Mr. Kryptonite

Above, Gene LeBell and Armand at the Superman Celebration luncheon last month.

Last month, I had the pleasure of meeting and chatting with the "Godfather of Grappling" Gene LeBell over lunch at the Superman Celebration luncheon at the Beverly Garland Hotel in North Hollywood, California.

I had mentioned in an earlier blog post that LeBell was a good friend and judo trainer for actor George Reeves, star of the Adventures of Superman television show of the 1950s. He also appeared as "Mr. Kryptonite" with Reeves during a nearly month-long summer county fair tour in August-September 1957.

Above, George Reeves and Noel Neill perform a musical number during the 1957 tour.

The show consisted of actress Noel Neill (as Lois Lane) being menaced by "Mr. Kryptonite" and Reeves would then change from Clark Kent to Superman to rescue her. Reeves and LeBell would end up in a fight (more like a wrestling match) with each tossing each other around on the stage. The show also included a few musical numbers with singing by Neill and Reeves.

The fair tour began at the Colorado State Fair on August 20 and finished up at the Reading Fair in Reading, Pennsylvania on September 13.

The fair tour began well with plenty of attendees to see Reeves, Neill and LeBell perform on stage. However, as the tour progressed across the country, attendance dropped off due to poor advance publicity (allegedly Reeves's mangager Art Weissman dropped the ball on that). Reeves financed the tour and ended up losing money on it.

Below, is an article from the local Reading, PA newspaper featuring Reeves and LeBell with Barbara Wagoner, who was Miss West Reading. Gene LeBell is pictured kneeling in his "Mr. Kryptonite" costume.