Superman Through the Ages! Forum

Ok am I dumb or does Superman ever say up up and away like the new superman action figure does? I can't imagine him saying that, any know if he said this or not???

In the radio show he did. That's because you couldn't actually see him taking off...it was a special effect of the imagination.

He said it all the time. It 1st came from the radio show and later it was also used in the comics and cartoons.

I had never heard the radio show until I was an adult......I'm thinking that my father must have taught me the phrase.....because I can't recall seeing it in a comic book or hearing it on the TV show....but when I was a child and The 5th Dimension had a hit with "My Beautiful Balloon" which has "up, up and away" featured prominently in the lyrics, I recall asking about the Superman connection because of that line, and also because I thought the group was from the same place as Mxyzptlk

if you read through all of the comics here: http://superman.nu/tales/1930s.php it pops up plenty of times.

 

I have it on good authority that the phrase WAS used in the mid-60's Superman Saturday morning cartoon.

Which might explain how my wife, who didn't read comics (but who most likely did see the cartoon) immediately answered "Up up and away" when I asked what does Superman say when he's ready to fly.

Interestingly, I asked about 20 people of varying ages (20 - 60) and ALL instantly answered "Up up and away"

I don't have any of the 60s cartoons on hand, but I do know Superman was voiced by Bud Collyer, who'd done the same job for years on radio...so maybe it was just a hallmark of his portrayal, like the Fonz saying "Aaaaaay!"

Plus, the animation was so crummy in those cartoons you probably needed Superman to tell you he was flying just so you'd know.  :D

Danny Dark also used it in the Superfriends cartoons

Thanks Uncle Mxy.....the "good authority" I mentioned is a fellow with an encyclopedic knowledge of Superman, and he mentioned its use in SuperFriends

"Up, up, and away!" was also used by Kirk Alyn in the first Superman serial at least once.  I'd read that HE thought it was stupid to say something people could see on-screen, and refused to say it anymore.  :) 

It wasn't used in any of the Fleischer or Paramount cartoons, was it? 

http://superman.nu/tales2/flew/?page=7