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.cometc.) 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…
July 6, 1987By 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..!
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…
Taking full advantage of Propstore’s kind permission to examine their original Superman costume in detail gave us the opportunity to inspect the most minute details.
For anybody yet to have seen/spent time with any original prop or costume you may be surprised just how primitive and thrown together they are in reality. For example above is a few macro shots of the Superman costume revealing the stitched in cape padding and poppers at the shoulders, the slits made to accommodate the flying harness, the spray-paint job on the belt buckle and the stitched in supports for the \/ notch in the boot. On film under studio lighting, none of these details would be visible and the suit would appear pristine, such is the magic of Hollywood…
Presenting the second in the series of posts from SUPERMANIA & Friends recent all-access tour of the Propstore Of London’s main office where their incredible inventory of Movie treasures past & present reside.
Although the incredibly rare full-costume display pictured above has received full coverage on this blog whenever it has been publicly exhibited, this was a unique opportunity to intricately examine and photograph the costume without the hindrance of a plexiglass case – making it almost as good as being stood next to Reeve’s Superman himself.
As noted in this archive post, the tunic of this costume has been identified as one worn for early publicity shots (most prominently in the Topps trading card sets) besides being screenworn for scenes including the confrontation in Luthor’s Lair among others. As this tunic replaced the one originally shown in the Movieum Of London (due to ‘better provenance’ according to Propstore staff) there is a distinct colour difference between the top and tights as the tunic has faded considerably.
Closer inspection also revealed the cape to be a flying version as we discovered corresponding slits made either side to accommodate the wire rig and we were pleased to discover the faint outline of the cape shield, indicating that one had been present which was later confirmed by owner Stephen Lane (who is in possession of the shield and intends to have it re-attached).
SUPERMANIA extends its sincere thanks to all the kind staff at Propstore for the opportunity to examine this amazing iconic piece of cinema history up close and personal…
