October 3, 2023 • 28 mins
Get ready for Part II of our Alberta Adventure! Jay Towers & Jim Bowers make a roadside stop at the Kent Farm, the Smallville Cemetery, and that exploding gas station. Plus our friend Stephen Lane from Propstore gives us an exclusive first look at some of the Superman Film Props in this year's big auction. This is also a great video podcast you can watch on facebook or CapeWonder.com.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Now the Cakewonder Superman Podcast with JayCowoys and Jim Bowoys on iHeart Radio.
Well, it's part two of ourAlberta adventure. And let's talk about the
farm. Jim, you were thereone time before. I visited the farm
and some of the other locations intwenty eleven. Right, and I wanted
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to go in August because that wasthe prime time for that golden grain that
you see is technically called clola,and so I wanted to go the same
month they filmed in seventy seven becauseit was at its prime and it's golden
state as opposed to being more green. And that was at August twenty eleven.
And this is actually a photograph ofpanoramic, So this is twenty eleven,
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twenty eleven, and right, andI stood out on the road as
you can see the roads right here, and I actually took a tripod and
shot sixteen separate vertical shots and thenstitched them together. And I shot about
six in the evening because I wantedthat golden light to hit that field and
to make everything so warm. Andso this is on canvas. Really really
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happy with the way it turned out. Now today it has a fence here
okay, yeah right, yeah,yeah, right to the left of the
barn, and so it still looksabout the same as it always has been.
Showing off a bit, haven't youseen? I didn't mean to show
(01:34):
off hockey. That barn was built. What year the barn and the house,
all the structures is actually a littlebuilding as well in the bushes,
and you can see it in themovie. They were all built in nineteen
seventeen. So even some of thescouting photos that you've shown me right back
from seventy seven, seventy six,seventy early seventy seven. Yeah, Bill
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Brody was the scouting guy and Igot I was fortunate enough to get all
the camera negatives from him, andthe farm was in pretty bad shape.
Yeah, I was just saying,I mean, I mean it's in rough
shape now. It's been through manywinters and and just wear and tear of
over the years. But it didn'tlook pristine then. No, it's probably
why they used it, right,And it was considered The notes with the
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negative said derelict farm and uh,and it was scheduled to be torn down
after filming wrapped. Obviously that neverhappened. My understanding is the farm was
not used or lived in after nineteensixty four. It's it's it's amazing to
see. We reiterate to you againthat that is private property, so you
respect that area and you you checkit out from the road. That's really
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I mean, that's how you seeit. That's how you see it in
the movie. And it really feelsamazing to stand there and check that out.
So hopefully it stays for years tocome right. Yeah, we really
hope it does. It's amazing thatover one hundred years, one hundred and
six years, it's withstood all ofthose harsh winters. And I recommend if
you're going to go there is togo either early in the morning or late
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in the evening six o'clock, seveno'clock because the light is just fantastical.
We spend a day with our friendChris, who showed us around a couple
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other locations, including Drumheller where thecemetery is. And no one told me
that we'd have to hike up ofthe hill. But I'm glad I had
my hiking boots brand new and Ibroke those in. I said, no
one told me about a lot ofhiking, but boy, you get up
to that hill super quiet. There'dbe no reason ever to go up there
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if you didn't know about that place, and that I think in the whole
trip, that was the hardest placeto get to. I drove, and
I wouldn't remember how to get backthere. Right, it's very, very
secluded, like you said, ifyou just stand there and just stay silent
and take it all in, itis absolutely magnificent that the serenity of it
and the beauty of it. Youlook down that beautiful canyon. It's called
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banyon or Bayn Baynen is the properpronunciation b e y and owen, And
there's just a few people who livedown there. Of course, in the
movie, you see some fifties carsdriving on the little road, and you
see a couple of those wood grainelevators, and a green one and a
white one. Well today they're notthere. However, Chris Doering told us
that the white grain elevator, whichhad two buildings, has been was separated
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in the eighties and moved. Soif you're there and you do a one
one hundred and eighty degree turn fromthe canyon, you will see the two
buildings and two separate farms in adistance and without him we would have never
No. And there's also that kindof hill where the church would have been,
which was a miniature church. Imean on camera it looks like,
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you know, it would be afo size, but we later learned through
behind the scenes photos that it wasactually bigger than you thought. It was
bigger. Yes, I would saythat ground to the steeple is maybe thirty
feet. Yeah, And if youwalk up there and then look down the
other side, you'll see in anotheramazing canyon down there. This big exposed
rocks is absolutely beautiful. One ofthe thing that we found that I never
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saw and maybe it wasn't there thefirst time, is we found a rock
with an S shield painted on itright about where the cemetery location would have
been. Yeah, and we certainlydon't think that was production old. But
no, somebody paid tribute, buta very long time ago, because that
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rock looks like it had been throughthe ringer right right. So other than
that, you would never know.We found some pieces of wood, maybe
from a surveyor, but there's nothingelse up there other than just the beauty.
If you want to wish and hopethat you do find something up there,
until you really think of how longit's been. You know, you
get up there, it's very freshin your mind. You've watched the movie
so many times July, there mustbe something here and just it's it's it's
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forty five years longer than that.Actually, so the fact that it's still
there and the grounds at least lookvery similar fantastic. We also Chris took
us to the Alberta bad Lands capewonder fans. It's a good day for
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us, but a bad day forJ and S. Moss service, right,
and it's it's really a bad dayfor Lois Lane and Margot Kidder.
In that nineteen seventy two Red FortLtd. People probably think we are in
the spot where that gas station blewup and Margot Kidder drove away. Guess
what we are, But it's notwhere you think, not at all.
In fact, we are in theAlberta bad Lands in Canada. Did you
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know that some of the scenes withthe red car and Lois Lane were not
filmed in Gallup, New Mexico,But we're filmed in Alberta, that's right.
