April 29, 2024 • 17 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, the "Nostalgia Awakens" is a Star Wars action figure exhibit from enthusiast and museum curator Jarrod Roll. He's here to share the story of how Star Wars toys revolutionized movie merchandising, licensing, and even how children play.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
and we tell stories about everything here on the show,
including your story. Send them to Ouramerican Stories dot com.
There's some of our favorites. And on this show, America
is the Star, the American people of the Star, speaking
of which the Nostalgia Awakens is an exhibit featuring every
(00:31):
action figure toy made by Kenner from nineteen seventy eight
to nineteen eighty five, based on the original three Star
Wars movies. The Star Wars Toys on Displayer from Jared Role,
the enthusiast and museum curator from Wisconsin. He and his
brother Kevin owned many of the toys when they were children.
As an adult, Jared collected the rest of the original toys.
(00:53):
Here's Jared Roll to share the story of how Star
Wars toys revolutionized movie merchandising, licensing, and even how kids play.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Well. I guess we will go back to, you know,
to the beginning, and that was in nineteen seventy seven.
At that time, I was four years old and my
mother is is a fan.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Of sci fi.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
She watched syndicated Star Trek episodes and she had learned
of this movie called Star Wars that was coming out.
By the time we saw it, it already had gained
a lot of interest, a lot of hype. Star Wars
was released in May of nineteen seventy seven to only
thirty two theaters in the United States, just to put
that in perspective, So thirty two theaters. It's when The
(01:43):
Force Awakens was released. It was it debuted in over
four thousand theaters. So again, there are people who have
documented the story of Star Wars, you know, the Little
Movie that Could.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
And how it just changed everything. When that movie came out,
there was nothing like it. It changed everything.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
It changed how we think about the relationship of toys
and movies, merchandising, licensing, how kids play. I mean, it
really solidified action figure toys. I mean, up to that point,
toys were not licensed for movies like they are now.
(02:21):
They just movies weren't around long enough to justify the
costs for toy companies to invest in a toy line. So,
with the exception of some evergreen licenses like Disney Looney Tunes,
you know, because they were around for decades and they
had other ways of appearing unless it was a TV show,
(02:44):
action figure and toy lines. They weren't made for movies,
and so that's why when the Kenner Toy Company signed
on to be the sole producer of toys for the
Star Wars movies, they were taking a risk. If you
would go to Walmart today or Target or any place
where toys are sold, you will see toys in the
(03:06):
aisle four blockbuster movies before the movie even comes out.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
That's a given.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
You want to just get the most out of it,
help even create excitement for that property. But when Star
Wars came out in nineteen seventy seven, kids like me
who left the theater, we wanted toys for that movie,
but there are.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
No toys to be had.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
When George Lucas was in the process of creating Star Wars,
he knew he had a story that would appeal to kids.
So George Lucas shopped around the Star Wars license to
the big toy companies, first saying, you know, I've got
a movie coming out. I can't tell you a lot
about it. I can't show you much about it because
(03:50):
I'm keeping it a secret. But you know it's going
to be science fiction and it's going to involve you know,
characters that I think will translate well into a toy line,
and the bigger toy companies like Mattel and Migo, you know,
they said we'll pass. You know, there's too much risk involved.
Quite frankly, you know, science fiction, this really doesn't appeal
(04:11):
to kids right now, and so it's not worth our
risk to do that. That's where now the Kenner Toy
Company enters the Sino Kenner. At this point, they were
a small toy manufacturer in Cincinnati, Ohio. They were a
subsidiary of General Mills Foods. So if you've ever eaten,
count Chocula cereal and that's the company we're talking about.
