I spent the day in Burbank yesterday, performing a “hands on” analysis and comparison of confirmed authentic costumes (two recently released from the Warner Bros. Archives) from multiple Superman films starring Christopher Reeve (Superman II, III, and IV) with the three “Super Hollywood” costumes examined in a recent article (see “Super Hollywood” Superman III Costume Case Study: High Resolution Photo Archive & Analysis). A substantive article is under development that will include the results of this analysis and high resolution comparison photos.
Brandon Alinger and Stephen Lane of the Prop Store of London were kind enough to help me coordinate borrowing costumes from Prop Store as well as other collectors, and allowed me to use their Los Angeles-based facilities to take photos of these pieces and costume components.
“Super Hollywood” Provenance (TOP ROW) & Warner Bros. Archive, Bonhams Authenticated (BOTTOM ROW)
In addition to the Armando Alvarez/”Super Hollywood” costumes which were loaned to me by collectors, which I brought for the visit, I also had an opportunity to examine:
- Superman II (1980): Superman top worn by Margot Kidder in the “Donner” cut of the film (owned by the Prop Store of London; acquired directly from Warner Bros. in 2007 with WB COA)
- Superman III (1983): “Evil” Superman tunic, shorts, belt, tights, and cape (owned by private collector; acquired directly from Warner Bros. in 2008 with WB COA)
- Superman IV (1987): Superman tunic, shorts, tights (owned by private collector; acquired from UK auction house Bonhams in 2008)
While the full analysis will be provided in the future article, many past observations made based on photo comparisons have been confirmed, along with some new findings.
In addition to some of the basics covered in the past (type and color of fabric used, pattern, construction, asset tags, quality, etc.) of particular interest in a “hands on” analysis is comparing the sizes of these costumes, which cannot be done well by comparing photos from different sources.
As can be seen below, the “Super Hollywood” example is dramatically oversized compared with one of the authenticated costumes:
“Super Hollywood” Example (Bottom Layer) & Superman IV Bonhams Authenticated (Top Layer)
“Super Hollywood” Example (Bottom Layer) & Superman IV Bonhams Authenticated (Top Layer)
“Super Hollywood” Example (Bottom Layer) & Superman IV Bonhams Authenticated (Middle Layer) with “Evil” Superman III from Warner Bros. (Top Layer)
“Super Hollywood” Example (Bottom Layer) & Superman IV Bonhams Authenticated (Top Layer)
“Super Hollywood” Example (Bottom Layer) & “Evil” Superman III from Warner Bros. (Top Layer)
In any event, the full analysis will be published soon; I have upwards of 700 high resolution photos to review.
This article continues coverage of Superman costumes and costume components offered for sale publicly in the marketplace attributed to use in the Superman films of the 70s-80s starring Christopher Reeve and characterized as “original” and “authentic”. More details can be found under the Market Watch | Superman category.
Jason De Bord