1995 Superman Telephone Booth Ornament

Posted to Flickr on 06 January 2011.

My wife and I found this ornament at a local Hallmark store in 1995. It features light and action and is therefore designated by Hallmark as a "magic" ornament. When plugged into a Christmas tree light socket, the phone booth’s interior light and exterior sign light up, and the figure periodically flips around, transforming from Clark Kent to Superman and back again.

As fun as all that is, for me the most notable feature of this ornament is not the light or motion; it is the sound. The mechanism responsible for rotating the figure makes a steady, quiet hum when plugged in, and when the figure turns, the hum briefly changes. Over the years, I have associated this unique sound with our family’s Christmas tree. I never feel as though our tree is "complete" until I hear it. Weird, but true.

Elsewhere

Clark Kent has been spotted changing into Superman here as well:

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Flickr Facts

This photo was posted to Flickr on 06 January 2011. The last time I checked, it had 26,689 views on Flickr.

The media type of this image is "photo." The original file type was "jpg." The photo's dimensions are 1024 x 681, giving it landscape orientation.

Unless otherwise noted, the image was created by me, JD Hancock.

Selected imagery background information.

Superman

Superman is a superhero in comic books published by DC Comics. He was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster and first appeared in Action Comics #1 (1938). Rocketed to Earth from the doomed planet Krypton, the baby Kal-El was raised in Smallville as Clark Kent. As he grew to maturity, he found himself possessed of amazing physical powers: faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. To use his abilities in a never-ending battle for truth and justice as "Superman," he travelled to Metropolis and assumed the disguise of a mild-mannered reporter for The Daily Planet, a great metropolitan newspaper. His costume is red and blue with a cape and a distinctive "S" shield on his chest. He is often depicted as part of the Justice League superhero team along with Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash, and others. Superman was played by Christopher Reeve in a series of films beginning with Superman: The Movie (1978) and by Tom Welling in the television series Smallville (2001).

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