The New Adventures of Batman: 1977

January 25, 2020

I've always been something of a procrastinator but I've finally gotten around to purchasing the DVD (yes, I've not yet taken the giant step into the world of Blu Ray yet) but I've finally purchased a DVD copy of The New Adventures of Batman, the 1977 series from Filmation, on CBS, featuring Adam West and Burt Ward as the voices of Batman and Robin. This is a repackaged release...it doesn't include the DVD extra of the history behind this series. I'd seen it on YouTube, though, so it's not that big of a deal it was left off this repackaged release. I've read for many years how this incarnation features a certain character named Bat-Mite...and I've read commentary that the inclusion of that character is the single biggest turn off for a lot of people...but I've always told myself that once I see the episodes I'll form my own opinion as I always do, rather than, allowing a collective public perception form it for me. I never watched any of these episodes on-line because of my choice of waiting until a DVD came along...but then my procrastination caused me to not purchase the DVD right away, as explained above, but now I have it in my personal collection of animation DVDs. The series mirrors the live-action 1960s Batman in varying ways...in several episodes you'll see Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson rush to the bat poles and emerge in the Batcave. Once in the Batcave, oddly enough, they emerge from an elevator containing the bat poles rather than landing feet first, already costumed, on soft cushions as the characters did in the live-action show. Also, in those certain episodes containing the bat poles, Bruce shouts "to the Batcave!!" instead of the catchphrase "to the bat poles!!" which was made popular on the live-action series. 

As mentioned Adam West and Burt Ward star in this series as Bruce Wayne/Batman and Dick Grayson/Robin respectively. Alfred is not part of the cast. Commissioner Gordon is modeled after his appearance in the comic books while the remaining lead characters retain their 1968 appearances. Catwoman is given a new look, however. Lennie Weinrib and co-producer, Lou Scheimer, are the vocalists for all the other male characters while Melendy Britt voices the female characters. 

The series originally aired February 12, 1977 - May 28, 1977 on Saturday mornings and was repeated for several years as part of Filmation's various animated programming blocks. It was the studio's second animated series starring Batman...the first came along in 1968. When the 1977 series debuted on CBS both Batman and Robin were also airing in animated form on another network, ABC, on the Hanna-Barbera Super Friends series. In that series Olan Soule voiced Batman while Casey Kasem voiced Robin, as they had done in Filmation's 1968 series. Those two vocal performers would remain the voices of the Dynamic Duo for Hanna-Barbera throughout the 1970s and into the early 1980s.

I've watched both discs of The New Adventures of Batman...each one contains 8 episodes...for a 16 episode total. I made notes on some episodes which I'll form into a review, of sorts, but it'll take repeated watches of the series to have me know the episodes backwards and forwards as I do some of my other Classic Cartoon DVDs. 

One of the things I noticed is that there aren't any title cards. I'm not an expert on the history of this series to know if title cards were part of it's original run or not but there aren't any included in the episodes on this DVD release. The show's debut episode, The Pest, is a description of Bat-Mite...the alien that pops up at the most critical moments to lend a helping hand only for it to cause mayhem and misfortune for the Caped Crusaders. The magical imp is a klutz and it's shown early on that he has a massive crush on Batgirl. In the episode Joker leaves the Crusaders a riddle clue: "oil and water don't mix". The police station, specifically the Commissioner's office, looks nearly futuristic...in some scenes it looks as if it's the Batcave with all the gadgetry and monitors. The main plot of the episode is the Joker attempting to steal a car...that runs on water. The scientist that invented the car speaks at a demonstration gala but he's revealed to be the Joker in disguise. Batman and Robin's attempts to sneak up on Joker backfire thanks to Bat-Mite. In the chaos Bat-Mite needs rescued...and to give you an indication of the Crusader's feelings, Bat-Mite responds by saying: "Batman! You saved my life!!" and Batman deadpans: "we ALL have our weak moments.". The imp's catchphrase is "all I want to do is help". A slight touch of amnesia for the scientist prevents him from remembering how his invention can be destroyed but soon he recalls that salt will cause the car to slowly break apart.

