Headless chicken lives forever
For anyone not already intimately acquainted with the tale of Mike the Headless Chicken, here’s the third-best known portrayor of Superman to fill you in on the back story:
As the event recedes into the past, the legend of Mike is beginning to show the telltale signs of becoming a legend. Factual discrepancies are waved off in favor of the quality of the story. Devout believers make an annual pilgrimage to pay their respects. And, most telling, there’s merchandise to be bought.
This weekend, the city of Fruita, Colorado, celebrated the 63rd anniversary of Mike’s beheading. Though, sadly, having something else to do this weekend prevented me from attending myself (mainly, having to not fly to Colorado to attend a headless chicken festival), I have little doubt attendees had the time of their collective life, eating chicken, making not-terribly funny jokes about headlessness, drinking to a non-excessive pleasant buzz and, of course, helping cement the foundation of a story which, to our modern day sensibilities is cute and entertainingly kitsch… but which, given the proper support, could blossom into a global belief system over the course of the next couple thousand years.
Good for you, Mike. I salute you. Which, for the record, is not intended as a joke about headlessness.
May 19, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Wow! When you said “third-best known portrayor of Superman,” I though “Well, how many have there been?”
It turns out that this site lists 27 individuals who have worn the cape and tights, although a closer look indicates that some of the individuals have actually voiced the voice of Superman, and not put on the costume. Still, voice work is tough, and you need to convince the audience that you ARE Superman.
So my ranking:
Christopher Reeve
George Reeves (no relation)
Brandon Routh (most recent)
Then maybe Dean Cain, although the idea of Patrick Warburton appeals to me.
Although to be pendantic with the definition of “Portrayors of Superman,” I think we’d have to include Michael Stipe, and I think I’d put that in the top three, but that’s just me.
May 19, 2008 at 3:25 pm
P.S. Sorry for hijacking the topic at hand.
May 19, 2008 at 5:32 pm
See, you’re showing your age. Kids today would put Tom Welling way above George Reeves, but might be just old enough to remember Dean from their Mom & Dad’s Superman phase in the 90′s.
May 19, 2008 at 8:27 pm
See, you’re showing your age
This is true; I had to go back to the link to figure out who he was.
Do remember, particularly this week, “It’s not the age, it’s the mileage.”