We're all about the history of rock & roll at BoomtownAmerica.com!

Every week, we present “ROCK REMEMBERED,” a deep dive into the hidden history of rock & roll, the stories behind the artists and songs that changed the world. Join host, “Boomtown Bill” Cross each Wednesday at 7 pm (Eastern) with an encore broadcast on Saturday at noon (Eastern).

Join us this Wednesday as we reveal the hidden history of "Eddie Cochran - The Forgottreen Pioneer of Rock 'n' Roll!"

Ask any Baby Boomer what comes after, “It’s a bird, it’s a plane…” and they will undoubtedly reply, “It’s Superman!”

Beginning in 1952, The Adventures of Superman aired weekly in virtually every market in America. That was quite an accomplishment as The Adventures of Superman never aired on any of the three major television networks in the 1950s. It was created purely for the syndication market, sold to individual stations. While there were other series to fall into this category, none of them ever achieved anything like the level of success Superman enjoyed. The show went through six seasons of new episodes, with production only ending in 1958 with the untimely death of its star, George Reeves, just as production was about to begin on season 7.

Superman continued on in reruns for many years after. It even got something like a second wind in the late 1960s. It seems the show’s producers had been extremely foresighted and began filming the episodes in color starting in the fall of 1955, a time when there were virtually no color television sets in any American home. Initially, producers simply ran off black & white film prints for distribution to the local stations. But by the middle of the 1960s, color television had become the norm, so they released new prints of roughly half of the Superman episodes, now being broadcast in full color for the first time. The show even enjoyed a run as part of the Nick at Nite line-up on cable’s Nickelodeon in the 1990s and is still seen from time to time on nostalgia networks like MeTV.

 Of course, one of the reasons for its longevity is the continuing popularity and cultural relevance of the show’s main character. Superman has been the star of numerous feature films, countless animated series, and 4 additional live-action TV series since George Reeves first put on the cape (Superboy, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Smallville, and Clark & Lois).

The other reason is the unmistakable charm of its original cast: George Reeves, Jack Larson (Jimmy Olsen), Noel Neill (who succeeded Phylis Coates as Lois Lane after the first season, and Neil Hamilton (Perry White).

No matter how many times you may have watched the Man of Steel launch himself “up, up, and away,” we think there are several things you may not know about this legendary television series:

1.) The first Superman costume did not use the same colors as the comic books. During the first two seasons, which were shot in black & white, the costume was actually grey and reddish brown with jet black trunks. This is because they wanted to ensure that it looked right on all those black & white TV sets. When Superman switched to color, the costume was then recreated in the more familiar bright blue, red, and yellow.

2.) George Reeves was a heavy smoker. Go ahead and Google “George Reeves smoking.” You won’t find a single picture of him with a cigarette. This despite his having a serious tobacco habit in the early days of the show. That’s because Reeves took his job as an icon to American youth quite seriously (even more commendable when you know how much Reeves disliked playing Superman). He was scrupulous about never being photographed with a cigarette, even when out of uniform, because he didn’t want his youthful fans to get the idea that smoking was a good idea. In fact, Reeves eventually gave up smoking entirely.

3.) Jimmy Olsen underwent a significant change with the start of the TV series. The characters of both Perry White and Jimmy Olsen were created for the long-running Superman radio series, which was broadcast from 1940 through 1950. They moved over into the comic books shortly after their radio debuts. But on radio and in the comics, Jimmy had been a young kid, employed as a copy boy at The Daily Planet.

The low-budget nature of the Superman TV show required long, grueling hours in front of the cameras as they often attempted to shoot an entire season’s worth of episodes in just a few weeks. Hollywood labor laws wouldn’t have allowed a child actor to work those kinds of hours. So, the producers made Jimmy grow up into a young adult who was now a junior reporter on The Planet.

Larson’s portrayal was so popular with the show’s fans that Jimmy was not only aged up in the comics but also given his own comic book title in 1954, a first for a supporting character in the comic book world. Three years later, while the show was still in first run, Lois Lane also got her own comic book.

