Terror on the Midway

Infobox Hollywood cartoon
cartoon_name = Terror on the Midway
series = Superman


caption = Title card from "Terror on the Midway"
director = Dave Fleischer
story_artist = Dan Gordon
Jay Morton
animator = Orestes Calpini
James Davis
voice_actor = Bud Collyer
Joan Alexander
Jack Mercer
Julian Noa
musician = Sammy Timberg Winston Sharples
producer = Max Fleischer
studio = Fleischer Studios
distributor = Paramount Pictures
release_date = August 30, 1942 (USA)
color_process = Technicolor
runtime = 9 min. (one reel)
preceded_by = "Volcano" (1942)
followed_by = "Japoteurs" (1942)
movie_language = English
imdb_id = 0035422

"Terror on the Midway" is the ninth of the seventeen animated Technicolor short films based upon the DC Comics character of Superman, originally created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. This animated short was the final production for the Fleischer Studios, which was reincorporated as Famous Studios at the time. The nine-minute short features Superman attempting to stop the chaos created when several circus animals escape their cages and restraints, including a giant ape. It was originally released on August 30, 1942 by Paramount Pictures. [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035422/ Terror on the Midway (1942) ] ]

Plot

The story begins with the music and noise of the circus. Clark Kent and Lois Lane are at the Midway, Lois having an assignment to cover its events. She expresses her regret that she didn't have a more exciting assignment. Clark offers his condolences, then leaves for his own assignment. Later that night, as Lois attends the clown performance, a monkey wanders from the main tent and accidentally opens the cage of a giant ape. Growling, the ape wanders into the tent, sending everyone into pandemonium.

Several circus workers attempt to tie the creature down with ropes, but are thrown into the air by the creature's strength. While other workers are struggling to keep the other animals under control, some of them stampede, or rear up against their owners, knocking other cages open. Lois, who has been taking pictures of the ape, is about to leave when she notices the monster lumbering toward a trapped young girl. She runs between the creature and the girl, and helps her escape, only to have the ape turn on her.

Clark arrives on the scene, supposedly to pick up Lois, and sees the chaos. Quickly he changes into his Superman costume and begins setting animals in their cages. Right after tossing an elephant into a cart, he hears a scream: Lois is trapped at the top of a pole holding up the tent, and the ape is climbing perilously close. Superman confronts the ape and ties it down, but during the fight one of the tent poles falls down and hits a power circuit, starting a fire. Superman saves Lois from the flames just in time. The final scene shows Lois vigorously typing the story, with Clark sitting lazily back in a chair at the next desk.

References

External links

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRw6VDcYcGY Full video]
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035422/ imdb page]