March 23, 2025 • 30 mins
In this special edition of the Caped Wonder Superman Podcast, Jay Towers and Jim Bowers travel to Los Angeles to visit the legendary Prop Store, where they finally meet CEO and founder Stephen Lane—along with his incredible team, including Prop Store’s Jamie Jamitkowski.This unforgettable episode features iconic reunions and rare treasures from the Superman film legacy:
Mark Pillow, a.k.a. Nuclear Man from Superman IV, reunites for the first time in decades with actor Jon Cryer, who played Lenny Luthor! Together, they come face to face with their original screen-worn costumes from the film.
Paul Kaethler, who portrayed little Ricky Lang in Superman III, is stunned to see the infamous evil Superman costume up close—expected to fetch between $200,000 and $400,000 at auction.
Jay and Jim also explore other amazing Superman props featured in this year’s Prop Store auction, offering fans a behind-the-scenes look at these cinematic treasures. Watch the full episode at CapedWonder.com and on the FOX Local app. Just search Caped Wonder Prop Store Preview.
Mark Pillow, a.k.a. Nuclear Man from Superman IV, reunites for the first time in decades with actor Jon Cryer, who played Lenny Luthor! Together, they come face to face with their original screen-worn costumes from the film.
Paul Kaethler, who portrayed little Ricky Lang in Superman III, is stunned to see the infamous evil Superman costume up close—expected to fetch between $200,000 and $400,000 at auction.
Jay and Jim also explore other amazing Superman props featured in this year’s Prop Store auction, offering fans a behind-the-scenes look at these cinematic treasures. Watch the full episode at CapedWonder.com and on the FOX Local app. Just search Caped Wonder Prop Store Preview.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi everyone, I'm Jay Towers and I'm Jim Bowers, and
this is a special edition of the Caped Wonder Superman
Podcast from the Prop Store in Los Angeles.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Now the Cape Wonders Superman Podcast with Jay Cowers and
Jim Bowers on Iinheart Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Hi everyone, and welcome here. We are our first time
at the Prop Store in Los Angeles. We've been talking
to our friends for many years at Prop Store about
the great Superman auction items and to actually be here
today ahead of the big auction coming up next week
pretty exciting.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Jim Bowers all so exciting.
Speaker 4 (00:34):
I'm really glad that we got this to happen, make
it a reality, to finally be here and be with
some of these beautiful artifacts behind us, in particular this
Superman Evil cost and complete, which is just remarkable. We
don't see this very often in the Superman collecting world,
(00:54):
and I'm just so grateful that they gave us this
opportunity to actually stand here in front of but we're
just surrounded by some beautiful thanks.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
What's exciting about this episode is if you're listening to
it right now, you know you're listening on the iHeartRadio app,
which is fantastic. It's the place that houses our podcast,
but for the first time, you're also watching it on
Fox Local, so make sure you check that out and
you get to see some of the great things we're
talking about and some of the special guests that we have.
In addition to our friends from Prop Store, we have
(01:24):
two special guests today that will be joining us to
be reconnected with some of the costumes that you see
behind us here today and the special stories. And that's
what we love, Jim, we love the stories behind what
we're seeing.
Speaker 4 (01:36):
Absolutely, nostalgia is its immeasurable how much of that is
people connect with And I just can't wait to show
show everybody what we've got here today. It's just a
Nuclear Man Lenny from Superman for just incredible Jay and
they're wonderful people.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Wonderful people love them. An amazing auction. So that said,
let's get going with our prop Store auction preview of
all the Superman items you can find this year. Lenny,
what the great John Cryer has arrived, Lenny Luthor himself
is here, and there's Mark Pillow Nuclear Man. So good
(02:17):
to see you and you're.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Still really tall. Thanks right, Wow, I have no idea.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
How where on earth did you get this from? I
do Okay, what on lex? The last time you saw
this was probably when you.
Speaker 5 (02:35):
Were it Yeah eighty six.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
I was so so skinny.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
But wow, wow, that is great to see you remember,
nuclear dude exactly.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Yeah, you're just an experiment.
Speaker 6 (02:46):
Freaking I'm an experiment.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
The thing about Superman four, when you get past the
budget issues and the problems that Superman four had, it
was the last time we got to see Christopher Reeve
in a Superman costume. It is special to know that
that movie does have its place in history.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
Oh.
Speaker 6 (03:06):
Absolutely.
Speaker 5 (03:07):
For me. I came to the movie as a fan,
as a Superman fan. I mean I was when I was,
you know, fourteen years old. I saw the first Superman
movie and it changed my life and it made me
want to be in movies. So actually sharing the screen
with Christopher Reeve at all was this incredible honor for me,
and I could not I mean, he would sit around
(03:28):
on the set, you know, because he's in the Superman
outfit still, and you know, he'd be all casual, just
hanging out, and I just could not believe it. Every
day I showed up for work and I was like,
I cannot believe that I'm.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Just hanging out and.
Speaker 5 (03:41):
There's Christopher Reeve just just being superman, you know, having
a donut, you know.
Speaker 6 (03:48):
Plenty, my loud mouth nephew.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
He gets his energy from the sun without it.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
He's like you at night.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
This is year we lost Gene Hackman sadly, and you
both spent a lot of time with Gene.
Speaker 5 (04:01):
Yes, that was a thrill as well. He kind of
had a reputation coming in as a very tough guy,
you know, in a super serious actor, because you know,
he has this amazing body of work, but he wasn't
like that on the set. That was your impression of
him as exactly.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
We were just talking about actually going to lunch with
him and actually hearing and seeing the softer side of
Gene because we're so used to that brusque personality of his,
and he was incredible. Your was he something to watch.
Ye see him get to the set like an hour
before everybody else. He's blocking moving around. You're going, oh, yeah,
that's how it's done.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
You hope that you're raising your game.
Speaker 5 (04:34):
But it's so funny because I would be distracted because
I would just be watching him work and I'm like,
oh wait, I have to act, And I think I
think that explains some of my work in the movie.
This movie obviously was a lot lighter in terms of
where Lex Luthor was in it, and that was that
was fun to be a part.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
Of where the hell is this and how the hell
do I get the Theedter City. Well, this costume John
is the very first time you make your appearances, Lenny,
when you rescue Jeane or break came out or.
Speaker 5 (05:01):
They came out of jail and kill a couple of
police officers.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
And I was like wow.
Speaker 5 (05:12):
And I remember the first time I saw this, this
this costume, I was like, oh, oh, that's who this
guy is. I mean, it's interesting because costume designers really
bring so much to your characters, right, And I had originally,
you know, when we had talked about making him, I
originally sort of wanted him to be a bit of
a stoner, but they said, no, no, heavy metal is
(05:34):
sort of is much more fun, and I agreed, Yeah,
it is making him this kind of heavy metal guy.
Speaker 4 (05:41):
Nuclear man's costume when you make your first appearance and
land in front of Jean and John and Chris, this
is the very costume that you're wearing. And it's what's
so amazing about these is not each costume is unique,
just like Chris's s, each end or the sun on
(06:02):
the chest is unique to that particular costume. Because each
one of these little circles was hand applied, and we
were able to id this tunic based on what we
see here. You're also wearing this one when you kick
him at the base of the statue of Liberty and
knock his caape off. So this is just beautiful, beautiful condition.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
It's amazing about putting on a costume. You become. You
step out with this on and you just transform yourself.