4.) They didn’t fly George Reeves using wires because of an early accident. Very early on in production, they attempted to fly George Reeves using wires, a common Hollywood practice for such scenes. You can see them in use in many of the first season episodes. However, during one such scene, the wires snapped and sent Reeves crashing to the ground. Luckily, he avoided serious injury, but he did receive multiple bruises. After that, the special effects team developed a metal harness that allowed Reeves to lie flat on it, almost like he was on a table. This harness could pivot a bit to simulate slight upward or downward movements and some banking effects, while a wind machine would give Reeves’ hair and cape a realistic flying look. Take-offs were handled by a springboard below camera range that allowed Reeves to launch himself over the camera. Fortunately, George was very athletic and could handle that kind of stunt work himself.

5.) Clark, Lois, Jimmy & Perry wore the exact same outfits in virtually every episode. As mentioned, Superman was produced on an extremely limited budget, much of which needed to go to the special effects necessary for Superman’s flights and super stunts. To save money and time, the cast was often required to shoot multiple episodes simultaneously. This was especially true of scenes shot on The Daily Planet sets. To avoid possible continuity issues of remembering what outfits each character was wearing in what episode, Clark, Lois, Jimmy, and Perry always wore the very same clothes from episode to episode.

In addition, there were only two office sets for The Daily Planet – Perry White’s and another set used for Clark’s, Lois’, or any other office the script called for. They just moved the desk to a different position, just the nameplate on the desk and door, and swapped out a few knick-knacks.

6.) There were three attempts to continue the never-ending battle after Reeves’ death. Superman had proved to be such a cash cow for the producers and DC Comics (then known as National Periodicals) that they explored three different ways to keep the gravy train running. The first was actually started before Reeves died, and it seems a bit crazy today. In 1958, while the original series was shooting what became its final season, producers proposed a second series where they reimagined all of the characters as canines. Yes, you read that correctly. A pilot for The Adventures of Superpup was shot in 1958. They used actors with dwarfism wearing dog masks. The familiar names were also changed to dog-friendly versions, like Bark Bent instead of Clark Kent and Terry Bite instead of Perry White. Mercifully, no one who saw the pilot wanted it to go to series.

After Reeves’ death, producers thought maybe they could simply continue the series, but focus on Jimmy Olsen as the lead character. The plan was to reuse footage of Reeves’ Superman that had been used in other episodes. Jack Larson, however, thought the idea was ghoulish and refused to continue that way.

The producers' final idea was a show based on Superboy, Clark Kent as a youth. This wasn’t bad, as Superboy had been a legitimate character in the comics since 1944, dreamed up by original Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel. A pilot was shot in 1961, 3 years after Reeves’ death, starring Johnny Rockwell as the Boy of Steel and Bunny Henning as his girlfriend Lana Lang. They even went so far as to commission the creation of 12 completed scripts. But the pilot failed to attract any buyers. Too bad because Superboy would prove to be a very viable character, starring in multiple animated series and 4 seasons of a syndicated live-action TV series from the same team that produced the Christopher Reeve movies, and of course, 10 seasons of Smallville on the CW network – by far the most successful of any television series starring the Clark Kent character since George Reeves set the standard.

What were we thinking? In the early 1970s, lots of Baby Boomers traded in their old shows for something called Earth Shoes. These orthopedic marvels featured something called a “negative heel.” Instead of a raised heel, the toes in Earth Shoes were higher and the heels lower. According to the manufacturer, this would lead to a better posture and overall health benefits.

Earth Shoes were actually created in 1957 in Denmark by Anne Kalsø. She called them Minus Heel Shoes. In 1970, Americans Raymond and Eleanor Jacobs contracted to bring them to the States. But the Jacobs thought the name was too clunky, especially for clunky-looking shoes. So, opening their first store in NYC on the very first Earth Day, they capitalized on the media buzz and renamed them Earth Shoes.

