Reclaiming a Superman

As Superman Returns star Brandon Routh is about to establish his place in Man of Steel lore, one Iowa town is working to reestablish another Superman's.

In Woolstock, population 204, plans are underway for a museum dedicated to George Reeves.

"Looking at it historically, what are the good things that have come out of Woolstock?" native resident Veronica Guyader said she asked herself last year.

Her answer: TV's first Superman, born in Woolstock in 1914.

From 1952 to '57, Reeves did double duty as the Kryptonian refugee and the mild-mannered Clark Kent in The Adventures of Superman, the definitive Superman vehicle until the Christopher Reeve movies of the 1970s and 1980s. Long before Reeve assumed the tights, Reeves died, found dead in his Beverly Hills home on Jun. 14, 1959. He was 45. And he was destined for an unwanted claim to fame.

"George Reeves is the Superman who committed suicide--that's the way for the last 30-40 years, he's remembered," said Steven Kirk, a Los Angeles entertainer and expert movie memorabilia collector. "And it's just not the truth."

Kirk, who has offered to curate the planned Reeves museum, doesn't mean the actor didn't kill himself--that is what authorities ruled the shooting death, although others have speculated it was murder. What Kirk means is that Reeves isn't just about how, or why, he died.

That's the way Guyader sees Reeves, too. "There's so much about his death that is uncertain," she said. "What we need to focus on is his character. He was so charitable...This is an opportunity to focus on that."

Once upon a time, Woolstock celebrated Reeves with a sign noting the town as the actor's birthplace. But Guyader said the superhero's corporate bosses objected to the use of the copyrighted Superman symbol, and the sign came down.

This time around, the town is dreaming bigger. The first-ever George Reeves Memorial Festival was held Jun. 16-18, three days of screenings, panel discussions and a pancake breakfast. Despite the event nearly coinciding with the 47th anniversary of Reeves' death, Woolstock, above all, remains focused on Reeves' life, and, more specifically, his birthplace.

The small, two-story home where Don and Helen Brewer welcomed son George (Reeves was his adopted stage name) is being eyed as the future home of the museum. The current owners, Guyader said, are donating the property to the campaign known as the George Reeves Memorial. A restoration project awaits.

"It needs a lot of work," said Kirk, who first saw the house when he attended the festival. "Structurally, it's great, but it needs to be stripped down."

Kirk imagines dedicating each of the home's rooms--four downstairs, three upstairs--to a different aspect of Reeves' life and career. Superman, for instance, would get one; Gone with the Wind, the 1939 classic in which Reeves appeared as one of Scarlett O'Hara's early suitors, would get another.

It's Guyader's hope that the birthplace museum will be ready for museum business in about five years.

This year, Superman Returns is helping the effort by keeping Superman, and by association Reeves, in the spotlight, especially in Iowa, birthplace of the franchise's latest star, Brandon Routh.

"Iowa is really a super place--two Supermen coming out of one place," Guyader said.

The 26-year-old Routh was back in his Des Moines hometown on Sunday for the heartland premiere of Superman Returns, opening all across Iowa and elsewhere on Wednesday.

One place Superman Returns won't play is Woolstock--Guyader said there aren't any theaters. Instead, Guyader said residents are talking about taking off for a theater-equipped nearby city, the better to see Routh's Superman debut.

The fall is scheduled to bring another Superman-related movie, but it's one unlikely to inspire a community road trip. Hollywoodland, starring Ben Affleck as Reeves, is about the how, the why and the mystery of the actor's death.

"They're not going to show him riding in parades, dressed up as Superman," said Kirk, who has not seen the movie. "They're going to show him being drunk and carousing...and he really led a better life than that."

At 27, Guyader, an aspiring grad student in anthropology and sociology, is a latter-day Reeves convert.

"I grew up in the '80s and '90s where [Lois & Clark's] Dean Cain was my Superman," Guyader said. "As a youngster, I knew of Christopher Reeve."

It wasn't until Guyader watched the Adventures of Superman DVDs released last year that she came to appreciate Reeves' contributions to the cape. (Now, there's even more of Reeves to study on DVD--the series' third and fourth seasons were issued last week.)

"If you look back at the character, and how Clark Kent is portrayed, I would have to say George is my favorite Superman," said Guyader. "And not necessarily because he's from Woolstock."