STAR WARS AFICIONADO WEBSITE: TOUCHDOWN FOR 'LUKE SKYWALKER & HIS FRIENDS' AT SELFRIDGES

Sunday, 28 August 2022

TOUCHDOWN FOR 'LUKE SKYWALKER & HIS FRIENDS' AT SELFRIDGES - MAY 1980 EVENT AND FOOTAGE.

'Luke Skywalker and friends' meet the UK fans in May, 1980.

Nowadays, our favourite Star Wars actors charge considerable fees for autographs and posed photos at various convention events worldwide, but it was a different story back in May 1980, for the then still relatively unknown cast (despite the mega-fire success of the original 1977 film they'd starred in) of The Empire Strikes Back, the majority of whom would attend a special film promotion in London, freely signing for members of the British public at West End London's then prestigious Selfridges department store, the venue also playing host to a superb exhibition of props, costumes, models, production painting art and partial set staging from the film in the lead-up to its exciting release.

Bar the absence of Billy Dee Williams (who would arrive in the city later in the promotion and attend the film's exclusive Royal Premiere), and possibly Kenny Baker (?), the cast looked jovial enough at the public event, and would sign mint-new copies of the film adaptation by Donald F. Glut, published in the UK by Sphere Books. Producer Gary Kurtz and director Irvin Kershner would also be at the successful signing but would stay in the background. Later, the team would attend a special advance daytime screening of Empire, mixing with the public and, amazingly for the time, not mobbed by anyone as they entered the Dominion Theatre!

The special exhibition proved impressive too, from costumes, storyboards and props (including full costumes of the all-new Imperial Snowtroopers, Boba Fett, and models including the AT-AT’s, a Snowspeeder and a re-painted Artoo unit from the Rebel base interior scenes). It would run for a month, parallel to Empire's unleashed book, TV and film radio publishing campaign. With the eventual closure of the exhibition, the ITV television children’s film programme Clapperboard interviews some of the key UK cast and crew involved in the movie. Amiable presenter Chris Kelly, an obvious fan of the film, talks to Anthony Daniels, and, rather brusquely, Dave Prowse about their experiences working on the movie, whilst Brian Johnson about the challenges of the Walker battle/ Hoth sequences. The programme also shows the main trailer for the movie, several key clips, and footage supplied by Fox of the Hoth filming at Norway with the Second Unit, covered by Michel Parbot and his crew, which is not as good in picture quality as the same footage also supplied to the BBC for their John Williams/ Empire documentary which would air the Sunday before the film's London release.

If anyone has any memories of attending this special event, which we believe to have been May 3rd, please get in touch - we'd love to hear from you...

The remote controlled Artoo meets the fans.

Anthony Daniels in a posed for the press image with his alter-ego.

The Threepio body shell would be used with Artoo for promotional images for the exhibition.

Images from the 1980 Selfridges press pack.

The Clapperboard ITV TV special at the exhibition, where presenter Chris Kelly talks to Dave Prowse about the original Vader costume and the lightsaber effects.