Mei Man: I drew Superman during the Great Depression

Chapter 172

"Sir, it's almost time."

When Colin handed over the "Superman" comics serialized over the weekend to Old John, Little John made sure of the time to remind him.

From half an hour ago, Little John's mood in the newspaper office began to become absent-minded, and he frequently cast his eyes on the clock on the wall.

"Turn on the radio."

Hearing Little John's reminder, Colin glanced at the people in the newspaper office, saw their expectant expressions, and nodded immediately.

"Okay, sir."

With Colin's approval, Little John couldn't wait to run to the newspaper's radio, press the switch and turn the knob on the radio, and carefully tuned to the CBS radio channel.

With little John's fingers turning, the announcer's impassioned voice suddenly sounded in the messenger newspaper: "...Boys and girls, please pay attention, a brand new and exciting radio program has come out!"

Announcer: "Has an unbelievable adventurous character, faster than a flying bullet, stronger than a locomotive, and even an exploding bomb cannot penetrate his hard skin."

Passerby A: "Look at the sky!"

Passerby B: "Is that a bird? (Is that a bird?)"

Passerby C: "Is that a plane? (Is that a plane?)"

Passerby Ding: "That's Superman! (That's - Superman!)"

"...that's Superman!"

Along with the shouts coming from the radio, Little John also shouted involuntarily, reading out this classic slogan created by Ke Lin.

After a period of negotiation, Colin signed a contract with CBS's "Superman" radio drama.

CBS also officially launched the production of radio dramas internally, inviting Orson Welles and his Mercury Theater to act as the dubbing work for the "Superman" radio drama.

At the same time, after discussing and confirming with Colin, CBS also confirmed the name of the radio drama - "The Adventures of Superman (Superman Adventure)"

Right now, what Little John and the others have heard.

It was adapted by Colin based on the "Superman" comics, the first episode of "Baby from Krypton" radio drama content.

Announcer: "Superman looks no taller than ordinary people, but he has unprecedented strength and abilities. He can jump into the air one-eighth of a mile in one jump, easily cross twenty-story buildings, and A race of high-powered bullets fired at a target, an astonishing weight of solid round steel lifted with bare hands as light as if it were a sheet of paper."

Announcer: "Superman..."

Announcer: "An alien from a distant planet, a protector of the downtrodden. A man of extraordinary stature. A hero who swore to use his power to help those in need."

Announcer: "Now our story begins, please follow the radio on a distant journey to the distant unknown universe - the planet Krypton!"

Announcer: "It is like a glowing green star in the sky, and the civilization here is the most advanced. It has created a race of superhumans, men and women like us on Earth, but this is only the appearance, in fact they have Evolved to the absolute pinnacle of human perfection."

Announcer: "As we approached Krypton, we saw high walls and gleaming turrets. We approached the magnificent Temple of Wisdom, and in one of the halls there, Jor-El, Krypton's most famous scientist , is about to deal with a meeting of the Kryptonian Science Council..."

The details of the Kryptonian explosion have been revealed for the first time in the "Superman" quarterly published by the Courier newspaper.

In the radio drama "Superman Adventures", Colin further perfected this part of the plot.

Including the appearance of the Kryptonian Science Council, which was just a one-page description in the comics, but was expanded into a discussion meeting in the "Superman Adventures" radio series.

From a certain point of view, the plot of the "Superman Adventure" radio drama is actually a more perfect process of setting the comic story.

Considering the difference between radio and comics, text can carry deeper information and thoughts than pictures, while radio dramas add tone changes and sound effects on the basis of text.

For example, when a voice actor describes the flying scene of Superman, the radio will think of the sound of birds and airplanes flying, creating a sense of presence for the audience in front of the radio.

At the same time, when the plot enters the Kryptonian Science Council, there will be rustling conversations in the background of the broadcast, giving people the feeling that there are many members participating in the meeting.

Chairman: "Attention, attention, gentlemen."

President: "Jo-El, please speak."

Jor-El: "Members of the Council... I have done my solar calculations, and though I am afraid to say the words, I have come to the conclusion that Krypton is doomed."

Council member: "Did I hear you right?"

In the radio play, the background rustling grows louder as Jor-El's voice actor utters the speculation about Krypton's destruction, and the entire Kryptonian Science Council seems to be thrown into confusion by the speculation.

Chairman: "Gentlemen."

President: "Gentlemen, gentlemen, gentlemen, listen to him."

The voice actor in charge of the chairman repeated a few words before calming down the chaotic Kryptonian Science Council.

Jo-El: "We've had internal earthquakes these days... these volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, gas leaks from giant craters, all point to one thing, gentlemen, that Krypton is fully and ultimately doomed Destroyed!"

Council Members: "Why Is This Man Crazy"

Just like in the comics, the Kryptonian Science Council does not agree with Jor-El's conjecture, and the chairman of the council refute this conjecture.

President: "Wait a moment, gentlemen, wait a moment."

President: "No reason to be anxious, I'm sure Jor-El made a mistake, admittedly we've had a few minor earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, but nothing very serious, your calculations must be wrong ..."

Jor-El: "No, there's no mistake here, Rozan, I hope it's a mistake, but the sun is gradually pulling Krypton towards it, and in a month...maybe just a week...the gravitational pull will be as great as A force that Krypton could not stand. Our planet would then be like a giant bursting bubble, destroying every living thing on top of it..."

President Rozan: "Gentlemen, be quiet. If, I mean, if, Jor-El, what you say is true, how can we avoid it? What can we do to stop it?"

Jor-El: "There's only one way, as you know, I've been working on a space factory, designed for interstellar travel. With time and a united effort, we can transport the entire population of Krypton to another world .”

