The champagne flowed and the checkbooks groaned at the annual silent auction benefitting the American Repertory Theatre (ART) last night.

Master of Ceremonies Christopher Reeve, the mild-mannered actor who donned tights for three "Superman" films, auctioned off items donated by businesses and celebrities to about 450 black-tied and bejeweled bidders at the posh Charles Hotel in Harvard Square.

Most of the high-priced lots consisted of dinners, artwork, trips, and jewelry, but a few items garnered special interest. The highest price paid last night was $6600 for an original 11-page shortstory manuscript by bestselling author Stephen King, bid by an agent for a future pop culture museum. One woman paid $3500 for the privilege of being included in the next "Spenser" mystery novel by Cambridge resident Robert B. Parker.

Actor Ken Howard anted up $700 for four tickets to the next Harvard-Yale game, after declaring that "If there's one thing I hate, it's a Harvard fairweather fan." Another couple forked over $2500 for an eight course gourmet dinner for eight.

As he cajoled more than $3000 for investment fund shares worth only a $2000, Reeve kept up a constant flow of jokes, telling the crowd, "You came her to give generously, with the feeding frenzy of sharks."

ART director Robert Brustein sparked a frenzy of bidding on the last auction lot, when he substituted an afternoon with Reeve on Martha's Vinyard for the original prize--a tennis match with Art Buchwald and Brustein. The bidding immediately went up another $1000 dollars, peaking at $2700. "I went to a clairvoyant last week who told me I would marry someone with a name that begin with an R," said Jo Anne Kennedy, the lucky buyer.

A 15-minute breakfast at the State House with Gov. Michael S. Dukakis and his wife, Kitty, went for $400. ART officials said last night they did not know how much the annual auction netted for the regional theater company, though the 1985 extravaganza raised approximately $60,000.