Superman In Fresno

One fun aspect of being somewhat of a historian of movies and television is the actual digging around for those hidden gems of historical trivia. One such topic came up on one of the Adventures of Superman message boards recently.

Back on August 17, 1958, there was a telethon held in Fresno, California for the United Cerebral Palsy of Fresno County training center. The Fresno Bee reported at the time:

The giving during the morning hours was not spirited. About noon, it started to pick up. At 12:30 PM, the board showed $19,679. Chucko, the Los Angeles clown, and George Reeves, in his Superman guise, autographed pictures of themselves as the KJEO-TV cameras were trained on them. At 12:45 PM, the figure had reached $19,790. The Blue Notes rock n' roll band from Merced went on the air, and the audience nearly lifted the roof with applause when they finished. At 1 PM the board showed $20,286.

Unfortunately, no photographs of either Chucko or George Reeves were included with the article. However, the Bee may still have photos that were unused. We are checking with them. Another possibility is that the local Fresno Valley Historical Society may have some photographs of this event. I sent them a query a little while ago. Carl Glass, of Bakersfield, is also digging around for the elusive photograph(s).

This event's significance is that it could have been the last time Reeves made a personal appearance in his Superman costume before his death the following year.

If we strike paydirt, I'll be sure to post the results here and it will also be posted at The Adventure Continue website.

To read the full article, go here.