Many Lives, Many Worlds Pt.2…

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Courtesy of Superman In Advertising And Media come these exclusive vintage photographs of the artefacts featured in The Smithsonian Institution’s ‘Superman, Many Lives, Many Worlds’ exhibition circa 1988.

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of a true American icon, SUPERMANIA continues its retrospective from the star-attended opening (click here) to the significant collection on display and even some memorabilia from the event itself.

While the George Reeves TV show The Adventures Of Superman features prominently behind the Plexiglas, the recent release of Superman IV: The Quest For Peace had clearly yielded some treasures under the banner of ‘A New Superman In Hollywood’ where both Christopher Reeve’s Superman Costume featured at one end (top pic) and Mark Pillow’s Nuclearman costume at the other.  Quite why the expensive outfits were mounted on such cheap wooden cutouts is a mystery but faring better is Margot Kidder’s silk dress (second pic) accompanied by no less than Reeve’s Clark Kent glasses and Marc McClure’s bow-tie worn as Jimmy Olsen.

Other great items from the movies on show are an original Daily Planet newspaper cover and below it, one of the script drafts for Superman IV by Konner and Rosenthal.  As if the opportunity of seeing these relics first-hand was not enough, there was also an opportunity to purchase exclusive collectibles on the day, such as the advertising postcard (third pic) with superb art from Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez and two buttons below from the SUPERMANIA collection pictured with a promotional ad…

 

Presented By…

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SUPERMANIA is again proud to host another outstanding fan contribution, this time from arguably the most prolific archivist of The Man Of Steel across all genres.

Famed for making his Superman obsession a lifestyle, Cleveland-based Jamie Reigle has dedicated his life (and a considerable fortune) to the upkeep of some 40,000 items of memorabilia (read more here) and makes the pilgrimage to Metropolis, Ill. every year to showcase and sell items at the Annual Superman Celebration.

Kindly loaning the original unpublished pics above to be scanned exclusively for SUPERMANIA, Jamie’s visit to Downtown Disney’s Planet Hollywood restaurant in Orlando is a further chronicle of the screen-used Christopher Reeve Superman costume (Presented by by Reeve himself according to the sign, third pic). first documented in this post as a free hanging display before being relocated to the lobby in an acrylic case .

As we know, the costume was used in the screentests for the SuperBoy TV Series and used again in a subsequent episode before being incorporated into PH’s considerable prop collection in the early ’90’s.  These pics are the earliest examples of the display as the suit, fading onset aside, looks to be in pristine condition.  As discussed in earlier posts, the current whereabouts of this costume is unknown so any record of its existence is a welcome addition to the site…

For a multitude of Super-treasures old and new please visit Jamie’s website supercollectibles.com..!

 

DNA Encoded…

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Superman III / Superman’s Bodysuit (Christopher Reeve)

(Warner Bros., 1983) Superman first appeared in Action Comics #1 (June 1938) and subsequently appeared in various radio serials, television programs, films, newspaper strips, and video games. With the success of his adventures, Superman helped to create the superhero genre and establish its primacy within the American comic book. In the late 70’s, Christopher Reeve became the embodiment of the Man of Steel. Though he had predecessors, his name became synonymous for the Man from Krypton, sent to Metropolis to protect Earth. In 1995, with the tragic announcement of Chris Reeve’s spinal injury from a horse accident, rendering him paralyzed in a wheelchair, fans’ ongoing hope of Mr. Reeve once again donning the suit were shattered. As a result, Chris Reeve’s Superman costumes have become one of the most sought after artifacts in film history. As witnessed in the fine arts world, it did not take long for the forgers to see an opportunity and today, several fake suits, manufactured long after filming – yet copied from the real thing, therefore identical – are known to have ended up in private collections, sold as “originals”. Many of the die-hard collectors are aware of that fact, which naturally makes a purchase choice in today’s market a rather difficult one, especially since hardly any of the suits documented in public sales seemed to be accompanied by any meaningful provenance. In fact, the standard “COA” often reads that the suit was given to “x” person by an employee from the costume department with no direct link that would allow tracing it back to a credible or indisputable source.

