''Superman'' (1941), also known as ''The Mad Scientist'', is the first installment in a series of seventeen

animated Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...

Technicolor Technicolor is a family of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes. The first version, Process 1, was introduced in 1916, and improved versions followed over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black-and ...

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

s based upon the

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

character

Superman Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...

. It was produced by

Fleischer Studios Fleischer Studios () was an American animation studio founded in 1929 by brothers Max and Dave Fleischer, who ran the pioneering company from its inception until its acquisition by Paramount Pictures in 1942, the parent company and the distri ...

and released to theaters by

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

on September 26, 1941. ''Superman'' ranked number 33 in a list of the fifty greatest cartoons of all time sourced from a 1994 poll of 1000 animation professionals, and was nominated for the 1942 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Subject.Flixens , The Real Heroes of Superman, Part 3

Plot

To best use his powers for good,

adopts the disguise of

Clark Kent Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...

, a reporter at a metropolitan newspaper. An anonymous, vindictive figure referred to in the press as The Mad Scientist mails a note threatening to use his "Electrothanasia-Ray" at midnight to the newspaper's editor,

Perry White Perry White is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He is the editor-in-chief of the Metropolis newspaper the '' Daily Planet''. The character maintains very high ethical and journalistic standards and i ...

. Perry tells Clark to help fellow reporter

Lois Lane Lois Lane is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, she first appeared in ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1 (June 1938). Lois is an award-winning ...

follow up on a lead she has found on The Mad Scientist, but Lois insists on cracking the story on her own. Lois flies a private plane to the top of a mountain, where The Mad Scientist's secluded laboratory is located. When she knocks at the door, Lois is seized, bound, and gagged by The Mad Scientist, who then demonstrates the Electrothanasia-Ray by destroying a bridge. The coming disaster is reported over radio, and the police alert everyone to stay in their homes. Clark steps into a storage room, changes into Superman, and flies away. The Mad Scientist has the Electrothanasia-Ray weaken the foundations of a skyscraper, causing it to tip over. Superman arrives and prevents the structure from falling, lifting it to its upright orientation. Superman then pushes the beam away from the base of the skyscraper and fights it back to the source, punching out each pulse as they come. Superman twists the

barrel A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden stave (wood), staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers ...

of the Electrothanasia-Ray into a knot, and the buildup of pressure causes it to overheat and explode. As the lab disintegrates, Superman unties Lois and flies her to safety. Superman captures The Mad Scientist and takes him to jail, though his pet vulture escapes. Perry congratulates Lois on getting the

scoop Scoop, Scoops or The Scoop may refer to: Artefacts * Scoop (machine part), a component of machinery to carry things * Scoop (tool), a shovel-like tool, particularly one deep and curved, used in digging * Scoop (theater), a type of wide area l ...

on the Mad Scientist, but Lois says it is "thanks to Superman". Clark overhears this and winks at the audience.

Cast

Bud Collyer Bud Collyer (born Clayton Johnson Heermance Jr., June 18, 1908 – September 8, 1969) was an American radio actor and announcer and game show host who became one of the nation's first major television game show stars. He is best remembered for ...

as Clark Kent/Superman *

Joan Alexander Joan Alexander (born Louise Abrass; April 16, 1915 – May 21, 2009)
''

* Julian Noa as

Jack Mercer Winfield Bennett Mercer (January 31, 1910 – December 7, 1984), known professionally as Jack Mercer, was an American voice actor. He is best known as the voice of cartoon characters Popeye the Sailor Man and Felix the Cat. The son of vaudevil ...

as the Mad Scientist *

Jackson Beck Jackson Beck (July 23, 1912 – July 28, 2004) was an American actor best known as the announcer on radio's '' The Adventures of Superman'' and the voice of Bluto in the Famous era Popeye theatrical shorts. Early years Beck was born on July 23, ...

as the Narrator, Radio Newscaster

Production

In 1941,

acquired the film rights to DC Comics' Superman property, created by

Jerry Siegel Jerome "Jerry" Siegel ( ; October 17, 1914 – January 28, 1996) Roger Stern. ''Superman: Sunday Classics: 1939–1943'' DC Comics/ Kitchen Sink Press, Inc./ Sterling Publishing; 2006 was an American comic book writer. He was the co-creator of ...

and

Joe Shuster Joseph Shuster ( ; July 10, 1914 – July 30, 1992) was a Canadian-American comic book artist best known for co-creating the DC Comics character Superman, with Jerry Siegel, in ''Action Comics'' #1 ( cover-dated June 1938). Shuster was involv ...

