The iconic 1950s TV series "Adventures of Superman" is widely thought to be shot in part at the Iverson Movie Ranch, but until recently a confirmed sighting had eluded me. Then Superman aficionado Dave Spiceland tipped me off that the episode "Panic in the Sky," which first aired Dec. 5, 1953, as part of the show's second season, contains some stuff that looks a lot like Iverson. Sure enough, it turns out the episode has a couple of scenes shot on the old Upper Iverson.
I understand the episode is a fan favorite, with an unusual storyline that has the entire planet in peril and sends Superman into space — twice. When an asteroid threatens to destroy Earth, Superman flies up there to face it head-on and initially manages to divert the thing and send it into orbit. But the effort leaves him in bad shape, suffering from a concussion and amnesia. (What's worse, he later has to go back up and tussle with the big brute again.) In the above shot, a woozy Superman has just landed back on Earth, too disoriented to know where he is. But we know he's on the South Rim of the old Upper Iverson, as the next few shots will reveal.
Once Superman stands up we see a familiar rock behind him. I call this one
Notch Rock — part of a distinctive set of rock towers that have been called
Easter Island or the Totem Rocks.
Here's a shot of the Totem Rocks/Easter Island in modern times, with Notch Rock hard to miss near the center of the shot.
Superman manages to get changed into his Clark Kent outfit — where he stashed the gear while he was off wrangling the asteroid seems like a plot hole, but no need to nitpick. That's the legendary
Wrench Rock filling up much of the right half of the shot. (Update: It's not a plot hole after all. Thanks to "Superman" fan Steve Brant, who explained how it works. See comments.)
This is what the rest of Wrench Rock — aka Indian Head, aka Upper Indian Head, aka Bobby — looks like these days. Another shot of it, from the other side, appears at the top of this blog.
Another glimpse of Wrench Rock, on the left, with an askew George Reeves as Clark Kent.
A woman in an old jalopy turns up just in time to rescue Clark and give him a lift to town. That's part of a rock feature I call
the Tomb on the left and a portion of
the Slates on the right.
In the background is
the Cliff, also known as the
T-Cliff. The whole Iverson sequence is shot in one small area.
Off they go. I believe the actress is Jane Frazee.
The final Iverson shot in the sequence includes Gold Raiders Rock, top right. The small rock was cemented onto the top of the larger rock around 1950, and it remains in place today.
Gold Raiders Rock today, from the other side.
I have yet to become an expert on "The Adventures of Superman," but I've heard season two is the best for Iverson content. Above are some Amazon links (updated in late 2018), where you can find a complete DVD set of all six seasons of the show (the first link) along with various Amazon rental and digital purchase options.
