Snapshot 1977… The Original (?) Star Wars…

December 28, 2020 by  
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As we were searching the Calendar section of a Los Angles Times, July 10, 1977 for a full-page ad for an upcoming ELP concert to be held at the Long Beach Arena, we came across another full-page ad for the newly released movie, “Star Wars”. While such ads are desirable when found in a Los Angeles Times (due to the Hollywood connection), what caught our attention was the text of the ad which, instead of just having “STAR WARS”, had “STAR WARS NOW”. Upon investigation we learned that the original STAR Wars was quickly edited soon after it was decided to convert the stand alone movie into a trilogy. Several fans of Star Wars had posted frustration in their inability to obtain the original-release version of the movie. This made me wonder if the odd title in the ad (“STAR WARS NOW”) is/was related to this change. If anyone has more information in regards to this version of the ad, we’d love to know (guy@rarenewspapers.com). Thanks.

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Filed under: Collecting Newspapers, Food for Thought, Newspaper Collecting Ideas, Noteworthy Issues, The 1700's
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Comments

4 Responses to “Snapshot 1977… The Original (?) Star Wars…”

  1. Matthew Odland on March 3rd, 2024 1:52 pm

    I have a copy of the sheet that was sent to the newspapers. I would love to send a picture of it if you’d like.

  2. Mike on March 11th, 2024 10:41 am

    “NOW” is not part of the title. The poster is meant to be read as “NOW the Force is with you at these theatres”. The ad is emphasizing the expansion of the release into more theatres in the LA area beyond the first three exclusive engagements at the Mann Chinese in Hollywood, AVCO Cinema Center in Westwood, and Plitt City Center in Orange.

    In short, bad graphic design.

    (The original Star Wars was NOT edited after release until the Special Editions in1997.The original theatrical release is not available commercially and has never bee released on its own on DVD or Blu-Ray. Reconstructions are availble from fan-edits and restorations, however.)

  3. GuyHeilenman on March 12th, 2024 8:30 am

    Thank you Mike.

  4. GuyHeilenman on March 12th, 2024 9:06 am

    If you send us a photo of it, with your permission we’ll add it to this post.

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