ABSTRACT
Samantha Baskind
In the 1930s, your father Jerry Siegel came up with an earth-shattering idea: that of a heavily muscled, otherworldly, caped crusader for justice – the world’s first superhero. Superman’s creation and initial appearance, in 1938 in Action Comics #1, spawned an entire industry of superheroes, which pervade American culture and beyond. Undoubtedly, Superman is one of the most visible icons in all American culture – fictional and otherwise. Please tell us from your insider’s point of view about Superman’s creation and especially about how Lois Lane entered the story.
Laura Siegel LarsonActually, it’s such a long and complicated story that I am going to give you the ‘cliff notes’ version. I’m working on a book and documentary on the subject that will contain the complete story based on primary research, and include material that no one else has including original letters exchanged between my parents and Joe Shuster, my mom’s diary from her first year of marriage to my dad, their unfinished memoirs, rare photos, home movies and much more. There’s a lot of fascinating information I look forward to sharing.
Growing up with the writer/creator of Superman as my father and the artist’s model for Lois Lane as my mother was very, very interesting. As you may already know, my dad wanted to be a writer his entire life. When he was a little kid he read everything he could get his hands on. He was a big fan of pulp magazines and action/adventure stories. He loved science fiction most of all which led him to write his own science fiction stories. While a young teenager going to Glenville High School, he started self publishing his own mimeographed magazine, Science Fiction: The Advance Guard of Future Civilization, which was one of the first publications of its type in the country. It contained original stories he wrote 129under various pseudonyms, reviews of work by famous science fiction authors, and a letters column from readers. He sold it through the mail for 15 cents a copy or people could pay $1 for a year’s subscription. At first there were no illustrations but he wanted to jazz it up so he asked Joe Shuster, a young artist who had transferred to Glenville, whether he’d like to do some drawings for an upcoming issue. They had become close friends while working together on their school newspaper, The Torch, and had been working after school on ideas for comic strips.
My dad was the idea man and writer and Joe was the artist. They came up with a way of working that they used from high school all the way through their later professional collaborations. Dad would write out his idea describing how he imagined the characters and action would look and they’d talk it over. As Dad’s stories became more polished, his scripts would often contain descriptions of how he wanted individual panels to look.
For issue #3 of Science Fiction my dad had written a short story, ‘The Reign of the Super-Man’ to be published in January 1933. It was his first version of Superman and he was a villain. Joe came up with some dynamic drawings that really made it come alive. The story received a lot of praise from its readers.
Dad was very ambitious and he wasn’t satisfied selling magazines for 15 cents. He decided he and Joe had it in them to create enormously successful comic strips and make some real money. He turned Superman into a hero, named him ‘The Superman’ and Joe drew it up. Dad and Joe were just high school Juniors but Dad believed in ‘The Superman’ so much that he aimed for the top, sending it to major publishing companies.
130One of his submissions was to Consolidated Book Publishers, the company that put out an early comic book, Detective Dan. The big wig at Consolidated wrote to Dad that he liked ‘The Superman’ very much and was interested in publishing it in comic book form. You can imagine how excited he and Joe were! Unfortunately, the next letter from Consolidated said sales of Detective Dan weren’t going well, so the publisher decided not to publish any more comic books. This was a huge blow. Joe told Dad he couldn’t handle the rejections anymore and he was through with it. He was so discouraged that he tore up all ‘The Superman’ pages and threw them into his furnace. My dad begged him not to destroy the cover art though, and Joe gave it to my dad.
Dad refused to give up even though Joe did so he started contacting artists whose work was already appearing in syndicated newspapers. One was Leo O’Mealia. After reading Dad’s new script, he wrote he wanted to work with him on Superman. He suggested Dad should add a female character to break up the action and add romance. My dad thought that was a pretty good idea. O’Mealia never drew any Superman art and eventually dropped out of the picture.
Next, well-known syndicated newspaper artist Russell Keaton drew up still another version of Superman Dad had written. It focused on Superman’s early life and didn’t contain a female character. Keaton showed it to his publisher but after a few months he wrote to Dad that he had too much other work and couldn’t continue with Superman.
Then, soon after graduating from high school, Dad came up with an exciting concept that, in his opinion, made Superman a sure fire hit. He had decided to give Superman a secret identity as a journalist, and realized if he added a female character who was also a reporter, it would create conflict and be fun watching them compete for headlines. He talked Joe into drawing the strip again. By then, Joe had taken formal art classes so he told Dad that if he was going to draw a woman held in Superman’s arms as he zoomed through the sky, he wanted to have a model.
