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Smithsonian receives trove of Warner Bros. costumes, props

March 10, 2013 | 4:41 pm
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Photo - Warner Home Video via AP
Halle Berry's "Catwoman" costume was among the most recent additions at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
Warner Home Video via AP Halle Berry's "Catwoman" costume was among the most recent additions at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

They've got the golden ticket.

And other cool Hollywood stuff. On Friday, the folks at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History unveiled some of their newest gets, signed over to them by Warner Bros. Entertainment Chairman Barry Meyer.

"What you see onstage is a sampling of the treasure trove that the museum has received as a donation from Warner Brothers," National Museum of American History curator Dwight Blocker Bowers told the crowd. "This bounty consists of a selection of significant costumes and props from a number of memorable American movies."

Costumes worn by Betty Davis and Paul Newman were on display next to one Halle Berry wore as Catwoman. "I'm completely flabbergasted by the Halle Berry costume, because it displays as much flesh as it displays costume," Bowers joked.

In addition, Warner Bros. donated the batarang prop weapon used by Val Kilmer in "Batman Forever" and the Batman mask and cowl worn in "Batman & Robin" (yes, ladies, that was the one with George Clooney). Other new additions include a Gremlin model from "Gremlins 2," prop chocolate bars and a golden ticket from the 2005 Johnny Depp film "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and stop-motion puppets from Tim Burton's "The Corpse Bride." A Superman costume worn by the late Christopher Reeve was also acquired.

The new movie pieces will eventually be displayed with other pop culture items on the third floor, but that section of the museum is being renovated. Bowers said the pieces would be displayed on rotation starting in 2015. "Which sounds like forever, but in our language it's not," Bowers said.

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