Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings at a single bound. Look, up in the sky, it's a bird, it's a plane, it's Superman! Kellogg's Pep, P-E-P Pep, Kellogg's Pep, the sunshine cereal presents the adventures of Superman. Today, the strange disappearance of Professor Sturgeon has baffled not only Horatio F. Horn, the amateur detective, but Superman himself, as his latest clue disappears into thin air. Hello there, gang. This is your pal Dan McCullough. Hey, you're about to get a Fourth of July bang out of this week's Pep Dish of the Week. It's bang up delicious. You tried it yet? It's a peach rocket, you know, a dish that makes your morning appetite take off in a hurry. And here's how easy it is to make a peach rocket. First, line the sides of your breakfast bowl with slices of firm, ripe peaches. Arrange them so that they're pointing up, you know, like skyrockets. Next, pour your serving of Kellogg's Pep in the middle, so the peaches stick up above the flakes. Then, milk and sugar, and that's all it takes to make a peach rocket, a nifty new way to dress up your morning dish of Kellogg's Pep. Believe me, gang, that sunny, golden toasted flavor sure does rise and shine. And Pep is so crisp and tender, your spoon just naturally keeps going right back for more. Why, before you know it, you've finished off every last crunchy flake of Kellogg's Pep in your bowl. Which is always the right idea, and particularly right nowadays, when we're sending the grains to fellows and girls across the seas. Nobody wants to waste cereal. Remember that when Mom brings Kellogg's Pep home from the grocers. If you pour your own Pep, pour it carefully, and eat up every bit you pour out. Make it a habit to eat all your pets. Don't waste it. And now, the adventures of Superman. When Clark Kent and Lois Lane seemed to believe Horatio F. Horne, an obscure Daily Planet local correspondent, amateur detective, and telegrapher, who told what appeared to be a fanciful story of a threat to a famous atom bomb scientist, it was only in an effort to be kind to the eccentric little man from Squeen Run, Ohio, whose feelings had been hurt by the outspoken editor White. But when, on paying a visit to Professor Alonzo Sturgeon's home, they learned that the famous scientist had been abducted, they knew that Horatio Horne's intercepting and decoding of a message referring to Professor Sturgeon had uncovered a threat to world peace. Leaving Lois and Horne to await the police, Kent slipped away and, as Superman, streaked to a mountain lodge, to which the coded message had been addressed. There, he found no one but a surly caretaker, who told him that the previous occupants had vacated, leaving 96 Walnut Street in Metropolis as a forwarding address. Rocketing back to the city, Superman discovered that the address was false. That 96 Walnut Street is an empty lot. Listen. An empty lot. Well, either that shifty-eyed caretaker sent me on a fool's errand, or Professor Sturgeon's abductors gave him a phony address. Either way, I've run up against a dead end. Well, there's only one thing to do. Go back to the professor's house and try to pick up the trail again from there. Up! Up! And away! As Superman speeds back to the home of the missing atom bomb scientist, Lois Lane, curious at the thought that Clark Kent had slipped away in an attempt to score a scoop on her, has persuaded Horatio Horne to accompany her on a trip to Maple Lodge in the Blue Mountains, with the address to which the cryptic telegram had been sent. And as we join them now, Lois and Horne and Kent's car are laboriously climbing up and down the winding mountain road, fighting their way through a heavy rainstorm. Uh, forgive me for mentioning it, Miss Lane, but, uh, isn't this a bit risky? Oh, relax, Mr. Horne. This storm won't last long. Besides, we're not far from Maple Lodge now. What, uh, puzzles me is how you can see the road, let alone know where we are. With your windshield wipers not working. Well, that is a handicap, I must admit. Yes. But I'm managing. Hmm. Uh, look, Miss Lane, maybe this is a fool's errand. I mean, maybe Mr. Kent didn't go to Maple Lodge after all. But you said he asked you the address before he disappeared, didn't you? Quite true. Quite true. But as a graduate detective, an honor graduate, I might add, of the famous Correspondent School Detective Institute, I failed to see how you deduce from that the conviction that Mr. Kent... If you knew Clark as I do, you'd be just as sure as I am that he slipped away and took a train to the lodge. But, sir... Why, he'd do almost anything