That ignited a fad for the footwear that quickly went coast to coast. Many people claimed the shoes made their feet feel better. Others said it always felt like they were walking uphill. And still others said that it added to their back pain. For whatever reason, the fad fizzled after a few years, and the company the Jacobs founded filed for bankruptcy in 1976.

Somehow, Earth Shoes have kept on walking. While nowhere near the popularity they enjoyed in our youth, Earth Shoes can still be found from dozens of online retailers. And that’s no mean “feet.”

Probably rock’s most famous muse, Pattie Boyd was the inspiration for 3 of the greatest love songs of the last half of the twentieth century: George Harrison’s “Something,” Eric Clapton’s “Layla” and Clapton’s “Wonderful Tonight.”

Pattie shot to fame in the early 1960s, becoming an international success as a model. Her work on a potato chip commercial (called “crisps” in the UK) led that commercial’s director, Richard Lester, to cast her as a schoolgirl in the first Beatles film, A Hard Day’s Night.

Boyd was 19, George Harrison was 20. He was instantly smitten and began pursuing Ms. Boyd – proposing to her before they even had their first date. The couple were wed in 1966.

In the course of things, George introduced her to his new best friend, Eric Clapton. Clapton also became infatuated with Boyd. The fact that she was married to his best friend only made things worse. Someone then gave Clapton a 12^th-century Persian poem called “The Story of Layla and Majnun.” (I bet you can guess where this story is going.) 

In the story, Majnun is desperately in love with Layla, but can’t have her. He eventually goes mad and wanders in the desert, never consummating his love. Obviously, this led Clapton to write his now-classic song “Layla.” In fact, his anguish about Pattie is all over his “Layla & Other Assorted Love Songs” album.

But the story of Pattie and Eric traveled a different route than that of Layla & Majnun.
 Infidelities on both George and Patti’s part had put stress on their marriage. Patti chose to resume her modeling career against the wishes of her husband. Then, Pattie discovered that George was having an affair with Ringo Starr’s wife, Maureen. That apparently was the last straw. The couple separated in 1974, eventually divorcing in 1977.

Boyd and Clapton quickly became a couple, eventually marrying in 1978. That there was no ill will between Eric & George is evident in the fact that George joined his old mates Paul McCartney & Ringo to play at Clapton’s wedding reception. (Apparently, no ill will between Ringo and George either.)

But there was no happily ever after here either. Pattie was unable to conceive and Eric ruled out adoption. This caused strain in the marriage. To make matters worse, Pattie found out that Clapton had actually fathered other children while he was married to Boyd. On top of that, Clapton’s alcoholism was out of control and he frequently beat her as well. The couple split in 1987 and were formally divorced in 1989.

Two years later, she met real estate developer Rod Weston. The two became a couple, but didn’t marry until 2015. After 24 years as a couple, Weston quipped, “It's almost our silver anniversary, so we thought we had better get on with it.”

Boyd has been active in addiction recovery work, co-founding SHARP (Self-Help Recovery Program) with Ringo’s second wife Barbara Bach.

She has also written her autobiography (with help from a professional writer), titled – what else? – Wonderful Tonight.

After years of diet advice that turned out to be dead wrong, it seems most of us of a certain age need to get more protein in our diets – not more veggies, or whatever else seems to be the food fad of the moment.

Here are some simple ways to ensure you’re getting the protein you need:

Breakfast: Ditch the low-protein, high-carb cereals for eggs. If you’re watching your cholesterol, many of the liquid egg products use egg whites and leave out the yolks (which is the part that contains the cholesterol). Greek yogurt is also a great substitute.

Snacks: There are many snacks, located in the same aisle at the grocery store where you find the crackers, that are made from high-protein ingredients that, again, skip the carbohydrates. Nuts are also high in protein.

Lunch & Dinner: Meat is always high in protein. Once again, if you’re watching your cholesterol, keep to fish and white meats.

The experts also recommend that you eat the protein portions first. They take longer to digest, meaning you may not want to eat as much of the other dishes, which can also help with weight control. Also, spread out your protein consumption throughout the day, rather than loading up at one meal or another.