PUTTING METROPOLIS ON THE MAP

One day, I'll meet fellow Wold Newton enthusiasts Robert Wronski, Jr. and Sean Lee Levin, a couple of my FB friends. I came close back in 2008 for a chance to meet WNU torch-bearer Win Scott Eckert when I was visiting Colorado, but I screwed that up. Someday.....

In the meantime, I'm thankful for when any one of them shares something of Wold Newton interest that can also be applied to Toobworld. And recently Robert posted this on Facebook:

In episode 6 of 'The Adventures of Superman', Clark and Jimmy are planning to go watch the Chicago White Sox. In the real world, there is a Metropolis in Illinois, which claims to be the home of Superman. I suppose the writers of this 1950's show believed that claim.

Robert's talking about the episode "Night Of Terror". As Jimmy enters Clark's office:

Clark Kent:
What's on your mind besides the Chicago White Sox?

Jimmy Olsen:
You guessed it!

And Clark agrees to make it a date to go see the game with Jimmy. But I'm not going to delve into that aspect of the conversation.....

Someone online wondered - Doesn't Metropolis have its own baseball team? There are the Metropolitan Monarchs, but that's not established in the main Toobworld, which is all that concerns us here at Toobworld Central. 'Lois & Clark' and 'Smallville' and 'Superboy' are all in different dimensions. The animated versions of Superman can be found in the Tooniverse. And the comic books have their own universe not connected to the TV Universe at all.

The only show that matters is 'The Adventures of Superman', the official version of the Superman mythos for the TV Universe.

So I agree with Robert. If it sounds that easy to go see the Chicago White Sox from Metropolis, and Jimmy is such a huge fan of the team (almost as if they're the hometown favorites), than the televersion of Metropolis must be in Illinois, not far from Chicago.

However, Wikipedia makes the claim that it could be in California based on the location shooting for the TV series and certain landmarks that are seen in various episodes:

The 1950s television series Adventures of Superman is silent on the subject of the city's location, but in general, and in a departure from most other media depictions, Metropolis could be equated to Los Angeles, California. However, nearly every exterior shot depicting Metropolis either contains landmarks readily identifiable as being in Los Angeles (such as the Los Angeles City Hall or the Griffith Observatory).

There's no Zonk in this at all. Those buildings only look like the City Hall and the Griffith Observatory. The copying of architectural structures is a common practice in Toobworld. (One of these days I'll have to do a piece on how many times the same mansion shows up in different episodes of 'Burke's Law'!)

So just because some Metropolis buildings look like L.A. buildings, that doesn't mean the show was set in California.

It just means that some architectural firm got around a bit. Not every architect stays close to home like Mike Brady or - even moreso! - Wilbur Post!

Thanks, Robert!

BCnU!