Supergirl (1984) Press Packet

The subject of this week’s blog post is perhaps my most unique item of my Supergirl collection; the Press Packet released for the 1984 Supergirl movie staring Faye Dunaway, Helen Slater, and Peter O’Toole. I am a huge supporter of this often ridiculed movie and as such have acquired a small collection of memorabilia and other products related to the film that I plan to cover in later blog posts.

The press packet included these 2 documents from Allied Advertising Agency informing the recipient of the packet on where and when the film will be showing and the specifics on how the press should submit their reviews. As I am not a member of the press and got this packet secondhand I don’t entirely understand all the specifics of this information, but I do enjoy their inclusion and, for me, it adds to the novelty of the kit.

The packet also includes a selection of portraits of the main characters as well as the director and producer. In order the pictures are; Helen Slater as Supergirl, Faye Dunaway as Selina with Helen Slater as Supergirl, another portrait of Supergirl now as a wide shot, Peter O’Toole as Zaltar, Faye Dunaway as Selina, Hart Bochner as Ethan, the director Jeannot Swarc, and the producer Timothy Burrill. Each of these images are printed on glossy photo paper with Tri-Star and Supergirl branding along with a brief blurb mentioning the legal requirements if the press were to publish any of these photographs along with their reviews. Each photo also includes a small slip of paper that lists the name of the character, the name of the actor, and a brief explanation of what the character is like.

In addition to the 8 portraits, the kit also includes 6 images from the movie. These pictures depict some of the actors that have smaller, supporting roles like Mia Farrow and Simon Ward as Alura and Zor-El. These images also have caption cards that now describe the scene depicted as opposed to the character traits as the last set did. All together the kit includes 14 black and white photos. While none of these images feel exclusive to the kit they’re still very exciting to have and make an excellent addition to my collection.

The most interesting part of this kit, however, is this blue booklet. This booklet opens with a full cast and crew list and the normal legal dialogue about ownership of the Supergirl character by DC Comics. The booklet then goes into a 10 page synopsis of the movie that also touches on the characters present, the thoughts of the producers, and some of the special effects utilized to bring Supergirl to life. The book ends with biography pages for Faye Dunaway, Helen Slater, Jeannot Szwarc, Timothy Burrill, Ilya Salkind, and Alexander Salkind.

While the biographies of the director and producers are fairly by the books, the biographies for Faye Dunaway and Helen Slater are quite interesting because they have quotes from the actresses. The biography for Slater is particularly interesting because this was her first film so it explores more so how she approaches this character with “Amazonian proportions” as she puts it.

As I mentioned at the top, this is one of my most unique pieces in my Supergirl collection. My partner works at a used book store and this press packet, along with a couple others, came in with a collection someone was selling. I immediately knew I wanted it for my collection having no idea what it was. I’m glad I jumped on it when I did because when looking around online for press packets for this movie since acquiring it I have not seen anything close to as complete as the kit I have. This little blue folder is such a great look into the history of the film and I’m glad to be able to share it on my blog.

Thanks so much for reading my blog! If you have any thoughts, questions, comments, or corrections about any of my posts feel free to contact me via email at blogofsupergirl@gmail.com