October 20, 2024 • 20 mins
Join Jay Towers and Jim Bowers for an exciting bonus episode of the Caped Wonder Superman Podcast, where they dive deep into this year's highly anticipated Prop Store Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction, streaming straight from London! Special guest Stephen Lane, Prop Store’s CEO, returns with incredible treasures from the Christopher Reeve Superman films. From rare production newspapers and Lois Lane’s iconic blouse to shimmering crystals and a must-have Lex Luthor wardrobe accessory—this episode is packed with iconic movie magic. And don't miss out—this is also a video episode! Tune in on Facebook, YouTube, and CapedWonder.com to see the action up close.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now the Cape Wonders Superman Podcast with Jay Towers and
Jim Bowers on Iinheart Radio. Well, welcome to a special
edition of the Cape wonder Superman Podcast. Jay Towers in Detroit,
Jim Bowers just outside of Las Vegas, and Jim. We're
excited because as always we get a special sneak peek
of some of the great Superman items that this year's
(00:21):
Prop Store auction from London, which is happening November fourteenth
through the seventeenth.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
We are so lucky to get this opportunity once again, Steven,
to see some fantastic pieces, and the beautiful thing about
prop stories you never know what they're going to reveal
to the world. So once again we've got quite a
selection of items here that are so exciting.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
I ah, yeah, I know you're sure. It's lovely to
see you guys again. Thank you very much for having
me back on your show. I always enjoy pegment. You
guys are so passionate and I know how much you
love this stuff and love the movies, so it's a
really really fun chat.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
I mean, well you'd like to talk about first, Let's
have this one, and we know.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
You probably often think of us throughout the year, every
type I think Superman comes across your desk.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
You know it. You know, we've had some years where
it's just been you know, monumental, you know, from four
outfits down, and it's tough. You know, has this stuff.
I mean, let's just talk about that for just a beat.
You know, it's fascinating because collectors who acquire this sort
of content these days, they're not reselling it, they're always
passionate about it as well. So you know, as we're
(01:30):
digging down into all those last resources of sources, of
people who worked within the industry, worked on the film,
had things handed down to them. Over the years, it
gets thinner and thinner, and you have to sort of
wait for that cycle where perhaps collectors get to the
point where they're you know, they're moving in or they've
got to changing lifestyle or something along those lines, and
where we might get a big collection together again. But
(01:51):
material from this era is really really tough to find.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
It is, and it continues to grow in popularity, and
I think the really pad it fans and collectors are
looking for those unique, more unique items like some of
the items you have today, like Lex Luthor's cravat, for instance,
that's just a year ago you had his cuff links,
and now you've got his cravat.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
I know, it's great, isn't it. I mean, it's it's
I mean, let's just have a look at it in
close up here. I believe it's very light, delicates lot
nor pot. Perhaps it's probably silk actually upside down, because
I think if you turn it over this way and
have a look at the design there. In a similar way,
by recollection, the touff links had that sort of L
(02:37):
letter insignia within it, we haven't there as well within
the cravat as well. Now I don't know how clearly
you actually see that on screen, because I should think
once this is tied into a prolat shape, it's actually
probably going to be quite difficult to determine that this
has definitely got to be a design feature. I mean,
and you've got to you know, look how distinctive these
l's are that you see competing throughout it.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Oh. Absolutely, And the cuff links a year ago had
the two l's which were very obvious. And of course
his purple and green robe that Otis puts on him
in the pool has two l's and so they really
the attention to detail in the wardrobe department was just phenomenal.
And here we have another example of how it all
(03:20):
ties together. But if I may this Forravat was worn
in two scenes in Superman the Movie, one of them
being a cut scene that we finally got to see
in widescreen in twenty seventeen on Blu ray, and that's
the scene where he's playing the piano in his lair
as he commands Otis to lower Miss Testmacher into the
(03:40):
pit because she saved Superman, and he's singing you must
have been a Beautiful Baby, which is a nineteen thirty
eight song the year Superman was revealed to the world.
We see him taken to prison with Otis. Of course,
in that last scene in Superman the Movie where Superman
with them and he reveals that he's bald to the wardens.