In The Moon Man an astronaut named Scott Rogers is a house guest at Wayne Manor. A villain named Moon Man appears at a museum and steals a moon rock. Scott is shown the following day delivering a message at a podium when he suddenly gets blurred vision, dizziness, and he excuses himself from the speaking engagement. The Moon Man is next shown stealing what he calls moon metal from an amusement park ride. In the meantime Scott's vanished...but ultimately reappears and it's revealed that he's the Moon Man. However, Scott is only villainous due to a reaction stemming from exposure to radioactive chemicals during his various assignments in outer space and a full moon causes his transformation. As the Moon Man, however, his goal is to pull the moon from it's orbit. 

In a complex episode, Trouble Identity, Batgirl takes center stage. In the beginning of the episode Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson, and Barbara Gordon visit Professor Norquist and view his converter invention which turns everyday trash into treasure. Catwoman secretly observes the demonstration...and during a deliberately staged blackout she steals the invention in the disguise of Batgirl...and Barbara (alias Batgirl) is unable to say anything for fear of giving away her secret identity. In a scene at Commissioner Gordon's office a formal request for Batgirl's arrest is announced while Barbara sticks up for her...being careful not to reveal that she and Batgirl are one in the same. While Bruce and Dick are inside Gordon's office hearing the news about Batgirl he makes a call to Batman...unaware that the Dynamic Duo are in his office in their true identities. To the shock of Bruce and Dick the Commissioner begins a conversation with...Batman! It's actually Bat-Mite on the other end of the phone. After this awkward scene Barbara departs as do Bruce and Dick. Soon after Barbara shows up as Batgirl while Batman and Robin emerge. The Commissioner had previously ordered Batgirl's arrest. Batgirl finds herself in a perilous situation as she walks across her bat rope...only to have Bat-Mite show up. His appearance startles Batgirl and his appearance on the bat rope, which is functioning as a tight rope between two buildings in Gotham City, causes Batgirl to lose balance. The Crusaders, in their Bat-Copter, swoop down and rescue Batgirl and inform the Commissioner they'll be taking her to police headquarters. However, once inside the helicopter, Batman informs Batgirl that in the eyes of the law and in the eyes of the public she's guilty even though he and Robin know that Catwoman has to be the one behind the framing. They go on the hunt for Catwoman...meanwhile the Commissioner wonders where the Crusaders are. The invention isn't fast enough for Catwoman's liking and so she attempts to speed things up...which causes the invention to malfunction as expensive fabric floods her personal aircraft. This gives away her hiding place and she's apprehended. Immediately after Batgirl is cleared of all charges against her. 

There's an episode on disc one titled A Sweet Joke on Gotham City which deals with a villain named Sweet Tooth. Lennie Weinrib voices this villain and gives him a Paul Lynde type of vocalization. Sweet Tooth has several underlings...all overweight...and always hungry for sweets. His plan is to turn Gotham City's water supply into chocolate syrup for a ransom of ten million dollars. This is one of several episodes that resemble a Scooby Doo caper by comparison to the other episodes in this 1977 series. In disc two it features a whole lot more episodes featuring Batman villains from the comic books. In He Who Laughs Last the Joker goes on a crime spree just for fun...leaving clues and deceptive hints along the way. The vocalization of Joker, by Lennie Weinrib, is disturbingly entertaining because it consists of a very high pitched cackling/giggling and when he speaks his voice ranges from uptempo to a lower Ted Knight-style delivery. The laugh is a bit overused in this particular episode but the more I'll watch that episode the more entertaining it'll become. Deep Freeze should be self-explanatory. The villain here is Mr. Freeze...with a Russian-inflected accent. In the opening scene we're told that Batman and Robin have captured all of Gotham City's super criminals but haven't captured Mr. Freeze yet. The news report describes the villain as second rate instead of being someone to fear. Bruce and Dick each have colds which impact their crime-fighting as Batman and Robin...sneezing at the most critical moments, etc. The goal of Mr. Freeze is to steal a submarine. In the episode he's aided by a henchman named Professor Frost...dressed in a heavy fur coat and hat...who's clearly not used to the subzero conditions upon which Mr. Freeze must exist. One of Freeze's character traits is his gloating and the taking of credit for things in which his henchman clearly dreamed up. Bat-Mite lends his usual help to the proceedings but this time his help actually helps...a clumsy Bat-Mite defrosts an ice cell that Batman had been placed in. The ever handy freeze ray gun turns against Mr. Freeze...it becomes a super hot defroster...much to the delight of Professor Frost, the real mastermind behind the scheme to steal the submarine. 

