KIRK ALYN
October 8th, 1910 -- March 14th, 1999

Above: Kirk Alyn as Superman in the 1948 Columbia serial of the same name

How many people remember who the first screen Superman was? Do I hear "George Reeves"? I'm sorry, but you are incorrect. Great as Reeves was, and as identified with the role as he came to be, he was not the first. Another actor deserves that honor. And, in my opinion, that actor is tied with Reeves for the title of "Definitive Superman," as well as being the unchallenged possesor of the title of “Last of the Serial Kings.” His name is Kirk Alyn and he starred in six serials altogther, making a memorable, unique hero in each one. With his unusually boyish and lively delivery, Kirk added energy and bounce to each and every one of his heroic roles; though all of his cliffhangers were made after the so-called serial “Golden Age” had ended, it was impossible to call them “routine” or “dull” thanks to the work of Kirk Alyn.

Above: Alyn as Superman's alter ego, Clark Kent.

Kirk Alyn was born in Oxford, New Jersey, and headed for Broadway after graduating from college. He worked as a chorus member and extra in several stage musicals before beginning to work in movie musicals in the same capacity. But not for long; after Kirk arrived in Hollywood in 1942, the size of his parts slowly grew with each film. He appeared in Republic’s 1943 Bill Elliott B-western OVERLAND MAIL ROBBERY as a gun-shy, timid tenderfoot, and the next year was awarded the role of a heroic mining engineer in CALL OF THE ROCKIES, a Sunset Carson B-western. His first serial , DAUGHTER OF DON Q, was also made at Republic and released in 1946. The studio cast Kirk as reporter Cliff Roberts, who became involved in a series of murders that somehow centered around an old Spanish land grant. With the help of heiress and socialite Dolores Quantaro (Adrian Booth, formerly Lorna Gray), the "Daughter" of the title, he resolved the situation and traced the crimes to a crooked antique dealer (LeRoy Mason) and his henchman Roy Barcroft. Republic evidently remembered the comedic talent Alyn had shown in OVERLAND MAIL ROBBERY when they starred him in DON Q, as the Cliff Roberts character, though stalwart when it came time for action, was a good deal more light-hearted and flippant than the typical Republic hero.

Above: A lobby card for Alyn's first starring serial, DAUGHTER OF DON Q (Republic, 1946). That's leading lady Adrian Booth surrounded by knives on the left. Booth and Kirk Alyn are on the right. Notice that oil painting between the two pictures? It was supposed to be a portrait of Don Q in the serial, but it's actually a portrait of Republic's ace director Spencer Gordon Bennet, painted especially for this cliffhanger.

Kirk’s talent for switching from the light to the serious was to stand him in good stead when he took on the double role of Superman and Clark Kent. He auditioned for the part of the Man of Steel in 1948, and though his slender, athletic physique was nothing like the muscle-bound Superman of the era’s comics, was chosen out of a huge batch of applicants. Kirk later said that he got the impression that the folks who hired him were so tired of screening actors that they were ready to sign on the next guy that walked in the door. Actually, Alyn was remarkably similar in size to the original Superman as drawn by Siegel and Shuster in the late thirties , who in turn had been modeled on the acrobatic Douglas Fairbanks. Anyway, SUPERMAN (Columbia, 1948) was a well-done serial, following the mighty hero's life from childhood on Krypton to his maturity in Metropolis, and chronicling his epic battle with the sinister Spider Lady (Carol Forman, one of the best serial villianesses in the business). Despite the fact that the Spider Lady had quantities of Kryponite, the one substance that could render Superman powerless, Superman managed to defeat her and her henchmen (an All-Star cast of heavies including Charles Quigley, George Meeker, Jack Ingram, Terry Frost, Charles King, and Rusty Westtcoat) and thwart their plans to steal a deadly ray for the purpose of world domination. On the good guys’ side, Noel Neill was perfectly cast as Lois Lane, Tommy Bond was Jimmy Olsen, and veteran serial player Pierre Watkin was hilarious as the exasperated, cigar-chomping, Daily Planet editor Perry White. And as for Superman himself? Kirk delivered a wonderful performance, both as Superman and his alter ego Clark Kent. He gave both parts a sense of humor, but managed to make sure the two characters--the witty, nervous Clark and the strong, swashbuckling Superman--differed from each other as much as possible (something that Reeves omitted to do on TV). Unfortunately, Kirk’s great contribution to the serial was ill repaid by the fact that someone (no one knows who) came up with the "bright idea" of withholding Alyn’s screen credit and billing him simply as Superman. It was rather unfair, but the idea was carried out. It really didn't bother Alyn much, though. He was a true professional, and he cared more about doing a good job than getting listed in the credits.