(04:03):
So the two key scenes this has featured in.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
And if I remember writing, wasn't that that same piano sequence,
the sequence one of the scenes that you saw the
puffling sin as well. I mean, we're going back, yeah,
it is right, yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Seem while he's playing the piano, you see them and
when he leans on the piano after Superman, of course
saves miss test markers, so they're very obvious once he
pulls his jacket sleeves back.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
We tend to see every couple of years we see
crystals come up, and they're always so unique, and they're
always so different.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
They are. Yeah, I know, you're absolutely right. I think
the thing about the crystals is it is one of
those things that almost certainly at the end of production
they were just they would have been scrapping everything, they
would have been putting everything into skips, into the trash
ben and these are the sort of things that have
just made it home with through numbers as mementos. So
we do see a reasonable frequency with these coming back
(04:57):
or coming to market for the first time. But as
you say, so the way that the set was designed,
of course we do see variations on them. And what's
interesting I think about this one here at the bottom,
is especially if I put my white gloves behind it
and then we can get it on camera. The but
you really got some coloration there, you know, some green
through that avenue which perhaps wouldn't be so apparent just
(05:20):
I don't know, just just in normal light. But it's
it's this one is sort of a double ended facet
to it as well, so it is completely finished at
both ends. And I do wonder if something like this
had something more of a practical purpose to it. You know,
the technology that they were using at the time to
actually create the green kryptonite restall the lean crypto restore
(05:40):
the of course Clark Kent throws into the ice field.
You know, that was quite complex at that time. Actually
dying a for lick was a really difficult thing, and
in fact that that particular process I don't believe it
is even something that can be done today because of
the chemicals that we used during the leriums. So it
is really it's fascinating for me to see this sort
of green here. You know, I wonder whether this could
(06:03):
have been something that was also being used as a
test piece just to see what green colors they could
get within the cheracrlic rods.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Right. They may have wanted to do the dying on
the crystals just so they had some in camera color
rather than having to do optical effects later on. I
tend to think this was used in the fortress more
than krypton.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Yeah, I mean, I think these are wonderful and look
you're getting four pieces there maybe for a couple of
thousand dollars. You know, maybe a couple of or two
or three Superman collectors could get together and split the
sets or something along those lines. So in grand scheme
of things, you know, if you're looking at a piece
of Fortress of Solitude, maybe for one thousand dollars, or
you know, if you're splitting it on, it's really quite
(06:47):
reasonably price electable by comparison to you know, it's all relative,
isn't it? Right within content?
Speaker 2 (06:52):
I think that's one of the largest you've ever offered.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Is it something you recommend? It's interesting you said that
a minute ago about collectors getting together, because you know,
we always under it. Is it something that the prop
store encourages. Do they frown upon? I mean, a couple
of years ago, rather than bidding against friends, a couple
of us went and said, hey, listen, we all want
a Mark Pillow nuclear Man tunic. And you had a
bunch of them in an auction, and we all kind
of agreed, Hey, let's get them and then we'll worry
(07:16):
about it later.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
And we did, Oh that's brilliant. Well, I love that.
I mean, at the end of the day that the
passion and the enjoyment, the strategizing around any auction, the preparation.
It's all part of the fun, isn't it. It's all
part of the engagement. And I think if you can
do that with a degree ofmaraderie, often that's quite difficult
because you know, say, for example, with the cravat, we
(07:39):
only have one. It's the only one we've ever offered.
If somebody, you know, if two people want that, then
there's no way to split that. So no, I think
I think it's great. I think that works really well,
and I love hearing stories about that exactly.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
And I think that that may also apply to these
these three beautiful autographs that you have here.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
Yes, so allers are set together. So we have a
ten eight which is signed. Just the top. I'm going
to just turn that around a camera, so maybe it's
a little bit clearer for us. There there we go,
lovely shot, reasonable conditions, still really nice consistency to the
color of the ink there on the top of it,
(08:16):
which is which is great to see because obviously a
big consideration with inks as they sort of get to
this sort of age, and especially it's pretty much depend
upon how they've been treated over the years, but you know,
light UV can be really damaging for auce graphs like that.
But this, this kind of is consistently strong there, and
it indicates to me that it hasn't been framed on
a wall in somebody's study or anything like that, or
(08:39):
on a house where you might really see some some
color loss there. And then we have a couple more
down in front. So this is one set together. And obviously,
and I don't know the exact story to where the
consigner where there's have specifically come from, but it's certainly
come from a Christopher at some point, and it's, you know,
from one prisciper to another Principer, which a whole lot
(09:00):
of fun, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
It really is. And I tend to believe that between
those two autographs on the paper, they were signed to
the same Christopher, but perhaps signed at two different times.
And the reason I say that is because the autographs
are two different styles. The one that's a single line
has the more complete Christopher written out, which as the
(09:25):
years went on, became shorter and shorter when Chris signed autographs,
and so I tend to think that maybe he got
an autograph and then maybe a few years later, got
another one. If it's the same Christopher, and I think
the chances are great that it is. And the fact
that that S is drawn is absolutely beautiful. And again
from my own experience in research, he tended to put
(09:45):
S's on the earlier autographs. Now regarding the eight by ten,
that's signed in blue ballpoint pin and if you look
at the other side of that eight by ten, you
can likely see the writing through the paper, because obviously
you had to write much hard, hard with a ballpoint
pen than say a sharpie of today, I have seen
that an autograph exactly like that, and I actually own one,
(10:07):
and I believe that that's still of maybe just a
handful word sent to Chris, and he signed a few
just for industry people or publicity people. These weren't intended
for the public. So this is a really rare one
that very desirable for an autograph collector. You've got something
so unique in that those two are written to Christopher.
(10:29):
And I have never seen Christopher Eves sign a photo
or a piece of paper or any item to Christopher,
So this is great.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Let's talk about Superman four, And he said, I always say
you never know what you're gonna what you're gonna find
at a prop store. And I have this up here,
but you know this, this this Superman tunic from Superman
four from the prop store, of course, but when we
eventually matched it to the photo right below, it was
pretty exciting. And we were we were digging around looking
at that Lowest Lane blouse and we found that as well.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Fantastic. Yeah, no, I think the lowest Line blow. If
I remember Riety, and she wears this in the Didty
Planet sequence, doesn't she She's actually in the Diaty Planet offices.
It's two different Jim, you tell us more about it.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Well, I couldn't resist. I had to go back and
watch most of the movie again last night when I
was reviewing this beautiful piece. This is the blouse that
Lois Lane wears after Superman's first battle with Nuclear Man,
and of course his cape comes off and is on
top of the Statue of Liberty and it ends up
(11:32):
in Lacey Warfield's office. Lois spots it and grabs it
and then takes it over to Clark Kent's apartment because
Clark Kent and Superman have been missing for a few
days because he got poisoned by the scratches from Nuclear
Man on his neck. So she returns or gives the
cape to a very sick Clark Kent and tells Clark
(11:55):
how much she loves Superman. It's one of the best
scenes in the whole movie. Mar goes acting and it
is fabulous. So you've got two key scenes that this
blouse is.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
In brilliant and we have a Burman's and Nathan's tag
inside here as well with Margo's name inside it, which
is great. The blouse does come with the skirt, and
what's interesting is even though these these di'monds have stayed
together essentially since production, the skirt isn't actually seen in
the film, so this is going to be from maybe
a scene that you haven't yet watched. Jim, I think
(12:28):
this is a sort of a good indicator of just
really how a production process works. Of course, you know,
the wardrobe is designed and rated at a very early
early stage, often based upon obviously the script and storing boards.
But then when it actually comes down to being prepared
for shooting and maybe doing the rehearsals, changes are made.
And in this instance, what is the color of the
(12:49):
skirt that ends up being worn with this.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
It appears to be a solid black skirt.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
Yeah, sort of black. But the beautiful thing is.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
You've got Burmans and Nathan's tags in these, and that's that's.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Shall we wrap with newspapers, right?
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Is that what's loved?
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Yes? I think it is. Yeah. I think the last
couple of things that we've got to talk about today
are a couple of the newspapers. But this is just
the newspaper covers itself that are often used for set
deck and set dressing. These are quite yellowed actually, so
when we sort of consider the way that light can
impact some of these props. Of course, the books, when
they're designed for production are only designed to be practical
(13:26):
for use during the filming. There is to be weeks
once at most. Here we are bocades later. There are
actually sort of indicators on here where seen some of
the original color there just down along the bottom here.
But this is a pair together. Jim's going to tell
me now which scenes we do or don't see these in.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Bad Man at Work, of course is Superman three. And
what's the most appealing are exceptional to me, is that
we have a very rare photograph of Christopher Eve on
the cover, and that is from a Superman the Movie
photo shoot in New York City down there at Brooklyn
Bridge Park. But this version with the Kate blowing I've
(14:11):
never seen in color as a slide or as a print,
so it seems to be unique to this particular paper.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
And I think, generally speaking, if I remember any, the
newspaper of choice, certainly for the first and second film
was The Windsor and Eating Times or something like that, right,
I think that that was the filler that they were using,
that's right.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
And they were all dated seventy seven, and then the
papers later were dated eighty two for Superman three.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
Absolutely, and this would be in a still shot that
was taken by Bob Penn.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
That's correct, in July of seventy seven while he was
in New York City filming the iconic Helicopter Rescue and
all of the other Daily Planet stuff. But they reused
a lot of Superman the Movie photographs of Christopher Eve
for sequel newspapers.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
You know, in this common I realized we did forget
one other thing from Superman three, and that is another
photo booth strip that you have at the front of
the table. We have seen these come up before a
prop store. Some of them have been ripped on purpose.
Is this a complete one?
Speaker 3 (15:14):
You can just see that it's there in its completeness,
And you're absolutely right. I mean, this is a prop
that is required for a practical effect, for a practical shot,
an action shot where of course free Goes can't find
a telephone booth, dives into a photo booth for the
change sequence, the famous change sequence. Realize that he's been
(15:35):
captured going through it, which is a major giveaway. Nobody
wants to Nobody should be finding out it's Christ's changing. Sorry,
clock can change into Superman and so in the film
as of the bottom image and gives it to the
kid that's standing outside. So this is one of the
multiples that would have been made for that particular sequence.
They would have shot that scene maybe half a dozen times,
(15:56):
you know more, and so they would always need by
prop square then we need to go again if they
need to.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Yeah, that's a beautiful thing. And I as a photographer,
I've always said to myself, now, how did that photo
booth camera capture such clear photos when he's supposed to
be changing faster than this beating bullet? But hey, oh,
those are fantastic, really really well.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
These are just some of the some of the few
Superman items we will see in this year's auction. There's
a couple more before we wrap up. Jim, you mentioned
that there is a script that you kind of investigated
a little bit that's in this year's auction.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Yeah, it's a beautiful, beautiful script. It's as Steven and
I have discussed, it's in a script with two different dates.
It's October nineteen seventy six on the front page, but
then the next page is dated July nineteen seventy six.
And what's so unique about this script is number one,
I've never seen that cover. But number two is this
(16:55):
is the script before Richard Donner and Tom Manka would
come up board. So this shows Leslie and David Newman
and Robert Benton's treatment during the years that Guy Hamilton
was the director. So this has a lot of differences
between you know, it's very different than the final script.
(17:16):
This one includes the appearance of Telly Savalis as Kojak.
A lot of fans have heard about Superman flying up
behind a bald guy, thinking it's Lex Luthor when it's
Telly Savalis. You know, with his lollipop, and there's some
other variations in this script. Stephen, the villains are already
in the phantom zone. There's no trial when the planet
(17:40):
blows up. Yep, there's the October seventy sixth date. You
flip the page, You've now got July seventy six. So
I've seen the July seventy six script. This is part one,
so that refers to the first movie is as we know.
They wrote the first and second at the same time.
The October seventy six suggests to me that perhaps some
additional changes were made to it that I've never seen,
(18:04):
So I think there's some great mysteries in this. Another
thing that's different about this is that the helicopter rescue
Lois and the helicopter don't fall off the side of
the building. There are a lot of really unique things
in this script that are fascinating to read for the
completest of script collecting completest who want everything, they definitely
(18:24):
need this because I've never seen this version before.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
Wow, that's exciting. I love that we've managed to locate.
I mean, you've never seen before, Jae.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Ever seen it, don't have it, but I have the
seventy six July seventy sixth script. But now I'm really
curious if they made some additional amendments before they were
all finished.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
Well, you know what you've got to do, Jim. You've
got to register at propstore dot com room right now
the ocean, get that paddle out.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
It's already done. Steven, and I got on your website
this morning, and I notice you've already got some absentee
bids on some beautiful items, including Keith Hampshire's photo collection.
Now Keith Hampshire, of course set photographer or still's photographers
for Superman two and three. I've talked with him on Instagram.
He's a wonderful guy. He's got a new book coming
(19:12):
out yea, and what an amazing career. Go on Internet
movie database and look up Keith and you'll see but
your photos from his collection are are just absolutely tremendous. Date,
that's what revs me up. Gets my heart beating real.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
Fast, fantastic.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
As always, we tell you thank you for thinking about
the fans, because the thing about you is, although you
have a large team, whether it's Star Wars or Superman
or horror films or whatever, you keep in mind. The
people year after year that you speak to and that
you know are fans, and you're always looking out for us.
So we appreciate it and will certainly as always be
loyal and dedicated and be watching. The fourteenth through the
(19:49):
seventeenth of November.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Outstanding love, your passionate enthusiasm. Thank you so much for
your time.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Thank you so much, Steven.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
Great to see you.
Now the Cape Wonders Superman Podcast with Jay Towers and
Jim Bowers on Iinheart Radio. Well, welcome to a special
edition of the Cape wonder Superman Podcast. Jay Towers in Detroit,
Jim Bowers just outside of Las Vegas, and Jim. We're
excited because as always we get a special sneak peek
of some of the great Superman items that this year's
(00:21):
Prop Store auction from London, which is happening November fourteenth
through the seventeenth.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
We are so lucky to get this opportunity once again, Steven,
to see some fantastic pieces, and the beautiful thing about
prop stories you never know what they're going to reveal
to the world. So once again we've got quite a
selection of items here that are so exciting.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
I ah, yeah, I know you're sure. It's lovely to
see you guys again. Thank you very much for having
me back on your show. I always enjoy pegment. You
guys are so passionate and I know how much you
love this stuff and love the movies, so it's a
really really fun chat.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
I mean, well you'd like to talk about first, Let's
have this one, and we know.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
You probably often think of us throughout the year, every
type I think Superman comes across your desk.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
You know it. You know, we've had some years where
it's just been you know, monumental, you know, from four
outfits down, and it's tough. You know, has this stuff.
I mean, let's just talk about that for just a beat.
You know, it's fascinating because collectors who acquire this sort
of content these days, they're not reselling it, they're always
passionate about it as well. So you know, as we're
(01:30):
digging down into all those last resources of sources, of
people who worked within the industry, worked on the film,
had things handed down to them. Over the years, it
gets thinner and thinner, and you have to sort of
wait for that cycle where perhaps collectors get to the
point where they're you know, they're moving in or they've
got to changing lifestyle or something along those lines, and
where we might get a big collection together again. But
(01:51):
material from this era is really really tough to find.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
It is, and it continues to grow in popularity, and
I think the really pad it fans and collectors are
looking for those unique, more unique items like some of
the items you have today, like Lex Luthor's cravat, for instance,
that's just a year ago you had his cuff links,
and now you've got his cravat.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
I know, it's great, isn't it. I mean, it's it's
I mean, let's just have a look at it in
close up here. I believe it's very light, delicates lot
nor pot. Perhaps it's probably silk actually upside down, because
I think if you turn it over this way and
have a look at the design there. In a similar way,
by recollection, the touff links had that sort of L
(02:37):
letter insignia within it, we haven't there as well within
the cravat as well. Now I don't know how clearly
you actually see that on screen, because I should think
once this is tied into a prolat shape, it's actually
probably going to be quite difficult to determine that this
has definitely got to be a design feature. I mean,
and you've got to you know, look how distinctive these
l's are that you see competing throughout it.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Oh. Absolutely, And the cuff links a year ago had
the two l's which were very obvious. And of course
his purple and green robe that Otis puts on him
in the pool has two l's and so they really
the attention to detail in the wardrobe department was just phenomenal.
And here we have another example of how it all
(03:20):
ties together. But if I may this Forravat was worn
in two scenes in Superman the Movie, one of them
being a cut scene that we finally got to see
in widescreen in twenty seventeen on Blu ray, and that's
the scene where he's playing the piano in his lair
as he commands Otis to lower Miss Testmacher into the
(03:40):
pit because she saved Superman, and he's singing you must
have been a Beautiful Baby, which is a nineteen thirty
eight song the year Superman was revealed to the world.
We see him taken to prison with Otis. Of course,
in that last scene in Superman the Movie where Superman
with them and he reveals that he's bald to the wardens.
(04:03):
So the two key scenes this has featured in.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
And if I remember writing, wasn't that that same piano sequence,
the sequence one of the scenes that you saw the
puffling sin as well. I mean, we're going back, yeah,
it is right, yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Seem while he's playing the piano, you see them and
when he leans on the piano after Superman, of course
saves miss test markers, so they're very obvious once he
pulls his jacket sleeves back.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
We tend to see every couple of years we see
crystals come up, and they're always so unique, and they're
always so different.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
They are. Yeah, I know, you're absolutely right. I think
the thing about the crystals is it is one of
those things that almost certainly at the end of production
they were just they would have been scrapping everything, they
would have been putting everything into skips, into the trash
ben and these are the sort of things that have
just made it home with through numbers as mementos. So
we do see a reasonable frequency with these coming back
(04:57):
or coming to market for the first time. But as
you say, so the way that the set was designed,
of course we do see variations on them. And what's
interesting I think about this one here at the bottom,
is especially if I put my white gloves behind it
and then we can get it on camera. The but
you really got some coloration there, you know, some green
through that avenue which perhaps wouldn't be so apparent just
(05:20):
I don't know, just just in normal light. But it's
it's this one is sort of a double ended facet
to it as well, so it is completely finished at
both ends. And I do wonder if something like this
had something more of a practical purpose to it. You know,
the technology that they were using at the time to
actually create the green kryptonite restall the lean crypto restore
(05:40):
the of course Clark Kent throws into the ice field.
You know, that was quite complex at that time. Actually
dying a for lick was a really difficult thing, and
in fact that that particular process I don't believe it
is even something that can be done today because of
the chemicals that we used during the leriums. So it
is really it's fascinating for me to see this sort
of green here. You know, I wonder whether this could
(06:03):
have been something that was also being used as a
test piece just to see what green colors they could
get within the cheracrlic rods.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Right. They may have wanted to do the dying on
the crystals just so they had some in camera color
rather than having to do optical effects later on. I
tend to think this was used in the fortress more
than krypton.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Yeah, I mean, I think these are wonderful and look
you're getting four pieces there maybe for a couple of
thousand dollars. You know, maybe a couple of or two
or three Superman collectors could get together and split the
sets or something along those lines. So in grand scheme
of things, you know, if you're looking at a piece
of Fortress of Solitude, maybe for one thousand dollars, or
you know, if you're splitting it on, it's really quite
(06:47):
reasonably price electable by comparison to you know, it's all relative,
isn't it? Right within content?
Speaker 2 (06:52):
I think that's one of the largest you've ever offered.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Is it something you recommend? It's interesting you said that
a minute ago about collectors getting together, because you know,
we always under it. Is it something that the prop
store encourages. Do they frown upon? I mean, a couple
of years ago, rather than bidding against friends, a couple
of us went and said, hey, listen, we all want
a Mark Pillow nuclear Man tunic. And you had a
bunch of them in an auction, and we all kind
of agreed, Hey, let's get them and then we'll worry
(07:16):
about it later.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
And we did, Oh that's brilliant. Well, I love that.
I mean, at the end of the day that the
passion and the enjoyment, the strategizing around any auction, the preparation.
It's all part of the fun, isn't it. It's all
part of the engagement. And I think if you can
do that with a degree ofmaraderie, often that's quite difficult
because you know, say, for example, with the cravat, we
(07:39):
only have one. It's the only one we've ever offered.
If somebody, you know, if two people want that, then
there's no way to split that. So no, I think
I think it's great. I think that works really well,
and I love hearing stories about that exactly.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
And I think that that may also apply to these
these three beautiful autographs that you have here.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
Yes, so allers are set together. So we have a
ten eight which is signed. Just the top. I'm going
to just turn that around a camera, so maybe it's
a little bit clearer for us. There there we go,
lovely shot, reasonable conditions, still really nice consistency to the
color of the ink there on the top of it,
(08:16):
which is which is great to see because obviously a
big consideration with inks as they sort of get to
this sort of age, and especially it's pretty much depend
upon how they've been treated over the years, but you know,
light UV can be really damaging for auce graphs like that.
But this, this kind of is consistently strong there, and
it indicates to me that it hasn't been framed on
a wall in somebody's study or anything like that, or
(08:39):
on a house where you might really see some some
color loss there. And then we have a couple more
down in front. So this is one set together. And obviously,
and I don't know the exact story to where the
consigner where there's have specifically come from, but it's certainly
come from a Christopher at some point, and it's, you know,
from one prisciper to another Principer, which a whole lot
(09:00):
of fun, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
It really is. And I tend to believe that between
those two autographs on the paper, they were signed to
the same Christopher, but perhaps signed at two different times.
And the reason I say that is because the autographs
are two different styles. The one that's a single line
has the more complete Christopher written out, which as the
(09:25):
years went on, became shorter and shorter when Chris signed autographs,
and so I tend to think that maybe he got
an autograph and then maybe a few years later, got
another one. If it's the same Christopher, and I think
the chances are great that it is. And the fact
that that S is drawn is absolutely beautiful. And again
from my own experience in research, he tended to put
(09:45):
S's on the earlier autographs. Now regarding the eight by ten,
that's signed in blue ballpoint pin and if you look
at the other side of that eight by ten, you
can likely see the writing through the paper, because obviously
you had to write much hard, hard with a ballpoint
pen than say a sharpie of today, I have seen
that an autograph exactly like that, and I actually own one,
(10:07):
and I believe that that's still of maybe just a
handful word sent to Chris, and he signed a few
just for industry people or publicity people. These weren't intended
for the public. So this is a really rare one
that very desirable for an autograph collector. You've got something
so unique in that those two are written to Christopher.
(10:29):
And I have never seen Christopher Eves sign a photo
or a piece of paper or any item to Christopher,
So this is great.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Let's talk about Superman four, And he said, I always say
you never know what you're gonna what you're gonna find
at a prop store. And I have this up here,
but you know this, this this Superman tunic from Superman
four from the prop store, of course, but when we
eventually matched it to the photo right below, it was
pretty exciting. And we were we were digging around looking
at that Lowest Lane blouse and we found that as well.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Fantastic. Yeah, no, I think the lowest Line blow. If
I remember Riety, and she wears this in the Didty
Planet sequence, doesn't she She's actually in the Diaty Planet offices.
It's two different Jim, you tell us more about it.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Well, I couldn't resist. I had to go back and
watch most of the movie again last night when I
was reviewing this beautiful piece. This is the blouse that
Lois Lane wears after Superman's first battle with Nuclear Man,
and of course his cape comes off and is on
top of the Statue of Liberty and it ends up
(11:32):
in Lacey Warfield's office. Lois spots it and grabs it
and then takes it over to Clark Kent's apartment because
Clark Kent and Superman have been missing for a few
days because he got poisoned by the scratches from Nuclear
Man on his neck. So she returns or gives the
cape to a very sick Clark Kent and tells Clark
(11:55):
how much she loves Superman. It's one of the best
scenes in the whole movie. Mar goes acting and it
is fabulous. So you've got two key scenes that this
blouse is.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
In brilliant and we have a Burman's and Nathan's tag
inside here as well with Margo's name inside it, which
is great. The blouse does come with the skirt, and
what's interesting is even though these these di'monds have stayed
together essentially since production, the skirt isn't actually seen in
the film, so this is going to be from maybe
a scene that you haven't yet watched. Jim, I think
(12:28):
this is a sort of a good indicator of just
really how a production process works. Of course, you know,
the wardrobe is designed and rated at a very early
early stage, often based upon obviously the script and storing boards.
But then when it actually comes down to being prepared
for shooting and maybe doing the rehearsals, changes are made.
And in this instance, what is the color of the
(12:49):
skirt that ends up being worn with this.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
It appears to be a solid black skirt.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
Yeah, sort of black. But the beautiful thing is.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
You've got Burmans and Nathan's tags in these, and that's that's.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Shall we wrap with newspapers, right?
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Is that what's loved?
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Yes? I think it is. Yeah. I think the last
couple of things that we've got to talk about today
are a couple of the newspapers. But this is just
the newspaper covers itself that are often used for set
deck and set dressing. These are quite yellowed actually, so
when we sort of consider the way that light can
impact some of these props. Of course, the books, when
they're designed for production are only designed to be practical
(13:26):
for use during the filming. There is to be weeks
once at most. Here we are bocades later. There are
actually sort of indicators on here where seen some of
the original color there just down along the bottom here.
But this is a pair together. Jim's going to tell
me now which scenes we do or don't see these in.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Bad Man at Work, of course is Superman three. And
what's the most appealing are exceptional to me, is that
we have a very rare photograph of Christopher Eve on
the cover, and that is from a Superman the Movie
photo shoot in New York City down there at Brooklyn
Bridge Park. But this version with the Kate blowing I've
(14:11):
never seen in color as a slide or as a print,
so it seems to be unique to this particular paper.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
And I think, generally speaking, if I remember any, the
newspaper of choice, certainly for the first and second film
was The Windsor and Eating Times or something like that, right,
I think that that was the filler that they were using,
that's right.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
And they were all dated seventy seven, and then the
papers later were dated eighty two for Superman three.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
Absolutely, and this would be in a still shot that
was taken by Bob Penn.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
That's correct, in July of seventy seven while he was
in New York City filming the iconic Helicopter Rescue and
all of the other Daily Planet stuff. But they reused
a lot of Superman the Movie photographs of Christopher Eve
for sequel newspapers.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
You know, in this common I realized we did forget
one other thing from Superman three, and that is another
photo booth strip that you have at the front of
the table. We have seen these come up before a
prop store. Some of them have been ripped on purpose.
Is this a complete one?
Speaker 3 (15:14):
You can just see that it's there in its completeness,
And you're absolutely right. I mean, this is a prop
that is required for a practical effect, for a practical shot,
an action shot where of course free Goes can't find
a telephone booth, dives into a photo booth for the
change sequence, the famous change sequence. Realize that he's been
(15:35):
captured going through it, which is a major giveaway. Nobody
wants to Nobody should be finding out it's Christ's changing. Sorry,
clock can change into Superman and so in the film
as of the bottom image and gives it to the
kid that's standing outside. So this is one of the
multiples that would have been made for that particular sequence.
They would have shot that scene maybe half a dozen times,
(15:56):
you know more, and so they would always need by
prop square then we need to go again if they
need to.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Yeah, that's a beautiful thing. And I as a photographer,
I've always said to myself, now, how did that photo
booth camera capture such clear photos when he's supposed to
be changing faster than this beating bullet? But hey, oh,
those are fantastic, really really well.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
These are just some of the some of the few
Superman items we will see in this year's auction. There's
a couple more before we wrap up. Jim, you mentioned
that there is a script that you kind of investigated
a little bit that's in this year's auction.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Yeah, it's a beautiful, beautiful script. It's as Steven and
I have discussed, it's in a script with two different dates.
It's October nineteen seventy six on the front page, but
then the next page is dated July nineteen seventy six.
And what's so unique about this script is number one,
I've never seen that cover. But number two is this
(16:55):
is the script before Richard Donner and Tom Manka would
come up board. So this shows Leslie and David Newman
and Robert Benton's treatment during the years that Guy Hamilton
was the director. So this has a lot of differences
between you know, it's very different than the final script.
(17:16):
This one includes the appearance of Telly Savalis as Kojak.
A lot of fans have heard about Superman flying up
behind a bald guy, thinking it's Lex Luthor when it's
Telly Savalis. You know, with his lollipop, and there's some
other variations in this script. Stephen, the villains are already
in the phantom zone. There's no trial when the planet
(17:40):
blows up. Yep, there's the October seventy sixth date. You
flip the page, You've now got July seventy six. So
I've seen the July seventy six script. This is part one,
so that refers to the first movie is as we know.
They wrote the first and second at the same time.
The October seventy six suggests to me that perhaps some
additional changes were made to it that I've never seen,
(18:04):
So I think there's some great mysteries in this. Another
thing that's different about this is that the helicopter rescue
Lois and the helicopter don't fall off the side of
the building. There are a lot of really unique things
in this script that are fascinating to read for the
completest of script collecting completest who want everything, they definitely
(18:24):
need this because I've never seen this version before.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
Wow, that's exciting. I love that we've managed to locate.
I mean, you've never seen before, Jae.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Ever seen it, don't have it, but I have the
seventy six July seventy sixth script. But now I'm really
curious if they made some additional amendments before they were
all finished.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
Well, you know what you've got to do, Jim. You've
got to register at propstore dot com room right now
the ocean, get that paddle out.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
It's already done. Steven, and I got on your website
this morning, and I notice you've already got some absentee
bids on some beautiful items, including Keith Hampshire's photo collection.
Now Keith Hampshire, of course set photographer or still's photographers
for Superman two and three. I've talked with him on Instagram.
He's a wonderful guy. He's got a new book coming
(19:12):
out yea, and what an amazing career. Go on Internet
movie database and look up Keith and you'll see but
your photos from his collection are are just absolutely tremendous. Date,
that's what revs me up. Gets my heart beating real.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
Fast, fantastic.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
As always, we tell you thank you for thinking about
the fans, because the thing about you is, although you
have a large team, whether it's Star Wars or Superman
or horror films or whatever, you keep in mind. The
people year after year that you speak to and that
you know are fans, and you're always looking out for us.
So we appreciate it and will certainly as always be
loyal and dedicated and be watching. The fourteenth through the
(19:49):
seventeenth of November.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Outstanding love, your passionate enthusiasm. Thank you so much for
your time.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Thank you so much, Steven.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
Great to see you.
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