By Chuck O'Donnell

With the right touch of humility, a dash of heroism and a well-coifed spit curl, Henry Cavill might just make a new generation of fans believe that a man can leap tall buildings in a single bound when "Man of Steel" opens next weekend.

And while the job of portraying perhaps the world's most-beloved comic book hero has fallen on the broad shoulders of George Reeves, Christopher Reeve and a few select lantern-jawed men, none of them embraced the role with their heart and soul like the first flesh and blood Superman.

Oxford Township native Kirk Alyn, born John Feggo Jr., starred as the first Superman in Columbia Pictures' film serials "Superman" and "Atom Man Vs. Superman."

John Feggo Jr. was born Oct. 8, 1910, in Oxford Township -- a long way from the remnants of Krypton, the wheat fields of Smallville or the bustle of Metropolis.

Feggo was the son of working-class Hungarian immigrants who had come here presumably looking for a better life. But rather than join his dad in the mines or at the furnaces, Feggo set out to become a star.

He took the stage name Kirk Alyn, followed his friend Red Skelton to Hollywood and enjoyed a career that spanned some six decades. He tap-danced with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, appeared in movies starring Spencer Tracy and Rita Hayworth, and graced the Broadway stage several times.

But even if he could fly faster than a speeding bullet, he would never have been able to distance himself from his lead role in two live-action, 15-episode film serials for Columbia Pictures, the first time the Man of Steel appeared on the silver screen: "Superman" in 1948 and "Atom Man Vs. Superman" in 1950.

And until his death in 1999, it was clear that when he wore the Superman shield on his chest, it touched his heart.

"He loved being Superman. I mean, when we were kids, we would say we were going over Grandpa Superman's house," Pauline Carrington, Alyn's granddaughter, said via telephone from her home in Idaho.

"He did relish the role," said Larry Tye, author of "Superman: The High-Flying History of America's Most Enduring Hero." "And it came across on screen at the time in a way that the kids in his audience found authentic and adored."

'Had me spellbound'

While his black-and-white Superman movies -- originally shown in 15- or 20-minute episodes each week in theaters -- have been preserved for future generations, most of the details of Alyn's childhood in Oxford have faded into history.

In his 1971 autobiography, "A Job For Superman," he wrote about going to the Hungarian social hall on Saturdays to watch silent serial star Eddie Polo.

Alyn said the shows "had me spellbound," so much so that he would do his homework and take a bath without his mother's prompting just so he could go to the movies.

"I never dreamt I would ever be in a picture or take part in any kind of show business," he wrote.

At the audition of a lifetime, Columbia and DC executives not only asked Alyn to take off his shirt and reveal his abs of steel, but also his pants.

"It seemed the request was in order because they were planning to have me wear tights," Alyn wrote. "Anyway, we all had a good laugh about it -- me in my shorts."

Fred Shay, a movie and radio show historian from Morris County, N.J., became close friends with Alyn. Shay said Alyn brought an unmatched panache and physicality the role.

There was the time he lost 17 pounds in 12 hours while strapped in a harness that allowed him to fly. In another scene that saw Superman holding a train rail in place, Alyn turned as the train approached, only to find the camera crew filming from a safe distance, according to Shay.

"So he braces his foot against the track," Shay said. "But he panics because the ground is vibrating and the train is moving at 90 mph. Finally, the train passes, and the director comes up to Kirk and says, 'Great job! We got it all in one take!'"

Typecast as Superman

After Alyn's divorce from Virginia O'Brien in 1955, he would sometimes bemoan the fact that he had become typecast as Superman and found it hard to find work in film.

Oxford Township native Kirk Alyn

So it was ironic that his first movie role in years was as Lois Lane's father in 1978's "Superman: The Movie." Shay said his scene was cut for the theatrical version, but restored when aired on television.

He also worked with Jim Hambrick, owner of the Super Museum in Metropolis, Ill. Alyn accompanied a traveling exhibit as it moved across the West Coast, never tiring of autographing photos of himself donning the cape. Several of Alyn's personal items, including a life-sized telephone booth prop, are still prominently displayed at the museum.

Alyn was 88 when he died of complications caused by Alzheimer's. Toward the end, Hambrick said he often struggled to recognize people he had known for years. On a bad day, he might forget his own name.

But at the mention of Superman, Hambrick said he would perk up, his eyes would fill with wonder and he would start to recite stories about his on-screen battles with the villainous Spider Lady and Lex Luthor.

Hambrick remembers Alyn having a lucid moment where he seemed to be aware that his mind was failing and he was no longer the same strapping, virile man who portrayed the Man of Steel.

"That's when he said, 'Today, it seems I'm playing the old Clark Kent,'" recalled Hambrick.

And while the mantle of playing Superman is passed from Dean Cain to Brandon Routh to Cavill, the Feggos say their Superman was soft-spoken, kind-hearted and regal.

"You don't know how many times I told the kids at the playground that my grandpa was Superman," Carrington said. "They looked at me like I was weird, but I knew my grandpa was Superman."