In addition to putting all his acting energy into the role, Kirk also was called on to do a lot of physical duty in his SUPERMAN role. Due the low budget of Columbia producer Sam Katzman, no stuntmen were used for Alyn and he often had to hustle about with the unconcsious Bond or Neill under his arm, and nearly got killed by an arcing electric wire in one sequence. He also had a scary experience in a scene where Superman was supposed to hold a broken rail straight while a train shot past him. The scene was filmed just as it appeared in the film, with no process work, and Kirk narrowly escaped having his cape caught in the locomotive’s wheels. Katzman’s budget also caused Kirk trouble in another department: the special effects department, to be precise. After an ineffectual (and very painful) attempt to simulate Superman’s flight by hanging Alyn from wires, Katzman gave up the attempt and had the flying scenes done with animation instead. Despite the budgetary problems, Kirk survived the filming and helped to make SUPERMAN the best of all Columbia’s post-1945 serials.

Above: Superman (Kirk Alyn) rescues Lois Lane (Noel Neill) from suffocation in a safe in this scene from SUPERMAN (Columbia, 1948).

Kirk returned to Republic in 1948 to star in the serial FEDERAL AGENTS VS. UNDERWORLD INC. As Federal Agent Dave Worth, he fought a gang of thieves after the fable Golden Hands of Kurigal, the key to the Treasure of Kurigal. The two head villains were certainly no strangers to Alyn: the arch-villainess Nila was played by none other than Carol "Spider Lady" Forman, and her henchman Gordon was played by bad old Roy Barcroft. FEDERAL AGENTS VS. UNDERWORLD INC. was longtime serial co-director Fred Brannon's first solo effort, and one of his best. It was also, in my opinion, the best of Alyn’s Republic outings, thanks to the unusual plot that combined both “detective” and “exotic adventure” elements, the presence of Barcroft and Forman, the direction of Fred Brannon, and--of course--the energetic performance of Kirk himself.

Above, from left to right: James Dale, Kirk Alyn, and Rosemary LaPlanche in FEDERAL AGENTS VS. UNDERWORLD INC. (Republic, 1948).

Kirk then starred in what many believe to be the last great Republic serial--1949's RADAR PATROL VS. SPY KING. It was a pretty good one, at any rate. American secret agent Chris Calvert (Alyn) was set to safeguard a government radar project being conducted by scientist Joan Hughes (Jean Dean). The project was menaced by master spy Baroda (John Merton) and his network of agents, chief among them the slinky Nitra (Eve Whitney) and the nasty Ricco Morgan (veteran villain Anthony Warde in his serial swan song). With the help of Mexican Border Patrol officer Manuel Agura (George J. Lewis) Calvert succeeded in destroying Baroda and his gang.

Above: Kirk Alyn and Jean Dean in RADAR PATROL VS. SPY KING (Republic, 1949).

Then, in 1950, it was back to Columbia for Alyn, to star in ATOM MAN VS. SUPERMAN. Atom Man was really Superman's archenemy Lex Luthor (Lyle Talbot) who was scheming to take over the world and rid himself of Superman once and for all. Noel Neill returned as Lois Lane, Tommy Bond was again Jimmy Olsen, and Pierre Watkin reprised his role of Perry White. While not quite as riveting as the original SUPERMAN, ATOM MAN VS. SUPERMAN was fully as entertaining as its predecessor, and firmly established Kirk as the definitive Superman in the minds of the Saturday matinee crowd, although he remained unbilled in the actual cliffhanger credits.

Above: Superman (Kirk Alyn) interrogates a thug the hard way in this lobby card for ATOM MAN VS. SUPERMAN (Columbia, 1950), Kirk's second and last Superman serial.

Alyn's final serial was BLACKHAWK (Columbia, 1952). In the role of the comic book hero Blackhawk, he and his pals (including John Crawford, Don Harvey, and Rick Vallin) thwarted a Communist spy ring headed by the evil Laska (Carol Forman once again). The spies’ nefarious plots ranged from replacing Vallin with a double to stealing a death ray invented by Professor Rolph (William Fawcett), but the Blackhawk group countered each conspiracy. BLACKHAWK, thanks to Kirk’s previous sucess as Superman, was a smash hit for Columbia, and still maintains some stalwart fans today.

Above: Kirk Alyn (left) battles an enemy agent (Marshall Reed) in BLACKHAWK (Columbia, 1952).

Alyn found himself so firmly typecast in the superhero mold that he was unable to get any other film assignments. After declining to play Superman on TV (the part then went to George Reeves) he returned to Broadway, where he continued to work for most of his career. He retired to Woodlands, Texas in the early 1980s, but continued to act in occasional Hollywood movies and made myriad appearances at serial conventions, charming cliffhanger fans with his jovial, good-natured humor. Kirk passed away at Woodlands in 1999.

Unlike some serial actors, Kirk never regretted being typecast as a cliffhanger superhero, and he continued all his life to look back fondly on his serial days and especially his stint as the Man of Steel. In his own words: "You know, if I were given the chance, I'd do it [play Superman] all over again. The money wasn't much. It was mostly a labor of love..... I would love to do it again."

"Up, up, and away!"