Long Lost Plans For Costumes

Any Broadway show takes an enormous amount of planning. A Broadway musical takes even more. Compare early sketches of costumes to the final version!

Ebay offered up yet another "It's a Bird It's a Plane It's Superman©" treasure.
We've found some of the original plans for costuming the actors.
Let's see how these initial plans compare to the costumes that actually made it to Broadway.

Clark Kent

We've looked at the changes that were made from sketch to production for the female principals in the cast (Lois and Sydney), and they were substantial. But men's clothing is far more uniform, especially in a business setting like the Daily Planet offices. So how did Clark Kent's costumes fare from initial concept to stage? We have two concept sketches for Clark Kent's costumes.

The two sketches do not vary much from each other. In each, Clark is wearing identical gray hats, single breasted suits, and long-sleeved white shirts. Note that the gray suit has a vest and the navy suit does not. Except for the 1960's wild ties, the costumes are very tame, and very much expected for Clark Kent.

But in one sense, this costume design was revolutionary. In every single depiction of Clark Kent prior to "It's a Bird It's a Plane It's Superman©"—Action Comics, early newspaper comic strips, the Kirk Alyn/Noel Neill serials, the Fleischer cartoons, and The Adventures of Superman starring George Reeves—Clark Kent always wore double breated suits. Broadway's Clark Kent, played by Bob Holiday, was the first Clark Kent to wear a single-breasted suit coat.

Why the sudden switch from double breasted suits to single? I can only hazard a guess. Perhaps that was simply the style of the day. Double breasted suits make a man look wider and heavier. Perhaps these were used as a wink to the audience and readers that "underneath that white shirt is a great big red S." Why single-breasted suits for Bob Holiday? Perhaps the costume designer didn't know Clark Kent's history. Perhaps Bob Holiday simply looked better in a single-breasted suit.

Were both these suits used in the show?

Bob Holiday as Clark Kent
A curious Clark Kent peeks around his typewriter.

Here we see Clark Kent at his desk in the Daily Planet offices. He is wearing a single-breasted, navy suit with a wild tie that mirrors the drawing in the original sketch. His hat is gray, and the suit fabric is a solid color, just like the fabric stapled to the original sketch.

Michael O'Sullivan as Dr. Abner Sedgwick, Patricia Marand as Lois Lane, and Bob Holiday as Clark Kent
Dr. Sedgwick explores Superman's possible weaknesses by pummeling Lois Lane with questions, while Clark Kent slyly listens in.

Again, we find Clark in this dark-blue suit. Note the milk and cookies on Clark Kent's desk. They provided a lot of unscripted pranks.

Did the gray suit appear in the show?

Bob Holiday as Clark Kent and Linda Lavin as Sydney
Finding Clark Kent suddenly irresistable, Sydney sings "You've Got Possibilities" to an overwhelmed Clark Kent.
Left: Sydney has just tried to unbutton Clark's shirt singing, "underneath there's something there!"
Right: Mid-song, Sydney asks Clark, "Did you ever consider contact lenses?

It came close. The fabric with its subtle pinstripes looks identical to the swatch stapled to the photo. There's no vest—probably a wise choice for Clark Kent and his super-quick clothing changes, not to mention the impact on the audience when Sydney tries to unbutton Clark's shirt. And if you look closely, you'll note that both Sydney's costume and Clark Kent's tie are different in each photo. As surmised on Sydney's page, these photos must have been taken at different performances. Since the photo on the right shows a sunflower-themed tie—that matches the original sketch—chances are that this is an earlier photo than the one on the left.

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Poor Clark. More than fifty years after he was on Broadway, I'd never stopped to think ... Did Clark Kent ever sing?

It turns out he did. A little.

Bob Holiday as Superman

In the opening song of "It's a Bird It's a Plane It's Superman©", Superman sings "Doing Good" while his clothes flew to him on wires. (This was the magical opening that grabbed my eleven-year old heart and transported me to Metropolis.) All the time he was singing, Superman was also changing into Clark Kent. And so we must give Clark his due. Clark Kent sang the last line of the song, "Superman, now you're Clark Kent!"

Bob Holiday himself did a bit of costume designing for this song. His change from Superman into Clark Kent was carefully choreographed so that the flying clothes arrived just in time, piece by piece. But how to change his shoes and maintain the smooth choreography? Bob suggested that the backs be cut off of a pair of rubber rain shoes. Bob slid his Superman boots into the tacky rubber and wore the rain shoes every time he appeared as Clark Kent. It was a clever and effective illusion, brought to us by the actor himself.

And then, a little more

Act II, Scene 5
The entire cast
Bob Holiday as Clark Kent in the lower center panel.

In this clever set, the plot is advanced in a big musical number.
—Lois asks Clark: "Have you seen Superman lately?"
—Clark: "Yeah ... this morning."
—Lois: "Did he mention me by any chance?"
—Clark: "No ... why should he?"
And Lois realizes she "should be thinking just of Jim, not Superman."
—Clark Kent suddenly sings, "That's all I hear from every side, It's Superman!"
He promptly walks over to Sydney and they kiss in a proper, comic-book clutch.
—While Jim Morgan sings, "Will she ever love me?" regarding Lois,
—Lois sings, "Will he ever love me?" regarding Superman, and
—Clark sings his final line of the show, "Could she really like me?" regarding Sydney.

That's it. Clark Kent sings three lines in the entire show.
By far, most of the singing is done by Superman.
And when Bob Holiday sang, you knew with every fiber of your being,
that was Superman!

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NEXT WEEK: Superman

ALSO SEE:
Lois Lane
Sydney

Footnotes:
"Costumes by Florence Klotz"
per the "It's a Bird It's a Plane It's Superman©" program.
While the sketch is unsigned, the style is quite similar to known sketches by Ms. Klotz.
Also in the program are the following notes (CREDITS, p.40)
Wardrobe Mistress ........ Lillian Beuttel
Costumes executed by Costume Associates, Inc.
Shoes for Superman and the Flying Lings by LaRay Boot Shop.
Other shoes by Capezio.
Misses Marand's-Lavin's hats by Archie Eason.
Stockings by Jessie Zimmer.
Fabrics by Julian Tomchin.
Raincoats courtesy of Fashions by Claudia
Miss Marand's yellow ensemble by Bill Blass for Maurice Rentner, Ltd.
Miss Marand's eyelashes by Eylure.
First Act Finale costumes executed by Grace Costume Co.
Handbags by Coblentz.
Men's shirts by Excello.
Men's hose by Marum.
Superman Sweat shirts courtesy of Allison Mfg. Co.
Raincoats courtesy of Fashion by Claudia.
Watches by Sheffield.
What a super team was needed simply to clothe the cast!