August nineteen seventy seven, While RichardDonner was off filming Smallville scenes,
Margot was right here filming the earthquakescenes after the guess was what's unbelievable is
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you could be twenty minutes from hereand see nothing but farm land and feel
like you're in Kansas, and thentwenty minutes later you're here. It's like
coming into another world, right,It's fantastic. And you know what,
Our good friend Chris Staring found thislocation. He is the man who did
all the scouting work to find thisfor us, for all of the devoted
Superman fans out there, and we'reso grateful to Chris. Hey, Chris,
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come here. He happens to behere. Chris, look at that
give away. Here's Chris. Let'stalk a little bit about High River.
We spent time in high River becauseone, that's where the hotel was,
and two, why that's where themuseum is. That's where the Lata Lang's
house is in Superman three. That'swhere we first see Chris exposed to Gus
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Gorman's kryptonite. It's the spot wherewe see the Smallville class reunion. That's
right. High Rivers a very quaintlittle town, a lot of nice,
friendly people there. We've gotten toknow Irene Kerr, the curator, of
Museum of the Highwood, which isa museum right in the heart of the
town and that used to be anold train station and has since been renovated.
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It's a beautifully done museum that honorsthe culture of the area and any
of the filming that went on.There's a lot of filming that goes on
in Canada, a lot in Calgaryand surrounding areas of Alberta. And there's
a small Superman display there right now. It's it's really it's it's special to
be there as well. And LunaLang's house. I mean, you can
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see that beautiful just park right onthe side of the road. It's it's
right there, looks very much thesame. So that was a really fun
trip. Hopefully you watched our specialvideo on the Discovery Made Chiefs. I
mean the fact that even a portionof that original starship from forty five years
ago Superman, the movie that AaronSmolinsky comes out of that they screen matched,
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has been in High River all along, in somebody's backyard as a planter
right at fact, it was anoriginal farm owner who had it all of
this time. And again it's justsort of the top half of the Starship.
We don't know exactly why it wascut off. Maybe it was just
too big to put in the backyard, but it sat in their garden for
many, many years and now themuseum owns it. Yeah, they gave
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us a really exclusive first look.We had a lot of time with it.
We had to been there in ninetyminutes with that thing. But if
you want to watch that video,it's up acapewonder dot com. You can
see all the amazing detail, thenthe story there. I love the history
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up there, and you're gonna wantto go to Bigdoer dot com, Big
d oe r dot com. Chrisand Connie have done marvelous work and documenting
and photographing old structures. They knowthe history of that place and so their
website's definitely worth a visit. Andthey've got a number of photographs from Superman
filming locations on their website. Allright now, the moment you've been waiting
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for this year's prop store auction,our friend Stephen Lane and the ability to
find things every year, twice ayear for Superman fans, things like crystals,
things like miniatures, costumes, costumes, how about those costumes last year
have been almost a year since thatbeautiful Christopher custom mannequin full costume was auctioned
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off. And whoever won that,I'm sure they are enjoying that a whole
lot. We don't know who thatis, don't it's okay, Nor do
we know who won the URSA SarahDouglas cost Oh boy, that's a beauty.
That said. Great chat with ourfriend Stephen Lane who gives us a
exclusive peak, and we will haveyou know that. Yes, we'll be
back with more podcasts definitely this yearand throughout next year, right, and
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hopefully we'll be able to go tosome other locations throughout the world, Jay,
where they also filmed for these movies. Spectacular locations New York City,
of course, Richard Donner and thecrew went there to film all the Metropolis
scenes. We're also going to sendJim to where you know Superman gets the
flowers for Lois Lane and brings himback to Saint Lucia. We're going to
send him to Saint Lucia for thatone shot. Hey, we know people
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that have been there, Jay,I bet yes we do. And they
said the waterfall is beautiful and Ithink they've renamed it the Superman water They
have and they also renamed the Canyonand Gallup, New Mexico, where Lois
Lane goes into crack during the earthquake. It's now called Superman Canyon. I
want to take us to get toGallup right now. We go straight east
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six hours and it's gap next year. It's in the middle of nowhere,
all right. Check out Stephen Lane, our friend from Prop Store. The
big auctions coming up in November.Enjoy all the Superman items. We will
see you again on future podcast,but until then, stay sober, so
(12:30):
Jim, this is exciting. Novembernine through the twelve, the big Prop
Store auction is back from London.Our friend Stephen Lane, who always wows
us every year with great Superman memorabilia. Cape Wonder fans around the world love
this preview and we're pretty excited aboutit today. Right, And the variety
of things that Prop Store offers can'tbe beat. I mean, we never
know what to expect, and Stephenand his great team always delight us.
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I don't know where you guys findthis stuff, but I'm so glad it's
been saved over the years. It'sjust tremendous, tremendous artifact. Oh thanks
Jim, I appreciate that. Thankyou. Jay's lovely to see you two
again as well. I always lovethis interview two and it is really tough
to keep finding this material, especiallyfrom this period of filmmaking now, right.
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And the age range of these itemsfor the Christophery movie series would be
between nineteen seventy six, during thevery early days of production, where you
might see pre productions, storyboards andart and that sort of thing, when
they were still in Rome considering filmingthere, all the way through nineteen eighty
seven when Superman four hit the bigscreen in July of that year. Yeah,
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and I think that that span theregives us a sort of a range
of sort of a ten year periodalmost of collective ages as well. So
you know, you have young peoplewho are interested in some of the later
films, older people are interested inthe earlier films. But I think,
you know, let's face it,Superman it just has that crossover appeal.
