Best a speeding bullet, more powerfulls than a locomotive, people the least tall
buildings at a single bound guy. It's Superman. Yes, it's Superman.
Strange visitor from another world who came to Earth with powers and abilities far beyond
those of bottle men. Superman who can change the cause of mighty rivers,
bend the steel in his bare hands, and who disguised as Clark Kent,
mild manned reporter for a great Metropolitan newspaper, fights a never ending battle for
truth, justice and the American Way. But before we joined Superman, here
is an important message. They gang ever talked to a serviceman who seem real
action where my pal Jerry Link was mighty lucky. The other day his older
brother took him over to meet some friends of his at the USO Club and
cho We saw so many different uniforms at once, but they get flyers and
sailors and marine not all either. Kids, I write in this pub We've
got men from all over the world. He's stunny. Stunny Pattersons, come
on over and meet the kids, brothers, but please to make your acquaintance,
Master Jelly, do you mind if I asked some questions so long as
they are on military secret, youngster. Oh, I don't mean that.
I just want to know what you've said, be on your cap, what
kind of work you do, how you got into Oh hold on, not
so fast there, master Jelly. I'll tell you the whole story. I'm
serving on a minesweeper and the Royal Navy a mine sweeper. Oh what do
you do? Yeah, we're the burger keep us. He's cleaner minds for
convoys and worships. And believe you me, youngster, a job is harder
than any army job I can think of. We are out all the time,
and all kinds of weather, sweets, terms and FuG nicey guilds that
freeze all right down to the morrow of your bone. I guess you guys
have to be pretty tough for that job, don't you, young sir.
I can tell you this, And if you're a gun to stick with your
job, you've got to have plenty of endurance. Mineshapens no game for a
soft teas night, right, Scotty. That goes for any job that our
servicemen tackle today. And while we're on the subject of endurance, let me
give all of you a tip you can't expect to grow up really strong and
husky unless you eat right, which includes getting all your vitamins. Now,
one of the grandest ways I can think of to start getting two mighty important
vitamins B one and B is by treating yourself to a swell big ball full
of extra delicious Kellogg's PEP for breakfast every morning. So ask your mother to
get you a package of swell tasting PEP tomorrow. And remember the name now
PEP P e P. And now the Adventures of a Superman. As you
all remember, Doctor Leanne the Cameron invented a mechanical man which could see,
walk, talk, and even think for itself. He can up to the
model of the Mechanical Man, which was stolen by an arch criminal named the
Vulture, a Houdini of the underworld. Superman regained the model and sent the
Vulture to prison, but the Vulture, a master of makeup and mimicry,
somehow managed to escape. Then, although the police were guarding the vault in
which it was placed for safekeeping, the Vulture succeeded in getting his hands on
the model of the Mechanical Wonder once again for the last episode ended, but
wait, let's join Clark, Kent, edisor White and the others in the
fall to the Metropolis City Bank. Listen, I impossible, I tell you,
I will not. I cannot believe it. I can't believe it either,
Perry. I am the president of this bank. No one but myself
and one vice president. No the combination of that vault, and no one
could have gotten into it without the combination. He not only that, mister
Parsons, but the six policemen of instation in front of the vault all night,
and the sergeant swears no one got past. No one even came in
here. Oh sake, my surgeon Stripes. Wait a minute, quainterman.
Now, now let's start for the beginning and get this fantastic business straight.
We know that model of the mechanical man was in the vault last night,
because we came down here and Parsons here open the vault just to be door.
That's right, Perry, And after I closed and locked it again,
these policemen were posted on guard in front of it. Yet when we come
to get the model this morning, we find it's gone. And in its
place is this thing, oh wooden carving of a vulture well, it's all
pretty clear to me. Somehow the vulture managed to get into that vault during
the night, steal the model of the mechanical man, and get away without
being detect impossible, Perry, Totally impossible. The vault is burglar proof,
you couldn't even blow it open, and he tampering with it sets off a
loud alarm. I don't care how clever this this vulture is. He could
never have gotten into that vault without the combination, And one vice president and
I are the only ones who know it. Well. Could he have managed
to get hold of it somehow without your annoying certainly not. The other man
who knows it is in California, has been for two months. The combination
is not written down on anything anywhere. We rememberize it, you see.
