LIFE IMITATED ART: IT'S A BIRD, IT'S A PLANE, NO, IT'S A KID

Special to El Rrun-Rrun
The “man of steel” first appeared in Action Comics #1 in 1938 - and soon after - it entered our homes in the form of newspaper strips and then before television made it into the American living room, on the radio.

Kids everywhere imitated the super hero, donning towels for capes and jumping off trees.

During WW II, the superman radio series became a big success - as its listeners followed the quest for “true and justice.” If you are from that era and/or one from today that follows the stranger from planet “Krypton" - you are certainly familiar with the most heard radio opening through the mid-1940s…

“Faster than a speeding bullet… More powerful than a locomotive… Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound…” Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Superman!

With that backdrop—and with the fact that locally, radio KRGV in Harlingen early in the 1940s aired the Superman series is where this story begins.

The juvenile adventure series (from 5:45 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.) that traveled through the Valley airways for only 15 minutes had a great influence on many youngsters - like other kids throughout the country - to leap from the highest tree…

And a news story of the time tells us that’s exactly what happened when a local “man of steel” took flight  from a tree and landed on a roof top as his friends from Krypton looked on.

With war, rationing and lack of extra money - kids (boys/girls) of the era found ways to fill their stomachs with what nature and their surroundings had to offer.

Climbing trees was common then, and the Valley had a lot to offer insofar as fruit-producing trees like pecans, and mulberries (moras). Kids, in many cases, could find something sweet just around the corner from their own mesquite tree. The more adventurous peeled prickly pears to get at the sweet red meat. Pomegranate (granadas) were also on the local menu.  And of course, city yards were full of citrus of all kinds, peaches and even figs.

But on this day, the kids forgot about the scraped knees and grazed elbows of the past and went on a most adventurous trip up one of their favorite pecan trees.


It was a sunny but windy day in 1942, when the adventures of the Brownsville superman had its beginning. He was first seen at 148 Elizabeth Street, the residence of Mrs. George Stell.

It was well known to the neighborhood kids that Mrs. Stell had the pecan tree with the most juicy nuts and that said tree was the rendezvous for the local Tom Sawyers when she was out.

On this particular day - her arrival was sooner than expected  - she found the tree loaded with youngsters. As the kids watched her every move, they began tumbling out the tree and running for cover.

Except for superman, one lad, who was too high in the tree to make it to the ground without being captured. He looked frantically around and spotted a garage roof some few feet below.

And just like the comic strip character, but without a cape, he leaped for the roof and made it o.k., but something gave way. And faster than a speeding bullet, the local Superman went straight through the roof and landed on the concrete floor.

 After some intensive questioning from Mrs. Stell - it was revealed that he was not the real superman and said, “he didn’t think he’d come back.” He also declared, “That he didn’t like pecans anyways.”

Anna Edwards recently wrote that over-protective mothers who, “Stop children from climbing trees and playing in mud are creating a nation of ‘cotton wool kids.’ “Many parents are reluctant to let children take part in activities they themselves enjoyed.”

According to a government study, Edwards points out, that climbing trees, riding bikes and even camping with friends are all on the decline - to the detriment of emotional health. And with deforestation happening long with urbanization, it would take someone with X-ray vision to find a suitable tree - even a pecan - to emulate their hero.