In Dead Ringers a local crook named Matt Hagen spots a circus performer that, with the addition of a mask, would make him look identical to Robin. Hagen convinces the performer, a reformed juvenile crook named Kit Martin, into pulling a petty crime disguised as Robin. Inside Wayne Manor both Bruce and Dick are watching the newscast and see footage of Batman and Robin abducting an Arabian oil minister. The Batman imposter turns out to be Clayface...alias Matt Hagen...while Kit is posing as Robin. Upon the chaotic chain of events Bat-Mite emerges to help...and is promptly greeted by Batman: "Bat-Mite...will YOU take a powder?? We're busy!!". The Crusaders are arrested...but before they could be formally charged they persuade Commissioner Gordon to allow them 2 hours to prove their innocence. As bad luck would have it Batman gets amnesia which puts a wrinkle in their plan to clear their names in 2 hours. In the meantime Clayface had hidden inside the grill of the Batmobile and emerges inside the Batcave with the goal of learning the Duo's true identities. Robin and Batgirl pursue the elusive Kit Martin at the circus. The episode uses a bit of Batman history in this episode whether knowingly or unknowingly. There's several scenes inside the circus...showing Kit Martin and his family as popular acrobatic acts. In Batman history Dick Grayson had been part of a family circus act, The Flying Graysons. It was at a circus where sabotaged wiring caused the deaths of Dick Grayson's family...with Bruce Wayne in attendance...and it led to his eventual guardianship of Dick Grayson. When watching this episode and seeing the acrobats it immediately made me think of Robin's origin and how Dick Grayson came to be Bruce Wayne's ward. Catwoman and Clayface team up in Curses! Oiled Again in a plot inspired by the energy crisis and oil controversies taking place during the Carter Administration. A secondary plot has an obnoxious, cynical television reporter named Boyd Baxter grilling Batman on his abilities or lack thereof in capturing Catwoman and Clayface. Lennie Weinrib voices Baxter and gives him a broad vocal impression of Jimmy Cagney. The final three episodes center around Bat-Mite and his people...specifically a villain named Zarbor and their planet, Ergo. In the 2-part Have An Evil Day episode Zarbor enlists Joker, Penguin, Catwoman, and Clayface to keep the Crusaders and Bat-Mite busy while he shrinks America's nuclear power plants for transport back to Ergo. In This Looks Like a Job for Bat-Mite, Zarbor has escaped prison and he plans on taking over Earth and become it's ruler.

The closing sequence of every episode shows Batman performing acrobatic feats all over Gotham City as the credits roll before he lands in an awaiting Batmobile. I like this series...for all the negativity surrounding Bat-Mite I was expecting each episode to feature the same pattern of Bat-Mite goofing up everything and causing disasters but instead Bat-Mite becomes less of a nuisance/hindrance and more tolerable but still an Achilles heel to the Crusaders. The fact that he realizes his mistakes...only seconds after they've happened...complete with his "I was only trying to help" reaction in some ways causes him to be...somewhat likable instead of annoying. 

Some of the vocalizations by Lou Scheimer and Melendy Britt anticipate future Filmation cartoons of the 1980s. Lou's vocals as the Bat-Computer are similar to Swift Wind and Grizzlor on She-Ra as well as Fisto on He-Man. Bat-Mite's vocals are similar to Orko from He-Man but without the enhanced sped-up computerized effect. Melendy Britt's vocals for Barbara Gordon/Batgirl are the vocals she gave to Adora on the She-Ra series in the mid 1980s. Her vocals for Catwoman later became the basis for her vocalization of Katra on She-Ra.

Disc One:
1. The Pest
2. The Moon Man
3. Trouble Identity
4. A Sweet Joke on Gotham City
5. The Bermuda Rectangle
6. Bite-Sized
7. Reading, Writing, and Wronging
8. The Chameleon

Disc Two:
1. He Who Laughs Last
2. Deep Freeze
3. Dead Ringers
4. Curses! Oiled Again
5. Birds of a Feather Fool Around Together
6. Have An Evil Day, Part 1
7. Have An Evil Day, Part 2
8. This Looks Like a Job for Bat-Mite

