Summer 1978. Star Wars opened on May 25, 1977. I remember seeing it but it most likely was not May 25th. It was summer. It was hot. I remember my mother loaded me up in the family car in my PJs and went to the Drive-in. She was seeing some guy. Not my dad but I don’t recall his name. I could ask but I don’t care. Its not like he stuck around. But we watched Star Wars on the big screen. I was 5 ½ years old. I don’t remember much about that first viewing but I do know I loved the opening sequence with the Stormtroopers blasting into the small Rebel ship and the firefight that followed. I remember the tall Dark Sith Lord demanding stolen plans. I think I fell asleep sometime around the Cantina scene. I don’t blame myself. I was 5 and at a Drive-in past 9 PM. I’m thinking it was August 1978.
Flash forward to Spring or Early summer 1978. My great aunt and uncle Viv and Wade were on their annual trip to New Mexico. I don’t know why or exactly when yet I have a strong visual of standing in the Kmart toy department eyeballing a plethora of Star Wars figures on the pegs. The cards had the pictures of the characters from the movie. Everyone was there. Luke, Leia, Darth Vader, Han and Chewie. My favorite was the Stormtrooper. That image of two troopers standing in a door and firing what looked to be a red/green blast right at you. I tugged my mother’s shirt and asked if I could have one. She said yeah. I then asked for two. She reluctantly agreed. It wasn’t much money. $1.98 a figure. My great uncle Wade walked over and I remember saying that he’d heard how popular Star Wars was. I wonder to this day if he had gone to see it. He asked how many different ones there were. The back of the card showed only 12 different figures. He asked if they had all 12. I said, I think so. He said, then grab yourself a set. That’s right. My uncle was offering to buy all 12 figures. I clearly remember him buying all 12 figures right there in the Kmart. We couldn’t get home fast enough. I opened them all. The rest of the day, the house was a whirlwind of blaster and light sword sounds. Not sure if I had even saw the entire movie by then. I was six.
With owning all 12 that day, I wished I had them still on the card. Or at least begged for a 2nd set. (the market for them in 90s skyrocketed) But I do know, that I had the holy grail of Star Wars figures, the vinyl caped Jawa. Yep, I had it. Loose of course. I also remember loosing its gun at a babysitter’s house. And it would eventually disappear later at that same babysitter’s house. I was mad and distraught over it. My mother tried to calm me and say it was okay. She promised we’d go to the store tomorrow and buy another one. I wiped the tears away and we went to ALCO to buy its replacement the next day. This might have been sometime late ‘78 or early 1979. When we got there, I was surprised to find this new Jawa had a cloth cape. Not a cape but a whole little robe and hood thingie. I flipped out. Even in my 6 year old mind I knew it was much cooler than those dumb old plastic capes or coats that Vader and Old Ben had. I cherished that new Jawa. I never lost its gun and I never lost it. It wasn’t until I was 24 or so that I wished I had the original one again. Knowing that even a verified and authentic loose one would go for around 800 bucks. Oh well…at six…I was happy I lost the first one…
Denver Comic Con