.Maltin, Leonard (1980, rev. 1987). ''Of Mice and Magic''. New York: Plume. Pg. 120 - 122 Paramount pitched the idea of producing a ''Superman'' series to its animation producer, Fleischer Studios. Co-owner

Dave Fleischer Dave Fleischer (; July 14, 1894 – June 25, 1979) was an American film director and producer who co-owned Fleischer Studios with his older brother Max Fleischer. He was a native of New York City. Biography Early life and career Fleisch ...

did not want to take on the task of producing such a demanding series, so he went up to Paramount and gave them a budget quota of $100,000 per cartoon (four times the cost of an average cartoon), hoping to get Paramount to change its mind about the shorts. Paramount negotiated it down to a production cost of $50,000 for the first cartoon, and $30,000 for subsequent cartoons,Barrier, Michael (1999). ''Hollywood Cartoons''. London: Oxford Press. Pg. 304. and Fleischer Studios began work on the first short in the series, ''Superman''. Steve Muffatti was placed in charge of the first ''Superman'' short (at Fleischer and later Famous, the credited director served the roles typically ascribed to a film producer or supervising director, while the credited animators were the actual

animation director An animation director is the director in charge of all aspects of the animation process during the production of an animated or television film, or an animated segment for a live-action film or television show. Alternatively, the animation direct ...

s, and the animators and animation assistants were generally not credited at all). Stan Quackenbush handled the sequences of destruction in the city. ''Superman'' was produced with the same care and attention to detail the Fleischer staff had given to their first feature film, ''

Gulliver's Travels ''Gulliver's Travels'', originally titled ''Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships'', is a 1726 prose satire by the Anglo-Irish writer and clerg ...

'' (1939). While some of the scenes in the cartoon made use of the

rotoscope Rotoscoping is an animation technique that animators use to trace over motion picture footage, frame by frame, to produce realistic action. Originally, live-action film images were projected onto a glass panel and traced onto paper. This pr ...

, a Max Fleischer invention which allowed animation drawings to be traced from live action, others were done by relying upon poses sketched from live reference models instead of traced footage. Most of the lead character animators at Fleischer were used to animating caricatured humans and animals, and the assistant animators were tasked with maintaining the figures' realistic proportions. Character shadows, elaborate special effects animation, and detailed animation layouts contributed to the attention to detail evident in ''Superman'' and its follow-ups. A steak being cooked was used for the sound of the Electrothanasia Ray, while the sound of Krypton being destroyed was created by recording someone wrenching an apple apart with their bare hands and then amplifying it.

Marketing

Paramount promoted ''Superman'' with a campaign much larger than usually used for an animated short, including coming-attractions

trailers Trailer may refer to: Transportation * Trailer (vehicle), an unpowered vehicle pulled by a powered vehicle ** Baggage trailer, a large flatbed baggage trolley ** Bicycle trailer, a wheeled frame for hitching to a bicycle to tow cargo or passen ...

. The short was a notable success, and was nominated for the 1942 Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons), which it lost to the ''

Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of Trans-Neptunian object, bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Su ...

'' cartoon ''

Lend a Paw Lend may refer to: * ''Lunar Exploration Neutron Detector'', see Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter * Lend, Austria, a town in the east district of Zell am See in the state of Salzburg * Lend (Graz), a district of Graz * Lend, Iran, a village in Maza ...

''.

Influence

This cartoon featured the first time Clark breaks the fourth wall and winks at the audience, in reference to their shared secret that Clark is Superman. This became a regular feature of the Fleischer Superman cartoons and was later introduced to the comics. The cartoon featured the "Truth and Justice" motto, which eventually became the "Truth, Justice, and the

American Way The American way of life or the American way is the U.S. nationalist ethos that adheres to the principle of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. At the center of the American way is the belief in an American Dream that is claimed to be ...

" motto with the premiere of the September 2, 1942 episode of the 1940s Superman radio series and was changed to "Truth, Justice and a Better Tomorrow" in 2021.

Release

''Superman'' was released on September 26, 1941, in U.S. theaters as the first theatrical appearance of Superman.

Official release

The short was officially released on Blu-ray by

Warner Home Video Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment, Inc. (doing business as Warner Bros. Home Entertainment; formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the American home video distribution ...

in May 2023.

Public domain

The rights to the 1941 short and the other sixteen shorts in the ''Superman'' series reverted to National Comics (now DC Comics); TV syndication rights were licensed to Flamingo Films, distributors of the 1950s '' Adventures of Superman'' TV series. The cartoons fell into the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no Exclusive exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly Waiver, waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds ...

when National Comics failed to renew their copyrights in the late 1960s/early 1970s.

References

External links

* * . This video has been AI upscaled from a

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

copy, meaning it is not perfectly representative of the original film. * This video has been AI upscaled from a DVD copy, meaning it is not perfectly representative of the original film. {{Authority control Superman animated shorts 1940s American animated films 1940s animated superhero films Fleischer Studios short films Short films directed by Dave Fleischer Articles containing video clips Paramount Pictures short films American mad scientist films 1940s English-language films American animated short films Films scored by Winston Sharples Films scored by Sammy Timberg Films scored by Lou Fleischer English-language short films English-language action films 1941 animated short films