Chairman Luo Zan: "Impossible! Where are we going?"

Jor-El: "To...Earth? My research tells me that Earth's atmosphere is very close to that of Krypton."

……

Laura: "Is your spaceship model almost finished?"

Jor-El: "Yeah...yes, I just put in the last rivet, how does it look?"

Laura: "Great...but will it work?"

Jor-El: "Uh... remains to be seen. If it works, I'll immediately start building another one like this, only much bigger, one big enough to take the three of us to another world."

Laura: "Jo-El, when will we wait, every moment we spend waiting and wondering..."

Jo-El: "Yeah, I know I know, Laura, it's been hard on us both, but especially hard on you. How's the kid?"

Laura: "Asleep, the earthquake in the afternoon freaked him out, but he's fine now, can't you come in and see him? You hardly see him these days, working on model ships all day. "

Jor-El: "Honey, this can't help, I'm in a race against time, and now I'm desperate to see if the model will behave as I hoped."

Laura: "How does it work?"

Jor-El: "Very simple, when everything is ready, I flip the switch. Closing the circuit, the electrical energy builds up pressure in the atomic motor, and then at the last moment, the pressure forces the spaceship to separate from its carrier and accelerate it. "

Laura: "But where does it go?"

Jor-El: "Wherever it's headed, this one, I'm pointing at Earth."

Laura: "Earth? What's that, Jor-El?"

Jor-El: "A planet, smaller than ours, on the other side of the sun. Inhabited by a race that looks like us."

Laura: "Like ourselves?"

Jor-El: "Oh... only parts, of course, my dear, they're about the same size, but barely developed. Very weak and helpless, all their faculties are extremely limited."

……

Laura: "What are you doing, Jor-El?"

Jor-El: "Put the baby in the ship."

Laura: "Jo-El, the house is shaking..."

Jor-El: "Laura, he's safe in there, now I'm going to flip the switch and step back."

Laura: "Oh, Jor-El, is he going to Earth?"

Jor-El: "Only God knows. The spaceship has a chance. It's the only plan. Back off now."

Laura: "I'm going to flip the switch!"

Laura: "Jo-El, it's dark and I can't see anything, what happened?!"

Jor-El: "Fire, smoke from the center of the planet, time is running out now."

Announcer: "The spaceship roared away from the planet and flew to the vast universe."

Announcer: "Krypton was blown into fragments and glowing fragments, scattered in the universe, and stayed in the night sky forever. But our superman, the spaceship it was riding on flew out in a near-explosion , it came to the earth, and the story of Superman also unfolded from this..."

The entire radio drama, often close to twelve minutes, ends with the Kryptonian Science Council as the planet's explosion, and describes in detail the devastating disaster encountered by Krypton.

In the whole episode, Superman as the protagonist did not speak once, but everyone knew about Superman's future growth.

Passerby A: "Look at the sky!"

Passerby B: "Is that a bird? (Is that a bird?)"

Passerby C: "Is that a plane? (Is that a plane?)"

Passerby Ding: "That's Superman! (That's - Superman!)"

Announcer: "Superman is a copyrighted work serialized in newspapers and magazines published by the Courier Press."

At the end of the broadcast, it ended with Superman's iconic slogan and the announcer's final copyright advertisement.

"ended?"

In front of the radio, Little John listened to the announcer's final announcement with an unsatisfactory expression on his face.

"It turns out that such a wonderful story happened before Superman came to Earth."

As a newspaper worker and the first reader of "Superman", Little John thought he knew the story of Superman well, but when he heard the thrilling explosion scene of Krypton in the radio drama, he couldn't help but let out a cry of surprise.

He once told Colin that he knew the background of Krypton, and he also saw the scene of the planet exploding in the "Superman" quarterly magazine, but the sense of presence created by the radio drama made Little John almost forget the messenger newspaper he was in. I was at the scene of the Krypton explosion. With the development of the story, I finally left Krypton together with the baby Superman.

"It's amazing, it's simply the most exciting radio show I've ever heard!"

After a while, Little John, who came back to his senses from the radio drama "The Adventures of Superman", flashed an excited expression on his dull face, and said in an almost incoherent tone.

"I swear, sir, even listeners who haven't read the "Superman" comics will like Superman after listening to the content of the radio drama!"

The Mercury Theater put great effort into the dubbing of "The Adventures of Superman", grasping various details very carefully, which also makes the broadcast quality of the entire Superman radio drama excellent beyond imagination.

Even Ke Lin, the original author, couldn't help sighing a little in his heart after listening to the dubbed radio drama.

Even Colin, the creator, was drawn to the plot of "The Adventures of Superman," not to mention the audience who tuned in on the radio.

CBS has made publicity work before broadcasting "Superman Adventure", and the popularity of the animated film "Superman and Mickey" is still hot, so the broadcast of the first episode of the radio series has already produced a strong response.

Except for those listeners who already know the radio play of "The Adventures of Superman" and are looking forward to it on the radio.

Some listeners who didn't know it but only heard it occasionally were also attracted by the ups and downs of the story.

Even later that day, the CBS station in New York received a large number of letters from listeners, asking to resend the first episode of "The Adventures of Superman", "Baby from Krypton", and let them listeners who missed the beginning Be able to listen to the content of the radio play in its entirety.

The enthusiastic response of "Superman Adventures" is somewhat beyond CBS's expectations.

Although CBS had expected that the Superman radio drama would be popular, it did not expect this process to be so fast.

In the first episode alone, the ratings of the radio drama occupied the No.1 position of all radio programs that day.

(End of this chapter)