Religion: indeterminate
Name: unnamed general manager
Classification:
supporting character
Publisher(s): 
First Appearance: Action Comics (vol. 1) #17 (Oct. 1939): "The Return of the Ultra-Humanite"
Creators: Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster
Number of Appearances: 1
Enemy of: The Ultra-Humanite
Employer: Deering Lines
Ally: Superman
Gender: male
Note: general manager of blackmailed boat line
An unnamed general manager of a ship line was featured on pages 8-9 and 11-12 of the Superman story in Action Comics #17 (Oct. 1939). This general manager was the CEO of Deering Lines, the company that owned the steamship Clarion. The Clarion had been sabotaged and set on fire. This would have caused the ship to be entirely lost at sea, possibly with all hands and passengers killed, except that Superman rescued it.
After the rescue, Clark Kent was present when investigators discovered that the Clarion had been sabotaged. Clark Kent barged into the office of the general manager of Deering Lines (despite attempts by a clerk to prevent him from doing so). Clark Kent was there to help, but he didn't want to be thwarted.
The general manager agreed to tell Clark Kent what was going on, if the reporter agreed not to publish the story until the manager consented. Clark Kent agreed to the arrangement. The general manager explained that the Clarion was the fourth ship in his company's line "to have been deliberately destroyed." He said, "Thus far, we've managed to keep it quiet!"
Clark Kent asked, "Whew! What a yarn! But why the silence?"
The general manager explained, "An unknown gang has contacted us, demanded $5,000,000 or they will continue their evil work!"
The general manager tried to provide information that Clark Kent asked for, but didn't tell the reporter everything. The general manager continued taking calls from the blackmailer (or more specifically, the racketeer, because of the "protection money" being demanded) and complying with his demands. Naturally the general manager didn't want to do this, but he was worried that the if he didn't give in and pay the money demanded, the racketeer would ruin his entire company.
As Superman, Clark Kent continued to investigate and managed to thwart the "protection payment" and track down the racketeer. It was Superman's arch-enemy, the Ultra-Humanite! In the end of the story, Superman ended had broken up the illegal protection scheme against Deering Lines and captured all of the henchmen involved. But the brains behind the scheme, the Ultra-Humanite himself, managed to get away.
Note that "Deering Lines" is also identified in this story as "Deering Line" by some characters. For example, one of the Ultra-Humanite's hired thugs calls the company "Deering Line" in panel 3 of page 10.
Action Comics (vol. 1) #17 (Oct. 1939): "The Return of the Ultra-Humanite"
Suggested links for further research about this character:
- http://comicbookdb.com/issue.php?ID=60127
- https://www.comics.org/issue/526/