You're walking with that on, and first people in front
of you tend to part in front of you as
you walk by when something like that, and you can
obviously see it probably still fit, maybe tight in the
wrong places, maybe a little loose in the wrong places. Yeah,
you can slip into it right now.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
And the boots are a big deal too, because those
those boots have plugs in the back of them for
that which these metal plates at the bottom.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Yes they are, so we had this would heat up
the plates in the bottom and shooting this direction so
you don't see a zipper, and then there'll be another
pair zippers in the back moving toward the camera. But
you can see the plates on the back on the bottom,
and probably a bit of the set has made its
way to California and this is where you plugged it
in to heat up the plates.
Speaker 5 (07:09):
I'm just remembering these pants because these are our leather
I guess, but I had not experienced wearing leather pants
for extended lengths of time, and how sweaty they may.
They also have a particular smell which is impossible to
describe at this moment, but I have affection for this costume.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
John, do you remember that last scene of Superman four
were you and Jean are in the car and you've
signed this picture before. The two of you are in
the car and Superman picks up the car and flies away.
But that was filmed on an actual highway. Do you
remember any of that? Oh?
Speaker 5 (07:44):
Yes, that was the very first day of shooting. Oh
so this was my introduction into being in a Superman movie.
Was they wired this open top roadster to a construction crane,
literally lifted it up with me and happened in the car.
I don't recall any kind of safety harnesses or anything.
(08:06):
And then they wired Christopher Reeve underneath the car so
they could literally fly it away. And I thought, Wow,
this is how they're going to do all these effects.
They're going to literally have these things happen.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
We lex, You're not going to believe this.
Speaker 5 (08:21):
I was so nervous because I was in the car
with Jane and I didn't know the guy, and so
there was.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
A lot of small talk, you know.
Speaker 5 (08:29):
I hesitated to ask all the millions of questions I
wanted to ask of Gene Hackman. Those took like that.
When we were actually shooting in the top of the
building set. That was when I finally started getting up
the nerve to ask him about French connection and everything
I wanted to talk to him about. But it was
(08:49):
an amazing first day for me. It was just absolutely
blew my mind.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
It would never film a scene like that today.
Speaker 5 (08:56):
No, No, it would be green screen and no, it
would be in same to do it that way.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Do you think you can help him?
Speaker 6 (09:03):
Every boy can be helped Superman.
Speaker 7 (09:04):
I think you're right.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Good luck son, this is really special today. We're really
excited that John Cryer stopped by Mark Pillow. It is
great to always see you. Superman fans wanted this so badly.
Speaker 5 (09:14):
Yeah, I'm so. The amount of affection for the movie
has been really lovely because obviously it was troubled.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
I always shot it.
Speaker 5 (09:21):
And uh, you know, but you know, when you see
something as a child, it becomes a part of you
in a way that's just different.
Speaker 6 (09:31):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (09:32):
And and that that Mark and I have had a
chance to be a part of people's childhoods is an
incredible gift.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Meeting John and having John to play with on this
on Lex's Layer was just unforgettable. Those times will never
leave me and you have it all kind of coming
back around again. Interest in all this again has been
truly wonderful.
Speaker 6 (09:51):
The Dude of Steel, The Dude of Steel. Yeah, the reboot.
I'm waiting The Dude of Steel.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
You're gonna get it. Hey, this is the moment we've
been waiting for. We've known Stephen Lane for such a
long time. He's always so great with Superman fans to
come and do the Cape Thunder Superman podcast, plus we
do all this other television stuff. But it's exciting to
finally be We haven't been to the UK location, but
to be here in la is pretty exciting and great
(10:22):
to finally meet you in person.
Speaker 8 (10:23):
That's awesome, man, Thank you so much, you guys for
coming out today. We're really really excited about this.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Great.
Speaker 6 (10:29):
Great to see you man.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Great seeing you. And we know, Jim Bowers you've known.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
Forever, forever since the late nineties before Prop Store.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Way back.
Speaker 6 (10:37):
Yeah, I know, we're talking about it analog days.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
Analog days we talk on the phone.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Yeah, absolutely, What exactly is this?
Speaker 8 (10:44):
Well, for the Superman films, well, one of the important
things and the techniques that they were working with is
really how to get the flying scenes work for everybody.
So there are a lot of different processes and approaches
that they used for this. Some of that was, of
course actually having Christopher Reeve in an outfit in a rig,
strapped in harnessed, et cetera. But this is one of
the miniatures that they created for filming, and so they
(11:05):
created these in a bunch of different scales. I would
expect that this was probably created or certainly Derek Meddings
and his team would have been involved with it. He's
sort of models guy. This also could have fallen under
special effects though as well, so it's difficult to know
exactly which department would have made it. But I suppose
this is probably what I like a half scale miniature.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Would you say, yeah, But I mean when you think
of miniatures in general, I mean, like we've seen this
in the catalog. Did you have any idea was this big?
No idea.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
I thought maybe it was maybe a couple of feet long,
a foot long maybe, And we've seen smaller ones over
the years. Yeah, yeah, but Colin Schilvers, who was also
in charge of physical effects, he may have also been
involved with this with Derek, yes, because they're many are
more radio controlled.
Speaker 8 (11:50):
Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely, And you're right. So we've seen
miniatures sort of down this sort of size, and then
I've got one back in my office in the UK
which is about this sort of size. But this is
the largest I've ever seen. And I think what's extra
special about this is, of course it's mechanical, isn't it.
So it has all this engineering that gets got into
it as well, which we'll have a look at a second.
It's it's got all of the rig that's built into
(12:10):
the back there, which is the cape flapping rig, isn't
it So to try and get something like this to
look as real as possible they wanted to. I suppose
it introduced some animation, some life to it, so they
would have been blowing wind at it, so that would
have been roughling the cape in one respect, but this
actually would have been flapping away, so the arms that
had been rotating up and down for it.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
And Jim we were noticing that the texture of the
costume is interesting. Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
In fact, it appears to be the same fabric used
for Christopher Reeve's costume, same color, same waffle weave, that
bridal weight spandex that we're all familiar with now thanks
to some costumes coming up in auction in the past.
So this is a beautiful replica, if you will, of
Christopher Reeve. Of course, not meant to be shot close up.
(12:58):
It's meant to be shot at a distance. But he
also used a full scale cape flapper, so I would
have the same motion, same look is what Christopher Reeve himself,
you know, when he was flying.
Speaker 8 (13:11):
Yeah, absolutely, and I think, yeah, I mean, you've picked
it up perfectly. So the costume fabric here identical to
the version that we see on the Hero suits as well.
I think some of the other elements of it as well.
We can pick out like the popper on the top
of the shoulder here that's identical to the version that's
used on the full size, full size costume.
Speaker 6 (13:28):
The boots.
Speaker 8 (13:29):
The construction of the boots there looks again very very comparable,
the way the leather looks incredibly similar. So you've got
to assume that the costume department Angels sorry Berman's and
Nathan's who would have been making the costumes at the time,
they would have been tasked with making this at the
same time as making the full Sells version as well.
And interesting enough, the smaller scale version that I have
in my office back in the UK again is the
(13:51):
same fabric.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
Right, And it's incredible for scenes who are only a
few seconds long that this would appear in all the
work and crast that went into to making these these real,
these organic, real things, as opposed to today with CGI.
So I'm just I'm rather in awe of these artists
(14:13):
who create these beautiful artifacts.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Anything you see prop store right now, especially for this
upcoming auction, you can't help but notice there is, and
rightfully so, a pricey Superman three Evil costume. But boy,
oh boy, if you have that, I mean you have
it all I mean this is this is iconic, Stephen.
Speaker 6 (14:33):
It is.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (14:34):
I think this is the one and only Evil Superman
costume that's ever come up to market. We saw is
sold and said a number of years ago. It's the
first time that we've handled it. It's actually been in
a private collection in the UK since it's sold originally.
