The Midnight Palace

Noel Neill is the original Lois Lane from the Superman serials of 1948 and 1950, opposite Kirk Alyn (in the role of Superman). She also played Lois Lane in the "Adventures of Superman" television show of the 1950s with George Reeves, having taken over for Phyllis Coates in the second season. In addition, Ms. Neill appeared in quite a few films, including the Films Noir "The Blue Dahlia" and "The Big Clock". Her biography was recently written in a book by Larry Ward, titled "Truth, Justice and the American Way: The Life and Times of Noel Neill". Ms. Neill agreed to speak with us about her memories working on both the Superman serials (to date the most successful serials of all time) and the Superman television show, as well as how much the role of Lois Lane has meant to her. You can click play on the player below to hear the audio stream from the interview, as well as read the transcription. Please make sure that your browser is equipped to play flash in order to hear the audio stream. Ladies and Gentleman, Ms. Noel Neill!

MP: Today I'm speaking with Noel Neill, the original Lois Lane in both the Superman serials of 1948 and 1950, and also the "Adventures of Superman" television show of the 1950s. Noel, it's great to be speaking with you, thank you.

Noel: Thank you Gary, it's nice to hear from you and be wanted!

MP: I read that Bing Crosby hired you in the early 1940s to sing at a club he was a part-owner in. How did you and Bing meet, and also, do you consider that the beginning of your big break?

Noel: Well, probably one of the reasons I sort of stayed around LA. I was supposed to go back to Minneapolis and go to college in the fall and take up Journalism, because my dad was in the newspaper business and I really enjoyed that. But anyway, mother and I took a little trip out to California, and stopped in Denver for relatives and Phoenix friends, Tucson friends and whatever, and finally got out to LA. Well, we spent a little time, she didn't want to go home right away and I didn't mind. So, it happened that the people who lived in the apartment next to us, Mr. Gilcher was head of NBC with musicians, they had a big station right there in Hollywood. He said: "Oh we're having an interview, I heard your mother said you sang". I said: "Oh, I sang in high school". He said: "We're having an audition for an orchestra and singers at Del Mar Race Track", which Bing Crosby owned. They had the parties on the weekends for the members of the Turf Club and dancing and dining. So I said: "Oh no no no!" and he said "Why not? It's just a few blocks down the street, what can you lose?". So by gosh, I got the job and that's what happened with Bing. He was part owner of Del Mar Race Track in those days, and every weekend they would have the parties for the wheels who owned or bet on the horses. It was really fun. Bing was at Paramount studios, Bob Hope, they were the big wheels at that time, so of course there were many people from the studio down at the parties, agents, members, etc. So, through a couple of agents, I got my first job at Paramount in the Aldrich series with Jimmy Lydon. Evidently they liked me so I went under contract to Paramount for four years. That kind of took care of going back to Minneapolis at the time, and things just snowballed. In those days, everybody worked. The big studios were going and television hadn't really started yet. So, it was very, very nice and very lucky for me.

MP: Most people, of course, know you from your part in Superman. Before 1948, you actually had a lot of uncredited parts in various films, including The Blue Dahlia and The Big Clock with Ray Milliand. Did you enjoy your film work?

Noel: I really did because everybody was so nice. I'll tell you a real interesting thing about Bing. I was walking through the studio one day and all of a sudden behind me I hear (singing) "Noel, noel". I turned and it was Bing on a bicycle. all the wheels of course had bicycles to get from the big stage. He stopped and said: "Hi Noel, how are you doing?". I said: "Oh, everything's just fine, thank you". He said: "Well, if anybody gives you any trouble or makes a move, you just call my friend Larry (which was of course an agent) and it'll be taken care of". I said: "Oh thank you for thinking of me", and away he went. So he was a nice person, it was really a fun experience.

MP: The Superman serials were shown on Saturday afternoons in movie theaters. They were set up as cliffhangers where each installment ended with a situation that would literally leave the audience ?hanging?. How did you land the role of Lois Lane?

Noel: Well, I had worked for Mr. Katzman who did all the serials for Columbia studios, one of them was a Brick Bradford serial. I played a native girl with a long black wig and the sirhan. So it was my agent, agents would go around to the various casting directors, show the pictures and say "we have so and so...". So Mr. Katzman said: "Oh, Noel will be fine, she can play Lois Lane in this new thing I'm doing, because we know she can act and works with Paramount". That's how it just happened, because of having worked for him before. But, it's funny you should mention the series. I'd just been down in the rain to get the mail, the mailman came by with two pictures from the old series with Kirk Alyn. It was kind of fun to see, a couple of them I hadn't gotten. So that's how it all started and we did fifteen chapters first, they made money for Columbia, bailed them out of a lot of messes. So they said "Can we make more and more?". So we did another fifteen set, they were very good. At about the same time or shortly thereafter, somebody had approached the people in New York at DC Comics. The gentleman said: "I'd like to make some of these new things for television and I'll pay the bills!". They said: "Well, it's your money, go ahead, be our guest!". So it started, that's how the first ones were made. But the fellow didn't have the money and everybody worked for nothing. They got rid of him and several other people. The producer called me and said "Hi Noel, this is a producer from DC Comics. I'm out here now to take care of everything. Would you like to be Lois Lane again?". I said: "I'd love it, fine!". So that's how it started, just a series of lucky things for me.

