Superman Krypto-Raygun Toy
date: label: Date made
content: 1941
name: label: maker
content: Daisy Manufacturing Company, Inc.
label: maker
content: Daisy Manufacturing Company, Inc.
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: Made by the Daisy Mfg. Company, this 1940 Superman themed toy gun also serves as a film projector. 16mm filmstrips could be woven through the metal gun and projected onto exterior surfaces via an internal lamp. Children would view the filmstrip one image at a time. There are 7 "Superman Adventure Stories" included:
label: Description (Brief)
content: The toy is advertised as being made of "Kryptonite," the fictional metal from Superman's lost home, "the weird planet Krypton." Now known as one of the heroes' greatest threats, it was not introduced it as such until 1949.
label: Description (Brief)
content: The character of Superman first flew into action in 1938. The costumed superhero was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, two Jewish teenagers from Cleveland Ohio, who used, among other things, classical mythology and the era's popular science fiction and adventure writing for inspiration.
label: Description (Brief)
content: With his debut in Action Comics #1, Superman became an instant sensation with audiences, inspired by the "Man of Tomorrow's" virtue and heroics at time when the Nation was slowly emerging from the economic catastrophe of the Great Depression and moving closer to World War.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Born on the doomed planet Krypton, Superman was sent to Earth as a child, where our world's yellow sun granted him extraordinary powers such as flight, super-strength, near-invulnerability, as well as other extraordinary abilities including heat and X-Ray vision. As an adult living in the city of Metropolis, the alien, born Kal-El, protects his identity by assuming the persona of Clark Kent, a "mild-mannered" journalist.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Fighting for "Truth and Justice," Superman birthed a cultural fascination with superheroes, and has become one of the most recognizable and influential fictional characters in history. In addition to comic books, the character has been explored in all forms of media, including radio, television, and film, and has been used to promote a variety of successful consumer products, educational initiatives and public service campaigns.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Michigan, Plymouth
topic: label: Subject
content: Motion Pictures
label: Subject
content: Animation
label: Subject
content: Superman
label: Subject
content: Toys
label: Subject
content: Children
label: Subject
content: Radio
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Entertainment
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: DC Comics, Incorporated
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1987.0213.166
label: accession number
content: 1987.0213
label: catalog number
content: 1987.0213.166
objectType: label: Object Name
content: toy
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: cardboard (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: film (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: glass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: ink (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 10 in x 8 in x 1 3/4 in; 25.4 cm x 20.32 cm x 4.445 cm