...while integrating graphics into a proposal. Since phone booths seem to be disappearing with the ubiquity of cell phones, where does Superman change his duds? Did anyone see the movie? How did they handle it?

It appears that, in the comics at least, he almost never did. (Rather like certain famous quotes that are attributed to people who never said them.)

I have a vague memory of someone researching the matter once, and finding Clark did the switch only once in print. And that was a dark, indoor phone booth of the 1950's.

A quick search also turned this up:

http://www.supermanhomepage.com/other/other.php?topic=phonebooth

It appears the idea, flimsy to begin with, hung on past the time it could have been meaningful. (do we not still call Internet access by phone 'dial-up,' even after several generations that have never touched a rotary dial?)

Conversely, just this morning, a friend was wathching some movie on Lifetime, wherein lead actress Farrah Fawcett uses an outdoor phone booth of the familiar glass-and-aluminum style...which I couldn't help pointing out was out of place in a film set in the early 1950's.

This was a problem even in the 1978 film. There's a wobderful bit where Clark Kent is rushing to find a place to change, looks at one of those open phone booths, shakes his head, then ducks into an alley.

The first TV Superman I ever saw was a cartoon show where Clark was always ducking into a supply room at The Daily Planet to change his clothes. And as he was changing he would always say, "This looks like a job..." (pulls open his shirt to reveal the big red S, and his voice drops an octave) "...for Superman!"

As for phone booths, that was always Shoeshine Boy turning into Underdog.

There seems to be an awful lot of those japanese photo booths popping up around town. A possible substitute?

The voice-drop business began, IIRC, with the original radio Superman, Bud Collyer, in order to indicate to the radio audience that the Superman persona was emerging. (And of course, when the danger was past, Collyer raised his voice correspondingly to indicate that Clark Kent had once again made his appearance.)

Didn't Superman lose his job after the New York World (err, I mean The Daily Planet) was sold? Life is tough when you don't have a telephone booth to change in, but it is infinitely tougher when you don't have a job.

Anyway, I think their are still telephone booths outside MCC he can use. They even look as old as 1931, even though they were built decades later.

From the Comics (few) that I read, he seemed to change over in crack allies.

My company just built a new building, and the mgmt installed a small glass booth--I think it's a bus-stop shelter--near one side. It's the only place our few smokers are allowed to light up.

They call it the "Shack of Shame."

Perhaps Superman could change in "Shacks of Shame"?

In the new movie he just changed his clothes as he running down the street. Apparently, everyone on the street was looking the other way, as no one seemed to notice. Oh yeah, there was the other time he change in an elevator shaft. He just dropped his clothes as he was fyling up the shaft (heh, heh Superman is gay.) Regardless, the new movie didn't seem to care much one way or the other how Superman changed his clothes. That always seemed to be a very large "continuity" issue to me. Whatever, the movie, ultimately, worked for me. I suppose thats all that matters.

Another logistics problem: After the crisis is over, how does Superman change back into his Clark Kent clothes? Unless he emulates Spiderman, and puts his business suit into some sort of small backpack that he lugs around at all times, he must have scores of Clark Kent outfits all over Metropolis (and why does nobody ever see discarded business suits around town?). And how does he pay for scores of business suits and shoes on a reporter's salary?

...how does he pay for scores of business suits and shoes on a reporter's salary?

That one's easy. He just takes some coal and squeezes out some diamonds. I never really understood why he bothered with the reporting gig, other than that it gave him some early info on what the bad guys might be up to.

At the risk of sounding like a geek here are some answers to the questions brought up.

A. About the reporters job. Early on Clark/Superman decided he needed a job where he could find out quick when trouble was happening and in the days before 24 hour cable news and the internet that job was as a reporter.

B. The clothes issue. In the early comics he did hide them in an alley but later his character developed a fabric that could fold up in a small volume. So he made his street clothes out of that and when he changes he folds them up and places them, along with his glasses, in a small pouch in his cape. There is a cute passage in the 1978 book that was released with the movie where Luthor has subdued Superman and finds these and is puzzled as to why superman would want small cloth pieces and glasses in his cape. Luthor was not to bright otherwise he might have put together that it was part of Superman's alter ego disguise.

Hope that helps and maybe I am a geek, who knows

> Clark did the switch only once in print. And
> that was a dark, indoor phone booth of the
> 1950's

One of the few Superman comics I read in the early 1970s had him change in a phone booth, using his super cold breath to fog over the windows.

"That one's easy. He just takes some coal and squeezes out some diamonds."

Rand, either you're a clever dude, or you've read Larry Niven's essay "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex." Or both.

JAH: Yes, that helps. Thanks

I'm reminded of a scene in a recent comic issue wherein (the now married) Lois and Clark are in a relatively quiet office building hallway, Clark becomes aware of trouble brewing and looks for a place to change. After determining that the nearby men's room is occupied, he notes aloud that the ladie's room is empty, goes in, and re-emerges in costume. Lois quietly asks:

"Clark, how did you know the ladies room was empty...*you didn't!*"

"Lois, I have super *hearing,* too. There were no heartbeats in there."

"Oh. Hm. Okay..."

Heartbeats. Right.