I will tell you. Over thelast year we have done three Green Chose
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with Mark Pillow, who played NuclearMan, and he's really been excited to
meet fans who you know, innineteen eighty seven, if you were a
little kid and that was your firstSuperman movie. You little kids didn't care
about those special effects budgets and thisand that. They just know Nuclear Man
was a scary guy. And MarkPillow loves meeting those fans. And boy
does he love the fact that wejust talked last night that there is yet
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another Nuclear Man costume out there andit's right there a prop store. Oh
it's a lovely suit. And Ibelieve that this would have been likely a
screen printing process, wouldn't it soactually getting all the dots in on this
George, you want to come ina tight on this movie. Wouldn't that
be a screen printing process to achievethat? Well, it might be,
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But if you study the film closelyand also look at the other costumes you've
offered in the past, the dotsare never the same, particularly that silver
inn in the middle of the sun. The dot placement varies from costume to
last. Sometimes the point, forinstance, the left point bottom point sometimes
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goes into the gold, but sometimesjust goes through the black. I wonder
how long it's going to take someof your following, some of your fans
to screen match this one too,particular scenemen. Let's move on to the
Statue of Liberty. This is stillsuch a cool piece and I'm so happy
to see it again. This wasalso used in multiple productions, Am I
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right? Yes, that's right.It was actually originally built for a little
Shock of Horrors, So it wasbuilt for a sequence in the film that
eventually got part from the movie,and it was subsequently repurposed for Superman.
So we have another illustration there whichhas the Superman detailing on this wonderful class
as a model miniature, actually reallyquite a sizeable piece. Well, the
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drawings are absolutely beautiful, Stephen.They're highly detailed. They would look fantastic
on the wall framed next to this. This is immense. Yeah, I
mean, look at the size ofthat pod that Jay's got sit in there
behind him. I think it needsa statue of Liberty right alongside. I
like our Stephen thinks, let's talkabout their kryptonite in front of you.
Amazing to see another one of these. We had one of these in last
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year's auction. This is an versionfrom the one that we had last year,
obviously directly and parable from Superman three. This is the faux Kryptonite that's
created to try and deabilitate Superman andis sort of surprised upon him of course
in the movie. But a littlethe glow that we've got here with it
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today. We just put a bigflighting on there to really show the color
through and you can see some ofthe sort of teching that's been done on
it as well, some of thedark patches in this, which is all
part of the dressing and detailing thatwas done by the production for effects purposes.
We often talk about crystals. Wemany of us have some crystals in
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our collection. It's crazy that somestill come up. I mean, there
were a lot of them in thosefilms, so it's great that some have
made it through time. Is thisa set of three that you can get?
Yes, this is a set ofthree together, and you're absolutely right.
Look for set for the foot RisusObviitude set was huge. It was
a vast and there was a hugeamount that was constructed for it as well.
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You know, these were all custommade, as they have the sort
of different finishes that different fastests,the different styles they were probably used for
different applications. I'm just going topick this one up here. And actually
when this was first acquired, wenoticed that it had a whole drill down
in the bottom here, and Idon't know whether we can pick them up
in camera on I don't bring thatin a little bit and we can discover
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that it was actually drilled in itby the previous only who was really purposing
it from production from the chandelier withit. And so this is you know
where we talk about the fact thatthe sort of artifacts were by products of
the film leaking process. You know, they weren't sived of having any significance
either culturally, historically or any financialvalue to them, and so they've been
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held onto really just as something thatmight have a future utilities and futurisplication.
You know, this could have beenslipped into the top of a tube,
for example, which is why Imight have these Shamford edges here to stop
it dropping any further down into atube. As far as we're concerned,
and our perspective on these is thatthey would be more the set dressing style.
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So the fact that they don't havethose high polished, as I say,
sort of Shamford edges to them thatare really taken back to a gleam
leads me to believe that they wouldhave been more for dressing around a fortress
to solitude rather than one of thehero close up crystals themselves. I don't
know, do you guys feel thesame way about that? Yeah? Oh
absolutely. The biggest one looks tobe about eighteen inches long, and I've
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not seen too many that have moreof a flat appearance like that one.
They were likely in the fortress controlconsole but lit as you know, the
console was lit from below and ina variety of ways it could be enable
a neutral light or a red lightdepending on what was going on in the
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in the scene. Let's I wantto talk about those those Lex Luthor couplings
because Jim was able to in thelast couple of days get those screen matched,
which is great as close as wethink, But let's talk about those
as far as I'm a will wereworn towards the end of the film as
he comes face to face with asLex Luthor comes face to face with Superman.
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You know, details like this oritems that are made like this leave
very little to work with. SoI'm fascinated to hear how and where you've
pinned these down to because we'll golooking. I want to go on to
do deeper on this miss Tess Markercomes around behind Lex Luthor as he's on
the piano. He reaches forward tolook at the newspaper and his cufflings pop
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out, and there they are.Because survives with me, it is never
dull. It's never dulled. Soyou don't see them in the theatrical cut.
I even looked in many of thestills that I have, and you
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don't clearly see them. Now.Of course, he could have also worn
them in other scenes, and Idid check them, like when he's trying
to lay the Kryptonite on Superman inthe first film, or when he's playing
the piano. You must have beena beautiful baby. You really can't see
them even in stills, but thatwas the one spot where I did see
them. Let's let's talk a littlebit about that Superman miniature. I mean,
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that is just boy, that's fantastic. And Jim, I know that
in your world, if there isanything that you had your eye on,
it would be that. It's aboutsix inches long. It has a covered
I'm just going to turn it aroundso we can see the backness. So
we'll start with this side. Firstof all, it has a cloth covered
takes you can see a little bitof movement in Its very important for filming
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purpose is you know, if yourun a little bit of winds, a
little bit air over that while you'refilming the miniature like this, it introduces
an element of life to it,so it just doesn't look too solid.
The actual miniature itself constructed of probablya region of some stash spreads and fiberglass
something along on these lines, andthen it has a tiny little hole in
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the forehead which then comes out ofthe bats man. Then we go which
is where they would have run italong a filament of monofilament line, so
it actually would have had a monorunning right on through his body and then
they would just literally lip it alongfor one of the long shots, the
distance shots this is going to beused for, you know, at this
scale, it's not going to besomething that's going to look break that looks
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in front of that newspaper, doesn'tjust pick that up. Really, when
we get the chess, we cansee the belt is detailed on the chest
emblem on there as well. Youknow, I think the likelihood of ever
screen matching this though, Jim,would be unlikely because it's going have been
used for such long shots. Iremember, right, he just underneath him.