MP: Kirk Alyn played Superman in the serials. I know they had quite a bit of difficulty casting an actor to play this hero, who before this had only been in the comic books. But in retrospect they seemed extremely satisfied with the job he did. How was Kirk to work with?

Noel: Well he was very nice, qualified. He was a dancer in New York strangely enough, a ballet dancer, which made it easy for him to do the little runs and little leaps out of the scene, when the cartoon took care of the flying stuff. (*Note to readers: In the Superman serials, when it came time for a flying sequence, Kirk Alyn would run and jump out of a window, then it would quickly cut to an animation sequence of Superman flying, since they couldn't show a live person "flying" in those days). But, I found out later that he was very, very unhappy that he was not thought of or cast for the new Superman, from the New York office, with George Reeves. But, a lot of things go on, like any business, somebody knows somebody, so they get pushed and somebody else doesn't. He (Kirk) was very nice and he went on to do a lot of conventions and he did another series, a western series, and had quite a few western conventions. So that's how his life went from there on and of course he passed away in Texas. The last time I saw him, I think he still wore the little curl on his forehead like Clark Kent supposedly did. I said: "Ohhh, come on!" (laughs).

MP: I understand that even though the installments were short, shooting them was a long and tiring process. What was a typical day like on that set?

Noel: Well, the serials were very long. I did a lot of westerns too, throughout the years. Everybody was so nice. They always said if a girl gets a job on a western, go in and say who you are and why you're there. They'll send you to wardrobe, you get a western dress and a western bonnet, kiss the horse and go home (laughs). A girl doesn't do too much. I was lucky, there were some nice parts in some of the things and I sang and sort of danced a little bit in one of the westerns. I always liked them so much, everybody was so nice. Recently a little fellow came up to me and said: "Noel Neill?", and I said: "Yes, who are you?". He said: "Well, my name is Whitey Hughes, I did all your stunts in the westerns", and I said: "Ohhhh, did you really?!". I remember I did all the horseback riding, because I was able to. But it was very nice, he was very short so he always doubled the ladies. So it was nice to meet him, he was such a nice person.

MP: You mentioned that your father was in the newspaper business, and then low and behold, you would play a reporter for the Daily Planet.

Noel: (Laughs) Right and that's funny. I remember I turned down the college thing and working in Minneapolis, and it's just sort of a coincidence. Of course people always say: "Now, let me tell you, that show does not really describe an office. There are three of you running around at Mr. Hamilton's beck and call. Nobody ever carries a pad and a pencil!", which was true! The more I thought of it, I realized we didn't. But, the serials were long, of course we did a lot of work out in Corgan's Ranch, which at the time was quite popular for westerns. You wouldn't do too much. I did a lot of riding in the one where I ended up being the bad girl. I owned the station and they were going to steal the money, you know, the usual plot. I joined the bad guys riding and my hero that I loved dearly shot me and killed me! He went back to say "Oh I got him, I got the bad guy!". But anyway, that was my one evil show! (laughs)

MP: 1950, Atom Man vs. Superman, which was the second serial, began its run. Of course Superman was extremely popular as a comic book but the serials actually brought the character to the screen for the first time. Do you think the serials paved the way for the 1950s television show?

Noel: Well, I don't really know how they started out. Of course, the comic book company in New York, National Comics, was and still is very popular. In fact, a month or so ago, I was back in New York at a show. I called and had lunch with the gentleman who is the head of it. They said they sell so much of the toys and of course now the DVDs or whatever. I just don't know how that all started. I think maybe they knew that the serials we did were paying off for Columbia, and that might have been a little bit of an influence because naturally any company likes money! But I was quite surprised when the gentleman called me and said "Would you like to play Lois Lane again?". Of course, when I first got the job with Sam Katzman, my agent said: "You're going to be in a series called Superman". Well, so I dashed out to a store to buy comic books because I hadn't read them. I think comic books, in those days and maybe even now, are really a boy's thing. But I went out to see what Lois Lane looked like. Fortunately I was sort of a dark redhead at the time and had long hair, which she had, so that was fine for Mr. Katzman and it was interesting.

