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WASHINGTON, D.C. — Rocky Balboa, already every underdog’s hero, is now a permanent part of American cultural history.
To make it official, Sylvester Stallone yesterday donated a collection of Rocky-related artifacts to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.
“Being in the Smithsonian?” the 60-year-old Stallone asked rhetorically at a sometimes funny, often poignant ceremony. “I knew I was getting old but I didn’t think I’d be with the dinosaurs so soon.”
Stallone, who created the Rocky character as an Oscar-nominated screenwriter, was mixing his museum metaphors, of course, for comic purposes. The dinosaur bones are nearby at the National Museum of National History.
His artifacts — the battered pork-pie hat, the red-and-yellow ring robe from the Apollo Creed fight, white boxing boots and red gloves from the first two sequels and the U.S. flag trunks from Rocky IV — will be on display at the Treasures of American History exhibit in the National Air and Space Museum starting on Dec. 21.
The history museum itself is closed until 2008 for renos. The Treasures exhibit keeps its cultural collection alive, with Rocky’s memorabilia cozying up to Dorothy’s ruby slippers, Ray Charles’ sunglasses, Louis Armstrong’s 1913 cornet, Albert Einstein’s pipe and other signifiers.
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“At the Smithsonian, we are in the ‘forever’ business,” Brent D. Glass, director of the National Museum of American History, told Stallone publicly. “So this is going into the permanent national collection.”
Stallone, flush with excitement, also announced he will likely add a championship belt and his original hand-written Rocky script to the collection. “I want to thank the Smithsonian for this extraordinary, extraordinary gift to me,” he said of the opportunity to be remembered.
He also dedicated his artifacts “to all the Rocky’s out there,” reminding the gathering that the character is now more famous and more important than its creator. “Rocky, of course, is part of everybody,” Stallone said. “I don’t have ownership any more.”
“These objects could not be better in conveying the interplay of sports and entertainment in American film history,” curator Dwight Blocker Bowers said. “More specifically, they could not better convey the importance of Sylvester Stallone to the film industry — and our millions of visitors are going to enjoy them.”
The timing, of course, was carefully chosen. A two-disc Collector’s Edition DVD of Rocky was released yesterday; so was a five-disc box set, Rocky Anthology, which contains all five past Rocky movies. On Dec. 20, the final instalment, Rocky Balboa, opens in theatres.
The original Rocky opened in just two theatres in 1976, gradually rolling out into hit status and Oscar nominations, including a double for Stallone for his screenplay and as best actor (he lost both but the movie won best picture). The new Rocky Balboa will open in thousands of theatres.
“The competition is brutal,” Stallone said. “It’s a whole different ball game and it’s a money game now. So I’m very nervous about it but I’m thrilled that it turned out to be a good film. It’s not about being number one again. I don’t even know (if that is possible). It doesn’t even matter to me. It just matters that we finished the film and, so far, people have liked it. That to me is enough of an endorsement.”
Stallone was thrilled yesterday that his wife, one-time model Jennifer Flavin, was front-and-centre at the Smithsonian ceremony. He thanked her lovingly; she helped wipe sweat and a piece of tissue off his face.
On stage, Stallone said Rocky still resonates because he represents hope to underdogs.
“The idea that maybe you can not be born with all the assets in the world and you can not be the fastest and strongest and most handsome but, through perseverence, you can achieve goals. And it’s a subject that has always fascinated me.”