Clutching a curiously phallic trophy presented by none-other than Star Wars Producer Gary Kurtz, a fresh-faced Christopher Reeve graciously accepts the award for ‘Best Dramatic Presentation of 1978’ for Superman: The Movie at Seacon, UK.
You read it right – Christopher Reeve himself attended a Sci-Fi convention in sunny Brighton, England on this day (August 23rd) 35 years ago.
The 37th Worldcon was held at the Brighton Metropole Hotel where the coveted Hugo award was to be added to the growing list of accolades earned by Richard Donner’s ground-breaking film and its star was invited to attend.
The four day event pertained to be a serious affair for Science Fiction enthusiasts and was well attended as such, with notable guests from the literary world (among them 2001 scribe Arthur C. Clarke) with Q&A panels and even a masquerade contest (long before its evolution into Cosplay). Even advance preview clips from The Empire Strikes Back were shown to eager fans.
Sound familiar? It should – the modern day Comic-Con evolved from these modest events. It would be another 15 years, however, before Christopher Reeve would appear in a similar fashion Stateside for Dixie Trek, the second and final convention he attended in his lifetime.
Go here For more details and pictures of this fascinating little sidebar in Superman history – SUPERMANIA extends its thanks to capedwonder.com for both rediscovering it and providing the amazing rare photos shown above of the ceremony…