BaskindYour mother, born Jolan Kovacs, served as the model for Joe Shuster as he was first visually conceiving Lois Lane. Shuster and your dad saw an ad in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. What can you share about that fateful encounter and about how your mother came to serve as the model for Lois Lane?
Siegel LarsonWhile my dad and Joe were working on Superman in the Glenville part of Cleveland, across town my mother was a student at Rawlings Junior High School. It was the Depression. My mom’s family was really poor, poorer than my dad’s or Joe’s families, and she wanted to make some 131money so she could go to see movies. She admired the way glamorous actresses stood and walked and imitated them in front of a mirror. That gave her the idea to be a model. In January 1935, she put a tiny ad in the Cleveland Plain Dealer that said, ‘Artist Model. No Experience.’ To her surprise she received many responses. She picked up the mail, went to the Cleveland Public Library, spread the envelopes out on one of the big tables and opened them one by one. Most of the letters were from guys asking her for dates. But there was one from a ‘Mr. Joseph Shuster’ who wrote he was an artist and needed to hire a model. She was so happy! They set up an appointment to meet on a Saturday and she took three street cars to get to the Shuster family’s apartment.
She expected ‘Mr. Joseph Shuster’ to be an older gentleman. The kid that answered the door wore glasses, was her height and only a few years older than she was. They got into a great conversation about movies and books they liked, and then finally my mom said, ‘Is Mr. Shuster here?’ Joe replied, ‘I’m Mr. Shuster!’ She was delighted that he was young like her and they were getting along so well. Joe’s mother looked in to make sure that the model was a nice girl.
Joe showed my mom some drawings he had made of Superman. She was the first outsider to see that original art and to hear the Superman storyline. She loved it immediately. Joe asked her to sit on a chair and drape herself over it, as if she was in Superman’s arms. He immediately started drawing her. You can see the resemblance between my mom and Lois Lane by comparing one of Joe’s drawings of Lois to a photo of my mom around the time she was posing for him (Figure 1). As you can see in the images he used the shape of her face and many of her features.
She earned $1.50 an hour and worked one hour per week on Saturdays. That first day while my mom was posing in one room, my dad was in the living room nervously waiting to meet her. When Joe stopped sketching, she burst into the living room to meet my dad and said, ‘I love your Superman!’ Dad was thrilled as she told him she had a great feeling that Superman was going to be a hit and told him he and Joe were going to be famous. Joe and my dad acted out some of the action scenes they had in mind and after each one my mom said, ‘Wow!’
BaskindWhat was your father’s initial impression of your mother?
Siegel LarsonRight from the start, Mom’s personality made a big impression on Dad. I want to read you what he wrote years later about that first meeting: ‘I must admit that seeing Lois Lane in 132person made my head spin. I thought she was terrific! She was very bright, and strikingly attractive. Her hairstyle, her shapely figure, her lovely face was exactly right for the daring girl reporter. She had a lot of enthusiasm like Joe and me. I thought she was a perfect Lois Lane, but I was too meek and mild to let her know how great I thought she was.’
My mom had such an impact on him that her personality helped him flesh out Lois. She was going to be smart. She was going to be funny, stylish, sassy, ambitious and fiercely independent–all qualities he admired in my mom. That’s how he started building the reporter later known as Lois Lane.
BaskindLois Lane certainly has moxie. She was a gutsy, ambitious, modern woman rather than a fragile, damsel in distress. Torchy Blane, a self-reliant, wise-cracking female reporter in a number of B-films in the 1930s, is often cited as inspiration for Lois’s character. What was it about Torchy’s personality that intrigued your father and did he amalgamate aspects of Torchy’s personality with your mother’s? Also, of interest, is that one of the actresses who played Torchy was named Lola Lane, which is close to Lois Lane. Can you comment on that?
Siegel LarsonYes. My dad started forming ideas about the type of woman Lois Lane would be from meeting my mom in 1935. Two years later, in 1937, the first Torchy Blane movie Smart Blonde came out. She had guts, was no-nonsense, and driven to compete with men to get scoops. Dad added that to the qualities he saw in my mom. Seeing actress Glenda Farrell on film as Torchy really solidified the Lois character for him. Regarding the name Lois Lane, my dad was a fan of actress Lola Lane from the first time he saw her. He was big on alliteration and used the double L’s for two of his most important Superman supporting characters: Lois Lane and Lex Luthor. There’s been speculation that my dad might have taken the name Lois from one or more girls he went to high school with. It was a popular name in those days and he may have always liked the sound of it but the only inspiration for the name ‘Lois Lane’ he ever told me about was actress Lola Lane.