MP: In the second season of the ?Adventures of Superman? with George Reeves, you replaced Phyllis Coates as Lois Lane. Even though you?d play Lois for the remainder of the series, was there a reason you didn?t initially play the role?

Noel: Well, as I always used to tell Kirk Alyn, occasionally I'd run into him at a TV show or radio show or something. I'd say: "Don't feel so unhappy, we filmed out here in the LA area, and the show was made this time with the gentleman in New York. They probably didn't even know we were out here doing these things. So don't feel hurt about not being signed up for it." So, I don't really know what their feelings are about the change, of course I didn't ever bring it up, I never met that person or never seen her since (Phyllis Coates). It's kind of bad vibes. So I don't really know what happened, except I know that Kellogg's had joined National Comics. Because they said: "Now we've got to keep the shows for children because our men go out to sell the cereals to the mothers, for children. So we've got to keep it nice and happy. No blood, no Film Noir", which is the way the first one was. So I think that lead a lot to the complete change of scenery.

MP: Was shooting the television show different than shooting the serials?

Noel: Well yes, we didn't do any outside work with television. We filmed in the studios where everything was shot and we worked long days. Of course, being part of the cast in the series, it was the three of us, John Hamilton, Jack Larson, myself. Usually, Jack and I would just go out after something and end up being locked up, waiting to be finished off and hope that Superman would find us in time! Which, he always did, bless his heart. But they just had to change the way the show was going. There was no killing, no bones broken in the new series we did with George Reeves, because of the Kellogg's situation, who wanted to keep it for children basically at that time. So that's why it was always kind of nice, very nice.

MP: Now we know how big Superman has become over the years. It's just a franchise within itself and so much merchandise and memorabilia. How do you feel to have been at the forefront of all that?

Noel: It's kind of interesting. The last few years have shown a complete "thing" of Superman. I think the world was looking for a hero about that time. You know, things were so bad all over. It just, all of a sudden, grew grew grew. I remember a little story you might enjoy about Jack Larson. He liked to go to New York a lot, where he filmed shows in between. His agent called and said: "Jack, I got a job for you, it's 13 weeks". Jack said: "No no no, I'm on my way to New York!". So his agent said: "Jack listen to me. Do the job, take the money, go back to New York, nobody will ever see that show". So that's what he did. Of course he said: "I got to New York, you don't drive around New York when you're a tourist, I couldn't ride the subway or walk on the street. People would say 'There's Jimmy Olsen! There's Jimmy Olsen! There's Jack Larson!'" So he found out soon just how popular the show was and it's been going on. We were one of the first few groups that did the serials. Then all of sudden everybody said television was the coming thing, everybody's going to have it soon, we need more product! So these hot dogs came out from New York. The big studios, a lot of them closed and the hiring people we knew were of course fired. It changed the whole thing for people in show business.

MP: I?m sure you?ve been asked this in the past, but have you seen the film ?Hollywoodland? and do you have a personal opinion about the final days of Mr. Reeves?

Noel: Yes, yes and yes! Let's see, where do we start? Yes I finally saw the show. I'd heard about it and read a little bit about it coming up. I had just finished the work for Warner Brothers on the new movie "Superman Returns". So I called one of the gals out there and I said: "You know, I know when I start going out on the conventions, that everybody's going to ask me if I've seen it", which they do, and I said: "I haven't even seen it, I don't want to". But one of the girls said: "We'll fix that, we'll fix that, we'll call you back tomorrow!". They called me back and they ran a screening for me here in Santa Monica, bless their hearts. I sat there, and I think I missed half of it because so many of the people that I knew and liked were dead. They made them to be terrible people frankly, like George. Ben Affleck, I'm sure, tried hard, but he is not George Reeves. George had charisma, he had talent, a wonderful person you know, good with people. It was just one of those unfortunate things because a lot of people were asked but nobody wanted to do George's part or be Superman. You know, like Nicholas Cage, which was something else and Clooney, people like that didn't want to be tied up with a series. But, George was a wonderful actor and a wonderful person and he was so nice. I always called him The Southern Gentleman and he was very helpful if you were working with him. We worked fast and long hours. What we'd do, we had a strange contract, we did 26 shows, 13 weeks, and then we had a two-year gap, a contract with National Comics. I guess they thought that if it went well, they'd do more. So alright, we could go on and do our thing. That's when I did a lot of westerns and a lot of the uncredited films. So it worked out fine. But it's just amazing. The popularity even now at these conventions. People ask me, of course most of them that come by to see me, have 'grown up with me' as they say. They kind of walk up and look at me and I say: "Don't be afraid! I know, you grew up with me!". Then we take little pictures together and they buy our book. It's been amazing, just amazing, hard to believe. Jack and I talk about it quite often because we're neighbors, he lives fairly close to me and we talk and we've done the DVDs together, when anything comes up. But he doesn't like to go out of town, he doesn't like to travel and he doesn't like conventions and I don't think he's too good with people in crowds. You know, which is what you get of course, people want to talk to you and sign pictures and this and that. It's been amazing. People say: "Did you ever think back then that you would be able to do this now?" and I say: "No idea! I just had no idea at all. Just all of a sudden, everybody's seen Superman, they know Lois Lane". It's an amazing thing at this late stage in the game that they still love us. As Jack said: "It's nice to be loved!".

