Hall of Fame: Lee Sholem

The winter of 1977-78 was the best of times, and the worst of times. After years of drought, the skies opened up and unleashed their aquatic fury on the Los Angeles area. Homes were sliding off hillside, low-lying streets were flooded and the term El Nino was just being coined.

I distinctly remember driving up the isolated canyon road to Mr. Sholem’s house for what would be my first-ever interview. Armed with a cassette recorder borrowed from my godmother Cecil Elliot and blank cassettes, my wife and I were amazed at the destruction in these once familiar hills.

We arrived at the Sholem abode and cautiously knocked on the door. Mr. Sholem answered the door and ushered us into his living room, asking “So, you want to ask me about Jungle Jim?” I quickly explained that the interview was for The Nostalgia Merchant Monthly newsletter put out by Nostalgia Merchant Films (the paper folded after one issue). What I wanted (I mumbled) was an overview of his entire career. Mr. Sholem gave me a pained glance and asked “How long will this take?” “Only as long as you want,” I replied.

With that, I turned on the cassette machine, and off we went on a wondrous journey through Tarzan, Superman, Ma and Pa Kettle, The Whirlybirds, Long John Silver, Tobor the Great, and The Pharaoh’s Curse.

After two hours and 1300 shows, it was time to leave. Mr Sholem walked us out to the car. He turned to me and said, “You know what really matters?” “What?” I gasped. He pointed to a freshly built cinder block wall and said, “That’s what matters!” He was justifiably proud of his recent cement creation. Even a concrete wall showed Mr. Sholem’s craftsmanship and professionalism.

I have two regrets about the interview. One was, we didn’t have more time to explore his other movie and television work, such as Cheyenne, Bronco, Captain Midnight, Lawman, Sugarfoot, 77 Sunset Strip, Men into Space, and many more. My other regret is the interview wasn’t published until a decade later, in an abbreviated format. (It was finally published in its complete form in the first Speeding Bullet “Cult Movies” #14, may, 1995. Sections of it appeared elsewhere, most notably in a 1991 article on The Adventures of Superman in “American Cinematographer.”)

The interview was also featured in 2005's Behind the Crimson Cape (The Cinema of George Reeves) by myself and Steve Randisi, and in the first and second Bifulco Books Speeding Bullets.

One of the things Mr. Sholem told me that overcast afternoon that sticks in my mind to this day, is the tale of him taking Marilyn Monroe in to see Sol Lesser for the part of Jane in a Tarzan picture. I’ll always wonder what would have happened if Sol Lesser hadn’t turned down Monroe for the role of Jane, and if Lee Sholem was given credit for discovering the blonde bombshell.

Lee Sholem departed the planet on August 19, 2000 in Los Angeles. Some reports list his age as 99 or 100 years old, but in actual fact he was 87 years old. He told me in our interview period that he was “a tough man to work for,” and maybe the proof of this is that he never went over budget or over the shooting schedule, a rare feat in any era.

Occasionally, driving in the hills above Laurel Canyon, I’ll look over at Nichols Canyon where Lee’s house (a beautiful Hollywood bungalow) was, and see a big mansion on the lot where his house once stood. I realize that like Lee, most of what was Hollywood is gone in 2007.

So it is with an overwhelming gratitude that I induct Lee Sholem into the George Reeves Hall of Fame, the man who was the first to introduce us all to George Reeves as Krypton’s favorite son.

If you have anyone you would like to nominate,