(04:33):
And they were just the small toy arm of General Mills.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
And so they were willing to take a look at it.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
And it was just one of those stories where you
just had the right people working for Kenner at the
time that saw the potential of this movie. And being
a smaller company, they have slightly less risk and they
can be a little more nimble, and then versus a
giant toy company. And so Kenner Toy said, we will
(05:01):
do this, we can do this. They shared some product
samples with the lucasfilm and Lucasfilm said yeah, you you know,
we're we're on the same page when it comes to this,
and so they signed an agreement with Lucasfilm and they
were the ones to make these toys. You know, people
will tell the story about Bernie Loomis, you know, being
asked the question, you know, usually he was the president
(05:22):
of Kenner at the time, what size should we make
these action figures? And Bernie and Loomis will you know,
stretched out as his finger and his thumb and said,
Luke should be this tall and that size was three
and three quarter inch. The decision that Kenner made was
based on the idea that they knew to make this
toy line really really catch on with kids, they needed
(05:43):
to have a world for kids to play in. They
needed to have environments, you know, what we call playsets.
They needed to have vehicles for the figures that go in.
And to do that, you can't do that inexpensively with
a twelve inch toy line. Up to that point, up
to nineteen seventy seven, twelve inch was a very common
(06:03):
action figure or doll size for boys, dolls or action figures.
G I. Joe really started that certainly solidified it in
the sixties and early seventies that they knew to have
a millennium falcon, that you can't make a millennium falcon
for a twelve inch han solo there was it would
be so expensive and there you know in retailers wouldn't
(06:24):
want it for their shelves because it would dominate the
entire shelf for itself.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
And so the three and three quarter inch.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Line, you know that that made sense, and Bernie Loomis
made that choice to keep the figures to that smaller
size for that reason. But it would take a full
year before action figure toys were even available for that property.
So when Christmas seventy seven rules around, kids like me
want we want Star Wars toys for Christmas. That Christmas
(06:52):
is the time that we get our toys. And unfortunately Kenner,
you know, even though they're all working none stop weekends,
round the clock to try to get toys out as
fast as they can, there's no way they can get
them to the shelves in time for the holiday seventy
seven season.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
And we're listening to Jared Rowll tell the story of
our small toy company beats the big company to the
market on the Star Wars toy franchise when we come
back more of this remarkable story about Star Wars on
Our American Stories Folks, if you love the great American
(07:32):
stories we tell and love America like we do, we're
asking you to become a part of the Our American
Stories family. If you agree that America is a good
and great country, please make a donation. A monthly gift
of seventeen dollars and seventy six cents is fast becoming
a favorite option for supporters. Go to our American Stories
dot com now and go to the donate button and
(07:52):
help us keep the great American stories coming. That's our
American Stories dot Com. And we continue with our American
Stories and this story from museum curator Jared Roll. Let's
(08:15):
pick up where Jared left off, telling the story of
how the small toy company Kenner took the offer from
George Lucas to manufacture Star Wars toys after all the
big toy companies passed on what seemed to be too
much of a gamble. Kenner began production immediately, but wouldn't
have a single action figure on the shelves until a
year after the first Star Wars movie premiered, but they
(08:38):
had a plan kind of here again is Jared roll.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
So rather than miss out on all the excitement about
Star Wars that Christmas Kenner Toys, Bernie Loomis as the
president at the time, he and his team come up
with an idea and it was a very risky idea,
and that was the cell and empty package to kids,
(09:05):
so that at least there's something to go under the
tree that year. And what that was it was called
the Early Bird Kit and it was approximately, you know,
sixteen inch by nine inch cardboard envelope, very colorful, and
the inside all you had was a a cardboard display
(09:25):
arena with pictures of what the action figures will eventually
look like. There are just representations of the characters translated
in the action figures.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
So it's a little display arena.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
And then there's some stickers and then a slip that
you filled out put in the in the mail, and
then it says when these figures are available, you know,
which is between February and June of nineteen seventy eight,
you're going to get them. You'll get Luke, you'll get
Lea R two in Chabacca, the first four and so
it was a real risk, and some people scoffed at
(10:00):
the idea. It's like, where do you where do you
come up with the idea of selling an empty package
for kids for Christmas? That seems like a non gift.