to get a scoop on me. But I'm going to outsmart him this time. Perhaps. Yes, sir, we'll reach that lodge and get whatever story there is before he even arrives by train. Oh, my dear Miss Lane. Oh, sorry. If you're not more careful, we may never even arrive. Oh, come now, Mr. Horne. You've got to have more confidence in my driving. Believe me, it isn't so much a matter of confidence as... Great grasshoppers! Sorry again. I didn't see that curve until we almost ran beyond it. I don't wonder. The rain's so heavy. Look, Miss Lane, hadn't we better just... For the last time, Mr. Horne, no. We're not turning back and we're not stopping. Don't you want to track down the men who had abducted Professor Spurgeon? Of course I do. But as a detective, I feel that we... I don't care how you feel. Now, just relax. At least, don't you think you'd better run in low gear? Or at least in second gear? No. Why? Well, this is a rather steep downgrade and I... Look out, there's a sharp curve at the bottom. I see it. I see it. Well, look, there's a river around the bend and a bridge. I know. Now, when you sit back... Stop, stop. You'll never make the curve. I can't stop. I'm kidding. Swing hard for Pete. Take swing hard. Let go of this wheel. Swing hard. We'll miss the bridge. It's too late. Hang on. Rocks and dirt washed onto the narrow mountain road by the heavy rain. Lois Lane and Horatio Horn and Kent's car crash through a wooden bridge railing and into a swollen stream. At about the same time, Fuperman, unaware of what has happened to his friends, again resumes the guise and garb of Clark Kent and enters the home of Professor Sturgeon. Who's that? It's I, Inspector. Who? Clark Kent. Oh, Kent! Say, where in the world have you been? Oh, I've been snooping around. Say, did Lois give you the background on Sturgeon's disappearance? Yeah. Yeah, this is bad business, Kent. Professor Sturgeon's one of the top scientists in the country. When it gets out that he's been snatched, the mayor, the governor, and everybody named Joe will be on my neck. Now, with all respect to your neck, Inspector, the situation is more serious than that. Professor Sturgeon knows all the secrets of the atom bomb. If enemies of our country have him and force the secrets from him, we and all the rest of the world are in terrible danger. Oh, come now, Kent. Just because one of the abductors had a foreign accent, there's no reason to suspect an international plot. And I do suspect it, and I'm worried. Look, Inspector, I've got to get up to Maple Lodge, but I want to see Lois first. Where is she? Do you know? Why, she was around here a little while ago, when I saw her drive off. In your car, by the way. Oh? Yeah, she didn't say where she was going. That's strange. What about the man who was with her? You mean that Horatio F. for French horn character? Yes. Yeah, well, he went with her. Hey, just who is that guy? Oh, he's the local correspondent for the Daily Planet in Squeen Run, Ohio. He intercepted and decoded the message that got us on this story. So I was told. Fances himself quite a detective, doesn't he? Well, I wouldn't underestimate that little fellow if I were you. I think he's got a lot on the ball. Well, to me, all amateur detectives are a pain in the neck. Oh, incidentally, there's no use in your going to Maple Lodge, Kent. What? Well, I'll send Healy up there. Oh, don't waste his time. The so-called Mr. White, to whom the code message was addressed, that the lodge has skipped. Yeah? Uh-huh. Well, they left a forwarding address in Metropolis. Is that so? Uh, what is it? Do you know? Sure. 96 Walnut Street. 96 Walnut, huh? Uh-huh. Oh, Healy, call headquarters and have them send a prowl fire. Now, wait a minute, Inspector. Huh? Don't bother. I've already checked that address. Well, what'd you find? An empty lot. What? An empty lot. Bounded on one side by a big loft building, and on the other side by a one-story warehouse given over to packing and crating. Well, I'll be your monkey's uncle. Where'd you say you got that phony address, Kent? From the caretaker of Maple Lodge. What? Well, that's 50, 60 miles from here. How in blazes did you... Well, I... I get it. Telephone, huh? Uh, yes, yes. Yes, there's a telephone there. So the caretaker gave you a phony steer, huh? Then he's the man we want. He must be in on the plot. Perhaps. Or else he got a phony steer, too. Either way, I'm gonna find out. I'll see you later, Inspector. Oh, wait a minute. I told you I'd send Healy up there. He can... I'll be there long before Healy. How will you? Well, I... I have my own special way. I'll... I'll