James Nicoll Reviews

1946’s ​“Clan of the Fiery Cross” was a story arc on The Adventures of Superman radio series.

As manager of the Unity House Baseball team, Daily Planet staffer Jimmy Olsen’s first responsibility is to the team, not to individual players. Thus, as soon as Jimmy saw that Tommy Lee was a talented pitcher, he replaced Unity House’s current pitcher, Chuck Riggs, with Tommy.

Chuck does not react well to being replaced. In short order, Jimmy sees no alternative but to fire Chuck. Chuck’s misfortune is an opportunity for his uncle Max.

Uncle Max is leader of the Metropolis chapter of the Clan of the Fiery Cross. The Clan is nativist and racist. Tommy Lee is Chinese. So is his father Dr. Lee, recently hired by Metropolis as a bacteriologist. Dr. Lee competed for the post with one of Max’s fellow Clan members and won. Even more reason to hate the Lees.

Max strong-arms his nephew Chuck into lying that Tommy deliberately beaned Chuck with a baseball. A murder attempt aimed at preventing Chuck from winning back his position! The Clan retaliates by attempting to force the Lees to flee the town. If threats don’t work, the Clan is more than happy to use violence.

Max has miscalculated. Daily Planet Perry White loathes people like the Clan and he has a newspaper at his disposal to denounce them. Escalating threats escalate the newspaper’s reporting and denunciations. The Metropolis Clan finds itself in a war of words with a man who buys ink by the barrel, a man who can offer large rewards for information about the Clan.

Max’s instinct is to eliminate his enemies. However, as everyone in Metropolis knows (or should know) Superman, Man of Steel, takes a close interest in Metropolis in general and the staff of Daily Planet in particular¹. Threatening Superman’s co-workers and their friends is a great way to get Superman’s attention.

There are many Clan members and only one Superman. Can even he manage to keep his friends safe?

~oOo~

I will give 1940s Metropolis this. Not only are they willing to hire regardless of race or creed, they actually have in place programs for teens, rather than hoping some unmarried billionaire needs a new ward.

In this radio serial episode, Superman/Clark Kent was voiced by Bud Collyer, Jimmy Olsen was voiced by Jackie Kelk, and Perry White by Julian Noa. I am not sure about the other voice actors, as the show’s format did not allow extensive credits. Wait, no, I do know one more actor: Beany Martin, the Daily Planet​’s teenage copy boy, was played by Jason Beck. Beany wasn’t mentioned in the synopsis, but I remembered his distinctive voice. Script writer George Putnam Ludlam was assisted by Stetson Kennedy, who went undercover to gather material on the KKK.

The radio serial is a tribute to the power of egregious padding. Each episode begins with an ad for the sponsor Kellog’s products, usually breakfast cereal Pep! (fortified with vitamins B and D) but sometimes Gro-Pup Dog Food and Dog Biscuits. Don’t mix those up! As well, each episode, save for the first, has a short recap. If you trimmed out the ads and recaps, this serial might be half as long.

In this episode, Superman doesn’t seem all that diligent about protecting his secret identity. He openly uses some of his superpowers while he’s pretending to be mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent. The conceit seems to be that he moves too fast to be spotted most of the time and he’s glib enough to persuade people that they didn’t just see what they just saw.

Of course, it’s also possible the entire Daily Planet staff know Superman and Kent are the same person, but don’t say anything because it is incredibly useful to have Superman hanging around.

A challenge facing any Superman writer, particularly of stories in which the bad guys are just normal Joes, is how to make the threats in any way challenging for a guy who cannot be hurt, whose superlative senses are matched only by his ability to drop-kick a Buick into the next state. The answer embraced by this story is to keep the focus on the vulnerable people around Superman, and to remember that Superman is just one man who cannot be everywhere. Indeed, Kent is as useful to the Lees as Superman.

Although the show never names the Klu Klux Klan by name, it is clear whom the Clan of the Fiery Cross is meant to represent. Perhaps because the intended audience was kids, the script is extremely clear about the ways in which the Clan and its members are reprehensible, chuckle-headed dupes², their craven cowardice equaled only by their greed and inability to grasp American ideals. The serial is said to have had deleterious effects on the KKK’s PR in America. Not bad for a kids show.

Qualms about padding aside, this was an amusing addition to my commute, and I don’t regret the time invested.

The Clan of the Fiery Cross is available here or on any time-machine equipped radio.

1 With the exception of mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent, who never seems to be around when Superman shows up.

Given that Kent is outspoken, courageous, and has been known to leap through windows, I wonder if his friends put air-quotes around ​“mild-mannered.”

2: Chuck is an exception. He isn’t a chuckle-headed dupe. He was dragged into the Clan against his will and very quickly changes sides once he gets a good look at his uncle’s buddies.