Oh, Superman (George Reeves)

My short story collection, Candescent Blooms,  was published by Salt Publishing recently. I've previously posted here with regards to the background to the collection, and the fact that twelve Hollywood actors whose lives ended prematurely are the main characters in each of the twelve stories. As stated in that post, the intention in the run-up to publication was to focus on each actor with some snippets of information (both about them and the writing of their stories), and this is also continuing after publication. These posts will follow the same format for each. Our ninth character is George Reeves.

1: the reason for the title of the story

Considering George Reeves was typecast as Superman and that I listen to music when writing fiction, then my musical choice had to be O Superman by Laurie Anderson, and therefore the story had to be titled Oh, Superman. Sometimes these things write themselves.

2: why I chose that actor

This man of steel died from a gunshot wound at the age of 45. Presumed suicide.

3: one 'gift' that enhanced the story

The double life of Superman/Clark Kent placed interesting parallels on this story which - similar to Carl Switzer's tale - also revolved around trying to shake off a character in their past.

4: one thing I never knew about them

I didn't know much about George before I read up on him, but as a consequence one thing I discovered was that telephone booths were once called silence cabinets.

5: an extract from the story

Young George runs through the streets of Galesburg, Illinois, over the Underground Railroad. He passes the Gaity Theatre where – in his birth year - the Marx Brothers received their nicknames. He has his own O, a hoop with a stick. It bounces over uneven ground and is eventually discarded, describing a parabola as it loops towards the hump yard.

6: what music I listened to whilst I wrote it.

As above, it had to be O Superman by Laurie Anderson on repeat. It took me twenty-four hours to write this story. That's a lot of listens. This year - driving to Ross on Wye on holiday - O Superman came up on the shuffle. I sang the "hah hah hah" bit word perfect non-stop for the next eight minutes twenty-two seconds. I am Superman.

Buy Candescent Blooms here.