 The Superman costume was padded to make it appear that  George Reeves (I) (qv) had greater bulk. However, Reeves himself  did most of the stunts, which required impressive athletic ability  including jumping from substantial heights (to simulate Superman  landing in the frame), hitting a springboard with sufficient force  to propel him out of frame (to simulate Superman taking off in  flight), swinging through windows, and hours spent doing wire work  and being in a body support platform to create the scenes of  Superman flying.