$30,000+ Superman Cape?

[aeneas01]

hey the dude is a jock, right? i mean he's faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive and he's able to leap tall buildings in a single bound - moreover he sports a great looking uni when mixing it up in the crime fighting game. so what better place to post about his game used cape than guu??? :)

seriously though, i came across this $30k+ superman cape that was mentioned (not negatively) in a great article about the pitfalls of collecting tv/movie memorabilia (game used sports memorabilia collectors are not alone when it comes to fake pieces in the hobby!) and thought it would be fun to take a close look at it, a fun departure from football helmets! i also thought it would be fun because i remember these campy tv reruns from the '50s well starring george reeves as superman...

the cape sold at rea and was offered as an "original superman cape worn by george reeves in the 1950s television program the adventures of superman". what's particularly interesting about "the adventures of superman" tv series is that it was filmed in black & white prior to 1954 and in color from 1954 on - interesting because the superman costume used in the b&w filming of the show was actually made of gray and dark brown fabric given that these colors offered much better contrast than the blue and red costume when viewed in b&w. consequently the red cape offered by rea was attributed to post 1954 episodes.

according to the lot description, "basic imagery analysis" was applied to every color episode to favorably match the cape's crest, length, color, design and attachment method. however i saw no mention in the lot description that this technique was also used to favorably match the large "s" on the back of the cape - something that i think would have been the first order of business. further, accompanying the lot description are four b&w images from the series (these images are actually 1965 topps cards) and none clearly show the "s" on the cape.

in terms of full disclosure, i didn't see any mention in the lot description of the fact that george reeves used stunt doubles throughout the series run who were fitted with their own costumes (reeves refused to do the wire thing after a bad fall), nor any mention of the actors that played "superman impostors" who were also fitted with their own costumes, nor any mention of the fact that george reeves also had a special costume(s) made which he used for personal appearances, a costume which he didn't use on the show - as such i wonder how this cape could have been conclusively linked to one that george reeves actually wore during filming. perhaps a conclusive photo match of the cape's "s" was uncovered during the authentication process, a match to one of the many capes he used during filming, but was unintentionally omitted from the lot description?

the $30k+ cape is on the left and a couple of film frames are on the right...

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y238/aeneas1/xxxsm02.jpg


here's a closeup - any match going on here?

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y238/aeneas1/xxxsm01.jpg


here's a look a some stunt doubles sporting their own capes - did the $30k+ cape belong to one of them?

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y238/aeneas1/xxxsm04.jpg


here's a great look at how poorly the blue and red costume showed up on b&w film, how poorly the contrast was - the photo on the right shows the gray and dark brown costume george reeves actually wore during b&w filming for better contrast...

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y238/aeneas1/xxxsm03.jpg


and what memorabilia hobby would be complete without the chopping up of a vintage piece to sell in swatches? here are two different examples of a george reeves cape reduced to swatches - i wonder if was actually a reeves cape, a stunt double's cape, a co-actor's cape or just a piece of red fabric...

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y238/aeneas1/xxxsm06.jpg


btw according to the lot description the $30k+ rea cape was originally "purchased from the collection of world-renowned Superman collector Jim Hambrick, the owner and operator of the Supermuseum...". as chance would have it, mr. hambrick engaged in a heated debate at "the original prop blog" (a guu-like site for movie prop memorabilia) last year - apparently hambrick wrote a letter of authenticity on a superman costume that had some serious issues according to "prop blog". the blog asked hambrick to answer a few questions about the costume, which he apparently didn't, and then the correspondence deteriorated to the point where hambrick emailed the following:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y238/aeneas1/zzzsm07.jpg

mama mia! anyway, for $30k+ i would feel much more warm and cozy if the hugely prominent "s" on the cape could be conclusively matched to an episode - especially considering that other capes were obviously made at the time which weren't used by reeves....

some links:

the supermuseum, owned and operated by "world-renowned" jim hambrick:
http://www.supermuseum.com/

the superman superstore, operated by hambrick as well i believe (not to be confused with the superman supersite):
http://store.supermansuperstore.com/index.html

a fantastic and exhaustive website for fans of "the adventures of superman":
http://www.glasshousepresents.com/x_factor.htm

capes in the marketplace - the original prop blog:
http://www.originalprop.com/blog/?p=11152#more-11152
http://www.originalprop.com/blog/?p=10283

cape swatches - the original prop blog:
http://www.originalprop.com/blog/?p=1899

hambrick responds to "the original prop blog"
http://www.originalprop.com/blog/?p=5378

$30k+ cape - rea auctions:
http://www.robertedwardauctions.com/auction/2008/1618.html

...

[godwulf]

At the beginning of your post, you mentioned an article on the pitfalls of collecting this type of memorabilia; could you provide a link to that article, please, or otherwise advise where to find it? I may be mistaken, but I don't think it was included in your list of links at the end of your post.

I occasionally search the eBay listings of t.v. and movie memorabilia, mostly looking for items relating to Baseball, and it's really incredible how gullible many Sellers seem to believe (perhaps with justification) their prospective customers to be. What seems to happen is that someone will buy a huge, bulk lot of old props from a prop house, and then start looking at each item and saying, "This looks like something you'd see on 'I Love Lucy', or 'Gunsmoke', and that's how they list it. They give the Buyer a document stating that the item came from such-and-such a prop house, which served such-and-such a studio, which made this or that t.v. show - that's your COA.

I've purchased a few things over the years, but never without documentation from the studio itself, and once in a while a letter of provenence from a propmaster or set dresser, whose identity I can verify.

[suave1477]

aeneas in all fairness I have to play devils advocate here.

Before I do though i do want you to know when it comes to spotting a fake I do think your one of the best.

So here is my flip side to the coin.

When these shows/ movies are in production. They do not just make one or 2 costumes for the actor especially the main actor. They makes tons, who knows maybe 10, maybe 30 superman outfits and that could be just for one season.
I believe the seasons went from 1951 to 1959. So as you can imagine there must have been a lot of superman costumes made.

So my point is. Is it possible thie could be just one of the many cape he wore???

[Swoboda4]

Two things. (1)You don't spend that amount of money on something like that without at least a comfortable photo match and solid history of ownership(affadavit from a co-star). I don't believe their version of the clubhouse boy will do. And,the cape's "S" doesn't match any photos from any years series.
(2) George Reeves was known to burn his Superman costume when filming for that season was over-this lessons the comfort factor you would think. But overall the "S" doesn't match,we more than any other collectors out there can see that. 30K for Reeves worn cape ,12-15K for a extra.

[Swoboda4]

and lastly,after looking at the position of the "S" patch on the cape the TV stills show that the patch is positioned about 1/3 lower from the top than the cape being offered and the white space to the left of the "S" on the TV cape is angle more. Also I would hate to think the cape belongs to Kirk Alyn who played Superman in the theater serials but what do we know. Back to baseball.
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l11/redmills/asuperman.jpg?t=1239723144Kirk Alyn

[aeneas01]

So here is my flip side to the coin. When these shows/ movies are in production. They do not just make one or 2 costumes for the actor especially the main actor. They makes tons, who knows maybe 10, maybe 30 superman outfits and that could be just for one season. I believe the seasons went from 1951 to 1959. So as you can imagine there must have been a lot of superman costumes made. So my point is. Is it possible thie could be just one of the many cape he wore???

no doubt suave, that's why i mentioned the following in the post:

"...as such i wonder how this cape could have been conclusively linked to one that george reeves actually wore during filming. perhaps a conclusive photo match of the cape's "s" was uncovered during the authentication process, a match to one of the many capes he used during filming, but was unintentionally omitted from the lot description?"



Two things. (1)You don't spend that amount of money on something like that without at least a comfortable photo match and solid history of ownership(affadavit from a co-star). I don't believe their version of the clubhouse boy will do. And,the cape's "S" doesn't match any photos from any years series. (2) George Reeves was known to burn his Superman costume when filming for that season was over-this lessons the comfort factor you would think. But overall the "S" doesn't match,we more than any other collectors out there can see that. 30K for Reeves worn cape ,12-15K for a extra.

yes, apparently reeves was known to burn his costume at the end of each season after removing the "s" from the cape and tunic which he would give to fans. but did he really burn each and every costume he ever wore? or is this just urban legend? who knows...

one thing is certain, the "s" on the $30k+ auction cape certainly didn't match any that i saw in the episodes i watched, nor does it match the film captures i posted above as you pointed out. and that's what really jumped out in the rea the lot description - no mention whatsoever that the prominent "s" on the cape, arguably the most significant aspect of the piece, had been matched.

wouldn't you think this would have been the main focal point of the write-up had the authentication process uncovered an "s" match? given the apparent lack of such an important match, the lot description attempts to give tremendous importance to the attachment method of the cape - in fact, as odd as it seems, this becomes the focal point of the comparison:

"Finally, the manner of which the cape was attached to George Reeves' body suite was examined. The construction of the cape is designed in a very distinctive manner: the cape has two square-shaped ends which were then attached to the blue bodysuit of Reeves. Safety pins were most likely the fasteners. There was no button, snap, or zipper present. The construction of the cape and its distinctive design is also supported by a perfect match with the examined video footage."

again, given so many capes were obviously used at the time by stuntmen, "impostor" actors, special events appearances, etc., i wonder how on earth this thing could possibly be conclusively attributed to george reeves, as a cape he indeed wore during filming... especially without a conclusive "s" match.

moreover i find it conspicuous that no clear image of the back of the cape was included among the photos in the lot description, a clear image showing reeves wearing a similar "s" cape during an episode. and i find it equally conspicuous that no mention was made of the superman costumes that were made for and used by other actors in the series...


At the beginning of your post, you mentioned an article on the pitfalls of collecting this type of memorabilia; could you provide a link to that article, please, or otherwise advise where to find it? I may be mistaken, but I don't think it was included in your list of links at the end of your post...

i'll dig around and see if i can find the link - fwiw the article also led me to the "prop blog" i believe....


http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y238/aeneas1/AnnandSupermanflyingoverLondon.gif


...