How To Cure Amnesia--The DC Way!!

The set-up: Perry White, while posing as a hobo (!!), got a vicious knock on the head, and of course, this resulted in amnesia. He unknowingly falls in with some gangsters, who convince him that a) he's down-on-his luck reporter Paul Webster, b) that they're running a magazine called Scoop!, and c) that he should put his "crack reporter's skills" onto the biggest scoop in history--finding Superman's secret identity.

So, Perry/Paul does a ton o' research, and actually narrows it down to a few suspects, based on people in Metropolis who fit his physique:


You would think that anybody could have done this anytime, but no, apparently only amnesiac Perry White can reach these conclusions.

So upon confronting Clark Kent in the "Metropolis Hall Of Fame":


So how can Clark save his identity, and restore Perry's memory?? Why, it's obvious:



Trick him into saying his catchphrase.

Really.

Superman explains it to the audience:


And fortunately, along with the cliche of "head knock=amnesia," we also have the cliche "recovery from amnesia just happens to mean losing the memories you had while you had the amnesia."

Of course, Leo Dorfman completely forgets that the crooks already knew who Perry/Paul's "final four" suspects were. But, hey, it was Silver Age DC, so it was never followed up on.

So anyway, remember--if a friend of yours has amnesia, go through an overly-elaborate process to trick them into saying whatever their favorite catch-phrase is. That'll cure 'em.
From Action Comics #297 (1963), as reprinted in Superman Family #165 (1974)

BONUS--If you watch The Mentalist, you know that Patrick Jane et. al. work for the CBI, which the show claims is the California Bureau Of Investigation. Thanks to this issue, we know better: