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NEWEST VIDEO
-October 7, 2021-
The streets of Metropolis music only track
-OCTOBER 6, 2021-
41 YEARS AGO THIS MONTH-
SUPERMAN THE MOVIE-
October 1980.
The theatrical version airs throughout the month on HBO, premiering on the channel on October 12.
PICTURED: HBO magazine ads.
See more SUPERMAN THE MOVIE imagery at Superman1978.com
-October 4, 2021-
35 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK-
SUPERMAN IV-
Thursday, October 2, 1986. The Sir Frank Markham Comprehensive School, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England.
Filming the football game sequences for the intended finale of the film.
During the press conference at the end of the movie Superman mentions seeing the world the way he sees it, he thinks for a moment before flying off to Jeremy’s school, where he finds him during a football game practice and they fly off together, with Jeremy reporting back that there’s no borders from the sky, it’s just one world.
When the film was heavily edited for theatrical release several scenes were moved around to fit the new narrative. As originally intended Superman catches Lex and Lenny Luthor first, has the press conference, and then this scene was to occur and end the film.
This sequence can be seen in widescreen with unfinished fx and temporary music on the post-2006 DVD and bluray releases in the deleted scenes section.
The man seen in the football game crowd and in the behind the scenes photo with Reeve also served as extra in the subway scene at the beginning of the film.
This was filmed at The Sir Frank Markham Comprehensive School, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England.
See more SUPERMAN IV imagery at SupermanIV.com
-October 3, 2021-
SUPERMAN THE MOVIE Drake’s cakes UK newspaper ad.
-October 2, 2021-
41 YEARS AGO THIS MONTH-
SUPERMAN THE MOVIE-
OCTOBER 1980-
The theatrical version premieres on HBO and other premium cable channels in the U.S. throughout the month.
This would mark the first time the complete theatrical version would be seen on home media. The home video release on VHS and Betamax earlier in the same year had been altered and edited to 127 minutes in order to fit the film on one videocassette due to tape length limitations of the time.
PICTURED: New York Cablevision guide.
-October 1, 2021-
35 YEARS AGO TODAY-
SUPERMAN IV-
Thursday, October 1, 1986. Baldock, Hertfordshire, England.
Day three of principal photography has Christopher Reeve as Superman filming the tornado sequence.
This sequence was featured completed with music and special fx in the theatrical cut in various countries outside of the U.S., giving that version of the film a running time of 93 minutes.
The post-2006 DVD and bluray releases contain the sequence in widescreen with temporary music and unfinished fx as a special feature.
The Japanese widescreen laserdisc features the sequence within the film with finished fx and music, though oddly cropped to show less of the picture image compared to it as seen in the special features section of the blurays and DVDs.
The scene was included in the film when it became available for television syndication in May 1990.
Christopher Reeve’s daughter Alexandra Reeve plays Jenny, the little girl swept up by the tornado and rescued by Superman.
The farmhouse seen here is also the Kent farmhouse seen at the beginning of the film when Clark returns to Smallville.
Superfan Tom Soliva reasoned that some theatrical versions contained this scene due to rules for running time minimums in those countries. While not a confirmed fact, it is a possibility.
See more SUPERMAN IV imagery at SupermanIV.com
-September 30, 2021-
35 YEARS AGO TODAY-
SUPERMAN IV-
Tuesday, September 30, 1986. Baldock, Hertfordshire, England.
Day two of principal photography for SUPERMAN IV and filming the farm scenes with Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent and Don Fellows as Levon Hornsby.
Don Fellows may seem familiar to fans, he was the general in East Houston that answers only to the President in SUPERMAN II.
See more SUPERMAN IV imagery at SupermanIV.com
-September 29, 2021-
35 YEARS AGO TODAY-
SUPERMAN IV-
September 29, 1986. Baldock, Hertfordshire, England.
Principal photography begins with filming Clark visiting the Kent’s grave and the barn interior with Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent.
