Superman on DVD
New Adventures of Superman on DVD Superman on DVD
Sky King season 2 on DVD
“Probe The Lucy Show on DVD

Superman TV Shows on DVD
Batman TV Shows on DVD

DC Comics
on DVD here!
Superman on DVD
Batman on DVD
The Flash on DVD
Super Friends DVD
Superman Doomsday
Smallville on DVD

 

MAN & SUPERMAN / The REAL Superman?
by Billy Ingram & Ed Golick

TV Blog - May Kaan as SupermanCheck out this AP news story from March of 1973.

Mayo Kaan, a bodybuilder from New York state, claimed to be the original model for Superman. His story was that he donned a costume similar to what became the look of Man of Steel and served as the inspiration to cartoonists Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. For a thousand dollars Kaan would show the curious his collection of photos he claimed were taken in 1936 (the first Superman appearance was in 1938). The wire service didn't check Kaan's story with Siegel or Shuster, who were still alive at the time, so it was published in newspapers all over the country, including my local paper in Greensboro, NC. I clipped the article because, even at my young age, I didn't buy it. It didn't make sense to this comic book geek and the story has been met with much skepticism over the years. According to Wikipedia the Kaan family maintains to this day that the deceased bodybuilder was telling the truth but a DC Comics spokesperson stated in 1997 when he reasserted his claim, "Kaan played no role in creating the superhero's image, Kaan's billing himself as something he is not." Other problems with the story - one of the buildings in the photos wasn't built until 1940 and Martin Griem, a noted fanzine editor, claims to have correspondence from Joe Shuster stating that the Superman artist never heard of the guy. Kaan died in 2002.

 

Ed Golick has a story related to that: "Here in Detroit we had our own 'faux Man of Steel,' automobile assembly line worker and part time entertainer Guy Gibby, who claimed that he was the inspiration for Superman. From the 1940s to the 1970s Gibby appeared in countless fairs, nightclubs and parades throughout the Midwest as 'The Original Superman in Real Life,' performing such feats of strength as high hand balancing, breaking chains with his chest and holding 20 men in a tug of war.

TV Blog - fake Superman"In 1940 he was the cover boy for Vim, a bodybuilding magazine with a large gay following. But by the late 1970s an expanded waistline and advancing age seriously curtailed most of his strongman stunts. In 1975 I saw him, dressed in an off-model Superman suit, pull a car with a chain fastened around his waist. At first glance it seemed impressive, but the car was running - not a 'feat of strength' in my book. After the show he told me that he posed for the creators of the Superman comic book, but he couldn't tell me their names.

"Despite his dubious claims, Gibby was a talented strong man who entertained many with his acrobatic skills and feats of strength."

TVparty is Classic TV on the internet!

Your Classic TV Blog! / / Classic TV! - Political News Links

Classic TV on the Internet!

 

Man With a Camera on DVD

Decoy on DVD
Decoy on DVD!

New TV


Video Vault / Holiday Specials / Fabulous Fifties / Unseen Scenes / Game Shows / Lost Kid Shows / Movie Stars on TV / Saturday Morning Shows / Requested Forgotten TV Shows / The Super Sixties / More Modern TV Shows / The New * * Shows / 1980's Wrestling / TV Blog

TVparty is Classic TV on the internet!
Classic TV!

