“Many Lives, Many Worlds…”

July 6, 1987 By J.J. SMITH, United Press International…

The Smithsonian Institution has launched a new exhibit that does not leap tall buildings at a single bound but does take up more room than a telephone booth — a celebration of Superman, “America`s most famous alien.”

“Superman: Many Lives, Many Worlds” opened to the public June 24 at the National Museum of American History.

“Superman is like other people that came to this nation,” said museum curator Carl Scheele. “He`s the essence of the great immigrant tradition.”

The collection, which is part of the Nation of Nations entertainment exhibit and runs until June 1988, showcases Superman memorabilia spanning 50 years, including:

*A Superman costume worn by George Reeves in the 1950s TV series, and one worn by Christopher Reeve in the soon to be released Superman IV.

*Original copies of Action Comics #1, and Superman# 1, which sold in 1938 for 10 cents each. The comics, in mint condition, are now valued at $25,000 and $18,000 respectively, according to Overstreet Comics Price Guide.

*An original screenplay by Mario Puzo for the 1978 film Superman: The Movie.

*An original radio script and recordings of the 1940’s radio broadcasts.

*A storyboard from one of 17 Superman cartoons published in the 1940’s.

*A special edition of Superman comics that was published during World War II and was used as a teaching device for enlisted men who could not read.

*A short film that traces the history of Superman, including clips from the TV series, the movie serials, the cartoons and the latest motion pictures.

Mingling among the stars of Superman IV (Jon Cryer, Margot Kidder and Christopher Reeve) above was Uber-artist John Byrne, riding high on the current Superman run having secured his place in comics history with ‘Man Of Steel’. He recounts;

“I met Christopher Reeve twice, that was fun. I met him at DC and we talked about the fourth movie. And then for the 50th Anniversary there was a big show down at the Smithsonian. I went down for that because they invited me. He came over and introduced himself to me ‘Hi – I’m Christopher Reeve, we met at the DC Offices’ – and I chatted with Margot Kidder for a while because we were bonding on being Canadians…”

Were you fortunate enough to attend this event?  Please share your memories here.  SUPERMANIA extends its thanks to  SuperFans Lynn Arave for sharing the outstanding photos above from his Blog Of Steel and Sammy Gomez for his great contributions to this post..!