BaskindWhy do you think your dad felt Superman should have a female foil and a love interest? We’ve talked about what prompted him to include a female character, but what prompted him to take Lois in the direction that he did?
Siegel LarsonHe liked smart, attractive women but in high school they weren’t interested in him. Dad put a lot of himself into Superman and Clark Kent – the crushes on girls who didn’t know he was alive, the bullies who picked on him, and the glasses that hid the amazing person he was inside. Dad didn’t want to make life on earth too easy for the powerful Superman. 133He needed someone to – pardon the pun – bring him down to earth. A sassy co-worker he was attracted to felt right.
BaskindWhy would Superman, an alien, be interested in a human woman?
Siegel LarsonDad knew that to get Superman into print was going to be tough so he knew he had to make the Superman strip different from all the other science fiction/adventure stories out there. Yes, Superman had fantastic otherworldly powers to amaze readers but Dad wanted him to be relatable – someone readers could identify with. He did this by emphasizing the human aspects of Superman. He was an alien…an immigrant really…who came to earth as a baby. But he was raised by a human couple and spent years of his life not realizing his alien roots. Why wouldn’t he fall in love with a human woman?
The complexity of the Superman/Clark Kent experience on earth became even more complex and interesting when Dad added Lois Lane. It really made the concept click. Dad wanted the adult Superman to have someone in his life as a touchstone…a constant reminder of his human side. Besides, Lois is not just any human woman. She’s a good match for him because they have similar moral compasses. Both fight for justice daily – Superman by using his powers against criminals and Lois by exposing evil through her reporting. They are both independent by nature but their lives are much better once they meet.
BaskindWe’re talking about the Golden Age of Comics, that early period in comics history understood by many as ushered in with Superman’s debut. There have been countless developments in the genre since then, both in style and concept. To that end, at different moments in time there have been different Lois Lanes, drawn in various ways and with a personality that sometimes diverged from your dad’s original characterization. Is there any incarnation of Lois you find particularly troubling or actively dislike? Can you say something about the different Lois Lane iterations?
Siegel LarsonBetween 1948 and 1958 my father was no longer writing Superman and Lois Lane due to a lawsuit he and Joe filed concerning the rights to Superman and Superboy. There were many changes to Lois during those years, some of which I’m not crazy about.
In the 1930s my dad conceived Lois as obsessed with rising to the top of her male-dominated field. But after World War II American society frowned on women competing with men for jobs. When my dad wasn’t writing Superman anymore the editors decided to turn Lois into a softer, less threatening character. Her identity as The Daily Planet’s fearless star reporter was deemphasized. She still reported for the paper but 134instead of seeking headline-grabbing assignments to expose social ills, the scoop she wanted most was to uncover Superman’s secret identity.
On the 1950s television show, Lois constantly got into trouble and relied on Superman to save her week after week. That was not the resourceful Lois of earlier years but viewers loved it. At that time popular culture often showed single career women (like Lois) as constantly searching for a man to make their lives ‘complete’. In 1958 when Lois got her very own comic book it was called Superman’s Girlfriend, Lois Lane. I was too young to notice it then, but today I find identifying her as ‘Superman’s Girlfriend’ odd. It’s as if the decision-makers thought without Superman in the title, people wouldn’t know who she was or buy the comic. She certainly had name recognition all over the world for two decades before that…and plenty of fans!
When it came to the way Lois was drawn during the 1950s, her hairstyle and clothes changed dramatically. My mom used to say that after Joe left, artists often drew Lois to look like their wives.
BaskindThe general public is more familiar with the Lois Lane portrayed on the big and small screen than the evolution of Lois in comics. I’m thinking of, to name a few, Margot Kidder in the blockbuster Superman movies from the late 1970s and 80s to Teri Hatcher in the hit television show Lois and Clark, or Erica Durance in Smallville. Then there is the most recent Lois Lane, portrayed by Amy Adams, currently in theaters in the film Justice League. Are you partial to any one media Lois?
Siegel LarsonMargot Kidder was wonderful in the string of Superman movies starring Christopher Reeve. Those films, particularly the first one, made a real effort to be true to the origin by my dad and Joe. My mom met Margot Kidder at the premiere and photographers snapped lots of photos of them. There was a great deal of respect between those two Lois Lanes. We all loved Margot Kidder’s portrayal. She was a strong, ambitious reporter and also had fun with it.
Teri Hatcher was charming on Lois & Clark. It was primarily a romantic comedy and the love affair between Clark and Lois was front and center. Times had changed and storylines explored adult themes such as the main characters living together although they weren’t married…topics that were unthinkable in the 1950s or the Golden Age of Comics.
I also like Amy Adams very much as Lois. She is totally believable as a reporter and as the woman who is everything Superman could want as a life partner.
BaskindLet’s move away from Lois Lane for a bit, and talk about your mother and father. Thirteen years passed between your mother posing for the Lois Lane character and when she and your 135father met up again. Please share how they became re-acquainted, their love story, and how Superman and Lois Lane figure into it.
Siegel LarsonAfter my mom posed for Joe in 1935, she did more modeling but she really wanted to be either a reporter or an actress. She found out that one of the Cleveland radio stations that aired a lot of radio dramas was looking for actors, went there and auditioned. The man in charge liked her and said she should come back the next week but she didn’t go. She always regretted that she put her eagerness to earn money right away ahead of what could have been an interesting career in radio.
So, for thirteen years my mom was doing all kinds of jobs. She changed her name to Joanne Carter, traveled around the country and eventually ended up in California where she was a nightclub photographer. When the U.S. entered World War II she was a Rosie-the-Riveter type, working on aircraft carriers. She married a Los Angeles newspaperman but it was a very bad marriage. Joe kept in touch with my mom during those years. In the meantime, my dad still lived in Cleveland and married a girl who lived across the street.
By 1948, Mom was living on the East Coast again. She was divorced and my dad’s marriage was ending. Joe invited her to a Charity Ball at the Plaza Hotel in New York. He told her all the famous cartoonists of the day including Jerry would be there. My mom was Joe’s date but he asked Jerry to keep her company while he joined the other artists auctioning off original art for the fundraiser.
It was the perfect time for them to meet again. Their marriages to other people hadn’t worked out, they had struggled in their careers, and when they met again at the ball, it was as if fate had stepped in. The youthful enthusiasm and friendship they had when they met thirteen years earlier came rushing back. Mom still had the qualities that inspired Dad when he created Lois Lane. In fact, she had even more spunk, confidence and persuasiveness than she had as a girl. Mom and Dad talked, started dancing, and a few months later, after my dad’s divorce was final, they got married.
During their 48 years of marriage Mom helped Dad (and Joe) solve many problems when things seemed hopeless. Jerry Siegel drawing of Lois Lane and photograph of Jolan Kovacs. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781003149644/10328976-065f-456d-8cf5-a6b7e9c004e9/content/RCOM_A_1540131_F0001_PC.tif"/>
BaskindHow did your dad return to Superman?
Siegel LarsonDad and Joe lost their lawsuit to recapture the Superman rights before the Cartoonist Ball brought my parents together. The publisher declared they would never work for the company again and replaced them with other writers and artists. At first it didn’t bother Dad and Joe because they had a deal elsewhere for another comic strip, Funnyman. Unfortunately, it was not successful and they were soon out of work. Joe’s eyesight was so poor that he barely drew after that.
136Dad was eventually hired by Ziff Davis Publishing to start their Comics Division. He created several titles there including G. I. Joe but by 1951 that job ended and he couldn’t get work for years. We were destitute. My dad wrote to Superman’s publisher asking for a job. He turned Dad down flat.
That’s when my mom summoned all her strength and guts, and launched a campaign to get Dad back to working for DC. She told the head of the company he should let dad write again because no one knew Superman and Lois Lane better than he did. The executive turned her down. My mom called, and called, and called, and left messages. Finally, the top guy picked up the phone. Mom got straight to the point. She told him she wasn’t asking for a handout. She thought it was good for everyone if my dad wrote Superman again. He said, ‘Okay. Now stop calling me!’ So, because of Mom, in 1958 my dad was back writing the characters he created and loved. He had tons of story ideas. Some, like the first ‘Death of Superman’ story, were wonderful.
At times, he was assigned stories he didn’t particularly want to write, but overall he was happy to be writing his characters again. He did the first ‘imaginary story’ showing what it would be like if Superman and Lois Lane were married. No one knew that he was writing those stories because his name did not appear on them. He was paid the standard page rate, like all the other writers.
My dad wrote Superman, Jimmy Olsen and many other characters for the next eight years. But American copyright law was changing. Dad learned he had the ability to claim the renewal copyright on Superman but he knew that if he pursued those rights he would lose his job again. It was a dilemma. He believed that he and Joe deserved financial security and credit for the work they created in the past and he wanted to guide it in the future. He also wanted fans to know that he was still a talented writer and had written some of the most innovative comics stories of the 60s.
Whether to pursue the copyright renewal was a big decision. It meant leaving the job my mom worked so hard to get for him. When they discussed it, she told him he should stand up for himself and Joe because that’s what would make him happy. They found Joe, who had dropped out of sight a few years earlier, hired a lawyer, and my dad quit his job. He wouldn’t have done it without my mom’s support.
