Most Superman fans know that Jerry Siegel’s wife Joanne was the model for how Lois Lane looked in the early comics, but Lois’s attitude and personality were often mistakenly attributed to a classmate from Siegel and Shuster’s Cleveland high school.
However, Siegel himself set the record straight with a letter to the editor of Time Magazine, a publication that also printed the erroneous classmate story. Siegel stated that a fictional reporter named Torchy Blane, featured in a series of B movies from the 1930s, was his true inspiration
Glenda Farrell was the actress who portrayed Torchy in the bulk of the movies, but an attractive brunette named Lola Lane (above), who obviously inspired Lois’s name, played her in one of the better films.
Torchy, like Lois, did the requisite snooping, cajoling, phoning and even paid an informant from her ’swindle sheet’ (expense account) money, but an added bonus with actress Lola Lane’s version was her athleticism.
Lola wore trousers throughout most of the movie and considering some of the physical stunts she had to do, it was a wardrobe choice born of necessity, not a fashion statement.
Here’s a clip of Lola Lane as Torchy Blane doing what would also become typical of Lois Lane throughout her long history in the Superman mythology and would, of course, put her on Superman’s radar.
Torchy also had her own non-super powered version of Superman in the person of Detective Lieutenant Steve McBride. She called him “Skipper” as an endearment, not unlike Lois calling Clark “Smallville.”
It’s easy to see the similarity in the pattern of a stalwart reporter taking the dangerous approach to landing a story while the man who loves her frets for her safety and arrives in the nick of time when she gets in over her head, which tended to happen in every movie.
The choice of Lois Lane’s profession was due to the serendipity of timing. In the 1930s and early 1940s female reporters were very popular in movies and a favorite role for actresses.
It would be difficult to name a top box-office actress from that era who didn’t play a reporter at some point and the reason was obvious.
Such a role allowed an actress to play something other than the traditional good girl or bad girl love interest. She also got to be heroic, adventurous and work with male characters as an equal in a competitive career atmosphere.
While the enthusiasm for cinematic reporters has dwindled over the years and Torchy Blane has drifted into obscurity for all but the most stalwart movie trivia buffs, she has had a lasting impact her creators could never envision.
Lois Lane, inspired by the B movie heroine, is still in the newsroom hammering out headlines 70 years later and in her own way keeping Torchy’s flame for journalism burning.
That’s truly fascinating! And thanks for bring back the comments function, I’ve been dying to say this for months.
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