And this is a spectacular costume. All of the components
are there, it's it's completed its entirety, and let me
(14:54):
just start and if.
Speaker 6 (14:54):
I just jump in here, come across.
Speaker 8 (14:57):
So yeah, I think what's noticeable about this? In fact,
it's great to have the two costumes here together, Superman one,
Superman three, Evil Superman, Regular Superman, super super How do
you want to put it? The color grading is really
apparent when you get the two together, when you actually
have this standing on its own. It's interesting because you
can't really tell that quite so clearly. To the untrained eye,
(15:20):
this might just look like a regular Superman costume, but
they had this grading sequence for the colors right the
way through. I think it was a to E and
I think this is an need.
Speaker 6 (15:27):
So there's a need. This is an ease, and that's labeled.
Speaker 8 (15:30):
Within all of the garments within the costume as well,
And of course that's a reference to the fact that
the kryptonite was remade, wasn't it so as fabricated? He
Richard Pryor's character Gus introduced tar into the mix. Maybe
that's why it became a little bit black. Nobody really knows,
but I think it's just a wonderful enson see together
(15:51):
and great seeing the two to reference like that as well.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
And it's complete, Stephen.
Speaker 4 (15:55):
That's the beautiful thing about this is you get everything,
the boots, the belt, the cape. The cape in fact
is a flying cape with the pockets for the full
scale cape flapper, which is just beautiful that you have
that with this and on a beautiful mannequin display.
Speaker 7 (16:12):
You get it all.
Speaker 4 (16:14):
And I had an opportunity to spend a few weeks
with this costume at my house in twenty seventeen. I
photographed it and I was just remarkable.
Speaker 6 (16:24):
I'm really well labeled as well, very well labeled.
Speaker 8 (16:27):
Yeah, and I think the only part element that's not
got the labeling is the belts. But you can see
where the glue residue it was, yes, Yeah, So at
one point in Sawim it did have the belt label
as well. But yeah, really a cracking costume. I think
it's one of the nicest that we've seen come to market.
And now it's scream matched as well, isn't it.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
Absolutely it's when he leaves the bar from his drinking experience,
right before he takes off and lands in the junk yard.
So that's why it's the darkest color, because he was
at his most evil point in the movie.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Yeah, we often ask you this question. We often say,
come back over this one here, But we often say,
is it possible that we're going to see more of
these things? But every year we see more of things?
Does it shock you in the business in general? Does
it shock you every year the new things you find?
Speaker 6 (17:15):
It shocks me, But be it pleases me.
Speaker 8 (17:17):
Yeah, because I can tell you you know, I lie
awake at night wondering where the great content is going
to come from for the next sale. So when pieces
like this do come to us, And we knew about
this particular suit maybe for about a year or eighteen
months before the consigner decided to pull the trigger and
let it go, and so we went on a journey
with that. You know, the conversations will it won't it,
and then you know this is coming from a different source,
(17:37):
and then the Kryptonite Crystal's coming from a different source,
and the script's coming from a different source, and so
you know, you never really know what's going to come together.
And sometimes we've got very little to show you. This time,
we have abundance of great things, don't we.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
You really really do even right right, the script, the
artwork from Superman three that no one I think has
ever seen. It's just remarkable every year what you unearthed
and review to the world.
Speaker 6 (18:00):
And it gives us a great chance to get together
and check.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
Yeah, there you go. I'm thrilled that we finally are
doing this.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Stephen, all right, So up next we we're gonna bring
in a special guest that has a little something to
do with that evil Superman three costume that I think
will surprise you. But here's what we'll do. We'll give
you a famous line and see if you can make
the connection. Watch Superman tell me?
Speaker 6 (18:20):
Won't heard anybody?
Speaker 2 (18:21):
He's changed?
Speaker 1 (18:22):
No, maybe it's just sick.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
And we've got Paul Kayler with us today. Of course
little Ricky from Superman three, and this very costume was
worn when Christopher Reeve, goes to the bar, gets drunk,
and then runs down the street after he barks at everybody.
Speaker 7 (18:37):
Right, Paul, what are you look? You'll be great again,
You'll be great again.
Speaker 9 (18:42):
You're just at a slump. You just a I don't
really remember my lines from when you.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Go to grocery stores? Are people asking you to do
these lines?
Speaker 6 (18:50):
No, not at all.
Speaker 9 (18:52):
Nobody really recognizes me at the grocery store anymore.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
Are you a master of flicking peanuts? Yeah?
Speaker 7 (19:00):
Yes, often often.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
Well, this costume is so amazing. It's rare that you
see number one in evil costume, but number two this
is a complete costume, cape, boots, belt, the whole shebang.
And this is actually a flying cape that goes with it.
So it's remarkable that all these years later, Paul, you're
standing with it. You're reuniting with it, if you will.
Speaker 7 (19:23):
Well, when he we were in the cab, you know,
in the in.
Speaker 10 (19:26):
The sets, and I poke my head out to say, hey,
there's Superman, and and then of course I rush over
and and and give my spiel to him as as
he's stumbling out of the bar, and and and it
was stumbling. It was it was quite it was quite
interesting to see that because I'd done a number of
other scenes with Chris and and obviously that character wasn't there,
(19:46):
and so now all of a sudden, You've got this bad,
bad character and it was it was neat.
Speaker 4 (19:51):
So yeah, obviously having a bad day from the expression
on Chris's face in the photograph, totally.
Speaker 10 (19:57):
I actually clicked the switch on the on the soundstage
for the explosions when he was flicking the peanuts.
Speaker 7 (20:03):
I pressed the button, So that was that was fascinating.
Speaker 4 (20:07):
Oh so when it hit right right exactly, so when
the peanuts hit the glass on the bottles, they set
off explosions.
Speaker 7 (20:14):
Yeah, and that was done in the in the set
in London, and you set them on. I pressed the button.
Speaker 4 (20:19):
So wow, that's quite an honor at.
Speaker 6 (20:21):
Least one of the takes.
Speaker 7 (20:23):
They may have done others I can't remember.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
As you look at this listen, I know it was
a long time ago when you film the scene and
it is part of our pop culture history and nostalgia
and all those things. But you look at that picture
and you think of that scene and then you actually
see this costume, which again there's not many people that
can say, oh, I was there that day when he
wore that costume. But as you look at it, does
it unlock anything that is bringing something back to you
to see it actually in person again, Yeah.
Speaker 7 (20:45):
There's there's certainly some memories memories.
Speaker 10 (20:48):
There that you know, you go, wow, that was a
pretty iconic day, pretty iconic for myself to to just
be part of this. But yeah, the whole, the whole,
the darkness of it was the sort of the trigger
to me that really it is that evilness that it
came out and it was so different from the rest
of it. And to see him come out of that
bar that you know, that first step, You're.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
Like, wow, what are you looking at?
Speaker 6 (21:10):
Huh, Like I've got shivers right now.
Speaker 7 (21:12):
Just yeah, And I don't like, I don't.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Do this every day.
Speaker 6 (21:15):
Oh I remember being in the movie.
Speaker 10 (21:17):
But you know, you come and you look at this
stuff and you and you and you, and you see
the prop story here, all the rest of the stuff,
and you're like, wow, this is this is pretty amazing.
Speaker 4 (21:25):
We're surrounded by some incredible art.
Speaker 6 (21:27):
Believes here. No, it's neat.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
That's me All this time later, even now, when when
you meet fans or fans reach out to you, what
do they like to talk to you about what are
some of the questions that you that you get most often?
Speaker 10 (21:46):
A lot of it was you know, how has Christopher
who worked for you know or work with and and
you know, and what was he like? And he was
a calm, nice guy, right, and and we had just
normal conversations about life and you know, what are we
going to work on in this scene? But I mean
I was eleven, right, so you know, I wasn't talking
about deep, deep sort of things on the set, but
(22:07):
pretty normal stuff.
Speaker 7 (22:08):
What was an edo tool?
Speaker 4 (22:09):
Like?
Speaker 10 (22:10):
You met Richard pryor what was he like? And he
was fantastic actually, so funny enough. I mean, I haven't
been in any other movies, so but you know, he asked,
what other kind of movies have you been?
Speaker 6 (22:20):
You know, you know when me mad? Hey, nothing?
Speaker 7 (22:22):
Oh really, he was just a nice, calm, kind guy,
so really interesting. What was life like on the set?
Speaker 6 (22:30):
What did you do?
Speaker 7 (22:32):
You know, all that kind of day to day sort
of things around around what that looked like?
Speaker 10 (22:36):
And I've got to go back into my memory banks
and remember that a little bit too, because it has
been a long time.
Speaker 4 (22:43):
And you're one of the few people in the world
who can say you've flown with Christopher.
Speaker 10 (22:48):
Yeah, we did a little not a screen test, but
a little test of flying. The scene where he's you know,
picks me up, that was one. They put me in
a harness to to actually give that a go in
the studio. That was pretty fun. So but the joke
at the Blackie site when he picked me up from
the wheat field there, you know, he picked me up
(23:09):
physically and lifted me off the ground only a few
feet to get that take.
Speaker 6 (23:13):
But I said, well, at least we know Superman can
lift I don't know what it was eighty five minutes, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 7 (23:19):
So, yeah, it was fun.
Speaker 6 (23:20):
It was really neat.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Paul Tayler, it is great seeing you. How wonderful to
have you out here in Los Angeles and be a
part of the Prop Store auction and reconnect you with
this great moment in Superman history. It's great, Saniel, Thank you, cheers,
so long, Ricky bye. Oh there's plenty more Superman items
in this year's Prop Store auction. Jamie joins us now
(23:43):
to talk about some of those things that we might
have missed. It's always great to see you.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
Thank you so much, thanks for coming back.
Speaker 6 (23:48):
Out.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
You know, we love anything to do with that Fortress
of Solitude, a favorite set of myself. Jim, what are
we looking at over here? So we have one of the.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
Crystals from the Fortress of Solitude.
Speaker 6 (23:59):
We can take this out.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
This is a Crystal of Knowledge that is from the Fortress.
Speaker 11 (24:04):
As we mentioned earlier, if you look at the base,
there is a little hole down at the bottom that
could be used to mount it, because as we know,
in the Fortress, the crystals in general h stood straight up.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
And this is from the original nineteen seventy eight Superman.
The Crystal of.
Speaker 4 (24:18):
Knowledge absolutely stunning and it's huge, much larger than most
people probably imagine it would be.
Speaker 11 (24:24):
Right because if you remember in the movie the whole
crystal set up, there were multiple heights and size of crystal,
so this is obviously one of the larger ones that
probably sat a little bit bigger, gave it a little
bit more elevation, so it stood out in the display.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Yeah, it looks fantastic.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
Then from below, yes exactly, Yeah, amazing it really is.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
While you put that down, we'll admire this blue script
next to the crystal, and you can tell us what
that's all about.
Speaker 11 (24:48):
We are so fortunate a prop story that for entertainment
memorabilia live auctions, we do get a huge range of
items from you guys have talked about the big costumes,
but we love getting in things like this, especially for
an older classic movie like Superman.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
But this is one of the original scripts from Superman.
Speaker 11 (25:07):
And if you flip through, what I love about scripts
is as a movie fan, as you start to flip through,
you just you remember the scenes, like you start reading
I remember this, and you almost can start hearing the
characters and the scenes and the music in your head.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
You take it a step further, you follow along with
the movie. It's fun to do as well.
Speaker 11 (25:24):
That's an amazing thing to do too. Or set up
a little show in your backyard and you can do
Superman live.
Speaker 4 (25:29):
And what's interesting about this particular script is it doesn't
start off with the comic book.
Speaker 6 (25:36):
At the front.
Speaker 4 (25:37):
Right at the beginning, Lois Lane does not die.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
In this version.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
Superman shoots up from underneath the earth and pulls her
car out of the crack Wow. And it ends in
a cliffhanger where the villains are freed from the Phantom
Zone from the rocket Superman hurls in space.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
Oh that's amazing.
Speaker 11 (25:55):
See I haven't had a chance to read through the
entire script yet, so this so now right this, if
I win it in the auction, I can read through it,
and we can read it to you.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Go, we're just the Superman nerd you were looking for, Jamie,
just so you know. And then there's another script.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
Tell us about that one, Yes, Jim should tell us
all about it.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
You bet, Jim, you probably know.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
James's about this one.
Speaker 4 (26:15):
This is a July nineteen seventy six script. This is
before Richard Donner was brought on as director, before Tom
Mankowitz was brought on to do rewrites. And this one
is for Superman two, written by David and Leslie Newman,
and so it's vastly different from the final shooting script
that we all know about for Superman two. This is
(26:37):
absolutely fascinating. Some of these scripts actually feature four villains
instead of three. Interesting, So this is a real prize.
I really, it's funny. I happened to open up to
a page if you get in on that. He's actually
an extended conversation between Luthor and Joe.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
Elland wow in the scene.
Speaker 11 (26:52):
Wow in the scene, and you said you meant obviously
a change over time, because I don't recall that being
you know, a key scene in the movie.
Speaker 6 (26:59):
That's great.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Yeah, there's some artwork too. We always love when we
see artwork, especially artwork that we know is created for
a production, but we've never seen related to the production.
So really, we're going to angle bat in a way
where we don't get a lot of light on it.
But I think how we're doing does that look good? Yeah?
Tell us about this.
Speaker 11 (27:18):
So this is some of the original artwork that they
ended up not using for Superman three. And what's funny
is until we say that, you might think what is it?
And then you can actually see though that is the
three embedded in the Superman crest, and then behind it
we actually have the original sketches.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
Wow, all based on the crystal shield originally used in
the first film.
Speaker 11 (27:47):
Yeah, we can see that's more of a three D rendering,
so you can get the depth and the look of
what the logo would have looked like.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
But this is this is incredible. You rarely see things
like this come through.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
And it has such a modern look to it. The
first thing I thought was, oh, this must be some
new piece of production. But it's not. I mean, it's
just it really gives it away that it's is this
this area right up here, that little triangle has that
same triangle that we see in all the Superman logos.
Speaker 4 (28:11):
It makes you wonder if they did one for Superman
two that we've yet to see.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
Hopefully we'll see it here.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
At Propstar right while you put that away, there is
a newspaper over there, Jim, that you can point out
or we can look over. Oh, Jamie's got it. Okay,
there you go, there you go.
Speaker 4 (28:24):
Wow, what a beauty. A Daily Planet newspaper prop Danger
Superman at work. This would be from Superman three. And
this photograph of Chris was shot in the Fortress was
used in a number of newspaper covers. But it's a
totally unique headline, of course.
Speaker 11 (28:41):
And I did notice what's fun about this one too
is whenever we get newspapers in for different productions, I
always like to see just how deep does the copy go,
and if it looks at the copy goes about two
paragraphs deep on this one. So we have the headline,
lead paragraph. This paragraph seems to work. Then start talking
about cricket matches and.
Speaker 4 (29:01):
Take a look the famous Caped Wonder.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
There we go.
Speaker 4 (29:06):
I've never seen another newspaper except the Caped Wonder Stun
City paper that's used that term.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
And then we have something back there. Look at that
bad man at one at work.
Speaker 4 (29:17):
And what's really unique about this one, guys, is that
it's using a photograph that was really never used in
publicity on any tops card or color photograph. And of
course he's standing out at Brooklyn, the Brooklyn Pier area
and the cape is blowing beautifully.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
That is a great And this one, this one is
headline only headline actually talks about.
Speaker 11 (29:43):
The Carter administration's news wow in nineteen seventy seven seven.
Speaker 4 (29:51):
There are a number of Superman newspaper props that do
feature something about President Carter.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
That's amazing. It's amazing. So again, two really fun papers.
In the prompts for auction, Jamie, great, seeing you, good
seeing you, Thank you guys for coming out.
Speaker 6 (30:04):
Thank you m
Hi everyone, I'm Jay Towers and I'm Jim Bowers, and
this is a special edition of the Caped Wonder Superman
Podcast from the Prop Store in Los Angeles.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Now the Cape Wonders Superman Podcast with Jay Cowers and
Jim Bowers on Iinheart Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Hi everyone, and welcome here. We are our first time
at the Prop Store in Los Angeles. We've been talking
to our friends for many years at Prop Store about
the great Superman auction items and to actually be here
today ahead of the big auction coming up next week
pretty exciting.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Jim Bowers all so exciting.
Speaker 4 (00:34):
I'm really glad that we got this to happen, make
it a reality, to finally be here and be with
some of these beautiful artifacts behind us, in particular this
Superman Evil cost and complete, which is just remarkable. We
don't see this very often in the Superman collecting world,
(00:54):
and I'm just so grateful that they gave us this
opportunity to actually stand here in front of but we're
just surrounded by some beautiful thanks.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
What's exciting about this episode is if you're listening to
it right now, you know you're listening on the iHeartRadio app,
which is fantastic. It's the place that houses our podcast,
but for the first time, you're also watching it on
Fox Local, so make sure you check that out and
you get to see some of the great things we're
talking about and some of the special guests that we have.
In addition to our friends from Prop Store, we have
(01:24):
two special guests today that will be joining us to
be reconnected with some of the costumes that you see
behind us here today and the special stories. And that's
what we love, Jim, we love the stories behind what
we're seeing.
Speaker 4 (01:36):
Absolutely, nostalgia is its immeasurable how much of that is
people connect with And I just can't wait to show
show everybody what we've got here today. It's just a
Nuclear Man Lenny from Superman for just incredible Jay and
they're wonderful people.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Wonderful people love them. An amazing auction. So that said,
let's get going with our prop Store auction preview of
all the Superman items you can find this year. Lenny,
what the great John Cryer has arrived, Lenny Luthor himself
is here, and there's Mark Pillow Nuclear Man. So good
(02:17):
to see you and you're.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Still really tall. Thanks right, Wow, I have no idea.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
How where on earth did you get this from? I
do Okay, what on lex? The last time you saw
this was probably when you.
Speaker 5 (02:35):
Were it Yeah eighty six.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
I was so so skinny.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
But wow, wow, that is great to see you remember,
nuclear dude exactly.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Yeah, you're just an experiment.
Speaker 6 (02:46):
Freaking I'm an experiment.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
The thing about Superman four, when you get past the
budget issues and the problems that Superman four had, it
was the last time we got to see Christopher Reeve
in a Superman costume. It is special to know that
that movie does have its place in history.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
Oh.
Speaker 6 (03:06):
Absolutely.
Speaker 5 (03:07):
For me. I came to the movie as a fan,
as a Superman fan. I mean I was when I was,
you know, fourteen years old. I saw the first Superman
movie and it changed my life and it made me
want to be in movies. So actually sharing the screen
with Christopher Reeve at all was this incredible honor for me,
and I could not I mean, he would sit around
(03:28):
on the set, you know, because he's in the Superman
outfit still, and you know, he'd be all casual, just
hanging out, and I just could not believe it. Every
day I showed up for work and I was like,
I cannot believe that I'm.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Just hanging out and.
Speaker 5 (03:41):
There's Christopher Reeve just just being superman, you know, having
a donut, you know.
Speaker 6 (03:48):
Plenty, my loud mouth nephew.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
He gets his energy from the sun without it.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
He's like you at night.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
This is year we lost Gene Hackman sadly, and you
both spent a lot of time with Gene.
Speaker 5 (04:01):
Yes, that was a thrill as well. He kind of
had a reputation coming in as a very tough guy,
you know, in a super serious actor, because you know,
he has this amazing body of work, but he wasn't
like that on the set. That was your impression of
him as exactly.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
We were just talking about actually going to lunch with
him and actually hearing and seeing the softer side of
Gene because we're so used to that brusque personality of his,
and he was incredible. Your was he something to watch.
Ye see him get to the set like an hour
before everybody else. He's blocking moving around. You're going, oh, yeah,
that's how it's done.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
You hope that you're raising your game.
Speaker 5 (04:34):
But it's so funny because I would be distracted because
I would just be watching him work and I'm like,
oh wait, I have to act, And I think I
think that explains some of my work in the movie.
This movie obviously was a lot lighter in terms of
where Lex Luthor was in it, and that was that
was fun to be a part.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
Of where the hell is this and how the hell
do I get the Theedter City. Well, this costume John
is the very first time you make your appearances, Lenny,
when you rescue Jeane or break came out or.
Speaker 5 (05:01):
They came out of jail and kill a couple of
police officers.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
And I was like wow.
Speaker 5 (05:12):
And I remember the first time I saw this, this
this costume, I was like, oh, oh, that's who this
guy is. I mean, it's interesting because costume designers really
bring so much to your characters, right, And I had originally,
you know, when we had talked about making him, I
originally sort of wanted him to be a bit of
a stoner, but they said, no, no, heavy metal is
(05:34):
sort of is much more fun, and I agreed, Yeah,
it is making him this kind of heavy metal guy.
Speaker 4 (05:41):
Nuclear man's costume when you make your first appearance and
land in front of Jean and John and Chris, this
is the very costume that you're wearing. And it's what's
so amazing about these is not each costume is unique,
just like Chris's s, each end or the sun on
(06:02):
the chest is unique to that particular costume. Because each
one of these little circles was hand applied, and we
were able to id this tunic based on what we
see here. You're also wearing this one when you kick
him at the base of the statue of Liberty and
knock his caape off. So this is just beautiful, beautiful condition.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
It's amazing about putting on a costume. You become. You
step out with this on and you just transform yourself.
You're walking with that on, and first people in front
of you tend to part in front of you as
you walk by when something like that, and you can
obviously see it probably still fit, maybe tight in the
wrong places, maybe a little loose in the wrong places. Yeah,
you can slip into it right now.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
And the boots are a big deal too, because those
those boots have plugs in the back of them for
that which these metal plates at the bottom.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Yes they are, so we had this would heat up
the plates in the bottom and shooting this direction so
you don't see a zipper, and then there'll be another
pair zippers in the back moving toward the camera. But
you can see the plates on the back on the bottom,
and probably a bit of the set has made its
way to California and this is where you plugged it
in to heat up the plates.
Speaker 5 (07:09):
I'm just remembering these pants because these are our leather
I guess, but I had not experienced wearing leather pants
for extended lengths of time, and how sweaty they may.
They also have a particular smell which is impossible to
describe at this moment, but I have affection for this costume.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
John, do you remember that last scene of Superman four
were you and Jean are in the car and you've
signed this picture before. The two of you are in
the car and Superman picks up the car and flies away.
But that was filmed on an actual highway. Do you
remember any of that? Oh?
Speaker 5 (07:44):
Yes, that was the very first day of shooting. Oh
so this was my introduction into being in a Superman movie.
Was they wired this open top roadster to a construction crane,
literally lifted it up with me and happened in the car.
I don't recall any kind of safety harnesses or anything.
(08:06):
And then they wired Christopher Reeve underneath the car so
they could literally fly it away. And I thought, Wow,
this is how they're going to do all these effects.
They're going to literally have these things happen.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
We lex, You're not going to believe this.
Speaker 5 (08:21):
I was so nervous because I was in the car
with Jane and I didn't know the guy, and so
there was.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
A lot of small talk, you know.
Speaker 5 (08:29):
I hesitated to ask all the millions of questions I
wanted to ask of Gene Hackman. Those took like that.
When we were actually shooting in the top of the
building set. That was when I finally started getting up
the nerve to ask him about French connection and everything
I wanted to talk to him about. But it was
(08:49):
an amazing first day for me. It was just absolutely
blew my mind.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
It would never film a scene like that today.
Speaker 5 (08:56):
No, No, it would be green screen and no, it
would be in same to do it that way.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Do you think you can help him?
Speaker 6 (09:03):
Every boy can be helped Superman.
Speaker 7 (09:04):
I think you're right.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Good luck son, this is really special today. We're really
excited that John Cryer stopped by Mark Pillow. It is
great to always see you. Superman fans wanted this so badly.
Speaker 5 (09:14):
Yeah, I'm so. The amount of affection for the movie
has been really lovely because obviously it was troubled.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
I always shot it.
Speaker 5 (09:21):
And uh, you know, but you know, when you see
something as a child, it becomes a part of you
in a way that's just different.
Speaker 6 (09:31):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (09:32):
And and that that Mark and I have had a
chance to be a part of people's childhoods is an
incredible gift.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Meeting John and having John to play with on this
on Lex's Layer was just unforgettable. Those times will never
leave me and you have it all kind of coming
back around again. Interest in all this again has been
truly wonderful.
Speaker 6 (09:51):
The Dude of Steel, The Dude of Steel. Yeah, the reboot.
I'm waiting The Dude of Steel.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
You're gonna get it. Hey, this is the moment we've
been waiting for. We've known Stephen Lane for such a
long time. He's always so great with Superman fans to
come and do the Cape Thunder Superman podcast, plus we
do all this other television stuff. But it's exciting to
finally be We haven't been to the UK location, but
to be here in la is pretty exciting and great
(10:22):
to finally meet you in person.
Speaker 8 (10:23):
That's awesome, man, Thank you so much, you guys for
coming out today. We're really really excited about this.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Great.
Speaker 6 (10:29):
Great to see you man.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Great seeing you. And we know, Jim Bowers you've known.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
Forever, forever since the late nineties before Prop Store.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Way back.
Speaker 6 (10:37):
Yeah, I know, we're talking about it analog days.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
Analog days we talk on the phone.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Yeah, absolutely, What exactly is this?
Speaker 8 (10:44):
Well, for the Superman films, well, one of the important
things and the techniques that they were working with is
really how to get the flying scenes work for everybody.
So there are a lot of different processes and approaches
that they used for this. Some of that was, of
course actually having Christopher Reeve in an outfit in a rig,
strapped in harnessed, et cetera. But this is one of
the miniatures that they created for filming, and so they
(11:05):
created these in a bunch of different scales. I would
expect that this was probably created or certainly Derek Meddings
and his team would have been involved with it. He's
sort of models guy. This also could have fallen under
special effects though as well, so it's difficult to know
exactly which department would have made it. But I suppose
this is probably what I like a half scale miniature.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Would you say, yeah, But I mean when you think
of miniatures in general, I mean, like we've seen this
in the catalog. Did you have any idea was this big?
No idea.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
I thought maybe it was maybe a couple of feet long,
a foot long maybe, And we've seen smaller ones over
the years. Yeah, yeah, but Colin Schilvers, who was also
in charge of physical effects, he may have also been
involved with this with Derek, yes, because they're many are
more radio controlled.
Speaker 8 (11:50):
Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely, And you're right. So we've seen
miniatures sort of down this sort of size, and then
I've got one back in my office in the UK
which is about this sort of size. But this is
the largest I've ever seen. And I think what's extra
special about this is, of course it's mechanical, isn't it.
So it has all this engineering that gets got into
it as well, which we'll have a look at a second.
It's it's got all of the rig that's built into
(12:10):
the back there, which is the cape flapping rig, isn't
it So to try and get something like this to
look as real as possible they wanted to. I suppose
it introduced some animation, some life to it, so they
would have been blowing wind at it, so that would
have been roughling the cape in one respect, but this
actually would have been flapping away, so the arms that
had been rotating up and down for it.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
And Jim we were noticing that the texture of the
costume is interesting. Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
In fact, it appears to be the same fabric used
for Christopher Reeve's costume, same color, same waffle weave, that
bridal weight spandex that we're all familiar with now thanks
to some costumes coming up in auction in the past.
So this is a beautiful replica, if you will, of
Christopher Reeve. Of course, not meant to be shot close up.
(12:58):
It's meant to be shot at a distance. But he
also used a full scale cape flapper, so I would
have the same motion, same look is what Christopher Reeve himself,
you know, when he was flying.
Speaker 8 (13:11):
Yeah, absolutely, and I think, yeah, I mean, you've picked
it up perfectly. So the costume fabric here identical to
the version that we see on the Hero suits as well.
I think some of the other elements of it as well.
We can pick out like the popper on the top
of the shoulder here that's identical to the version that's
used on the full size, full size costume.
Speaker 6 (13:28):
The boots.
Speaker 8 (13:29):
The construction of the boots there looks again very very comparable,
the way the leather looks incredibly similar. So you've got
to assume that the costume department Angels sorry Berman's and
Nathan's who would have been making the costumes at the time,
they would have been tasked with making this at the
same time as making the full Sells version as well.
And interesting enough, the smaller scale version that I have
in my office back in the UK again is the
(13:51):
same fabric.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
Right, And it's incredible for scenes who are only a
few seconds long that this would appear in all the
work and crast that went into to making these these real,
these organic, real things, as opposed to today with CGI.
So I'm just I'm rather in awe of these artists
(14:13):
who create these beautiful artifacts.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Anything you see prop store right now, especially for this
upcoming auction, you can't help but notice there is, and
rightfully so, a pricey Superman three Evil costume. But boy,
oh boy, if you have that, I mean you have
it all I mean this is this is iconic, Stephen.
Speaker 6 (14:33):
It is.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (14:34):
I think this is the one and only Evil Superman
costume that's ever come up to market. We saw is
sold and said a number of years ago. It's the
first time that we've handled it. It's actually been in
a private collection in the UK since it's sold originally.
And this is a spectacular costume. All of the components
are there, it's it's completed its entirety, and let me
(14:54):
just start and if.
Speaker 6 (14:54):
I just jump in here, come across.
Speaker 8 (14:57):
So yeah, I think what's noticeable about this? In fact,
it's great to have the two costumes here together, Superman one,
Superman three, Evil Superman, Regular Superman, super super How do
you want to put it? The color grading is really
apparent when you get the two together, when you actually
have this standing on its own. It's interesting because you
can't really tell that quite so clearly. To the untrained eye,
(15:20):
this might just look like a regular Superman costume, but
they had this grading sequence for the colors right the
way through. I think it was a to E and
I think this is an need.
Speaker 6 (15:27):
So there's a need. This is an ease, and that's labeled.
Speaker 8 (15:30):
Within all of the garments within the costume as well,
And of course that's a reference to the fact that
the kryptonite was remade, wasn't it so as fabricated? He
Richard Pryor's character Gus introduced tar into the mix. Maybe
that's why it became a little bit black. Nobody really knows,
but I think it's just a wonderful enson see together
(15:51):
and great seeing the two to reference like that as well.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
And it's complete, Stephen.
Speaker 4 (15:55):
That's the beautiful thing about this is you get everything,
the boots, the belt, the cape. The cape in fact
is a flying cape with the pockets for the full
scale cape flapper, which is just beautiful that you have
that with this and on a beautiful mannequin display.
Speaker 7 (16:12):
You get it all.
Speaker 4 (16:14):
And I had an opportunity to spend a few weeks
with this costume at my house in twenty seventeen. I
photographed it and I was just remarkable.
Speaker 6 (16:24):
I'm really well labeled as well, very well labeled.
Speaker 8 (16:27):
Yeah, and I think the only part element that's not
got the labeling is the belts. But you can see
where the glue residue it was, yes, Yeah, So at
one point in Sawim it did have the belt label
as well. But yeah, really a cracking costume. I think
it's one of the nicest that we've seen come to market.
And now it's scream matched as well, isn't it.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
Absolutely it's when he leaves the bar from his drinking experience,
right before he takes off and lands in the junk yard.
So that's why it's the darkest color, because he was
at his most evil point in the movie.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Yeah, we often ask you this question. We often say,
come back over this one here, But we often say,
is it possible that we're going to see more of
these things? But every year we see more of things?
Does it shock you in the business in general? Does
it shock you every year the new things you find?
Speaker 6 (17:15):
It shocks me, But be it pleases me.
Speaker 8 (17:17):
Yeah, because I can tell you you know, I lie
awake at night wondering where the great content is going
to come from for the next sale. So when pieces
like this do come to us, And we knew about
this particular suit maybe for about a year or eighteen
months before the consigner decided to pull the trigger and
let it go, and so we went on a journey
with that. You know, the conversations will it won't it,
and then you know this is coming from a different source,
(17:37):
and then the Kryptonite Crystal's coming from a different source,
and the script's coming from a different source, and so
you know, you never really know what's going to come together.
And sometimes we've got very little to show you. This time,
we have abundance of great things, don't we.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
You really really do even right right, the script, the
artwork from Superman three that no one I think has
ever seen. It's just remarkable every year what you unearthed
and review to the world.
Speaker 6 (18:00):
And it gives us a great chance to get together
and check.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
Yeah, there you go. I'm thrilled that we finally are
doing this.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Stephen, all right, So up next we we're gonna bring
in a special guest that has a little something to
do with that evil Superman three costume that I think
will surprise you. But here's what we'll do. We'll give
you a famous line and see if you can make
the connection. Watch Superman tell me?
Speaker 6 (18:20):
Won't heard anybody?
Speaker 2 (18:21):
He's changed?
Speaker 1 (18:22):
No, maybe it's just sick.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
And we've got Paul Kayler with us today. Of course
little Ricky from Superman three, and this very costume was
worn when Christopher Reeve, goes to the bar, gets drunk,
and then runs down the street after he barks at everybody.
Speaker 7 (18:37):
Right, Paul, what are you look? You'll be great again,
You'll be great again.
Speaker 9 (18:42):
You're just at a slump. You just a I don't
really remember my lines from when you.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Go to grocery stores? Are people asking you to do
these lines?
Speaker 6 (18:50):
No, not at all.
Speaker 9 (18:52):
Nobody really recognizes me at the grocery store anymore.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
Are you a master of flicking peanuts? Yeah?
Speaker 7 (19:00):
Yes, often often.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
Well, this costume is so amazing. It's rare that you
see number one in evil costume, but number two this
is a complete costume, cape, boots, belt, the whole shebang.
And this is actually a flying cape that goes with it.
So it's remarkable that all these years later, Paul, you're
standing with it. You're reuniting with it, if you will.
Speaker 7 (19:23):
Well, when he we were in the cab, you know,
in the in.
Speaker 10 (19:26):
The sets, and I poke my head out to say, hey,
there's Superman, and and then of course I rush over
and and and give my spiel to him as as
he's stumbling out of the bar, and and and it
was stumbling. It was it was quite it was quite
interesting to see that because I'd done a number of
other scenes with Chris and and obviously that character wasn't there,
(19:46):
and so now all of a sudden, You've got this bad,
bad character and it was it was neat.
Speaker 4 (19:51):
So yeah, obviously having a bad day from the expression
on Chris's face in the photograph, totally.
Speaker 10 (19:57):
I actually clicked the switch on the on the soundstage
for the explosions when he was flicking the peanuts.
Speaker 7 (20:03):
I pressed the button, So that was that was fascinating.
Speaker 4 (20:07):
Oh so when it hit right right exactly, so when
the peanuts hit the glass on the bottles, they set
off explosions.
Speaker 7 (20:14):
Yeah, and that was done in the in the set
in London, and you set them on. I pressed the button.
Speaker 4 (20:19):
So wow, that's quite an honor at.
Speaker 6 (20:21):
Least one of the takes.
Speaker 7 (20:23):
They may have done others I can't remember.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
As you look at this listen, I know it was
a long time ago when you film the scene and
it is part of our pop culture history and nostalgia
and all those things. But you look at that picture
and you think of that scene and then you actually
see this costume, which again there's not many people that
can say, oh, I was there that day when he
wore that costume. But as you look at it, does
it unlock anything that is bringing something back to you
to see it actually in person again, Yeah.
Speaker 7 (20:45):
There's there's certainly some memories memories.
Speaker 10 (20:48):
There that you know, you go, wow, that was a
pretty iconic day, pretty iconic for myself to to just
be part of this. But yeah, the whole, the whole,
the darkness of it was the sort of the trigger
to me that really it is that evilness that it
came out and it was so different from the rest
of it. And to see him come out of that
bar that you know, that first step, You're.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
Like, wow, what are you looking at?
Speaker 6 (21:10):
Huh, Like I've got shivers right now.
Speaker 7 (21:12):
Just yeah, And I don't like, I don't.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Do this every day.
Speaker 6 (21:15):
Oh I remember being in the movie.
Speaker 10 (21:17):
But you know, you come and you look at this
stuff and you and you and you, and you see
the prop story here, all the rest of the stuff,
and you're like, wow, this is this is pretty amazing.
Speaker 4 (21:25):
We're surrounded by some incredible art.
Speaker 6 (21:27):
Believes here. No, it's neat.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
That's me All this time later, even now, when when
you meet fans or fans reach out to you, what
do they like to talk to you about what are
some of the questions that you that you get most often?
Speaker 10 (21:46):
A lot of it was you know, how has Christopher
who worked for you know or work with and and
you know, and what was he like? And he was
a calm, nice guy, right, and and we had just
normal conversations about life and you know, what are we
going to work on in this scene? But I mean
I was eleven, right, so you know, I wasn't talking
about deep, deep sort of things on the set, but
(22:07):
pretty normal stuff.
Speaker 7 (22:08):
What was an edo tool?
Speaker 4 (22:09):
Like?
Speaker 10 (22:10):
You met Richard pryor what was he like? And he
was fantastic actually, so funny enough. I mean, I haven't
been in any other movies, so but you know, he asked,
what other kind of movies have you been?
Speaker 6 (22:20):
You know, you know when me mad? Hey, nothing?
Speaker 7 (22:22):
Oh really, he was just a nice, calm, kind guy,
so really interesting. What was life like on the set?
Speaker 6 (22:30):
What did you do?
Speaker 7 (22:32):
You know, all that kind of day to day sort
of things around around what that looked like?
Speaker 10 (22:36):
And I've got to go back into my memory banks
and remember that a little bit too, because it has
been a long time.
Speaker 4 (22:43):
And you're one of the few people in the world
who can say you've flown with Christopher.
Speaker 10 (22:48):
Yeah, we did a little not a screen test, but
a little test of flying. The scene where he's you know,
picks me up, that was one. They put me in
a harness to to actually give that a go in
the studio. That was pretty fun. So but the joke
at the Blackie site when he picked me up from
the wheat field there, you know, he picked me up
(23:09):
physically and lifted me off the ground only a few
feet to get that take.
Speaker 6 (23:13):
But I said, well, at least we know Superman can
lift I don't know what it was eighty five minutes, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 7 (23:19):
So, yeah, it was fun.
Speaker 6 (23:20):
It was really neat.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Paul Tayler, it is great seeing you. How wonderful to
have you out here in Los Angeles and be a
part of the Prop Store auction and reconnect you with
this great moment in Superman history. It's great, Saniel, Thank you, cheers,
so long, Ricky bye. Oh there's plenty more Superman items
in this year's Prop Store auction. Jamie joins us now
(23:43):
to talk about some of those things that we might
have missed. It's always great to see you.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
Thank you so much, thanks for coming back.
Speaker 6 (23:48):
Out.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
You know, we love anything to do with that Fortress
of Solitude, a favorite set of myself. Jim, what are
we looking at over here? So we have one of the.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
Crystals from the Fortress of Solitude.
Speaker 6 (23:59):
We can take this out.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
This is a Crystal of Knowledge that is from the Fortress.
Speaker 11 (24:04):
As we mentioned earlier, if you look at the base,
there is a little hole down at the bottom that
could be used to mount it, because as we know,
in the Fortress, the crystals in general h stood straight up.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
And this is from the original nineteen seventy eight Superman.
The Crystal of.
Speaker 4 (24:18):
Knowledge absolutely stunning and it's huge, much larger than most
people probably imagine it would be.
Speaker 11 (24:24):
Right because if you remember in the movie the whole
crystal set up, there were multiple heights and size of crystal,
so this is obviously one of the larger ones that
probably sat a little bit bigger, gave it a little
bit more elevation, so it stood out in the display.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Yeah, it looks fantastic.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
Then from below, yes exactly, Yeah, amazing it really is.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
While you put that down, we'll admire this blue script
next to the crystal, and you can tell us what
that's all about.
Speaker 11 (24:48):
We are so fortunate a prop story that for entertainment
memorabilia live auctions, we do get a huge range of
items from you guys have talked about the big costumes,
but we love getting in things like this, especially for
an older classic movie like Superman.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
But this is one of the original scripts from Superman.
Speaker 11 (25:07):
And if you flip through, what I love about scripts
is as a movie fan, as you start to flip through,
you just you remember the scenes, like you start reading
I remember this, and you almost can start hearing the
characters and the scenes and the music in your head.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
You take it a step further, you follow along with
the movie. It's fun to do as well.
Speaker 11 (25:24):
That's an amazing thing to do too. Or set up
a little show in your backyard and you can do
Superman live.
Speaker 4 (25:29):
And what's interesting about this particular script is it doesn't
start off with the comic book.
Speaker 6 (25:36):
At the front.
Speaker 4 (25:37):
Right at the beginning, Lois Lane does not die.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
In this version.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
Superman shoots up from underneath the earth and pulls her
car out of the crack Wow. And it ends in
a cliffhanger where the villains are freed from the Phantom
Zone from the rocket Superman hurls in space.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
Oh that's amazing.
Speaker 11 (25:55):
See I haven't had a chance to read through the
entire script yet, so this so now right this, if
I win it in the auction, I can read through it,
and we can read it to you.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Go, we're just the Superman nerd you were looking for, Jamie,
just so you know. And then there's another script.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
Tell us about that one, Yes, Jim should tell us
all about it.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
You bet, Jim, you probably know.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
James's about this one.
Speaker 4 (26:15):
This is a July nineteen seventy six script. This is
before Richard Donner was brought on as director, before Tom
Mankowitz was brought on to do rewrites. And this one
is for Superman two, written by David and Leslie Newman,
and so it's vastly different from the final shooting script
that we all know about for Superman two. This is
(26:37):
absolutely fascinating. Some of these scripts actually feature four villains
instead of three. Interesting, So this is a real prize.
I really, it's funny. I happened to open up to
a page if you get in on that. He's actually
an extended conversation between Luthor and Joe.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
Elland wow in the scene.
Speaker 11 (26:52):
Wow in the scene, and you said you meant obviously
a change over time, because I don't recall that being
you know, a key scene in the movie.
Speaker 6 (26:59):
That's great.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Yeah, there's some artwork too. We always love when we
see artwork, especially artwork that we know is created for
a production, but we've never seen related to the production.
So really, we're going to angle bat in a way
where we don't get a lot of light on it.
But I think how we're doing does that look good? Yeah?
Tell us about this.
Speaker 11 (27:18):
So this is some of the original artwork that they
ended up not using for Superman three. And what's funny
is until we say that, you might think what is it?
And then you can actually see though that is the
three embedded in the Superman crest, and then behind it
we actually have the original sketches.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
Wow, all based on the crystal shield originally used in
the first film.
Speaker 11 (27:47):
Yeah, we can see that's more of a three D rendering,
so you can get the depth and the look of
what the logo would have looked like.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
But this is this is incredible. You rarely see things
like this come through.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
And it has such a modern look to it. The
first thing I thought was, oh, this must be some
new piece of production. But it's not. I mean, it's
just it really gives it away that it's is this
this area right up here, that little triangle has that
same triangle that we see in all the Superman logos.
Speaker 4 (28:11):
It makes you wonder if they did one for Superman
two that we've yet to see.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
Hopefully we'll see it here.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
At Propstar right while you put that away, there is
a newspaper over there, Jim, that you can point out
or we can look over. Oh, Jamie's got it. Okay,
there you go, there you go.
Speaker 4 (28:24):
Wow, what a beauty. A Daily Planet newspaper prop Danger
Superman at work. This would be from Superman three. And
this photograph of Chris was shot in the Fortress was
used in a number of newspaper covers. But it's a
totally unique headline, of course.
Speaker 11 (28:41):
And I did notice what's fun about this one too
is whenever we get newspapers in for different productions, I
always like to see just how deep does the copy go,
and if it looks at the copy goes about two
paragraphs deep on this one. So we have the headline,
lead paragraph. This paragraph seems to work. Then start talking
about cricket matches and.
Speaker 4 (29:01):
Take a look the famous Caped Wonder.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
There we go.
Speaker 4 (29:06):
I've never seen another newspaper except the Caped Wonder Stun
City paper that's used that term.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
And then we have something back there. Look at that
bad man at one at work.
Speaker 4 (29:17):
And what's really unique about this one, guys, is that
it's using a photograph that was really never used in
publicity on any tops card or color photograph. And of
course he's standing out at Brooklyn, the Brooklyn Pier area
and the cape is blowing beautifully.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
That is a great And this one, this one is
headline only headline actually talks about.
Speaker 11 (29:43):
The Carter administration's news wow in nineteen seventy seven seven.
Speaker 4 (29:51):
There are a number of Superman newspaper props that do
feature something about President Carter.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
That's amazing. It's amazing. So again, two really fun papers.
In the prompts for auction, Jamie, great, seeing you, good
seeing you, Thank you guys for coming out.
Speaker 6 (30:04):
Thank you m
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