That legal battle and my dad’s unemployment went on for a long time, so my mom went to work. She had a number of interesting jobs and used to say she felt like Lucille Ball in the I Love Lucy episode when she was working in a candy factory 137and couldn’t keep up with the speed of the conveyor belt. My mom had a similar experience working in a comb factory. She had a string of jobs to pay our bills when my dad couldn’t because of the Superman lawsuit. In 1968 the lawsuit wasn’t going well. Dad and Joe lost and appealed.
Around that time my mom got very sick and her doctor recommended we relocate to a warm climate so we moved to California. The only job dad could get was as a typist and clerk for the Public Utilities Commission in downtown L.A. When he wasn’t typing he took phone calls from people who needed help with their utility service. There he was, trying to get justice for people who needed it. On his lunch hour he did research at the Law Library across the street to help his lawyers get justice for himself and Joe. He soon realized that what he really needed was the help of the news media to publicize what had happened to him and Joe.
My dad wrote a letter about author’s rights and how unjust it was for creators like him and Joe to lose all credit and compensation for properties that made millions for publishers and studios. Dad asked my mom if he could spend the last 200 dollars they had in the bank on postage. She said yes without hesitation.
He sent that letter to every media outlet in the entire country whether it was print, television, or radio. Artist Neal Adams saw the letter and agreed the way Dad and Joe had been treated was not right. So, Neal called my dad and offered to help. Neal got TV talk shows to have Dad and Joe on to explain the situation. After weeks of coverage, the people at Warner Brothers and DC Comics (who held the rights to Superman) entered discussions to help Dad and Joe. Neal, artist Jerry Robinson and a Cartoonist Society lawyer represented Dad and Joe. My mom was right there the whole time and pushed for things to be added during the negotiations. They were a great team.
Eventually, an agreement was reached that promised my dad and Joe a lifetime pension and credit as the creators of Superman. They were not offered much money at first, and when my dad asked Mom whether he should take the deal she said, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll get the money up.’ And she did.
BaskindWe are here today, in Cleveland, celebrating your mother and Lois Lane amid three floors of exhibits at the Cleveland Public Library featuring Superman memorabilia, art, and artifacts from the 1930s to the present. There is a clear correlation between Cleveland civic pride and Superman. Can you comment on this?
138 Siegel LarsonCleveland’s where my parents were born and Superman was created. We still have family here. After Joe and my dad passed away in the 1990s, Mom tried to get the city of Cleveland to publicly recognize them. She proposed a Siegel and Shuster meditation spot in one of the city’s parks and other ideas to draw attention to the connection between Cleveland and the creation of Superman. She was hoping to stir some civic pride. Her dream was that by honoring Dad and Joe that Cleveland would become a destination for authors, artists, parents and children who were inspired by them. She knew, for example, that the home of Margaret Mitchell, the author of Gone with the Wind, is a tourist attraction in Atlanta. At the time, the City of Cleveland didn’t adopt any of Mom’s suggestions.
I am deeply grateful that in recent years, the Siegel and Shuster Society – a Cleveland charitable organization – accomplished what Mom had dreamed of, and then some. Author and Superman fan Brad Meltzer helped the Society raise money to renovate my dad’s childhood home. It became a Historic Landmark. Dad and Joe were inducted into the Glenville Hall of Fame, the streets where they lived were renamed in their honor and Ohio license plates with the ‘S’ symbol on them can be purchased from the Bureau of Motor Vehicles. The Society makes donations to worthy causes in Cleveland. Visitors who arrive at the airport are greeted with a large display about Superman’s creation here. There have been speeches honoring Siegel, Shuster and Superman at City Hall and a statue honoring Superman, Dad, Mom and Joe is under discussion. It’s spectacular.
My parents are no longer with us, but they would have loved the fabulous display at the Cleveland Public Library, one of their favorite places. The display includes my dad’s desk and other items. It would astound them!
I’ve learned first hand that Clevelanders want everyone to know that this is the home of Superman and his creators. On one of my trips here I went into a Barnes and Noble. One of the employees saw me looking at a Superman book. He came up to me and said, ‘Did you know two guys from Cleveland created him?’ I thought for a minute. What should I say? Finally I told him, ‘I do know because my dad was Jerry Siegel.’ The guy almost fell over. He was so excited! That was the moment I knew that the struggle for recognition had been worth it. People now know my dad’s name and that he did something amazing. And they are learning a lot of that push for recognition had to do with my mom, the original Lois Lane.