He-Man...The Complete Second Season DVD

I buy cartoon DVD's on a fairly consistent basis for my own enjoyment and when He-Man became available in all it's glory I purchased it. I have Season One by another company, BCI, and I purchased Season Two by this company, Classic Media/Mill Creek Entertainment. I may purchase Mill Creek's Season One simply because they don't split up the episode, "House of Shokoti", on two separate DVD discs like the BCI release does. But this review is about Mill Creek's Season Two release which I have. There are 8 disc's...the first 7 contain episodes of the series while the 8th is the Extra features disc. The discs are housed in paper sleeves...stacked one after the other...which causes one to have to rummage through the discs whenever you want to grab a particular one. The disc I find myself watching the most are Disc's 1 and 4 through 6. I watch disc 7 on occasion but it has the least amount of episodes...BUT it contains the episode giving Moss Man a lot of screen-time: "The Ancient Mirror of Avathar". It's also on this disc that "The Problem With Power" can be found. This particular episode is very deep and is one of just a couple of episodes that shed the good vs. evil overtone and dig deeper into the individual characters. In that episode you see He-Man transform back into Adam for the only time in the Filmation series history and you hear the phrase that he uses to instigate the transformation, too.

Speaking of character studies we get to see plenty of in-depth character studies in "Search for the Past" where the history of the character's are put front and center: King Randor's father, King Miro, turns out to be alive and held prisoner by The Enchantress. We see Man-At-Arms and King Randor behave like young warriors while on the search for King Miro. He-Man comes to the rescue and saves King Miro, who parachutes down from lost mountain with He-Man where they're encountered by Man-at-Arms. The Enchantress, by now, has imprisoned Randor. The Enchantress' gopher, Drude, eventually frees Randor...leading to the eventual face to face reunion of Randor and Miro. He-Man changes back to Adam and in one scene you see three generations of Eternian royalty: Miro, Randor, and Adam.

In the "Time Wheel" we see a former king of Eternia, Tamusk, return to present-day Eternia thanks to a time wheel accidentally spun by Orko while snooping in an ancient laboratory. Tamusk, believing he's in his own time, flees for his palace only to see it drastically changed. Believing that this King Randor is some evil sorcerer who caused all these changes he attempts to do battle with the famously peaceful Randor. The remainder of the episode is spent tracking down Tamusk once he finally leaves the palace in an attempt to convince him that he's thousands of years in the future.

One of my favorites in this collection is "Orko's Return" where we have a departure, of sorts, from the usual dose of action/adventure. In a more comical story Trap Jaw and Beast Man become the possessors of what's called an Amber Crystal. The two use it's magic to build a huge fortress while abducting Orko from the palace. Orko happened to be in the middle of a magic performance when he disappeared...leaving Adam and Teela to continue laughing and applauding while Man-at-Arms, always alert, has a look of concern. In short, Trap Jaw and Beast Man use their newly acquired magic to control Orko and turn him into their slave. This ultimately backfires and the rest of the episode centers around the battle of wits between Orko, Trap Jaw, and Beast Man as He-Man and company track down the fortress. Orko uses his magic to make wishes come true...literally...driving the evil pair into fits of frustration and anger. It's later revealed that Trap Jaw stole the magic crystal from Evil Lyn.

Season Two, unlike the first season, relied very little on the Castle Grayskull backdrop...oh, it still appeared in mostly every episode and was always shown whenever Adam changed into He-Man...but there weren't that many stories about Skeletor and his warriors attempting to take it over. In Season One, for example, the first several episodes were centered specifically around the take-over or destruction of Castle Grayskull while further episodes always had some sort of Grayskull-referenced plot point. In Season Two the Evil Warriors apparently had moved on...even though there were a few episodes in Season Two that felt like a Season One episode, if you know what I mean!

Since the Castle wasn't used as a major part of the story-lines in the Season Two episodes that meant that the Sorceress appeared infrequently. Notable exceptions were the episodes "Teela's Triumph" on Disc 5 where the Sorceress (Teela's biological mother) spent much of the episode in her falcon form, Zoar, trapped in another dimension. Teela, unaware of who her biological mother is, awkwardly becomes the Sorceress at the request of the Spirit of Castle Grayskull, although Teela wonders why she was picked out of the hundreds of other women on Eternia.

