Sound Recording, Superman the Original Radio Broadcasts, Vol. 3: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This vinyl album was distributed as a premium by Kellog's in 1974. It is one of a set of four records offered as a part of the promotion, all featuring archival recordings of the 1940s era radio program "The Adventures of Superman." The discs, released on the Mark 56 label, were available via mail for $1.50 and two Kellog's box tops.

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: 1974
• publisher: Mark 56 Records
• maker: Mark 56 Records
• Object Name: Sound Recording
• Other Terms: Phonorecord; Sound Recording; 33 Rpm
• Physical Description: vinyl (overall material)
• Physical Description: paper (overall material)
• Physical Description: ink (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 12 in; 30.48 cm
• place made: United States: California, Anaheim
• Subject: Superman
• Subject: Radio
• ID Number: 1987.0213.131
• accession number: 1987.0213
• catalog number: 1987.0213.131
• 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.