Oh besides, even if you didn't know the combination, we know he didn't
get in that way because the sergeant here says no one even came into this
room during the night. Are you sure of that, Sergeant pauses of Mistress
Kemp. No one could have come in undetected and also wake up the lights
rolling right all night long. And there's only one answer to this whole mess.
And I think I know it. What's that, mister Kemp, You
say you know the answer to this mystery? Yes, and I'm pretty sure
it's the only answer. I couldn't possibly be any other. Well, if
it can't, come on, come on, speak up, Wait a minute.
That is the only answer. How does it figure out? Of course,
mister Parsons, your present of this bank? Yes, I want your
permission to search this bank from top to bottom right now? Well, of
course, But why I'd rather not say until I'm sure of what I'm thinking.
Until I find the thing I'm looking for. Sergeant Audio, men to
search this bank. Have them examine every room, every closet thoroughly. No
hold on, Mistress Kent. How can we look for tumping when we don't
know what we're looking for? If I'm right, you'll know it when you
see it. Get going, all right? So always man, you know
what to do. Mister Parsons. The three of us will start with the
watchman's quarters kind of feeling. We'll find what I'm after there. Come on,
I'm afraid I don't know where the watchman's quarters are. Can't we can
find out easy enough? Come on, Kenned, I we should stop all
this confounded mystery. That's what are you up to? What exactly are you
looking for? I the one thing I could possibly be looking for. And
then yeah, wait a minute, here's the door with a sign on it
which says the porters on the Watchman's quarters are probably in that room. Let's
have a look. What have we got to, lows? Come on,
room's empty. This is obviously the place we're looking for. Those lockers,
I want to have a look inside them at once. All right, Canny,
I'll try this one. Allay, Okay, nothing in this one here,
kn't. I'll keep trying. I was right. I can see it
right through this locker, and I better get it open. There's nothing here.
I'll keep at it. The door's locked. I just have to wrench
it open. They'll ever notice here we are, chief mister Parsons, I
followed, I was looking for. Come here? What is it? But
great? Hearns. It's a man bound and gagged, an unconscious drug,
I imagine, and hidden in this locker. But who is he? Your
night watchman? My night? Now with him, and I'll explain everything to
you. It's all pretty obvious and simple, really, And I'm afraid we've
all been tricked, Beautiful, I don't follow you. And if you could
recognize all your employees by sight, you'd know that this man is your night
watchman. And you'd have known that the man named Hawkins who admitted us to
the bank last night was not. But we've just changed men. He was
a new man. You don't mean that the man we saw wasn't they do
The man who pretended to be the night watchman last night was no one but
the Vulture. But great, everyone, how can you be so certain?
Don't you see? No one entered that vault last night, no one got
past the sergeant and his men, and yet the model was gone this morning.
Well, they could only be one answer to that. The model was
not put back into the vault at all. I begin to see it all
now as I remember that watchman last night put the model of the mechanical man
back into the vault for us, and then Parsons locked the door. That's
right, But actually he didn't put it back. If the Vulture is as
clever a trickery as we have reason to believe, it would have been a
simple matter for him to hide that model temporarily. Good grief, You're right,
you must be right, Well, what do we do now? We've
about to get back that model of the mechanical man. There's no telling what
use the vulture will make of it. To think of his pulling a trick
like this right before her eyes, we never even suspect him. Worried chief,
a mechanical man in the hands of an arch criminal like the vulture is
a dangerous and deadly thing. We've got to get that mechanical man back,
and something tells me we'd better do it in a hurry. Our scene changes
now from the Metropolis City Bank to another hideout of the vulture. We find
ourselves in a large room in which stands a huge tank filled with ice cold
water. Lying at the bottom of the tank, clad in a bathing suit,
is the Vulture, his arms, legs and body bound with chains and
mocks. As he twists and turns furiously on the water, trying to free
himself from the chains that bind him. His men servant Judson stands by outside
the tank with a stopwatch in his hand. Suddenly, the vulture is free
of the chains and locks, and with a quick movement, shoots to the
surface of banks. But when the time Judgins broke in your records. Are
you escape from the strait jacket of the chains in exactly two minutes and forty
three seconds. That six seconds better than your old record. Excellent. Help
your towel and robe, sir. Thank you judging her and water was bracing
this morning. I doubt know how you stand it, sir. I positively
do not. I am harden to a judgin. Oh. It takes will
of power, but I enjoy nothing more than forcing my body to obey my
will. Er. Breakfast is ready, I trust, yes, sir.
