A blog post by Education Intern Trillion Attwood.
Last Sunday we celebrated in style with Clark Kent at his Bar Mitzvah, held here at the museum. This was inspired by one of our current exhibitions Zap! Pow! Bam! that examines the role of Jewish artists in the development of comic book heroes. This exhibition is only here until August 18th, if you have not had a chance to visit yet I highly recommend trying to find some time. There are lots of interesting images and objects, including the first drawings of Superman and the desk on which they were drawn.
The day was pretty action packed with lots of things to do no matter your age, plenty of people found time to create there own superhero, or villain mask. There was also t-shirt decorating for everyone, lots of people went for the classic superman logo, some people had seriously impressive creative skills. Which combined with a selection of capes, led to plenty of dressing up and superhero posing for photos.
T-shirt decorating
My superhero mask
I really enjoyed our tastiest make of the day, edible torah scrolls, made with fruit roll ups, pretzels and candy, easily done at home. These combined with our kryptonite punch and huge cake made for a bit of a sugar-high, but what sort of a party is complete without sugar? I should also mention, there were plenty of healthier snacks.
One very popular part of the day was the viewing of the original Superman serials from the 1950′s. We always have them showing, but in the spirit of the day, they really drew a crowd. There was one boy, who had seen part of them on a school visit recently, and had been left on such a cliffhanger, he asked his father to bring him back so he could see the rest.
Kryptonite punch
We also had a couple of really interesting talks during the day, by our museum director Marvin Pinkert and the days MC Josh Fruhlinger. Lots of people also found the time to go on our synagogue tours and look around our Voices of Lombard street exhibition.
The highlight of the day was the candle lighting ceremony, in which Superman asked for help from all the most important people in his life. This included a short poem for each person, including this one for Siegel and Shuster the creators of Superman:
You created superman from your imagination,
And your drawings and stories swept the whole nation.
A huge success on comics, TV and the silver screen,
In memory of Siegel and Shuster, I’ll light candle thirteen.
Superman lighting his candles
There was of course also dancing, in which almost everyone participated, due to plenty of friendly encouragement. It seemed that everyone had a really good day, especially the dads, which is the most important thing.
If you did miss out there are still plenty more events this summer around Zap! Pow! Bam! including our Super Art Fight June 30th. Watch the website or facebook for more details.
Thank you to Elaine Hall for photographs.
A blog post by collections intern Erin Pruh. Erin is working with the Lloyd Street Synagogue archaeological collections this summer with Senior Collections Manager Jobi Zink.
