inc.
• depicted; associated person: Reeves, George
• associated person: Neill, Noel
• associated person: Larson, Jack
• maker: National Comics Publications, Inc.
• Object Name: lobby card
• Physical Description: paper (overall material)
• Physical Description: ink (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 11 in x 14 in; 27.94 cm x 35.56 cm
• Subject: Superman
• Subject: Motion Pictures
• general subject association: Television
• ID Number: 1987.0213.018
• accession number: 1987.0213
• catalog number: 1987.0213.018
• Credit Line: DC Comics, Incorporated
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.