I felt it on your desk as you requested. I also put the models
of the mechanical men on your desk. Excellent. Come Judson, sit with
me while I at breakfast and like to talk to you very well, sir.
It does me good to see that model of the mechanical man standing here
before me on the desk. It took a lot of hard and ticklish work
to get my hands on it again, I can imagine, sir. Shall
I pull your coffers? Yes, no, let the mechanical man do it.
Let the mechanical man do it, sir. Yes. Just watch.
I pressed the switch on the control panel so no, when the eyes light
up, he'll be ready to perform, Judson, I've made a decision,
a decision, sir, Yes, Judson, I have decided not to sell
the Mechanical Man. But why did you want it? Sir? I'm coming
to that. For years I've worked as a lone criminal. I have made
myself an expert in many fields so that I might successfully elude capture and conviction.
But I'm not getting any younger, you know, and I think the
time has come for me to an acquire an accomplice renaissance accompany. Have you
found one who are suitable? Though, Yes, Jetson, I have.
The Mechanical Man will be my aid and accomplice. Sir. I shall get
in touch with Smith at once and have him construct an eight foot monster and
an eight foot monster of steel that will do my bidding, obey my every
command. Kill when I command it, steel when I command it, Smash
and mutilate, and destroy when I command it. Was there ever such a
combination, Jetson with heaven life irdly think so, sir? Not? I
Well, now to breakfast. The eyes of the Mechanical Man have lit up.
Mechanical Man, I command you to pour my coffee. Look, sir,
he's walking towards the coffee pot by jove, No, sir, he's
picking it up. And look at that site. He's walking towards your cup
now by Joe. Yes, by heaven, sir, he's starting to fit
your cup. It's amazing, sir. Even more than amazing, it's miraculous.
Gentsen, I shall be the most dangerous criminal in the world. Well,
the vulture contemplates with pleasure the horror and destruction he can perpetrate with the
aid of an eight foot mechanical man that can walk, talk, here,
see, and even think. In just a moment, will return to the
adventures of Superman. But right now here is another important method. Say,
gang, ever have days when you know the minute to get up in the
morning that everything is going to be really super Well, maybe that doesn't happen
as often as you'd like, but I can give you one mighty swell suggestion.
Just you try starting your day with a grand big ball full of crisp
crunchy Kellogg's pep for breakfast, and see if that doesn't give you a real
lift. Yes, sir, pep is sir, dogg ons while tasting that
a sort of brightens up your day right from the start. You see,
pep is made from the choice parts of sunripeen wheat carefully toasted, so it's
just as light and crisp and tempting as you could possibly want. So be
sure to ask your mother to get you a package of delicious Kellogg's pep tomorrow
and remember, heh, heh, get in theft, make your serial kellogg
Pep. And now back to Superman. While the culture plans the building of
an eight foot monthster from Doctor Cameron's model, Superman and the guise of Clark
Hint is leading a desperate search to locate the arch criminal. Will he be
found in time? Will Superman be able to avert the disaster plan by the
Vulture? What will happen? Be sure to tune in tomorrow and every day
Monday through Friday, same time, same station for the thrilling adventures of Superman.
Bester than a speeding bullet, all the powerfuls and a locomotive be able
to leave puller buildings in a single bound. A frill of guy Come work.
