536 sucked

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via Science:

A mysterious fog plunged Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Asia into darkness, day and night—for 18 months. "For the sun gave forth its light without brightness, like the moon, during the whole year," wrote Byzantine historian Procopius. Temperatures in the summer of 536 fell 1.5°C to 2.5°C, initiating the coldest decade in the past 2300 years. Snow fell that summer in China; crops failed; people starved. The Irish chronicles record "a failure of bread from the years 536–539." Then, in 541, bubonic plague struck the Roman port of Pelusium, in Egypt. What came to be called the Plague of Justinian spread rapidly, wiping out one-third to one-half of the population of the eastern Roman Empire and hastening its collapse, McCormick says.

On the bright side, we’re not there quite yet.

links/2024w12

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Superman Day at the World’s Fair, 03 july 1940

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Ray Middleton makes his debut as the first live action Superman (yes, yes, I know, see my notes below) on 03 July, 1940, appearing at +/- 1:20 in the video below. You can also spot DC owner Harry Donenfeld riding an elephant at 1:04 and Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel with DC co-founder Jack Liebowitz at 2:25.

As I seem to be in a “comment on an ages-old mystery” mood today, I’ll wade into the 83-year-old “was it Middleton or someone else in the suit” controversy and, while I have no conclusive evidence, I’m going with it being Middleton in the Super-suit: especially in the video, the facial structure /length looks similar to the picture of Middleton (Middleton is on the right in the second photo (source) below, taken the same day) and the nose bears a striking resemblance in both photographs below. And, while Superman’s hair is parted on the opposite side as Middleton’s, shifting the part from one side to the other could (again, I’ve no conclusive evidence, only a practical knowledge of how stage actors work) part of a performative effort to obfuscate Superman’s “secret identity,” given that Middleton doesn’t wear glasses and organizers would, indeed, want to give the kids a great show.

Nevermind that no one, to my knowledge, has come forward in the 83 years since that day to claim that it was them in the super-suit, something that seems far more of a stretch than an actor puffing up his chest and parting his hair in a different direction for a one-day-only performance.

That being said, I’m happy to be proven wrong and one day learn the real identity of the unknown and uncredited Superman, but we’ll consider these to be my two “it’s Middleton” cents thrown into the pot. Either way, what wonderful footage.