Maybe on the other side it's actuallya little bit of yeah, just
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a little bit of velcro and apad there as well. To know whether
that's original production whether or not that'swhere they were trying to hold the paint
down on one side and then aflap on the other or similar certainly old
and it's been there for quite sometime, so it's really interesting to see
that detail there too. So youwould say this has not been restored later
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and what we're looking at is originallyhow it looked when the production ended.
I think so, yeah, Jim, I mean I'm looking very closely at
this now, and the paint workand the finishing and the detail works right,
and ultimately, you know, wesee restoration on props, we see
restoration on costumes, and certainly whenit comes through props or where it's been
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undertaken sympathetically, but generally speaking,that's when we're seeing materials that degrade over
time, so things that have foam, latex and rubbers. And I know
that there was a full size Supermanflying Superman, you know, the complete
body that's six foot in length ormaybe more because the arms were outstretched that
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have gone through an extensive restoration process, and that's understandable because it is going
to degrade over time, and ifyou don't catch that at the right moment,
it means that there needs to beextensive work to bring it bad.
But in a sort of instance,when you're looking at something that is written
not future proof, but ultimately,I think, certainly within highlights and within
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our generation, we're not going tosee this degrade unless it's really mishandled,
unless it's left out in sunlight,bright light, under UV lights where you
might see the costs fade and thingslike that. But I think that's all
original condition. I mean, that'scertainly the way that it presents to me.
We're going to float down a pictureof our own here and this is
an autograph of Christopher Reeve. Jim. It's fun. Always tell Stephen a
little bit of it. Maybe Stephenknows this story. But there's something particular
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about that autograph. It is notonly signed to a Pinewood Studios employed,
but it's signed Love Chris. Andrarely do we see an autograph that said
love and Chris. It's usually ChristopherReeve signed to Joyce Whirley and Joyce was
the cafeteria supervisor or manager at PinewoodStudios, and he obviously adored her because
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I've seen two other autographs also signedby Chris to Joyce, and he had
a great sense of humor. Oneof them has a bubble, a word
bubble that says help, I'm afraidof heights. And then there's another one
where he's hugging her and he's signedthat photo and she's giggling on his lap.
So this is really really special thathe has signed yet a third photograph
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for Joyce, and it's just great. I loved the love Chris part of
it. So he had a lotof affection for her, obviously, I'm
about She was incredibly persistent. Couldyou get me his autograph? We wrap
up with We'll wrap up with somenewspapers. Yeah, absolutely. I think
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what's nice about the two that wecan see in shots? And actually there
is a third one behind here.So this this particular lot is two papers.
If I can separate them, therewe go two papers together. Those
two are a single lot. Thosetwo are a single lot. But if
we if we look at the twotogether, first of all, let's go
to the windsor they sorry, theDaily Planet in the White House surrenders.
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It actually has underneath it here theWheezery Eats and Express. So as I
just peel that back, caft outand George, whether you can get in
on that and see that this paperwas put together during the Richard Leicester years,
even though the photos on the frontare during the Richard Donner years.
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If you look closely in the DailyPlanet during the Richard Donner years, you
can actually see copies of the InternationalHerald Tribune laying around the offices. Wow,
brilliant. Well that's again I havea tip bit of information that's news
to me, which I love aboutit. But these are so presentable and
perhaps they're I mean that they've comeup in Lady missively over the last five
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ten years now. I remember whenI first discovered the pile of these,
which should probably go him back tothe late nineties, I would say was
the first time. I think.The story was that there was a container
left of pine with studios and theywent in to redevelop that particular area,
and there was a gentleman by thename of Nick Harrison who owned a company
called Weird and Wonderful. They werea higher company, they said Elstree Studios,
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and they basically got a cool saying, we've just cracked this container open.
Nobody knows what to do with it, their old production assets. You
want to come and clear them away. And I went to see him at
Elstree Studios and he had a stackon these things like that, and I
bought a lot of them, probablyhim at that time, and we were
selling them on our website I thinkat two hundred and fifty pounds, which
I suppose it's close to sort ofthree hundred dollars, maybe one hundred ninety
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five pounds, two hundred and fiftydollars something like that bear us today.
You know, some of these newspapersfetched four figures, which is just astonishing.
There's plenty of Superman finds at thisyear's prop Store auction again November nine
through the twelfth. It's going tobe fantastic, Stephen. We always love
our annual chat with you, andI know that the summer auction is always
great as well. We've got somegreat things there, but this entire auction,
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by the way, is going tobe great this year. And also
on Fox two and Detroit, we'llhave a more expanded look at just some
of the some of the big itemsfrom from Star Wars to Indiana Jones.
So if you're if you're watching orlistening to the Cape Flinders Superman podcast,
you want to see some of theother big items, you certainly can do
that and I'll post that as well. But on behalf of Jim and myself,
Stephen. It's great seeing you asalways, Gray, seeing you guys
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too. Thank you so much foryour time. As always, love chatting
with you, and I love findingout these extra details that we didn't know
before. Brilliant. It's fun,isn't it. We're gonna work. We're
gonna work for you. One day. You've been listening to the Cape Flinders
Superman podcast on the iHeartRadio app.Jay Towers is it Detroit TV anchor and
morning radio host on one hundred pointthree wn ICE Detroit. Follow Jay on
(28:02):
Instagram and Twitter at Jay Towers.Jim Bowers is the founder and editor of
capewonder dot com, the home ofCape Wonder Superman imagery. Follow Jim on
Instagram at Cape Wonder and on Twitterat Cape Wondered. Jim
Now the Cakewonder Superman Podcast with JayCowoys and Jim Bowoys on iHeart Radio.