Follow the adventures of Superman everyday, Monday through Friday, same time,
same station. Superman is directed by George Lofa and is a copyrighted feature appearing
in Action Comics magazine. This is virtual welcome back. Well, I'll be
honest that not having part nine is proba only the most difficult part of this
cereal because it sounds like a lot of really exciting and important things happened in
that particular episode. But thankfully with the recap we at least get the gist
of it, but still not quite the same. One big tip off to
the fact that the Guard was the Vulture was his use of the name Hawkins,
Hawk and Vulture both birds, so based on typical super villain conventions,
you kind of expect that to be him. Thinking about it, it might
be easy to blame Clark Kent aka Superman for this whole thing, since it
was his idea that they had to get inside the vault to make sure the
Mechanical Man was still in there. And that does make me wonder why they
didn't put the mechanical Man in a safe deposit box. Given his size,
he could fit into, you know, not necessarily one of the really small
ones, but there are some boxes that he could fit into, and that
would be a little extra layer of security. I don't think it would mean
a whole lot to the Vulture, but it might take him a couple of
minutes. I do think that the Vulture probably would have gotten the ten man
out or one way or another, even with the cordon of policemen around there,
So I can't blame Clark can't too much. All he did was make
the Vulture's plan work easier because he was able to get out of the bank
vault at a reasonable hour, go home, and get some rest. So
I guess that was nice. I don't think the Vulture is making a particularly
wise plan with his idea of building an eight foot tall version of the robot
to be his partner in crime. The Vulture's method, it's our all substrifuge
and cleverness and stealth. An eight foot tall robot is just not going to
have those capabilities, so it really feels like it's operating outside of his strength.
Though then again, it may just be the allure of the idea of
I'm going to make myself an eight foot giant robot to help me in my
work. I mean, if you offered me an eight foot tall robot for
the podcast that could see, touch, thy carry, etc. I mean,
I'd have to take you up on it. I have no idea what
I would do with an eight foot tall robot for the podcast. I mean,
it could host I suppose, you know, even in that little squeaky
voice, I think there are some listeners who think that'd be an improvement.
But I still, you know, offered me the eight foot robot, and
I think I would be severely attempted to take it. And who knows that
may be what the vultures going through. I did like him having the mechanical
man pour his coffee. It's, you know, given the potential and the
danger of the mechanical Man. It's not quite using the Infinity Gauntlet to make
a hot pocket, but it's kind of heading in that direction. Speaking of
the Vulture, my wife said that every time she hears the name the Vulture,
she can't help but think of the modern vulture character whose Spider Man villain
was actually the villain in the movie Spider Man Homecoming that came out not too
long ago. Of course, in the Golden Age of comics, you'll often
find characters at different companies, particularly when you're dealing with the villains and the
side characters who have the same name as characters at other companies or as characters
who would later become famous. For example, there was a character called Daredevil
who was a superhero with no relation to the character who would later be created
by Marvel Comics. So that is one of those things that you do run
into with these sort of Golden Age characters, particularly on the radio, where
the name of the villain was given just to give them a particular menace.
Though I think this particular villain is doing what he can to live up to
his name. A few quick notes before we wrap up. First of all,
over on one of my other podcasts, The Amazing World of Radio at
Amazing dot Great Detectives dot net, we have a very special episode of The
Amazing World of Radio. Check it out over an Amazing Dot Great Detectives dot
net. It will drop on Thursday night. Secondly, if you have any
thoughts on the serial so far, I do encourage you to get that into
me by no later than Thursday the sixteenth at seven pm Mountain time. That's
when I'll be finalizing the recording for the final episode of that series. I
will read your comments after burial is over. But if you have anything that
you would like read out on the podcast, please get it into me by
tomorrow, the sixteenth, at seven pm. Now we are missing part twelve
of the serial, but we will be back on Sunday with part thirteen.
Join us then for that. In the meantime, do you send your comments
to Adam adamsweb dot us From Boise, Idaho. This is your host,
Adam Graham signing off.