see you later. Leaving the house, Clark Kent quickly resumes his true identity of Superman and streaks to the Blue Mountains. The violent storm, which is now dying away, has felled trees across the narrow mountain roads and swollen streams into raging rivers. A sudden alarming thought crosses Superman's mind, and he slows his rocket-like flight. Wait a minute. Henderson said Lois and Horn went away in my car. I'll bet they started from Maple Lodge to look for Professor Sturgeon. If they did, they ran into this storm and may be in trouble. I'd better keep my eyes open. Away! No sign of them. Maybe I was wrong. I guess I... Wait a minute. What's that down there? A bridge smashed. An erect car at the bottom of that stream, completely submerged. Must have skidded into the bridge. Wait a minute. It's my car. Lois was in it. Down to that car. Ow! The car's full of water. But Lois and Horatio Horn, they're not in it. Great Scott, where are they? What happened to them? Alarmed, Superman stands at the bottom of the swollen stream, gazing into his wrecked car, empty but for the swirling, muddied water. What has happened to Lois Lane and Horatio Horn? We'll be back in a moment for the tense climax of today's episode. So stand by. You know, gang, I'll bet you've all had one swell Fourth of July holiday. Picnics and swimming and ball games, all sorts of excitement. And the day's not over yet. But you know, I wish you'd do something before you pile into bed tonight. I wish you'd take just a minute to think about what a grand and glorious thing the Fourth of July really is. What it means, actually, you know, it means that, well, we're just about the luckiest people in the whole world to live here in the United States where somebody believed in freedom enough to fight for it back in 1776 and where we still believe in freedom and still fight for it. Yes, sir, America's the best place in the world to live. That's what the Fourth of July really means. And don't let any of us ever forget it. When Superman stands puzzled and alarmed by his wrecked car at the bottom of the mountain stream, Lois Lane and Horatio Horn are in a perilous predicament. Stunned when the car crashed through the bridge into the stream, they nevertheless managed to make their way through a window where the surging current swollen by storm waters caught them and swept them away like driftwood. Half drowned, they have finally managed to catch on to a floating log. Now clinging weakly to it, they are carried at breakneck speed into a raging ice-cold mountain torrent which has swept far beyond its banks and become a tumultuous river. I don't think I can hold on much longer, Mr. Horn. You've got to hold on, Miss Lane. I can't. If you don't, you'll be drowned. But my arms, they feel like lead. And this water is so cold. I'm getting numb. I know. So am I. Try kicking your feet. I can't. I feel like I've come to bite. I'm going to have to let go pretty soon. No, you can't. I tell you, listen. Let's try calling for help. Come on now. We'll call together. What's the use? Nobody can hear us over this water. There's nobody around anyway. Well, let's try. You never can tell. Come on now. Hello. Help. Help. Help. Clinging to the log with fast waning strength, Lois Lane and Horatio Horn raise their voices weakly and cries for help. But over the rushing, relentless sound of the torrential waters, their cries are barely audible. And Superman is several miles away. What will happen to the girl reporter and the little amateur detective? And what will this delay mean to Superman's chances of tracing Professor Sturgeon? Tomorrow's episode is packed with thrills and the startling surprise. So don't miss it. Tune in. Same time. Same station. And remember, for breakfast, it's Kellogg's Pep. For excitement, the adventures of Superman. Superman is a copyrighted feature appearing in Superman DC Comic Magazine and is brought to you Monday through Friday at the same time by Kellogg's Pep, the sunshine cereal. Say, gang, when you think of famous names, you think of Kellogg, you know that's the greatest name in cereals. And Kellogg makes Kellogg's Shredded Wheat, the tender plump biscuits, made just the right size to fit your breakfast bowl. And are they good? Full to the brim with natural nut sweet flavor. Good for you, too. Sure. They're made of nutritious whole wheat. What's more, Kellogg gives you 15, 15 delicious biscuits in every package of Kellogg's Shredded Wheat. Try them soon. And be sure to be with us tomorrow for the thrilling adventures of Superman. This is the Mutual Broadcasting System.