Well, it's part two of ourAlberta adventure. And let's talk about the
farm. Jim, you were thereone time before. I visited the farm
and some of the other locations intwenty eleven. Right, and I wanted
(00:23):
to go in August because that wasthe prime time for that golden grain that
you see is technically called clola,and so I wanted to go the same
month they filmed in seventy seven becauseit was at its prime and it's golden
state as opposed to being more green. And that was at August twenty eleven.
And this is actually a photograph ofpanoramic, So this is twenty eleven,
(00:47):
twenty eleven, and right, andI stood out on the road as
you can see the roads right here, and I actually took a tripod and
shot sixteen separate vertical shots and thenstitched them together. And I shot about
six in the evening because I wantedthat golden light to hit that field and
to make everything so warm. Andso this is on canvas. Really really
(01:08):
happy with the way it turned out. Now today it has a fence here
okay, yeah right, yeah,yeah, right to the left of the
barn, and so it still looksabout the same as it always has been.
Showing off a bit, haven't youseen? I didn't mean to show
(01:34):
off hockey. That barn was built. What year the barn and the house,
all the structures is actually a littlebuilding as well in the bushes,
and you can see it in themovie. They were all built in nineteen
seventeen. So even some of thescouting photos that you've shown me right back
from seventy seven, seventy six,seventy early seventy seven. Yeah, Bill
(01:55):
Brody was the scouting guy and Igot I was fortunate enough to get all
the camera negatives from him, andthe farm was in pretty bad shape.
Yeah, I was just saying,I mean, I mean it's in rough
shape now. It's been through manywinters and and just wear and tear of
over the years. But it didn'tlook pristine then. No, it's probably
why they used it, right,And it was considered The notes with the
(02:19):
negative said derelict farm and uh,and it was scheduled to be torn down
after filming wrapped. Obviously that neverhappened. My understanding is the farm was
not used or lived in after nineteensixty four. It's it's it's amazing to
see. We reiterate to you againthat that is private property, so you
respect that area and you you checkit out from the road. That's really
(02:40):
I mean, that's how you seeit. That's how you see it in
the movie. And it really feelsamazing to stand there and check that out.
So hopefully it stays for years tocome right. Yeah, we really
hope it does. It's amazing thatover one hundred years, one hundred and
six years, it's withstood all ofthose harsh winters. And I recommend if
you're going to go there is togo either early in the morning or late
(03:06):
in the evening six o'clock, seveno'clock because the light is just fantastical.
We spend a day with our friendChris, who showed us around a couple
(03:29):
other locations, including Drumheller where thecemetery is. And no one told me
that we'd have to hike up ofthe hill. But I'm glad I had
my hiking boots brand new and Ibroke those in. I said, no
one told me about a lot ofhiking, but boy, you get up
to that hill super quiet. There'dbe no reason ever to go up there
(03:50):
if you didn't know about that place, and that I think in the whole
trip, that was the hardest placeto get to. I drove, and
I wouldn't remember how to get backthere. Right, it's very, very
secluded, like you said, ifyou just stand there and just stay silent
and take it all in, itis absolutely magnificent that the serenity of it
and the beauty of it. Youlook down that beautiful canyon. It's called
(04:12):
banyon or Bayn Baynen is the properpronunciation b e y and owen, And
there's just a few people who livedown there. Of course, in the
movie, you see some fifties carsdriving on the little road, and you
see a couple of those wood grainelevators, and a green one and a
white one. Well today they're notthere. However, Chris Doering told us
that the white grain elevator, whichhad two buildings, has been was separated
(04:36):
in the eighties and moved. Soif you're there and you do a one
one hundred and eighty degree turn fromthe canyon, you will see the two
buildings and two separate farms in adistance and without him we would have never
No. And there's also that kindof hill where the church would have been,
which was a miniature church. Imean on camera it looks like,
(04:59):
you know, it would be afo size, but we later learned through
behind the scenes photos that it wasactually bigger than you thought. It was
bigger. Yes, I would saythat ground to the steeple is maybe thirty
feet. Yeah, And if youwalk up there and then look down the
other side, you'll see in anotheramazing canyon down there. This big exposed
rocks is absolutely beautiful. One ofthe thing that we found that I never
(05:21):
saw and maybe it wasn't there thefirst time, is we found a rock
with an S shield painted on itright about where the cemetery location would have
been. Yeah, and we certainlydon't think that was production old. But
no, somebody paid tribute, buta very long time ago, because that
(05:43):
rock looks like it had been throughthe ringer right right. So other than
that, you would never know.We found some pieces of wood, maybe
from a surveyor, but there's nothingelse up there other than just the beauty.
If you want to wish and hopethat you do find something up there,
until you really think of how longit's been. You know, you
get up there, it's very freshin your mind. You've watched the movie
so many times July, there mustbe something here and just it's it's it's
(06:08):
forty five years longer than that.Actually, so the fact that it's still
there and the grounds at least lookvery similar fantastic. We also Chris took
us to the Alberta bad Lands capewonder fans. It's a good day for
(06:28):
us, but a bad day forJ and S. Moss service, right,
and it's it's really a bad dayfor Lois Lane and Margot Kidder.
In that nineteen seventy two Red FortLtd. People probably think we are in
the spot where that gas station blewup and Margot Kidder drove away. Guess
what we are, But it's notwhere you think, not at all.
In fact, we are in theAlberta bad Lands in Canada. Did you
(06:50):
know that some of the scenes withthe red car and Lois Lane were not
filmed in Gallup, New Mexico,But we're filmed in Alberta, that's right.
August nineteen seventy seven, While RichardDonner was off filming Smallville scenes,
Margot was right here filming the earthquakescenes after the guess was what's unbelievable is
(07:11):
you could be twenty minutes from hereand see nothing but farm land and feel
like you're in Kansas, and thentwenty minutes later you're here. It's like
coming into another world, right,It's fantastic. And you know what,
Our good friend Chris Staring found thislocation. He is the man who did
all the scouting work to find thisfor us, for all of the devoted
Superman fans out there, and we'reso grateful to Chris. Hey, Chris,
(07:32):
come here. He happens to behere. Chris, look at that
give away. Here's Chris. Let'stalk a little bit about High River.
