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Colonel's Commission to George Reeves 1957. This Colonel's Commission to George Reeves 1957.

Currency:USD Category:Memorabilia Start Price:1.00 USD Estimated At:1,600.00 - 2,400.00 USD
Colonel's Commission to George Reeves 1957. This Colonel's Commission to George Reeves 1957.
<B>Colonel's Commission to George Reeves 1957.</B></I> This is a strange one! As many know, a quick way to start an argument among vintage film and TV fans is to debate whether George "Superman" Reeves, shot to death in his Benedict Canyon house on a June night in 1959, was a suicide or a murder victim. If this item could talk, it might provide clues to a definitive answer. This is a "Veteran Confederate States Cavalry" certificate, complete with sketches of Civil War Generals Forrest, Stuart, Morgan and Hampton, presented to Reeves in Kentucky on September 9, 1957, while Reeves was on a <I>Superman</B></I> publicity tour. (Perhaps Reeves rated the honor because, besides being Superman, he'd played a Tarleton twin in <I>Gone With the Wind</B></I>!). The honor specifically made him a Colonel in the "Fourth Kentucky Cavalry of the Confederate States of America," and Reeves was so pleased that he adjusted the sign on his Superman dressing room door to read, "Honest George - also known as 'Col.Reeves.'" He also proudly displayed the honor in his home, and the certificate was hanging there June 16, 1959, when Reeves died of a gunshot wound. It gets even stranger. The Confederate Cavalry certificate ended up in the possession of Toni Mannix, allegedly Reeves' lover, whose husband, MGM executive Eddie Mannix, is widely suspected of having shot Reeves (or having engaged a hit man to kill him). The "Colonel's Commission" certificate, after Toni's death, went to Toni's sister and eventually to its cosigner. The name "George Reeves" and the rank "Colonel" are in perfect condition, but water damage has slightly blurred the ink for "Fourth Kentucky Cavalry" and blurred to a greater degree the date and the signatures of the "Adjutant" and the "Major General." (Reeves did not sign it.) The gold seal is also water-damaged. It's an overall fascinating piece, made all the more so by two acccompanying illustrations framed along with it. One shows Reeves, smiling outside his <I>Superman</B></I> dressing room with its new "Col. Reeves" plaque. The other shows Reeves receiving the certificate in Kentucky, with Noel "Lois Lane" Neill and three members of the "Owensboro delegation" who are conferring the honor. Recently attractively framed, with a plaque on the mat that reads, "From the Estate of George Reeves - his Kentucky Confederate Colonel's Certificate - Awarded in 1957." George Reeves might have had mixed feelings about his fame as Superman, but he surely appreciated this honor, which has a desirable association with a cultish Hollywood figure and an unsolved movie colony murder.