Star Wars (1977) - 45th Anniversary Mega Post!

Forty-five years ago this month, a little film called Star Wars was released.  The film became a pop cultural phenomenon and spawned two sequels, a prequel trilogy, a sequel trilogy, two anthology films, a holiday television special, an animated series, and a whole lot more.

If we tried to list all of the Star Wars-related merchandise that has been produced over the years, it would be almost impossible. I was a pretty big fan of Star Wars when it first came out, and I did collect quite a few items related to that very first film. Today, I am going to share some of those items with you.

First up, we have a couple of pinback buttons:

 

 

Next, we have two MPC models, their original boxes, and their assembly instructions.

 

Model of R2-D2:

 

 Instructions:

Model of C-3PO:

 Instructions:

I used to collect Topps brand trading cards (and their "Wacky Packages" stickers, as well).  In 1977, Topps released a series of Star Wars trading cards.

Series I:

I saved the wax paper wrapper from one of the "packs" of cards.

Here is the complete set of cards, for Series I:

I asked the clerk at my local "Stop-N-Go" convenience mart, if I could have the empty display box that the individual packets of cards had come in.  I would later do the same thing, with the "Disney's Black Hole" series of trading cards.

Series II:

The wax paper wrapper:

Series II - the complete set of cards:

In January of 1978, both MAD and Cracked magazines, featured parodies of Star Wars:

Cracked included an "extended" poster version of the cover artwork, inside the magazine:

This next item is the Spring 1978 issue of FOOM, which was a "fanzine" published by Marvel Comics, and was the brainchild of Stan Lee. The name "FOOM" stands for "Fans Of Ol' Marvel."

The artwork on the front cover, continued around to the back cover:

The reason that the film was being featured in a Marvel magazine, was because the company was currently publishing a series of Star Wars comic books.

I missed the first two issues of the Marvel comic book.  I guess a lot of people did, because it wasn't too long before they published "reprints" of the earlier issues.  These first two covers have "Reprint" printed near the upper left hand corner.

Here's a sampling of a couple pages, inside:

The original story of "Star Wars" (Episode IV) was spread out over six separate issues.

Issue #3 is the first issue I purchased, which was not a reprint.

Again, the retelling of the original 1977 film ended with issue #6.  Marvel continued to publish the Star Wars series of comics, but the issues that followed included new storylines, and introduced new characters.  I continued collecting the series through issue #23, and will include those covers in a future post.

I saved this Star Wars advertisement, from the "Calendar" section of The Los Angeles Times.  It's dated December 25, 1977:

The reverse side of the Star Wars ad shows other films which were released that year, including Walt Disney Production's Pete's Dragon:

While going through my vintage TV Guide collection recently, I came across this advertisement in an issue from September 1977.  R2-D2 was making a "guest appearance" on Dinah!:

And just for kicks, I'm including this previously posted TV Guide advertisement for the Star Wars Holiday Special, which aired in November of 1978:

Princess Leia made her singing debut, in the holiday television special.

And speaking of "music," the film's soundtrack was released in a double album set, in 1977:

 

Back cover:

 Inside:

 The record sleeves:

 

 One of the two records:

 

 

 This T-shirt order form was included inside the album:

 

 

 

This "Story of Star Wars" album featured audio taken directly from the film:

 

 

 

 Back cover:

 

  The story book inside:

 

  

 

 

 

I have more Star Wars merchandise from 1977, but I will save it for a future post.