MP: It's such a staple in American pop culture.

Noel: Yes I hope the new picture, it went over good here and then all of a sudden it hasn't been shown. Jack and I were talking about it the other day. I think that they didn't want to keep running it against the Golden Globes and all those things where they're always pushing their movies. I know the director of the new Superman had been in Japan and Europe, and somebody approached me the other day and said: "You should hear yourself in Japanese!". Naturally you know they do that to us and it's really interesting.

MP: Larry Ward, who actually helped set up our interview today, wrote your biography in a book titled Truth, Justice, & The American Way: The Life & Times Of Noel Neill. I always enjoy biographies because they give the reader a chance to learn about the person behind the characters they know. How was that process for you, in terms of looking back over your memories and having them presented in book form?

Noel: Well it was kind of interesting. Mr. Ward did showcases or conventions, and I filled in once for Captain Kangaroo, who was always in his shows. But he (Kangaroo) was sick one day and he called and couldn't make it, so he (Larry) called me and I filled in. Larry said that everybody said "We don't know anything about her! Has she ever written her biography?". So he asked me and I said: "No, no, no, I might have been a writer at one time but not a biographer!". So anyway he wound up saying: "Would you mind if I did it?", and I said: "It'd be fine, be my guest!". So we went through all the stuff I had here at home. I had quite a few photos and I think that being a newspaper man's daughter, people would trust me with them. But I did have a lot of those. Mother of course, bless her heart, kept a lot of stuff from my childhood, I did dancing. I said: "What else do you do with a daughter in Minnesota in the winter when it's cold?! She goes to dancing school, of course!". So that's how I kind of started out with everything, the dancing and ended up singing a little bit. It was fun, it's a wonderful book. Have you gotten it?

MP: I haven't had a chance to get it yet. I've only found it online, I haven't seen it in the stores.

Noel: When we finish what work we're doing now (the interview), I'll give you my address and you give me yours and we'll send you a book!

MP: That's fantastic!

Noel: You'll love it! It's a new one. He (Larry) put out one first, black and white, in my dancing school days and all that in Minneapolis, which was really kind of interesting. I got a kick out of reading it myself! But this one now is mostly all color stuff, it's a huge thing.

MP: I know that there was a second edition. I did read that there was a second edition that was hardback and has all color photographs.

Noel: Oh it's just wonderful. The whole last half is all colored shots, pictures we had taken with people that you know like The Hulk, Ferrigno, and different people that I've worked with or run into at party time or whatever. So it's really interesting. So, we'll exchange addresses and we'll send you a book!

MP: That's fantastic!

Noel: Ok Gary, now what else can I tell you?

MP: Noel, if you could sum up your career in one sentence, what would you say?

Noel: Amazing! (laughs) It's amazing because having been at Paramount, which was wonderful, under contract. In fact, they had a studio on the set and one of the big stages. I happened to walk by and saw an open door, and of course being nosy I had to go in and see what was going on. This gentleman...the only people that had sets, really, were out at Douglas Aircraft. They had television out there for the people that worked, and when they had a little time off, they could go relax and watch TV. So he was ahead of his time, and a lot of the kids from the mail room were working for nothing of course on the cameras and the sound. So I ended up MC'ing a lot, singing and dancing, doing Jack LaLane stuff with the gym man at the studio who was there for everybody's use. So it was really interesting. I told one of them, Mr. Michael John, who was head of the casting people and contract people, I said: "Do you know you've got a television studio here? I've been working on it!", and he said: "What are you talking about?!". He didn't even know about it! So he said: "Oh well, ok good luck!". (laughs) I remember that was it. But it was interesting.

MP: I?ve been speaking with Noel Neill, who undoubtedly set a high bar with her portrayal of Lois Lane in the Superman serials, which to date are the most successful serials of all time, and also in the Adventures of Superman in the 1950s. Noel, it?s been a great pleasure speaking with you, thank you so much!

Noel: Oh, my pleasure Gary, thank you.

I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to Noel Neill for taking time out to speak with me. If you would like to purchase the book "Truth, Justice and the American Way: The Life and Times of Noel Neill" by Larry Ward, you can do so by clicking below.

Click here to purchase the book!