The sequence of Clark at the Kent’s grave has never been seen publicly outside of the test screenings.
The shot of Mr. Hornsby’s truck as seen through Clark’s x-ray vision was filmed in California.
See more SUPERMAN IV imagery at SupermanIV.com
-September 27, 2021-
30 YEARS AGO TODAY-
SUPERMAN III-
The extended TV version of SUPERMAN III airs on KMSP channel 9 in Minneapolis at 7pm.
-September 26, 2021-
44 YEARS AGO TODAY-
SUPERMAN II-
Monday, September 26, 1977. 007 Stage, Pinewood Studios, England.
Director Richard Donner films the Lex and Miss Teschmacher on the sled outside the Fortress of Solitude scenes with Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor and Valerie Perrine as Miss Teschmacher.
In a bit of frustration while having to wait costumed in furs under the hot lights, Hackman loses his temper and throws down the “little black box”, smashing it to pieces and causing further delays until the prop is fixed.
-September 25, 2021-
Happy would be 69th birthday to Christopher Reeve.
This photo became my favorite image from the Superman films when I first saw it on the cover of THE MAKING OF SUPERMAN THE MOVIE and THE MAKING OF SUPERMAN II video box, years later I was lucky enough to acquire an autographed photo of it.
-Alex
-September 22, 2021-
39 YEARS AGO TODAY-
SUPERMAN III-
Tuesday-Thursday, September 21-23, 1982. F Stage, Pinewood Studios, England.
Director Richard Lester spends three days filming the Webster’s office scenes with Richard Pryor as Gus Gorman, Robert Vaughn as Ross Webster, Pamela Stephenson as Lorelei Ambrosia, Annie Ross as Vera Webster, and Robert Henderson as Mr. Simpson.
-September 20, 2021-
SUPERMAN IV-
Australian home video ad. Not watermarked so you can color it in. Enjoy!
-September 19, 2021-
42 YEARS AGO TODAY-
SUPERMAN II-
September 19, 1979. Niagara Falls, U.S. and Canada.
After almost four weeks of principal photography on location at Niagara Falls, the production shifts back to Pinewood Studios for on stage and backlot filming for the next six months.
-September 15, 2021-
44 YEARS AGO TODAY-
SUPERMAN THE MOVIE-
September 15, 1977. D Stage, Pinewood Studios England.
Director Richard Donner films the Kryptonite necklace reveal scenes with Christopher Reeve as Superman and Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor.
During a take Reeve pulls the lid so hard that the chest is knocked off its place. Later on, as a joke, Hackman has the crew nail the chest lid shut, a surprise to Reeve when he tries to open it.
-September 14, 2021-
SUPERMAN II-
The backgrounds were edited and prepared with the heat beam and ice breath special effects on them, the finished shots were then projected on a screen with Christopher Reeve placed in front of it at just the right angles and… magic.
-September 13, 2021-
39 YEARS AGO TODAY-
SUPERMAN III-
Monday, September 13, 1982.
After almost four weeks of location filming in and around Calgary in Alberta, Canada, and the Grand Canyon on the U.S., the production heads back to England and Pinewood Studios for another two months of stage and backlot filming.
As a token of their appreciation for the outstanding support, the production donates $3,000 to the Calgary Centre for the Performing Arts.
PICTURED: Trade magazine ad.
-September 10, 2021-
SUPERMAN III-
September 1982. Alberta Turbo refinery, Alberta, Canada.
Director Richard Lester films the chemical plant fire locations with Christopher Reeve as Superman, Marc McClure as Jimmy Olsen, Rick McNair as Fireman, Stunt Performer Mark Stewart as Firefighter, and Al Matthews as the Fire Chief.
The acid room and Superman walking through fire and picking up Jimmy were filmed at Pinewood Studios.
On September 7th the sequence where Superman lands with an injured Jimmy Olsen and takes off to the lake were filmed.
-September 7, 2021-
39 YEARS AGO TODAY-
SUPERMAN III-
September 7, 1982. Turbo Refinery, Alberta, Canada.
Director Richard Lester films Superman landing with an injured Jimmy Olsen and the take off to the lake scenes with Christopher Reeve as Superman, Marc McClure as Jimmy Olsen, Rick McNair as Fireman, Stunt Performer Mark Stewart as Firefighter, and Al Matthews as the Fire Chief.
The acid room and Superman walking through fire and picking up Jimmy were filmed at Pinewood Studios.
-September 7, 2021-
45 YEARS AGO THIS MONTH-
SUPERMAN THE MOVIE-
September 1976. Cinecitta Studios, Rome, Italy.
Director Guy Hamilton screen tests Bruce Jenner for the role of Superman and Clark Kent.
EXCERPT FROM THE MAKING OF SUPERMAN BOOK:
Now that the producers had their first superstar (Gene Hackman, accepting two million dollars to play the evil genius, Lex Luthor, became the second), they were prepared to consider the possibility of going with a total newcomer in the title role. And Bruce Jenner, with his dark hair, blue eyes and boyish good looks, seemed a very hot prospect. Besides, he had openly expressed his interest in launching a career in films. The question was, could he act?
In September, after “The Prince and the Pauper” was in the can, Jenner was flown to Rome, given a screen test… and was rejected by the three filmmakers “because he appeared much too young on the screen.” Some of the production staffers working at Cincecittà at the time, however, were more blunt. “I think, quite simply, it boiled down to that fact that Jenner is not an actor,” one of the technicians revealed. “He looked good. It’s just that he lacked that assurance that comes with experience.”
So out went the idea of a professional athlete, and a dejected Ilya Salkind flew back to the States to interview more candidates.
-September 6, 2021-
44 YEARS AGO TODAY-
SUPERMAN THE MOVIE-
September 6, 1977. D Stage, Pinewood Studios.
Director Richard Donner begins filming the map room scenes for SUPERMAN THE MOVIE with Christopher Reeve as Superman, Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor, and Ned Beatty as Otis.
-September 5, 2021–
Happy Labor Day Weekend
PICTURED: Various newspaper ads from Labor Day Weekend 1981.
-September 3, 2021-
42 YEARS AGO THIS MONTH-
SUPERMAN II-
September 1979.
Director Richard Lester films on location portions of the Niagara Falls rescue sequence for SUPERMAN II with Christopher Reeve as Superman, Margot Kidder as Lois Lane and Hadley Kay as the little boy.
The Honeymoon Haven Hotel was played by The Table Rock Centre complex.
The hotel room scenes were filmed on a set at Pinewood Studios.
September 3, 2021-
44 YEARS AGO TODAY-
SUPERMAN THE MOVIE-
September 3, 1977. D Stage, Pinewood Studios, England.
Director Richard Donner films the Otis arrival at Lex Luthor’s lair sequence for SUPERMAN THE MOVIE with Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor, Ned Beatty as Otis and Valerie Perrine as Miss Teschmacher.
A filmed sequence featuring Otis feeding meat to unseen animals in a pit and later lowering Miss Teschmacher into it for her betrayal of Lex would not be seen until the extended tv version aired on ABC in February 1982.
-September 2, 2021-
42 YEARS AGO TODAY-
SUPERMAN II-
Sunday, September 2, 1979.
Director Richard Lester films on location portions of the Niagara Falls rescue sequence for SUPERMAN II with Christopher Reeve as Superman, Margot Kidder as Lois Lane and Hadley Kay as the little boy.
The Honeymoon Haven Hotel was played by The Table Rock Centre complex.
The hotel room scenes were filmed on a set at Pinewood Studios.
–September 1, 2021–
SUPERMAN II-
Technically not a tie-in item for SUPERMAN II, but the art reminds of a familiar promotional still image used for the film.
PICTURED: 1981 kids pajamas top.
See more items on the MERCHANDISE page
-August 30, 2021-
SUPERMAN III-
August 24-27, 1982. Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Filming the Streets of Metropolis.
-August 29, 2021-
SUPERMAN III-
August 1982. Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
The Smallville High gymnasium scenes were filmed at what is now The Carl Safran Centre. Fun thing to keep in mind when watching the nighttime class reunion scenes is that it’s actually mid-day outside for the actors.
The exterior shot of the school was filmed at Spitzee Elementary School in High River, Alberta. Neither school is the one use in Superman The Movie.
PICTURED: Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent, Annette O’Toole as Lana Lang, and Gavan O’Herlihy as good ol’ Brad Wilson in various stills from the high school reunion and clean up scenes. Last image (L-R), Executive Producer Ilya Salkind, Director Richard Lester, and Producer Pierre Spengler.
Special thanks to Jason Thomas for his research.
-August 27, 2021-
SUPERMAN III French text opening credits
-August 26, 2021-
39 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK-
SUPERMAN III-
August 24-27, 1982. Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Director Richard Lester films the streets of Metropolis sequences with Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent and Superman, Pamela Stephenson as Lorelei, and numerous local extras.
-AUGUST 24, 2021-
1988 Japanese VHS and promotional tissue in foil packaging.
-AUGUST 23, 2021-
SUPERMAN II NIAGARA FALLS RESCUE MUSIC ONLY TRACK.
-AUGUST 23, 2021-
45 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK-
SUPERMAN THE MOVIE-
Tuesday, August 23, 1976.
Four ads from the SUPERMAN THE MOVIE production appear in Box Office magazine.
-August 22, 2021-
39 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK-
SUPERMAN THE MOVIE-
August 22-28, 1982.
THE MAKING OF SUPERMAN THE MOVIE documentary air on PBS stations throughout the U.S.
PICTURED: The Washington Post newspaper television guide cover, inside article and listings, and TV Guide WNET New York ad.
-August 21, 2021-
SUPERMAN III Balfino ads.
-AUGUST 20 2021-
SUPERMAN II 1981 THEATRICAL RADIO SPOT “REVIEW”.
-August 19, 2021-
39 YEARS AGO TODAY-
SUPERMAN III-
Thursday, August 19, 1982. High River, Alberta, Canada.
Director Richard Lester films the Smallville celebration with Christopher Reeve as Superman, Richard Pryor as Gus Gorman, Annette O’Toole as Lana Lang, Paul Kaethler as Ricky, Gordon Singer as the Mayor, and Annie Ross as Vera Webster.
Special thanks to Jason Thomas for his research.
PICTURED: Various promotional and behind the scenes stills from the day and an exclusive panorama photo from the location taken August 14, 2021.
-August 18, 2021-
39 YEARS AGO TODAY-
SUPERMAN III-
Wednesday, August 18, 1982. High River, Alberta, Canada.
Director Richard Lester films the arrival of Gus in Smallville with Richard Pryor as Gus Gorman, Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent, Paul Kaethler as Ricky, and Annette O’Toole as Lana Lang.
Special thanks to Jason Thomas for his research.
PICTURED: Various promotional stills from the sequence and an exclusive photo of the location taken August 14, 2021.
-August 17, 2021-
39 YEARS AGO TODAY-
SUPERMAN III-
Tuesday, August 17, 1982. Calgary, Canada.
The first day of filming in Canada is nothing short of the promotion spectacle you’d expect from a Salkind production. The press is there, spectators are everywhere, so what better way to wow them than with a superfeat, and stunt performer Greg Elam does just that as he doubles for Richard Pryor as Gus Gorman falling down the side of the Webscoe building wearing skis and a tablecloth cape. Richard Pryor would later on in the day perform the final act of the sequence filming his scenes street level a few blocks away.
Special thanks to Jason Thomas for his research.
PICTURED: Various stills of Stunt Performer Greg Elam and Richard Pryor as Gus Gorman.
-August 16, 2021-
2001 EXPANDED VERSION THEATRICAL TRAILER
-August 15, 2021-
42 YEARS AGO TODAY-
SUPERMAN II-
Wednesday, August 15, 1979.
Christopher Reeve arrives in London to resume filming SUPERMAN II under Richard Lester’s direction.
-August 14, 2021-
44 YEARS AGO TODAY-
SUPERMAN THE MOVIE-
August 14, 1977. Beynon, Alberta, Canada.
Director Richard Donner reshoots portions of the funeral sequence (originally shot in late July) with Jeff East as Young Clark Kent and Phyllis Thaxter as Ma Kent.
-August 13, 2021-
The Christopher Reeve Superman DVD collection home video ad from 2006.
-August 11, 2021-
38 YEARS AGO TODAY-
SUPERGIRL-
August 11, 1983. Scotland.
SUPERGIRL completes principal photography with the filming of the beach sunset scene (pictured in ad below) from the end of the first flight sequence. This meant very little to star Helen Slater, who still had over six more weeks of flying fx to film.
PICTURED: Hollywood Reporter magazine ad.
-August 9, 2021-
Tuesday, August 4, 1987.
Margot Kidder appears as a last minute guest on The Late Show With David Letterman on NBC and talks SUPERMAN IV, at the time in its third week of theatrical release.
-August 9, 2021-
37 YEARS AGO TODAY-
Thursday, August 9, 1984.
SUPERGIRL opens theatrically in Australia.
-August 8, 2021-
31 YEARS AGO TODAY-
SUPERMAN THE MOVIE-
August 8, 1990-
Warner Home Video releases the theatrical version of SUPERMAN THE MOVIE on laserdisc newly digitally remastered in widescreen.
It was nice having the film to view at home in widescreen, but the picture quality and sound was lacking. The whites were washed out to the point of bleeding into other colors, the blacks and blues were muted and had a slight green tinge to them, and the yellows were more of a dull mustard gold, really noticeable in the wheat field scenes. The reds are really strong in the first half and toned down once in Metropolis. Pixelation was evident in numerous dark scenes, the Lex lair sequences showing it the most. The sound was recorded so loudly that it was annoyingly muffled and distorted in some areas, the Fortress of Solitude construction and the helicopter going wild scenes standing out the most, and too much reverb made it sound echo-y throughout. At the time it’s all we had, and we thought it was SUPERB! This digitally processed version would be the print for the future VHS full frame releases of the film. This is the first time I’ve seen the release date for this posted online.
-August 6, 2021-
SUPERMAN THE MOVIE-
August 1977. Kananaskis Country, Alberta, Canada.
Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor, Valerie Perrine as Miss Teschmacher, Ned Beatty as Otis, and Larry Hagman as the Major film portions of the first missile hijack sequence.
-August 5, 2021-
1986 would mark the first release of SUPERMAN THE MOVIE in the smaller cardboard packaging, it would also mark the the final time the film would see a release on Betamax videocassette in the U.S. This was basically the clamshell release repackaged and newly copy guarded.
The format was in its death bed and Warner Home Video gave the Betamax release for this the least attention. While the VHS release received new videocassette labels with the new Warner Bros. shield logo, the Betamax’s video tape would get the old clamshell release sticker with the round Warner logo for the top of the videocassette and a made for VHS cassette sticker for the spine, making the Warner logos inconsistent.
This would not be the last time a Superman film was released on Betamax, the format would be part of SUPERMAN IV’s home video debut late the following year.
-August 3, 2021-
34 YEARS AGO TODAY-
SUPERMAN THE MOVIE-
Monday, August 3, 1987, 9-11:30pm and Tuesday, August 4, 1987, 1-3:30am. Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.
In mid 1987 the theatrical version of SUPERMAN THE MOVIE was made available for syndication after four years on ABC, a brief stint on CBS in 1986, and a short run on premium cable channels.
VIDEO: KVVU TV5 TV spot.
-August 2, 2021-
SUPERMAN THE MOVIE 14 MINUTE SYNDICATED RECAP
SUPERMAN THE MOVIE was prepared for worldwide network television in 1981 for a 1982 distribution to feature 45 minutes of theatrically deleted footage and with the notion that most stations would prefer to show it as a two-parter on consecutive nights. The film was split into two parts and edited in a way which could be seamlessly cut by tv stations into a one night showing by simply removing the end credits of part 1 and the opening credits of part 2. Included with this TV Version was a built in 14 minute recap for stations to play fully or edit down as they saw fit. ABC found this recap too long and created a 90 second version of their own when they premiered it as a two-parter on February 7 and 8, 1982. You can hear the POP in the sound where ABC spliced both parts together for their one night showing on November 14, 1982, it’s just after Lois Lane falls from the helicopter.
When this same TV Version was made available for syndication in 1994, stations were again offered the same two-parter that included the recap, which is presented here unaltered from one of the two airings in May and November of 1994 on channel 21 in Las Vegas. As far as I can trace it back, these two airings were the only times the recap was used. Drop a comment in the CONTACT page if you have knowledge of any other airings that featured this recap. There’s another version of this recap out there, but it’s a reconstruction, made using this as reference from when I first posted it years ago.
-August 2, 2021-
44 YEARS AGO TODAY-
SUPERMAN THE MOVIE-
Tuesday and Wednesday, August 2 and 3, 1977.
After mechanical problems that have Director Richard Donner under the car cursing, and two aborted takes later, the remote control car crash and portions the first missile hijacking sequence are filmed with Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor, Ned Beatty as Otis, Valerie Perrine as Miss Teschmacher and Larry Hagman as the Major adjacent to Barrier Lake in Kananaskis Country, Alberta, Canada, in the foothills and ranges of the Canadian Rockies. The location is a stand in for Colorado in the U.S.
Before her departure from the location Valerie Perrine gifts Director Richard Donner a t-shirt featuring “Club S” printed on the front (a nickname given to her trailer because of its party atmosphere) and with her Playboy photo and the caption “ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER $3000,000” (the estimated cost of filming per day) on the back.
Special thanks to Jason Thomas for his unending contributions and locations scouting.
-August 1, 2021-
TIME magazine article on SUPERMAN THE MOVIE from August 1, 1977.
-JULY 31, 2021-
SUPERMAN II New York Post newspaper ad from this date in 1981.
-JULY 29, 2021-
SUPERMAN II METROPOLIS BATTLE PART 5 MUSIC ONLY TRACK
-JULY 28, 2021-
SUPERMAN II METROPOLIS BATTLE PART 4 MUSIC ONLY TRACK
-JULY 29, 2021-
-JULY 27, 2021-
SUPERMAN II METROPOLIS BATTLE PART 3 MUSIC ONLY TRACK
-JULY 26, 2021-
LEROY HUTSON- LOVE OH LOVE
It’ll blow you away!
Love Oh Love was Hutson’s debut solo album and was released by Mayfield’s Curtom record label in 1973. The photograph was by Joel Brodsky.
Click image to see how it fits in Superman history.
-JULY 26, 2021-
SUPERMAN II METROPOLIS BATTLE PART 2 MUSIC ONLY TRACK
THE ADVENTURE CONTINUES TOMORROW WITH PART 3
July 27, 12:01 am Pacific Time.
-JULY 25, 2021-
SUPERMAN II METROPOLIS BATTLE PART 1 MUSIC ONLY TRACK
-JULY 24, 2021-
3 YEARS AGO TODAY-
-JULY 24, 2021-
34 YEARS AGO TODAY-
-JULY 23, 2021-
39 YEARS AGO TODAY-
-JULY 23, 2021-
34 YEARS AGO TODAY-
-JULY 19, 2021-
38 YEARS AGO TODAY-
-JULY 18, 2021-
-JULY 18, 2021-
-JULY 17, 2021-
37 YEARS AGO TODAY-
-JULY 13, 2021-
While director Richard Donner is in New York surrounded in darkness from the New York blackout, back in England the stunt unit is hard at work finishing up the villains destroying the White House scenes for SUPERMAN II on M Stage at Pinewood Studios.
-JULY 13, 2021-
The weather that day was normal for the time of year in the mid-Atlantic region of the eastern United States. The morning was hot and steamy; then the humid air combined with carbon monoxide and a potpourri of other pollutants to produce a thick, sooty haze that hung over the city until late afternoon.
We arrived at the Daily News building early in the evening. By six o’clock the block was swarming with film technicians, policemen, teamsters, extras and crowds of curious onlookers.
On the set, the usual pre-shooting preparations were going on—Geoff Unsworth and his New York counterpart Sol Negrin organizing the lighting, the assistant directors briefing the crowds on the gist of the scene, Chris and Margot in their vans getting into make-up and costume. And then at 9:38 p.m., Manhattan disappeared into pitch blackness!
Initial shock, incredulity, amusement and slight panic gave way to the overriding need to know what the hell had happened. Soon radio stations on back-up power systems were broadcasting the first sketchy details of what had caused the sequel to the Great Blackout of 1965.
The area of sustained, intense heat—the thermometer had still read 89 degrees at 8:30 p.m.—had been impinged on by an approaching cooler front, and the ensuing electrical storm had caused a lightning bolt to strike one of Consolidated Edison’s key transmission lines, knocking out all electricity in the five boroughs of New York and Westchester County, and plunging some ten million people into darkness. One of the few bright spots that remained in Manhattan was the “Superman” set, were Geoff Unsworth’s brutes and mini-brutes continued burning in the midst of the eerie blackness, thanks to the unit’s mobile generators.
At first the production officials in front of the Daily News building were extremely uneasy about the possibility that, given the tremendous drain on the city’s power supply due to round-the-clock air-conditioning, the extra lights the production had had switched on in several buildings around the set might have triggered the blackout. If so, it would have been hard to compose a really effective apology. Luckily, news of the electrical storm absolved “Superman” of guilt.
Most of the crew, New Yorkers and British, tried to make light of the situation—pun intended. Someone suggested a headline for the next day’s papers: “LEX LUTHOR LOSES LIGHTS.” Raymond Walters, the editor of the paperback section of the New York Times Book Review, my guest for the evening’s shooting, walked up to Chris Reeve and deadpanned, “All right, Superman … do something!”—a theme echoed in many local papers the next day. Actually, thanks to the film unit’s generator and lights, the Daily News was able to go to press early that morning, so in a way “Superman” did come to the rescue.
Another visitor to the set that merorable night, Sol Harrison, president of DC Comics, wanted to call his wife in Queens to make sure everything was O.K. at home. He ducked into a phone booth in front of the News building, put in his dime, and . . . nothing. The lines were dead. Sol stood frantically clicking the receiver until he realized that he was standing in a dummy booth set up for the picture!
From what we heard on the radios at first, a light-hearted mood prevailed in the city, with people pouring out into the streets, dancing to portable cassette players, laughing, talking to neighbors they had never spoken to before, exchanging rumors, directing traffic, helping one another. Some kids were even setting off leftover Fourth of July fireworks. Apparently, it was 1965 all over again.
Not so. 1965 was a dozen years before. And the Big Apple had almost gone bust in the interim. It was a poorer, angrier, more frustrated city on that sweltering summer night; and as the hours wore on, the mood altered noticeably. Instead of dancing in the streets, people started calling out: “What’s happening, man?” “I’m hot as hell!” “I hear the power won’t be on until tomorrow morning!” “There’s looting up in Harlem!”
At 10:30 p.m., as Tim Burrill of the production staff made a frantic attempt to check out the insurance situation (with the “force majeure” clauses and an “Act of God” later determined as the cause, the evening cost the producers only about $25,000, not the possible $250,000!), the crew broke for dinner, filing into a hot, sticky, empty storefront that had been set up as a makeshift dining room. After gobbling some sandwiches and a couple of sodas, I joined Skye and Ilya Salkind and Monique and Pierre Spengler in a van assigned to take us back to our hotels. We were soon joined by Donner, Tom Mankiewicz, Margot Kidder, sound mixer Roy Charman, and a number of others.
The journey in the van was enlivened by radio accounts of how chaos was beginning to grip the city-looting, fires, arrests. New York, it seemed, would have been better off that night with Superman on hand.
When we got back to the hotel (un-air-conditioned, of course), we joined hands and followed Roy Charman with his flashlight up the back stairs, single file, so that people could be dropped off floor by floor—the luckless Spenglers were on the seventeenth. Poor Roy Field got his key from the desk, groped his way to the eleventh floor and had to grope his way back down again. Wrong key, he told the desk clerk with proper English politeness.
After what shreds of a night’s sleep the heat and humidity and noise from the street below allowed, we were greeted with the news over the radio that New York was a city under siege, with hundreds of policemen injured after battling looters—whose numbers were so great that the Tombs, the derelict men’s detention center in lower Manhattan, had to be re-opened and was now filled to overflowing to accommodate the incredible number of arrests.
I was embarrassed to face my British friends at breakfast that morning. Many stories of kindness, sacrifice and bravery emerged out of that long, dark night. But it was the bad stories that stuck.
An outraged Mayor Beame held a press conference, demanding a full investigation into the power failure to determine just why the massive outage had occurred. Con Ed chairman Charles Luce had assured New Yorkers just four days before the disaster that he could “guarantee that the chances of a brownout or a blackout are less than they have been in the last fifteen years and that the chances are less here than in most other cities in the United States.”
By Friday morning, things were getting back to normal—for New York. The Daily News carried the headline “FIRES, LOOTING RAGE IN CITY: 3,000 Arrests, 132 Cops Hurt.” (In 1965, there had been only 100 arrests.) The mayor lifted the state of emergency that he had declared two nights earlier; the 6,000 commuters trapped in subway cars and trains had been rescued, and the city was slowly cleaning up the mess.
-JULY 12, 2021-
Warner Bros. had a screening and press junket for SUPERMAN IV prepared that they could not meet scheduled for somewhere around the end of June ’87, just a little under a month before the scheduled theatrical release. To say the film was far from ready is “the understatement of the year”.
-JULY 11, 2021-
-JULY 10, 2021-
THE PENTHOUSE
THE FLYING SEQUENCE A
CLARK LOSES HIS NERVE
BABY LIFTS LORRY
-JULY 9, 2021-
-JULY 8, 2021-
Director Richard Donner films the mugger sidewalk scenes with Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent and Margot Kidder as Lois Lane, and the introduction of Ned Beatty as Otis and Ray Hassett and Steve Kahan as the detectives following in the streets on the corner of West Broadway and Pike St to outside Grand Central Station. The alley scenes would be filmed at a later time at Pinewood Studios.
-July 7, 2021-
The First day of filming in New York has director Richard Donner filming the end of Clark’s first day leaving the Daily Planet scenes with Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder and cameos by Rex Reed and film critic Kathleen Carroll. Carroll’s review of the film saying that it was “a movie that is pure escape and good, clean, unadulterated fun” was widely used in the theatrical promotion of the film after release.
DESTRUCTION OF KRYPTON A
LEAVING HOME
JULY 7, 2021-
2 new items added to the PROMOTION page.
Variety trade ads from June 24 and July 1, 1981.
JULY 6, 2021-
KRYPTONOPOLIS (VILLAINS TRIAL)
THE PLANET KRYPTON ALTERNATE A
THE DOME OPENS ALTERNATE
JULY 5, 2021-
Director Richard Donner passes away at the age of 91.
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