THANK YOU FOR MAKING STAR WARS 30 DAYS FOR 30 YEARS A BIG SUCCESS

Yesterday was the official last day of Star Wars 30 Days for 30 Years and today I want to thank everyone for stopping by and helping this month be a success. It was nice for me to relive and share some childhood memories and make some new friends along the way! Big thanks goes to Gus Lopez and Mike Middleton, as this month would’ve been incomplete without their super-swell posts. You can read Gus’s Death Star prop post here and Mike’s Glenwood Theatre post here.

Also, I want to thank my pal John Rozum, who also dedicated the whole month of May to Star Wars over at his blog. It was great reading his insightful posts about the galaxy far far away and it helped keep me motivated.

I’m afraid I’m a little blogged out and Star Warsed out, so after tomorrow’s Flea Market Friday, I’ll be taking a short break from the blog. If you want to see most of the Star Wars photos I've posted and a few that I didn't use, you can visit my STARWARSVILLE set over on Flickr.


I’ll leave you with a group of newspaper movie ads for Star Wars, from the Ramada 4 Theatre located in Jefferson City, Missouri. I made my Star Wars 30 Days for 30 Years banner out of one of these. The first one is from 1977 and the others are from the re-release in 1978.

Remember, the Force will be with you always!

MR. PIBB ROBOT & ME 1980

Yep, that’s me, right after I turned 10 years old during the summer of 1980. I’m posing with a Mr. Pibb robot that showed up at our local supermarket, Carl’s Market.

I couldn’t believe they had this crazy robot rolling around that looked like R2-D2. Every kid that walked by had their picture taken with it. The robot talked in bleeps and played a Mr. Pibb jingle. His head would spin around showing the word SMILE, when it was time for a photograph.

Star Wars and Coca-Cola collectors are familar with the Cobot, which was the same style as this Pibbot.

There was also a small remote control Cobot toy that was produced. You can read more about the Cobot here.

Funny that I happened to be wearing my Star Wars spoof shirt that day and that I’m holding four packs of Empire Strikes Back cards in my right hand.

I still have that shirt and here’s a scan of it. It's hard to see now, but the two Star characters are throwing food at one another. Get it? The stars are having a war, Star Wars! Har Har Har.


Luckily, those blue shorts are long gone!

VINTAGE STAR WARS SNAPSHOTS FROM FLICKR

I was surfing around on flickr and found a bunch of vintage snapshots from 1977 - 1980 that people have uploaded. Looking at these photos really brings back the whole Star Wars phenomenon, when Star Wars was a new fad that was sweeping the world. Amazing, that the fad hasn't faded in 30 years!

Click on the links to see the photos -


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This is not an old photo, but I think the van is vintage.
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STAR WARS FOR THE SECOND TIME

I saw Star Wars a second time on Halloween night in 1977 at the Lake Cinema. I remember after trick or treating, my grandma took us kids to see Star Wars, as she hadn’t seen it yet and I’m sure she wanted to see what the fuss was about. My costume that year was Snoopy and the fun thing about seeing a movie on Halloween night was that we got to eat our candy loot while we watched the movie. (Unfortunately, I don’t have any photos from Halloween as a kid)

The Lake Cinema was located in Camdenton, Missiouri, which is part of the Lake of the Ozarks. I saw many flicks over the years at this theater and unfortunately, it finally closed sometime in the late 80's. The building still stands, but it's now a mattress store.

Here’s a photo of the theater as how it would’ve looked like back in 1977. Thanks to photoshop, I’ve redone it to look similar to what the theater might’ve looked like back in ‘77, using a modern photo before it was completly remodeled into the mattress store.


Also, here’s a scan of a ticket stub I saved from the early 80's.

SPLINTER OF THE MINDS EYE

I think I was about nine years old when I read Splinter of the Minds Eye and I remember the talk on the playground was that this was going to be the sequel to Star Wars. That was fine with me as I thought the book was exciting and I couldn’t wait to see what the Yuzzem looked like.

Here’s a drawing I did after I read the book of the Yuzzem named Hin.

BOBA FETT, BLUE SNAGGLETOOTH, WALRUS MAN & POWER DROID

TOPPS STAR WARS CARD COUNTDOWN #1

Card #131 from the red (second) series set.

This was my favorite card from childhood and now it's the final card of the countdown. I always imagined that some X-Wing pilot went after Darth Vader after the Death Star was destroyed. I liked this card so much, I did a drawing of it when I was seven.


Hopefully everyone enjoyed the card countdown and sorry if your favorite cards didn't make the list. I know to some it was kind of anticlimactic, especially if you were waiting for the x-rated C-3PO card to show up. For the most part, I based the countdown on cards that I liked when I was a kid and I didn't even know that card existed until about 15 years ago. (I've bought and sold many of them since) Also, it's been discussed so many times, that I didn't think it was worth bumping out a different card to add that one in. If you would like, you can see it and read about it here and here.

A great site for vintage Star Wars trading cards check out Paul Holstein's excellent collection !

1977 STAR WARS INSPIRED SUPERMARKET AD

This was printed in the Oct. 12 1977 edition of our local newspaper for the G2M Supermarket in Laurie, Missouri. The name G2M even sounds kind of Star Warsy!

1977 LAURIE TERRACE MALL STAR WARS NEWSPAPER AD

This ad was published in the Aug. 31 edition of our local newspaper back in 1977.

STAR WARS PROPS

Here's a few snapshots of some of the Star Wars props that I've seen thru the years.

Cantina Band Member Mask - Disney MGM 1994

Chess Table - Disney MGM 1994

Death Star Surface Pieces - Disney MGM 1994

Mouse Droid Planet Hollywood - Minneapolis 1997

X-Wing & TIE Fighter Models - Planet Hollywood - Las Vegas

Death Star Surface Piece - Planet Hollywood - St. Louis

GREEDO, HAMMERHEAD & SNAGGLETOOTH

TOPPS STAR WARS CARD COUNTDOWN #2

Card #182 from the yellow (third) series set.

I was fascinated by the Stormtroopers as a kid and wondered if they were robots or humans.

IN MEMORY OF . . .

CANTINA CREATURE FROM MY CHILDHOOD IMAGINATION

This drawing from age 8, was my own made-up Cantina Creature.

X-WING PILOT, DEATH STAR DROID & R5-D4

TOPPS STAR WARS CARD COUNTDOWN #3

Card #176 from the yellow (third) series set.

From one of my favorite scenes in the movie.

MARVEL STAR WARS COMICS

One of my favorite things from childhood was reading Marvel's Star Wars comics. They were so much fun and it kept us Star Wars kids engaged until the next movie.  Through the years I've been fortunate to meet some of the amazing writers and artists that worked on the series. Below are some of the sketches and signed Star Wars comics that I got from these meetings at comic book conventions. 

Han Solo by Howard Chaykin
2006 Kansas City Convention Sketch

Issue #2 Signed by Roy Thomas, Howard Chaykin and Steve Leialoha

Obi-Wan Kenobi by Steve Leialoha
2002 Kansas City Convention Sketch

(My favorite Star Wars cover!)
Signed by Carmine Infantino and Bob Wiacek



Darth Vader by Bob Wiacek
2002 New York Convention Sketch

C-3PO by Terry Austin
2002 New York Convention Sketch

Check out issue #68 of Alter Ego magazine! Roy Thomas has put together an excellent 16-page article about the creation of the first ten issues of Marvel's Star Wars comics.

DEATH SQUAD COMMANDER, SAND PEOPLE & JAWA