Kirk Alyn: The Cinema’s First Superman

Today, a salute to an actor whose career is an illustration of the vagaries of fate when it comes to the breaks it dispenses to actors, Kirk Alyn (John Feggo, Jr., 1910-1999).

A New Jersey native, Alyn started out as a song and dance man in vaudeville and a chorus boy in musicals. Interestingly his first known credits are movies. He’s an extra in the Paramount comedy Fast and Loose (1930), which was shot at Astoria Studios in Queens, and also several shorts: Fast and Loose (1934) with Hal Le Roy, Bashful Ballerina (1937) with Imogene Coca, and Rooftop Frolics (1937) a variety film in which he is actually the M.C. His Broadway credits include Who’s Who (1938) with Coca and Rags Ragland, All in Fun (1940) with Coca, Pert Kelton, and Bill Robinson, and Pie in the Sky (1941) with Oscar Shaw. It has also been claimed that he was in Of Thee I Sing, Girl Crazy, and Hellzapoppin’.

If so it was either in road companies, regional revivals, or perhaps L.A. productions, for that is where he moved in 1942. I am delighted to report that that year he also married the fetching Virginia O’Brien, one of the few bright spots in the Marx Brothers’ The Big Store (1941). Alyn amassed nearly 70 screen credits over his long career. In major films he was usually a bit player with unnamed characters, things like My Sister Eileen (1942), Swing Shift Maisie (1943), The Three Musketeers (1948), and The Eddie Duchin Story (1957). But at Republic and other B movie studios he fared much better. He’s a supporting player in many westerns, usually about fifth or sixth in the billing.

Then came the role for which he remains best known. In 1948 he was cast as the Man of Steel in the Republic Superman serial, the first screen version of the popular comic book character. In this he supplanted radio’s Superman, Bud Collyer, presumably because he more closely resembled the illustrated version, which had debuted a decade before. Notwithstanding, he seems an odd choice, with his fine-boned facial features and goofy mien. His muscles are clearly padding. Still it led to leads in other sequels, including Federal Agents vs. Underworld, Inc. (1949), Radar Patrols vs. Spy King (1949), Blackhawk (1952), and of course Atom Man vs. Superman (1950).

It is said that Alyn was offered the role of Superman in the TV series, but passed. Given how iconic George Reeves was in the role it seems a fortunate development. (Reeves remains my favorite Superman). Alyn’s moment in the sun was over at this point. O’Brien divorced him in 1955 and he returned to being a bit player, mostly on television shows like Annie Oakley,Highway Patrol, Naked City, The Donna Reed Show, Dennis the Menace, Hazel, and Gidget.

In 1971 he penned his memoir, the ironcally titled A Job for Superman (he hadn’t had a job in years). He was given a nostalgic cameo as Lois Lane’s father in the 1978 Superman film however (the plum role of Pa Kent having gone to Glenn Ford). His last screen credit was in Fred Olen Ray’sScalps (1983), a horror film about a vengeful native American ghost.

For more on vaudeville, where Kirk Alyn got his start,consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous.