Other Miscellaneous Superman Stuff

1998 Superman Festival

This summer's event was a great one! Lane Smith (Perry White from Lois and Clark) and artists Jon Bogdanove and Rick Stasi were the guests this time. [Rick drew the 60th anniversary Superman cover for Comic Buyer's Guide]. Lane brought along his 11-year old son, Robbie, who appeared to have a better time than Lane did. Lane gave a speech on his career and how he developed the Perry White character. It was his idea to make Perry an Elvis fan, in fact, Lane is a big Elvis fan in real life! He signed alot of autographs for many fans and then posed for photos in front of the Superman statue with some superfans who were all dressed as Superman. Jon Bogdanove was a true Superman fan. He wore a Superman T-shirt both days he was there along with red socks and red tennis shoes. He brought along his teenage son, Kal-el (yes, I said Kal-el, no kidding!), and his wife. Jon spent many hours drawing complimentary B&W Superman drawings and signing autographs for the fans. He also gave a drawing workshop.
Friday night of the event, a film festival was held, where 16mm prints of the B&W and color George Reeves episodes, Popeye, Buggs Bunny, and Mighty Mouse reels were shown. They also showed Jim Bower's re-edit of the extended version of Superman: The Movie on a video projector, all shown in the Merv Grifin Theater in Metropolis. The response to the films was tremendous, particularly to the Superman edit. Saturday night in the theater an auction of Superman memorabilia was held.