In "The Origin of the Sorceress" on Disc 1 we see the story of how Teela'na (the true name of the Sorceress) becomes the keeper of the castle. In that episode we also see the Horde as invaders of Eternia...which ultimately leads to Teela'na becoming the Sorceress. The Horde, whose members wear a red bat logo on their chests, become more prominent in the He-Man spin-off cartoon, She-Ra. Interestingly, though, the Sorceress doesn't refer to them as The Horde in this episode...she simply refers to them as "an invading army" even though fans of the series will no doubt make the connection to The Horde.

There are comical moments in almost all of the episodes...particularly from Orko (his magical mayhem often backfires directly at Man-at-Arms) but often the humor comes from Skeletor and his warriors. Beast Man, for starters, in most episodes is portrayed as a dumb sycophant. There are a few where he's written as an actual sinister villain. Skeletor has his share of comical expressions. Beast Man is often called Beastie or Fur-Face by Skeletor. In the "Energy Beast" episode Skeletor not only delivers a line referencing the radio series, The Shadow, but he also borrows heavily from Edgar Allan Poe when calling for a spy that he sent to eavesdrop at Castle Grayskull. In other episodes Skeletor talks directly to the audience...often complaining about his warrior's collective ineptitude. The cartoon's complete name is He-Man and the Masters of the Universe but I refer to it simply as He-Man. In internet lingo the series is known as MOTU (the obvious acronym for Masters of the Universe).

The series used a relatively small voice cast and so you're going to have quite a few secondary and one-shot characters that pop up who sound the same. John Erwin, the guy who voiced Adam/He-Man can also be heard in numerous other roles. A lot of the Kings from other kingdoms on Eternia and softer-speaking characters were voiced by Erwin. His main roles were He-Man/Adam, Ram Man, Squinch (a Widget), Beast Man, Whiplash, and Webstor. Linda Gary did 99% of all the female characters: Queen Marlena, Teela, The Sorceress, Evil Lyn, Shokoti, and other female roles that appeared. Alan Oppenheimer's main characters were Cringer/Battle Cat, Man-at-Arms, Melaktha, Skeletor, and Mer-Man. Like John Erwin and Linda Gary, Oppenheimer did a lot of secondary characters as well. Erika Scheimer, the daughter of the program's producer, Lou Scheimer, often did female roles that sounded like teenagers or younger women. She didn't have a recurring character on He-Man. Lou Scheimer provided the voices for almost everyone else not mentioned: Orko, Montork, Stratos, Fisto, Man-E-Faces, King Randor, Trap Jaw, Tri-Klops, Two-Bad, and others.

I'm more into comical cartoons, which will become crystal clear if any of you've seen any of my other cartoon reviews, but He-Man and a couple of others from the same early/mid '80s time period will continue to be favorites of mine.

My picks from Season Two as the stand-out episodes:

1. The Origin of the Sorceress
2. Visitors From Earth
3. Day of the Machines
4. The Energy Beast
5. Teela's Triumph
6. The Time Wheel
7. Search for the Past
8. Here, There, Skeletor's Everywhere
9. The Rainbow Warrior
10. Orko's Return
11. The Island of Fear
12. To Save Skeletor
13. Capture the Comet Keeper
14. Monster on the Mountain
15. Into the Abyss
16. The Problem With Power
17. The Great Books Mystery
18. The Shadow of Skeletor
19. The Gamesman
20. Battlecat

Look to the Sky...

As a child of the '80s and early '90s I was also into comic books of the era, too. Batman and Superman were at the top of the list for me...I love the Super Friends cartoons as well. I was not familiar with the earlier cartoons of Superman until they were released on a low-budget home video in the early '90s. Those cartoons were the theatrical releases by the Fleischer Studio. I was then acquainted with the George Reeves version of Superman when Nick-at-Nite began to air the television show...around the same time I began hearing the radio version with Bud Collyer that would often show up on NPR and the anthology series, When Radio Was, formerly hosted by Stan Freberg. I was very familiar with the movie version of Superman played by Christopher Reeve. The movies used to air seemingly all the time in the 1980's on HBO and TBS.

In addition to Superman, Bud Collyer was equally noted as a game show host ("To Tell the Truth", "Winner Take All", "Beat the Clock", etc. etc.).

In this DVD we get 36 six minute episodes. I don't necessarily know if each episode runs exactly 6 minutes but I'd say 6 and a half to 7 minutes is the general length per episode. Among the many adventures in this collection quite a few of them are wonderful in their story-telling...one of the adventures that's fine but isn't on the same level as the other episodes is "The Iron Eater". In that episode Superman has to stop a bizarre looking mechanical menace devouring iron all over the world. That episode, as well as "The Imp-Practical Joker" featuring Mr. Mxyzptlk, are more whimsical than anything else.