We spent time in high River becauseone, that's where the hotel was,
and two, why that's where themuseum is. That's where the Lata Lang's
house is in Superman three. That'swhere we first see Chris exposed to Gus
(07:55):
Gorman's kryptonite. It's the spot wherewe see the Smallville class reunion. That's
right. High Rivers a very quaintlittle town, a lot of nice,
friendly people there. We've gotten toknow Irene Kerr, the curator, of
Museum of the Highwood, which isa museum right in the heart of the
town and that used to be anold train station and has since been renovated.
(08:16):
It's a beautifully done museum that honorsthe culture of the area and any
of the filming that went on.There's a lot of filming that goes on
in Canada, a lot in Calgaryand surrounding areas of Alberta. And there's
a small Superman display there right now. It's it's really it's it's special to
be there as well. And LunaLang's house. I mean, you can
(08:37):
see that beautiful just park right onthe side of the road. It's it's
right there, looks very much thesame. So that was a really fun
trip. Hopefully you watched our specialvideo on the Discovery Made Chiefs. I
mean the fact that even a portionof that original starship from forty five years
ago Superman, the movie that AaronSmolinsky comes out of that they screen matched,
(09:01):
has been in High River all along, in somebody's backyard as a planter
right at fact, it was anoriginal farm owner who had it all of
this time. And again it's justsort of the top half of the Starship.
We don't know exactly why it wascut off. Maybe it was just
too big to put in the backyard, but it sat in their garden for
many, many years and now themuseum owns it. Yeah, they gave
(09:24):
us a really exclusive first look.We had a lot of time with it.
We had to been there in ninetyminutes with that thing. But if
you want to watch that video,it's up acapewonder dot com. You can
see all the amazing detail, thenthe story there. I love the history
(10:11):
up there, and you're gonna wantto go to Bigdoer dot com, Big
d oe r dot com. Chrisand Connie have done marvelous work and documenting
and photographing old structures. They knowthe history of that place and so their
website's definitely worth a visit. Andthey've got a number of photographs from Superman
filming locations on their website. Allright now, the moment you've been waiting
(10:33):
for this year's prop store auction,our friend Stephen Lane and the ability to
find things every year, twice ayear for Superman fans, things like crystals,
things like miniatures, costumes, costumes, how about those costumes last year
have been almost a year since thatbeautiful Christopher custom mannequin full costume was auctioned
(10:58):
off. And whoever won that,I'm sure they are enjoying that a whole
lot. We don't know who thatis, don't it's okay, Nor do
we know who won the URSA SarahDouglas cost Oh boy, that's a beauty.
That said. Great chat with ourfriend Stephen Lane who gives us a
exclusive peak, and we will haveyou know that. Yes, we'll be
back with more podcasts definitely this yearand throughout next year, right, and
(11:20):
hopefully we'll be able to go tosome other locations throughout the world, Jay,
where they also filmed for these movies. Spectacular locations New York City,
of course, Richard Donner and thecrew went there to film all the Metropolis
scenes. We're also going to sendJim to where you know Superman gets the
flowers for Lois Lane and brings himback to Saint Lucia. We're going to
send him to Saint Lucia for thatone shot. Hey, we know people
(11:45):
that have been there, Jay,I bet yes we do. And they
said the waterfall is beautiful and Ithink they've renamed it the Superman water They
have and they also renamed the Canyonand Gallup, New Mexico, where Lois
Lane goes into crack during the earthquake. It's now called Superman Canyon. I
want to take us to get toGallup right now. We go straight east
(12:05):
six hours and it's gap next year. It's in the middle of nowhere,
all right. Check out Stephen Lane, our friend from Prop Store. The
big auctions coming up in November.Enjoy all the Superman items. We will
see you again on future podcast,but until then, stay sober, so
(12:30):
Jim, this is exciting. Novembernine through the twelve, the big Prop
Store auction is back from London.Our friend Stephen Lane, who always wows
us every year with great Superman memorabilia. Cape Wonder fans around the world love
this preview and we're pretty excited aboutit today. Right, And the variety
of things that Prop Store offers can'tbe beat. I mean, we never
know what to expect, and Stephenand his great team always delight us.
(12:54):
I don't know where you guys findthis stuff, but I'm so glad it's
been saved over the years. It'sjust tremendous, tremendous artifact. Oh thanks
Jim, I appreciate that. Thankyou. Jay's lovely to see you two
again as well. I always lovethis interview two and it is really tough
to keep finding this material, especiallyfrom this period of filmmaking now, right.
(13:16):
And the age range of these itemsfor the Christophery movie series would be
between nineteen seventy six, during thevery early days of production, where you
might see pre productions, storyboards andart and that sort of thing, when
they were still in Rome considering filmingthere, all the way through nineteen eighty
seven when Superman four hit the bigscreen in July of that year. Yeah,
(13:37):
and I think that that span theregives us a sort of a range
of sort of a ten year periodalmost of collective ages as well. So
you know, you have young peoplewho are interested in some of the later
films, older people are interested inthe earlier films. But I think,
you know, let's face it,Superman it just has that crossover appeal.