Television's Embarrassing Moments / Action Shows of the Sixties / TVparty Mysteries and Scandals / Variety Shows of the Seventies / The Eighties / TVafterparty / The Laugh Track / 1970's Hit Shows / Response to TVparty / Search the Site / Add Your Comments
1950's TV Shows / Fess Parker & Davy Crockett / First Sitcom Couple To Share A Bed / Jack Benny Program / Highway Patrol / Betty Hutton Show / 1952 Olympics Telethon / Amos 'n' Andy / Little Rascals & Our Gang / Howdy Doody / The First Batman Movie From 1943 / Who Was the REAL Aunt Jemima? / Freedomland USA / John Wayne Won Lassie in a Poker Game! / Lucy's Sitcom Before I Love Lucy / The Lone Ranger / It's Always Jan / 1950s Shows I NEED To See / Jack Lemmon & Billy Wilder on Marilyn Monroe / So This Is Hollywood / Audrey Meadows Refused To Do This For Jackie Gleason / When Jerry Lewis Ceased To Be Funny / The Plainclothesman / Buck Rogers in the 25th Century / Remembering Tony Dow / First Solo Female Series / Kuda Bux / Capt. Allen Swift - NYC Local Popeye Shows / Was the 1959 Santa Claus Movie Too Christian?!? / When Judy Garland's Daughters First Saw The Wizard of Oz / TV During WWII / Top Ten TV Shows 1950s / Jack Larson's Suprising Life As Superman's Jimmy Olsen in the 1950s / Judy Garland's 2nd TV Special and Las Vegas Debut / Early Network News Broadcasts / Lost Desilu Sitcom: Those Whiting Girls / Lost Superboy Pilot / The Shadow 1954 Pilot / KTLA News / / Kid Show Pioneer Herb Sheldon / Aline Saarinen / Tribute to Sandy Becker / The Adventures of Dr. Fu Manchu / O.Henry Playhouse / Capt. Allen Swift / NYC's First Bozo Bill Britten / The Magical Land of Alakazam! / 1950s and 60s Bloopers / TV's First Working Woman / Cannonball - 1950s Trucking Drama / Sonny Fox Kid Shows / Lauren Bacall on Bette Davis / Sunset Boulevard Explained / Abbott & Costello TV Show / The Three Stooges: The Where They Were / The First 'Black' Show - Beulah / Women on TV in the 1950s / The Today Show / Hey Jeannie / The Jeannie Carson Show / TV's First Educator Paul Tripp / Ernie Kovacs / Soap Opera Miss Susan / Adventures of Superman Lost Episode / Bette Davis vs Ronald Reagan / Captain Z-Ro / Obscure Actress Mary Castle / Serious 1950s TV shows / Remembering David Susskind / TV's First Rerun Series / The Ken Murray Budweiser Show / Saturday Morning Serials / Two Variety Shows of the Fifties / Game Shows of the Fifties /1950's TV Wrestling / Greensboro's Soda Pop History / Mr. Adams and Eve / TV's First Star / Oh Susanna! the Gale Storm Show / Bob Hastings / TV's First Star / History of the Laugh Track / The First Interactive Video Game / Designing Winky-Dink / Buffalo Bob Smith / The McKimson Brothers & Animation / Interview with a Show Business Legend / The Soundies / Snaders Telescriptions / Steve Allen Interviewed / Racket Squad / December Bride / The Big Show / Beverly Garland & Decoy / Richard Crenna & The Real McCoys / Roger Muir / Noel Coward's 1955 TV Special / Jon Provost Interview / 1950's TV Shows on DVD / Oh Susanna! The Gale Storm Show / 1950's Old Time TV Thanksgiving / Outrageous 1950's Commercial! / The Real Superman? / Mickey Mouse Club's Cheryl / Gale Storm / Captain Allen Swift / NYC's St. Patrick's Day Parade Telecasts / Julie London / The Goldbergs / 1950's Female Singers / The Dead End Kids / Bowery Boys / Fred Allen / Ed Wynn / Mr. Belvedere Movies / Art Linkletter / The Bickersons / Marty & Live TV / George Gobel & Red Buttons / Barbara Billingsley / Billy Gray Interview / Abbott & Costello Show / The Honeymooners / Three Stooges' Joe Besser / Whirlybirds / Burns & Allen Show
Classic TV Commercials / 1950's TV / 1960's TV / 1970's TV / Groucho vs William F Buckley / / TV Games / Honey Boo Boo / Lucy Shows / John Wayne / Gene Roddenberry / Big Blue Marble / Monty Hall / Carrascolendas / Mr. Dressup / Major Mudd / Chief Halftown / What's In Oprah's Purse? / Baby Daphne / Sheriff John / North Carolina Actors / Winchell & Mahoney / Fireball X-L5 / Mr. Wizard / Captain Noah / Thanksgiving Day Specials / Disney's First Christmas Special / Saturday Morning Cartoons / The Magic Garden / Amahl & the Night Visitors / Holiday Toy Commercials / Lucy & Desi's Last Christmas Show / Joey Heatherton / Fat Albert / The Virginian / Bewitched / Death of John Wayne / 1974 Saturday Mornings / Chuck McCann / Rudolph Collectables / Shrimpenstein / Local Popeye Shows / New Treasure Hunt / Star Wars / KISS / Lancelot Link / Saturday Morning Cartoons / Wonder Woman / Classic Comic Books / Andy Griffith / Cher / TV Shows on DVD / Outtakes & Bloopers / 1967 TV Shows / Romper Room / Captain Kangaroo / Chicago Local Kiddie Shows / Boston Local TV / Philly Local TV / NYC Local Kid Shows / Electric Company / Bette Davis / Judy Garland / Christmas Specials / Redd Foxx / Good Times / Sitcom Houses / What's Happening! / Winky Dink & You / Sonny & Cher / Smothers Brothers / Soupy Sales / The Carpenters / Route 66 / Bozo / The Carpenters Christmas Specials / Local Kid Shows / Death of TV's Superman / Wonderama / Sesame Street / Bob Hope Specials / Little Rascals / Gay Icon T-Shirts / Alex Toth Book / TV Terrorists / Irwin Allen / The Untouchables / Carol Burnett Show / Batman TV Show / Green Hornet / Today Show History / Our Gang / Doris Day Show / 1970's Commercials For Women / Bill Cosby in the 1970s / The Golddiggers / Lola Falana / 1970s TV Shows / David Bowie on TV / Hudson Brothers / Jackie Gleason / Hollywood Squares / Match Game / Bob Keeshan / Gumby / The Flip Wilson Show / Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour / The Bobby Darin Show / The Richard Pryor Show / George Burns / Lucy's Lost Christmas Special / Classic Christmas Toy Commercials / Cricket On The Hearth / 1950's Holiday Shows / Amahl and the Night Visitors / A Christmas Carol on TV / The Yule Log / Celebrity Commercials / Rudolph / Movie Posters & More!

The Lucy Show on DVD “The Soupy Sales DVD Fractured Fairy Tales on DVD Diver Dan TV show on DVD Howdy Doody on DVD Lancelot Link Secret Chimp on DVD
Looking for classic TV DVDs? See below:
TV Commercials on DVD Wrestling DVDs Classic TV Books
Jim Longworth Christmas Specials TV Shows on BLU-RAY
TVparty is Classic TV on the internet!
Contact Us / Classic TV DVDs

TV Blog
June Cleaver book