There’s a plethora of Superman related items that are being auctioned off to preserve the childhood home of his creator, Jerry Siegel. And a couple items will be of interest to movie fans.
Novelist Brad Meltzer, through his Ordinary People Change the World charity, has established The Siegel and Shuster Society. The organization’s mission is to raise enough money to repair the childhood home of Jerry Siegel–the home where he came up with the idea for Superman–and preserve it as a historical location.
The way the society plans to raise these funds is by a celebrity auction.
Of interest to movie fans is an early, unshot first draft of the original Superman movie, signed by Richard Donner. The script comes from the personal collection of comic creator Geoff Johns.
Another, even more rare movie-related item is a Superman IV: The Quest for Peace T-Shirt signed by Jerry Siegel himself. The writer signed a bunch of T-shirts before he died and left them to his wife to sell if she needed money. She is giving one of them to the auction.
There are many more items donated by some of the biggest names in comic books and TV, including VIP passes for The Colbert Report and a walk-on role on NBC’s Heroes. A complete list of auction items is listed here. The items will be broken down and auction off over the span of four weeks. The first batch is on eBay now.
Meltzer has recorded a video about the cause and why he believes in it:
As you can see, the house is in a state of severe disrepair. Jason Sherry, who produced the video, had this to say about the building:
You see that and it really looks like a building that, if you just looked at that element, was abandoned for a number of years until you realize that right there next to this giant hole in the plaster where you can see the wooden beams—and some of those are cracked—there’s a bed with a comforter. There’s a dresser with somebody’s book they’ve been reading and medication and slippers next to the bed. Somebody is actively living there now with the house in this condition.
So, if you choose to contribute to this auction, not only will you be preserving a part of history, you will be improving the living conditions of the house’s current residents.
And if you are not interested in any auctioned off items, but still want to contribute, you could purchase T-shirts or other merchandise designed by Chip Kidd or just make a cash donation.
Addendum: Rich here, just to add in the interest of disclosure that although Bill and I know Jason Sherry, the video’s producer, we still would be running this story simply because we feel that this is an important project. With just Sherlock Holmes and Tarzan for company, Superman is probably one of the most recognized fictional characters in the world. Not only did his appearance jump start the fledgling comic book industry, but he also was one of the first superheroes to appear on the big screen, in a series of cartoon adventures from the Fleischer Studio. Preserving our cultural heritage is, I feel, one of the most important things to do to help educate tomorrow about the type of people we were today. Preserving and sharing our cinematic heritage is one of the reason’s I founded FilmBuffOnLine and I strongly urge you to help support Brad Meltzer and Ordinary People Change The World.
