The actor Mason Adams, of ?with a name like Smuckers, it has to be good? fame, has died. The breadth of his remarkable, if largely unheralded, career is evident in his obit.
I?ve always had a soft spot for the man ever since I learned that, as a young radio actor, he played the villain in the one of the most sensational story arcs in the history of broadcasting: the ?Superman vs. the Atom Man? storyline on The Adventures of Superman. He played a young German whose father, a Nazi scientist, developed a process for using radioactive kryptonite to infuse a subject with destructive power. The story line went on for weeks as the Atom Man wreaked havoc, fought and defeated Superman several times, and then finally met his doom in a classic case of poor judgment.
(I don’t want to ruin the climax, in case anyone would like to hear it for themselves ? I have it on tape, naturally ? but just imagine a scenario in which knocking Superman out with your krypto-powers might not be such a good idea for you.)
The radio serial was later made into a much-inferior movie serial, but at least there?s a good JPG available on it:
Anyway, great radio adventure, great post-WWII Americana vs. fascists and communists, great actor.