I will tell you. Over thelast year we have done three Green Chose
(14:00):
with Mark Pillow, who played NuclearMan, and he's really been excited to
meet fans who you know, innineteen eighty seven, if you were a
little kid and that was your firstSuperman movie. You little kids didn't care
about those special effects budgets and thisand that. They just know Nuclear Man
was a scary guy. And MarkPillow loves meeting those fans. And boy
does he love the fact that wejust talked last night that there is yet
(14:20):
another Nuclear Man costume out there andit's right there a prop store. Oh
it's a lovely suit. And Ibelieve that this would have been likely a
screen printing process, wouldn't it soactually getting all the dots in on this
George, you want to come ina tight on this movie. Wouldn't that
be a screen printing process to achievethat? Well, it might be,
(14:41):
But if you study the film closelyand also look at the other costumes you've
offered in the past, the dotsare never the same, particularly that silver
inn in the middle of the sun. The dot placement varies from costume to
last. Sometimes the point, forinstance, the left point bottom point sometimes
(15:05):
goes into the gold, but sometimesjust goes through the black. I wonder
how long it's going to take someof your following, some of your fans
to screen match this one too,particular scenemen. Let's move on to the
Statue of Liberty. This is stillsuch a cool piece and I'm so happy
to see it again. This wasalso used in multiple productions, Am I
(15:26):
right? Yes, that's right.It was actually originally built for a little
Shock of Horrors, So it wasbuilt for a sequence in the film that
eventually got part from the movie,and it was subsequently repurposed for Superman.
So we have another illustration there whichhas the Superman detailing on this wonderful class
as a model miniature, actually reallyquite a sizeable piece. Well, the
(15:52):
drawings are absolutely beautiful, Stephen.They're highly detailed. They would look fantastic
on the wall framed next to this. This is immense. Yeah, I
mean, look at the size ofthat pod that Jay's got sit in there
behind him. I think it needsa statue of Liberty right alongside. I
like our Stephen thinks, let's talkabout their kryptonite in front of you.
Amazing to see another one of these. We had one of these in last
(16:15):
year's auction. This is an versionfrom the one that we had last year,
obviously directly and parable from Superman three. This is the faux Kryptonite that's
created to try and deabilitate Superman andis sort of surprised upon him of course
in the movie. But a littlethe glow that we've got here with it
(16:36):
today. We just put a bigflighting on there to really show the color
through and you can see some ofthe sort of teching that's been done on
it as well, some of thedark patches in this, which is all
part of the dressing and detailing thatwas done by the production for effects purposes.
We often talk about crystals. Wemany of us have some crystals in
(16:56):
our collection. It's crazy that somestill come up. I mean, there
were a lot of them in thosefilms, so it's great that some have
made it through time. Is thisa set of three that you can get?
Yes, this is a set ofthree together, and you're absolutely right.
Look for set for the foot RisusObviitude set was huge. It was
a vast and there was a hugeamount that was constructed for it as well.
(17:18):
You know, these were all custommade, as they have the sort
of different finishes that different fastests,the different styles they were probably used for
different applications. I'm just going topick this one up here. And actually
when this was first acquired, wenoticed that it had a whole drill down
in the bottom here, and Idon't know whether we can pick them up
in camera on I don't bring thatin a little bit and we can discover
(17:41):
that it was actually drilled in itby the previous only who was really purposing
it from production from the chandelier withit. And so this is you know
where we talk about the fact thatthe sort of artifacts were by products of
the film leaking process. You know, they weren't sived of having any significance
either culturally, historically or any financialvalue to them, and so they've been
(18:06):
held onto really just as something thatmight have a future utilities and futurisplication.
You know, this could have beenslipped into the top of a tube,
for example, which is why Imight have these Shamford edges here to stop
it dropping any further down into atube. As far as we're concerned,
and our perspective on these is thatthey would be more the set dressing style.
(18:26):
So the fact that they don't havethose high polished, as I say,
sort of Shamford edges to them thatare really taken back to a gleam
leads me to believe that they wouldhave been more for dressing around a fortress
to solitude rather than one of thehero close up crystals themselves. I don't
know, do you guys feel thesame way about that? Yeah? Oh
absolutely. The biggest one looks tobe about eighteen inches long, and I've
(18:48):
not seen too many that have moreof a flat appearance like that one.
They were likely in the fortress controlconsole but lit as you know, the
console was lit from below and ina variety of ways it could be enable
a neutral light or a red lightdepending on what was going on in the
(19:11):
in the scene. Let's I wantto talk about those those Lex Luthor couplings
because Jim was able to in thelast couple of days get those screen matched,
which is great as close as wethink, But let's talk about those
as far as I'm a will wereworn towards the end of the film as
he comes face to face with asLex Luthor comes face to face with Superman.
(19:33):
You know, details like this oritems that are made like this leave
very little to work with. SoI'm fascinated to hear how and where you've
pinned these down to because we'll golooking. I want to go on to
do deeper on this miss Tess Markercomes around behind Lex Luthor as he's on
the piano. He reaches forward tolook at the newspaper and his cufflings pop
(19:53):
out, and there they are.Because survives with me, it is never
dull. It's never dulled. Soyou don't see them in the theatrical cut.
I even looked in many of thestills that I have, and you
(20:15):
don't clearly see them. Now.Of course, he could have also worn
them in other scenes, and Idid check them, like when he's trying
to lay the Kryptonite on Superman inthe first film, or when he's playing
the piano. You must have beena beautiful baby. You really can't see
them even in stills, but thatwas the one spot where I did see
them. Let's let's talk a littlebit about that Superman miniature. I mean,
(20:38):
that is just boy, that's fantastic. And Jim, I know that
in your world, if there isanything that you had your eye on,
it would be that. It's aboutsix inches long. It has a covered
I'm just going to turn it aroundso we can see the backness. So
we'll start with this side. Firstof all, it has a cloth covered
takes you can see a little bitof movement in Its very important for filming
(20:59):
purpose is you know, if yourun a little bit of winds, a
little bit air over that while you'refilming the miniature like this, it introduces
an element of life to it,so it just doesn't look too solid.
The actual miniature itself constructed of probablya region of some stash spreads and fiberglass
something along on these lines, andthen it has a tiny little hole in
(21:21):
the forehead which then comes out ofthe bats man. Then we go which
is where they would have run italong a filament of monofilament line, so
it actually would have had a monorunning right on through his body and then
they would just literally lip it alongfor one of the long shots, the
distance shots this is going to beused for, you know, at this
scale, it's not going to besomething that's going to look break that looks
(21:42):
in front of that newspaper, doesn'tjust pick that up. Really, when
we get the chess, we cansee the belt is detailed on the chest
emblem on there as well. Youknow, I think the likelihood of ever
screen matching this though, Jim,would be unlikely because it's going have been
used for such long shots. Iremember, right, he just underneath him.