One of the criticisms of the collection is that the episodes aren't in chronological order. For example, "The Return of Brainiac" is on Disc 1 while "Superman Meets Brainiac" is on Disc 2. As you can tell, the compilers of this collection should've caught the error before the DVD collection was released. Even with the collection not in chronological order at least someone should know, judging by the titles of those two episodes, which one came first. Regardless of this it doesn't take away from the enjoyment you'll get watching the episodes.

In what could be described as a forerunner to the future Legion of Doom makes an appearance as A.P.E. The members of the A.P.E organization are: Lex Luthor, Toyman, Prankster, and the Warlock. In their episode "The Men from A.P.E." we have Luthor as the inventor of a Kryptonic projector which is shot from a light-house. It's beam of kryptonite is capable of aiming at Superman within a mile radius. The villains purposely device schemes that cause Superman to fly near the light-house. "The Tree Men from Arbora" is a tale of a tree creature that consumes gallons of water...ponds, rivers, even the water from a by-stander's car engine. The creature hides in the Redwood Forrest and Superman has to battle him and return him to the Arbora planet.

"Merlin's Magic Marbles" involves Luthor and his assistant, Blinky, obtaining magic marbles from the spirit of Merlin. Toyman, in a later episode, creates a robot version of Superman for criminal use. The episode, "The Two Faces of Superman", is on Disc 2. One of the funnier aspects of the dialogue is when Superman refers to one of the insects in "Insect Raiders" as Buzzy...in another episode, "The Prehistoric Pterodactyls", Superman refers to one of them as Terry Baby. In the Superman history there have been various criminals to use the name, Toyman. The original, Winslow Schott, is who the Toyman in these cartoons is based on. The illustration of him in these cartoons has him with dark hair, a big red bow tie, and just as a side-note the Toyman in these cartoons makes me think of comedian Henry Morgan (most famously known as a regular panelist on the classic game show, "I've Got a Secret").

Something of a mystery to me is the identity of the person providing the voice in the opening sequence saying the line "It's Superman!". We hear Jackson Beck do the narration but then we hear "It's a bird!", "It's a plane!", and then "It's Superman!". The reason I'm curious about who did that particular "It's Superman!" voice-over is because it sounds incredibly like Danny Dark, the man who voiced Superman in the 1970's and 1980's Super Friends episodes. If anyone has any information I'd love to know if it was Danny Dark or someone else.

Given that The New Adventures of Superman originally consisted of three short episodes per half hour (2 of Superman, 1 of Super-Boy) we have all of the Superman episodes that aired on that program. Since there were 2 short adventures of Superman per half hour episode, and there were a total of 18 half hour episodes produced, that's 36 in total.

The Super-Boy episodes aren't included due to legal complications.

To clear up some of the on-going confusion of whether to call this a "complete series" it's important to note that without the Super-Boy segments it isn't a "complete series" but as far as the Superman segments are concerned it's indeed a "complete series" since it has each and every Superman adventure from the first season, 1966-1967. The second season, 1967-1968, aired under the title The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure. The third season, 1968-1969, aired as The Batman/Superman Hour.

Each of those Superman adventures in the third season were split up into 2 parts.

The fourth season, 1969-1970, was nothing but reruns from earlier seasons.

Bud Collyer passed away on September 8, 1969 which was the same day an updated version of "To Tell the Truth" began airing with Garry Moore as the host!

Collyer was the voice of Superman/Clark Kent on radio, in theatrical cartoons, and in the made for TV cartoons of the mid to late '60s.

The voice of Lois Lane in these episodes is Joan Alexander...she also provided the voice of Lois on the radio version, too. She became a regular panelist on the 1950's game show, "The Name's the Same", in addition to her being a regular actress on various radio drama's of the time period.

Jack Grimes is the voice of Jimmy Olsen in these cartoons just as he was in the final few years of the Superman radio show.

The show's narrator, Jackson Beck, also provided the voice of Perry White in addition to various incidental characters. Beck was also the narrator and voice of Perry White in the radio version of Superman. Beck's most recognized cartoon voice is that of Bluto/Brutus in the Popeye cartoons produced from 1944 through the 1960's.