The Adventures of Superpup

"The Adventures of Superpup", a 1958 pilot which never aired on TV, was meant to capitalize on the success of "Adventures of Superman". Superpup featured the first television portrayal of the Superman characters as non-humans.

Television producer Whitney Ellsworth created a pilot that placed the Superman mythos into a fictional universe populated by dogs instead of human beings. The live-action actors were placed in dog-suits to portray the canine versions of the characters of Superman. The pilot was filmed on the same set as "The Adventures of Superman", and the characters were portrayed by little people. Whitney Ellsworth later produced "The Adventures of Superboy" television pilot.

The Clark Kent character was renamed "Bark Bent", who worked for the "Daily Bugle" (not to be confused with Peter Parker's workplace) under editor "Terry Bite" and the female lead was named "Pamela Poodle". Superpup/Bark Bent himself was played by actor Billy Curtis, who was also in "Superman and the Mole Men" with George Reeves.

A book titled "Superboy and Superpup: The Lost Videos", written by Chuck Harter, was published in 1993 by Cult Movies Press. Employees had seen the obscure pilots for both of the proposed replacements for the Reeves series: "The Adventures of Superpup" and "The Adventures of Superboy", as well as twelve un-produced "Superboy" scripts. Both were released unofficially to the public domain on the VHS format. It is also available as part of Warner Home Video's fourteen-disc DVD set, "Superman Ultimate Collector's Edition". Half of the episode is presented in the collection in color from a surviving print, while the other half of the pilot is presented in black & white from a video master of lesser quality.

External links

*imdb title|id=0157212
* [http://www.angelfire.com/tv2/supermanontv/superpup.html "Superman on TV, 'Adventures of Superpup' trailer"]
* [http://davidschutz.tripod.com/superpup.htm "Superpup, from Video Rarities"]