Born October 9, 1932, wrestling and judo legend Gene LeBell portrayed the role of Mr. Kryptonite during public appearances by George Reeves. While Reeves was talking to the crowd, Mr. Kryptonite would appear, and hit him in the head with a balsa wood baseball bat. Reeves would then "subdue" Gene to the delight of fans.
"George Reeves was one of the nicest and most giving people that I have ever known. We worked together for a few years, I would travel with him and we would put on live shows. "The Adventures of Superman" starring George Reeves, was on the air and one of the top television shows at that time.
"It was customary in those days for the production companies to have the stars travel from town to town and put on live performances that were based on the television show the actor was presently starring in. I remember while on location in Louisville Kentucky, George and I would hang out together between shows, go to eat or catch a picture show at a local movie house. Sometimes we would play around and wrestle each other for fun. George liked to wrestle with me all the time, just to see if he could beat me. When we were on stage, we would fight and he would win but that was part of the show. George would wear his Superman outfit, the one he wore on television, and I would wear an outfit that was exactly like George's. My outfit had a cape and was all black with a big white letter "K" on the chest. I was called Mr. Kryptonite. On stage we did this gag that was a comedy-wrestling bit. I would come on stage, pick up the damsel in distress, put her over my shoulder and start to run off. George would jump off a riser dressed as Superman, he and I would wrestle around and fight. Of course he would win because he was Superman.
"George was quite a good singer; he always had a desire to sing in the Opera. He would walk around the set and sing wonderful songs in English and Spanish. He was also a very good guitar player. He would play for the crew whenever he had time.
"One day George came up to me and said, 'Gene, what kind of hold can I use on you, that you can't get out of?' I decided to show him a scissors hold. It's a move you use when you get behind a person and you scissor their legs. In this type of hold, if you pulled hard enough you could break their ankles real quick. George decides to try this move on me. Now at this point, I don't think it's a contest, I think it's for fun. He did the move very well and did manage to get me on the floor in a scissor hold. George starts to put pressure on my ankles and I tap him, which is the traditional thing to do when you want to give in or it is starting to hurt. He starts to put on more pressure, so I say, 'That's it, and I can't get out, if you put on anymore pressure, you'll break my ankles'. He wouldn't let go, so I got behind him and choked him real hard and fast. He finally let me go. When I choked him, I squeezed his larynx and he passed out. Unfortunately, when I choked George, I caused him to loose his voice. That day when we went up on stage to do our routine, George couldn't speak. The agent that was with us absolutely lost it, he was in hysterics. He wasn't happy that George had lost his voice because we had to change our routine to include more fighting and wrestling which cost extra time and money. George didn't get his voice back for three weeks.
"I remember a time I was visiting George at his house over off Beverly Glen. We were working out and George said, 'Hey Gene, are you hungry?' I said, 'Yes'. George left the room to go make a quick phone call; at that point I didn't really notice that was what he was doing. A short time later, I notice a truck pull up in front of the house. The lettering on the side of the truck said, "The Brown Derby". A guy walks into George's house with a table and starts to set it up in the front room. Now at this point, George isn't paying any attention to the man or the table as a matter of fact, he acted as if he didn't even notice the guy. He opened up a bag, pulled out a plate and a set of silverware, put food on the table, and mixed up a salad. Then he laid out two of the most giant steaks that I had ever seen. I said, 'Hey George, who's this for?' He says, 'It's for you', so I said to George, 'Sit down here, there's two filet' mignon's'. George turned around and says to me. 'No, you eat them, I don't like filet' mignon'. I sat down and ate both of the filets. The whole time, the guy was waiting on me hand and foot. When I had finished, he wrapped up all his stuff, loaded it back into the Brown Derby truck and drove off. George did this as a joke. George really liked the element of surprise and he knew I was hungry and wanted to treat me to best meal in town. George really loved to give to people and he was a very generous man.
"Around the time George and I were supposed to leave for Australia to put on a live "Superman" show, he signed a deal to do another television series called, "Wagon Train". Other actors, such as Ward Bond, Robert Horton, John McIntire, and others were being considered for regular cast members. Wagon Train ended up having great guest stars like, Henry Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Clint Eastwood and Ronald Reagan. George was offered the part as the new Wagon Master, which was a lead role. He told me he was going to give me the part as the cook, another popular character on the show. One stipulation for him to do the show was that they give the role of the cook to me. When I asked him why he wanted to have me on the show, he said he wanted to make me a "Star".
"We never got the chance to do Wagon Train or our live show in Australia because George tragically died before we could make the trip.
"I have fond memories of George Reeves, not only were we best friends, he was like a surrogate father to me. I was in my twenties and George in his mid forties, he took me under his wing and made me feel like part of his family. George Reeve was truly a genuine guy, and a "Super"man!
Gene LeBell has made a tremendous contribution to the martial arts community, and though he will stoutly deny it, he is admired and appreciated by nearly all of the greatest fighters alive today.