ScreenUsed is proud to offer a rare original Christopher Reeve Superman bodysuit with his trademark belt, accompanied by an actual Certificate of Authenticity direct from Warner Brothers Studios. To the best of our knowledge, this is the only original Superman costume ever to be released to the public with full Warner Brothers Archives sanctioning. The studio’s unique DNA encoding system allows for matching the suit with its corresponding COA at any given time, eliminating the risk of the valuable and authenticating paperwork ever being matched up with a replicated body-suit. To adequately display the suit, it was dressed on a custom muscular ‘heroic’ mannequin with custom sculpted Christopher Reeve head (painted in silky white to direct the emphasis towards the suit, not the sculpture) and completed with a replicated set of cape and boots. Superman’s appearance is distinctive and iconic, making this costume instantly recognizable the world over.

Currently offered in auction by Screenused.com this excellent piece from Superman III represents a first in authentication technology – although exactly what it is and how its achieved remains unclear.

As acknowledged by the outstanding description above, the market has been saturated by fakes (some better rendered than others) but all with corresponding paperwork with ‘legitimate’ correspondence easily capable of fooling the casual fan in to spending thousands.  Prevalent throughout the nineties, it is unknown just how many of these copies are still out there pertaining to be the real thing.  In fairness to the buyer, there was very little out there for reference as a basis for comparison until the last decade where access to genuine costumes was kindly made available (by the likes of the Propstore.com etc.) where extensive research and studies could be made for a definitive guide to what makes Yvonne Blake’s creation quite so Super.

Thankfully there are now sites committed to policing the web to ensure the consumer is not being fooled auction by auction as they become available.  The best of these by far is Jason DeBord’s Original Prop Blog, where the dissection of every listing (right down to the fabric weave) caters for your every authentication concern.  For those wanting a more exhaustive overview may I recommend SUPERMANIA’s very own essay on the costume found right here on the incomparable Capedwonder.com. 

Revolutionary and genuine as the lot here is, however, its not all good news.  While the bodysuit looks to be in fantastic condition (studio labelled throughout – even the belt – noting Reeve was a 36″ waist at the time of filming) the overall display does it little justice.  Mounted on what looks to be a plain white basic shop display mannequin (lacking anywhere close to Reeve’s height or proportions) with a cast of Howard Senft’s stylised Reeve bust added painted to match, the obvious reproduction boots and cape, while completing the costume, seem to undermine the legitimacy of the production-made pieces.

Whomever the lucky new owner is, SUPERMANIA’s advice would be to remount the bodysuit as is (while binning the repro gear) or at least reinvesting in sharp new pieces from either Super Costumes or Action Costumes for a closer match…

 

“Many Lives, Many Worlds…”

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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..!

 

75…

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Those of you lucky enough to be attending this years San Diego Comic-Con are in for a historic Super-treat courtesy of DC Entertainment and Warner Brothers.

To coincide with the 75th anniversary of the Man Of Steel, an elaborate showcase of genuine costumes celebrating the many live-action incarnations of Superman from the small & silver screen is currently being exhibited among the hordes of pop-culture memorabilia (credit to respective photographers for the pics above).

From CNET.com; Leith Adams, movie poster expert and the Executive Director of Warner Brothers Corporate Archive, delves into the secret history of Superman’s on-screen costumes. “I was always told, ‘You can’t save everything, Leith,’ he recounted. But when it comes to some classic Superman suits, Adams was able to save the day. Or at least, the fabric.

Featuring one Henry Cavill costume too many and a George Reeves costume too little, (with original Reeve costume re-housed from the DC Comics 75th anniversary in Valencia a few years back) this is also the first time a complete ‘evil’ Superman costume has been made available to view in public.  The showcase will presumably run until the close of this years con on Sun 21st and may well be the only location (save for the Warner Museum) this Super-collection will ever be assembled again…