The time: A hot summer night, 1934. The place: Kimberley Street, Glenville. A mostly Jewish neighborhood in Cleveland. Our story begins with Jerry Siegel, a quiet 19-year-old who can't sleep. Ideas for a new superhero churn through his brain.
1940's radio show: Up in the sky, look! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Superman!
The Man of Steel is born right here in Siegel's house in Cleveland. Fast forward now to the Glenville of 2008.
It's 3pm on a summer afternoon. African-American children play on the sidewalks. Older wooden houses line Kimberley Street. But one house stands out. It's painted red and blue. This is the home of Jefferson and Hattie Gray.
Mhari Saito: Hello? Thank you.
The Grays moved here in 1983. Three years later the city of Cleveland declared it a historic landmark. And then fans started knocking on the door.
Hattie Gray: Here we go, for the 150th time...
Mhari Saito: Have you done this before?
Hattie: Yeah....
The house is no museum. The Grays raised their four children here. Visitors tromp through their rooms. Jerry Siegel's relatives visited from Florida once and told the Grays what they knew of Superman's origins.
Hattie Gray: This was supposed to have been Jerry's room right here.
Jefferson Gray: He did most of his writing from that room and in the attic.
Plaster is crumbling from the corners of Jerry Siegel's old bedroom. In the back is a space that looks like a closet but it has a window that overlooks the backyard.
Jefferson Gray: He looked out the window all the time.
Mhari Saito: Oh he would sit here and look out the window
Jefferson Gray: I guess so.
1940s Radio show narrator: As our story begins we ask you to come with us on a far journey. A journey that takes us millions of miles from the Earth where the planet Krypton burns like a green star in the endless heaven.
The story of how Jerry Siegel thought up Superman on that hot summer night is well known to comic book fans. Siegel's first version of the superhero was evil, but after late night revisions the 'Man of Steel' became a hero sent to live among us from a dying planet.
Mhari Saito: You can totally imagine that can't you. A kid in a little space like this.
Jefferson Gray: And at night time, when you are sitting here you can just see the sun, the moon and the sun rising. It's a beautiful view.
After his sleepless night, Siegel ran the 11 blocks to his friend Joe Shuster's apartment. Siegel held in his hands the outlines of a comic strip plot. Shuster started to sketch the story of the 'Man of Steel.'
Radio show woman: Look! The sky! It's fiery red! The mountains! Look the mountains are falling in! Jor-El, what's happening?
Man: The end of Krypton, Lara, just as I foretold!
Mhari Saito: You all are incredibly gracious. I think most people if they had random fans knocking on the door saying 'Hi. Where's Jerry's bedroom?' They'd get kind of sick of it after a while.
Hattie Gray: (laughs)
Jefferson Gray: Not really because something like Superman all the kids and people have loved that so we always did it.
And without any state or local aid, the Grays have opened their home to strangers again and again. Comic book fans and local nonprofits have talked about fixing up the house, but those plans have stalled. Jefferson Gray doesn't mind. He says owning Superman's house has introduced him to people he would never have otherwise met.
Jefferson Gray: Most of the time people get frightened about the neighborhood: ' I'm scared to go in that neighborhood.' Y'know, you have to deal with that all the time. But then when I see people come in with friendly faces... I've never heard one person say one bad thing since they've been coming over here.
Visitors and friends have turned the front porch of the Gray's home into a makeshift shrine decorated with Superman memorabilia. Jefferson Gray says he can't wait for the day when he can explain what it all means to his one-year-old grandson. Mhari Saito,90.3.