Ripley's Believe It or Not by Ripley’s Believe It or Not! for November 08, 2014

Superman: That’s why it was “Leap tall buildings in a single bound” for years…

From yesterday: As for eating dangerous foods, is it true or just urban legend that in Japan, before a fugu chef gets the green light to go into business, he has to eat his first prep himself ?

Yes and by what means does he fly now? Blowing a jet stream out of his rear? or blowing hot air beneath him? I listened after school to a 15 minute program, and all you heard back then in the 40’s wash a swish when he leaped over tall buildings, he must have bounded like a kangaroo.

Originally he was faster than a speeding bullet, not the speed of light, and an artillery shell could pierce his skin. Not kill him, only pierce the skin. Quite a bit less strength too. I liked the reboot, back about 1999, where they brought him back down to a more reasonable power level.

Her ashes were in her lawyers filing cabinet because, Lillian Hellman, bitterly but unsuccessfully contested this disposition of her estate.

Lots of Superman’s abilities first debuted on his radio program, and I believe his ability to fly is one of those. It was only after it was established on the radio that it was included in the comics.

The first comic character who could fly was Namor the Submariner.

As originally described, he could leap 1/8 of a mile. He also didn’t have super senses or heat or x-ray vision. In one early comic, he had the ability to manipulate his facial features as if he were made of clay (so he could disguise himself as someone else). We also learned that he could stop his heart from beating — he did that once to fool a crook into thinking he had successfully bumped off Clark Kent. In the old TV show the writers gave him the ability to split into two people and to pass through walls. And yes, his powers increased considerably over the years. Some of the discrepancies that inevitably crept into the comics stories were explained by DC’s multiverse – the idea that there were a number of parallel universes. For me, the whole business just meant lots of fun.

I heard he became able to fly when the writers wanted him to appear in short movies. It was awkward to film him and see him go somewhere in a series of jumps.

Dorothy Parker’s final satire.

Someone mentioned he was rejected by the Army in WWII – because he failed the eye test!(Read the chart in the next room with x-ray vision)