My sincere thanks go to fellow SuperFan Alexei Lambley-Steel for allowing me the chance to own the little slice of cinematic history pictured above.
Culled from a package originally delivered to Hair Supervisor Joan White at Dovemead Productions on 23/06/82 containing three handmade hairpieces, pictured above is one attributed to Clark Kent stunt double Richard Hammet for Superman III. This handmade, human hair, lace-fronted hairpiece has a surprisingly reddish-brown tint and although somewhat thinned, has survived well for a 30+ year old wig.
Due to its Tribble-like appearance when it arrived with me I sought to restore it to its original glory without compromising the authenticity of the piece. To that end, a comb, a little water spray and a lot of patience paid dividends as the famous mild-mannered reporters locks fell neatly into place, a fantastic addition to my collection…
More pages of Martin Asbury sketched action from the global clash between Superman and Nuclearman II.
Of note are omitted scenes where Superman freezes his nemesis hands with Super-Breath in defence against being clawed. The theatrical cut picks up as Nuclearman retaliates by freezing Superman into a block of ice…
Continuing world-renowned storyboard artist Martin Asbury’s illustrations for the action sequences of Superman IV, depicting the sequence of shots for the erupting Volcano in Italy and subsequent plug with a mountaintop sheared off with Superman’s heat vision…
More of Martin Asbury’s dynamic pencils illustrating the global bout between Superman and Nuclearman Mark II from the pages of the Big Red Book…
Startling in their primitive simplicity yet state of the art for the time, the models pictured above were given as a post-production gift to a lucky fan by the legendary Derek Meddings.
Still in the hands of that same collector more than thirty years later, they are a fine example of the craftsmanship associated with old-school film making. Meddings, (1931-1995) was nothing less than the Godfather of the industry with his work on both Superman: The Movie and Superman II among some of his most accomplished. Elegantly documented in the book ‘Special Effects Superman’ you may be surprised just how many big effects sequences in popular Films & TV he was directly responsible for and the influence he has to this day.
Photographed next to a penny for scale, the Superman flying miniature was most likely production made rather than screen used potentially as a stand-in. The radar dishes, however, come directly from the Eiffel Tower ‘maxiture’ as evidenced by the screengrab (bottom pic, upper right). This was one of the many detailed pieces made to furnish the 75ft tall tower constructed from various metals and shot on the backlot of Pinewood Studios. Legend has it after shooting the model was held in such high regard it was re-located to the Pinewood Gardens, where it was to become a permanent feature. Sadly as it was within the vicinity of the bar, it was destroyed due to a drunken employee’s attempt to climb it, King-Kong style…
My sincere thanks to SuperFan Steve Cambden for the use of these images…