Maybe on the other side it's actuallya little bit of yeah, just
(22:03):
a little bit of velcro and apad there as well. To know whether
that's original production whether or not that'swhere they were trying to hold the paint
down on one side and then aflap on the other or similar certainly old
and it's been there for quite sometime, so it's really interesting to see
that detail there too. So youwould say this has not been restored later
(22:26):
and what we're looking at is originallyhow it looked when the production ended.
I think so, yeah, Jim, I mean I'm looking very closely at
this now, and the paint workand the finishing and the detail works right,
and ultimately, you know, wesee restoration on props, we see
restoration on costumes, and certainly whenit comes through props or where it's been
(22:49):
undertaken sympathetically, but generally speaking,that's when we're seeing materials that degrade over
time, so things that have foam, latex and rubbers. And I know
that there was a full size Supermanflying Superman, you know, the complete
body that's six foot in length ormaybe more because the arms were outstretched that
(23:11):
have gone through an extensive restoration process, and that's understandable because it is going
to degrade over time, and ifyou don't catch that at the right moment,
it means that there needs to beextensive work to bring it bad.
But in a sort of instance,when you're looking at something that is written
not future proof, but ultimately,I think, certainly within highlights and within
(23:32):
our generation, we're not going tosee this degrade unless it's really mishandled,
unless it's left out in sunlight,bright light, under UV lights where you
might see the costs fade and thingslike that. But I think that's all
original condition. I mean, that'scertainly the way that it presents to me.
We're going to float down a pictureof our own here and this is
an autograph of Christopher Reeve. Jim. It's fun. Always tell Stephen a
little bit of it. Maybe Stephenknows this story. But there's something particular
(23:55):
about that autograph. It is notonly signed to a Pinewood Studios employed,
but it's signed Love Chris. Andrarely do we see an autograph that said
love and Chris. It's usually ChristopherReeve signed to Joyce Whirley and Joyce was
the cafeteria supervisor or manager at PinewoodStudios, and he obviously adored her because
(24:18):
I've seen two other autographs also signedby Chris to Joyce, and he had
a great sense of humor. Oneof them has a bubble, a word
bubble that says help, I'm afraidof heights. And then there's another one
where he's hugging her and he's signedthat photo and she's giggling on his lap.
So this is really really special thathe has signed yet a third photograph
(24:42):
for Joyce, and it's just great. I loved the love Chris part of
it. So he had a lotof affection for her, obviously, I'm
about She was incredibly persistent. Couldyou get me his autograph? We wrap
up with We'll wrap up with somenewspapers. Yeah, absolutely. I think
(25:03):
what's nice about the two that wecan see in shots? And actually there
is a third one behind here.So this this particular lot is two papers.
If I can separate them, therewe go two papers together. Those
two are a single lot. Thosetwo are a single lot. But if
we if we look at the twotogether, first of all, let's go
to the windsor they sorry, theDaily Planet in the White House surrenders.
(25:25):
It actually has underneath it here theWheezery Eats and Express. So as I
just peel that back, caft outand George, whether you can get in
on that and see that this paperwas put together during the Richard Leicester years,
even though the photos on the frontare during the Richard Donner years.
(25:47):
If you look closely in the DailyPlanet during the Richard Donner years, you
can actually see copies of the InternationalHerald Tribune laying around the offices. Wow,
brilliant. Well that's again I havea tip bit of information that's news
to me, which I love aboutit. But these are so presentable and
perhaps they're I mean that they've comeup in Lady missively over the last five
(26:10):
ten years now. I remember whenI first discovered the pile of these,
which should probably go him back tothe late nineties, I would say was
the first time. I think.The story was that there was a container
left of pine with studios and theywent in to redevelop that particular area,
and there was a gentleman by thename of Nick Harrison who owned a company
called Weird and Wonderful. They werea higher company, they said Elstree Studios,
(26:33):
and they basically got a cool saying, we've just cracked this container open.
Nobody knows what to do with it, their old production assets. You
want to come and clear them away. And I went to see him at
Elstree Studios and he had a stackon these things like that, and I
bought a lot of them, probablyhim at that time, and we were
selling them on our website I thinkat two hundred and fifty pounds, which
I suppose it's close to sort ofthree hundred dollars, maybe one hundred ninety
(26:53):
five pounds, two hundred and fiftydollars something like that bear us today.
You know, some of these newspapersfetched four figures, which is just astonishing.
There's plenty of Superman finds at thisyear's prop Store auction again November nine
through the twelfth. It's going tobe fantastic, Stephen. We always love
our annual chat with you, andI know that the summer auction is always
great as well. We've got somegreat things there, but this entire auction,
(27:15):
by the way, is going tobe great this year. And also
on Fox two and Detroit, we'llhave a more expanded look at just some
of the some of the big itemsfrom from Star Wars to Indiana Jones.
So if you're if you're watching orlistening to the Cape Flinders Superman podcast,
you want to see some of theother big items, you certainly can do
that and I'll post that as well. But on behalf of Jim and myself,
Stephen. It's great seeing you asalways, Gray, seeing you guys
(27:37):
too. Thank you so much foryour time. As always, love chatting
with you, and I love findingout these extra details that we didn't know
before. Brilliant. It's fun,isn't it. We're gonna work. We're
gonna work for you. One day. You've been listening to the Cape Flinders
Superman podcast on the iHeartRadio app.Jay Towers is it Detroit TV anchor and
morning radio host on one hundred pointthree wn ICE Detroit. Follow Jay on
(28:02):
Instagram and Twitter at Jay Towers.Jim Bowers is the founder and editor of
capewonder dot com, the home ofCape Wonder Superman imagery. Follow Jim on
Instagram at Cape Wonder and on Twitterat Cape Wondered. Jim
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