Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Superman On Candid Camera

On the stands at teh end of 1966, this issue of ACTION COMICS continued the tradition of Superman meeting celebrities that had already included, among others, Perry Como, Orson Welles and John F. Kennedy.

In this case it was allen Funt, the friendly/smarmy host of TV's CANDID CAMERA. Originally on radio (as CANDID MICROPHONE) and seen as a series of short subjects in theaters, Funt was an early proponent of the entertainment value of what we now call "punking." He'd set up a situation and then voyeuristically record and comment on how various ordinary people reacted to it. In this case, the ordinary person was Clark Kent who, luckily, was able to pull a switch on the sneaky host.

Funt would later produce the feature film, WHAT DO YOU SAY TO A NAKED LADY?. Scandalous in 1970 (with a great theme song that actually got radio play), it's now a quaint document of how folks reacted to suddenly seeing an attractive young miss in her birthday suit in elevators, parks, hallways, etc.

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