But yet at the same time, for the people that
did receive those, for those kids that did receive those
early Bird kids under the Christmas tree, right, it wasn't
the figures, but it was the next best thing. It
(10:20):
was a promise for the figures, and at least it
was something. And by all accounts the people that I
spoke to personally who did receive one at Christmas time
or the accounts I've read, they were excited to get them.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
And many of them. Thousands were sold.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
And it's one of those just wonderful toy stories that
has gone down in history about when Kenner's sold an
empty package to kids when inside all you had was
a promise, and that is kid, you're going to be
the first to get them when they're available. They're just
not ready right now for you.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
Merry Christmas.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
So the early Bird kid, if you can find one sealed,
like unopened, we're.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Talking five figures, you know.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
I honestly, they don't come up very often, you know,
but if you have one, like I have one as
part of the Nostalgia Awakens exhibit. I have the original
envelope and thankfully the kid who opened it did a
really nice job opening in it just on the side
just to kind of slit the side open just so carefully,
had pulled the contents out, and so it has all
(11:20):
the contents yet. And you know, that thing costs a
few thousand dollars to buy, at least a day when
I had bought it, because again it's cardboard, is what
you call ephemeral. It's not meant to last forever. Now,
I did not get the Early Bird Kit as a
kid at the time. I wasn't even aware of it
(11:42):
as a kid. Where when I first started getting toys
was when everybody else pretty much did, and that was.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Going to be in spring of nineteen seventy eight.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
So I remember the day actually, so I would have
been five years old, just about five, yeah, because I
turned five in April and it was spring to because
it was warm out, and my mom and my brother
and I were over at her friend's house visiting, and
my mother's friend's son, Jamie, who is my age, he
shows me a little Darth Vader action figure, and I
(12:14):
buged my mom said, Mom, they have toys of Star Wars. Now,
can you take me to go get one? And you know,
after enough haranguing, we eventually went to what we used
to call the five and dime stores. And I still
remember the creaky wood floors and walking in there and
that kind of smell of a small town five a
(12:36):
dime store and walking in and seeing the display for
Star Wars and walking really quickly up to it and
just looking and scanning with my eyes just to see
what they made. And they're in this end cap is
a selection of action figures, you know, on blistered cards,
and I remember just standing there and I would take
one off. I would look at the back and then
i'd set it in and just have to make a choice.
In my mom's like, okay, make a choice. I'm ready
to go, ready to check out. And I didn't know
(12:58):
which one, and I could only pick one, which is
really hard because I don't know what you do with
just one of them.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
But at the.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
Time, I remember C three PO was there and and
R two D two was there, and a Sam person
was there.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
But but Luke wasn't there, Otherwise I would.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Have got him right away, I'm sure, but Chabacco was there,
and so he was the one I picked, and I
took him home, and he was my first Star Wars
action figure, and he's the one that that has started
at all. And then from that point on, getting Star
Wars toys was such an important part of my childhood.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
You know.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
It was always on my radar, you know, if I
could save any little bit of money, you know, and
we would stop at a small you know, at our
store or whatever grocery store sometimes carried them.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
And they weren't very expensive.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
They were originally they were under two bucks apiece, so
they're you know, they're.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Within purchasing power of a kid.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
But the real big, you know, big opportunity to start
a collection would have been at Christmas of that year,
Christmas of seventy eight. My grandparents, they were the ones
that really gave us a toy as grandparents, and they
would also get the Sears and JC Penny Christmas catalogs
in October. And I remember that year getting, you know,
(14:10):
laying down on the floor their carpetive floor in their
living room and turning page by page and just seeing
those toys in there and just circling and circling and circling,
and of course the circle them all because you want
them all.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
That year, that Christmas was wonderful because we received.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
A lot of a lot of Star Wars product under
the tree, and that was amazing. Star Wars had such
staying power in the late nineteen seventies. I mean, we
have to remember that it didn't just influence kids, you know,
kids toys and kids imagination. It influenced everything. When we
(14:46):
go back and look and see the influence on entertainment.
For example, Star Wars was parodied on on Saturday Night Live.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
It was there.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
There were so many knockoff movies that were produced during
that time.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
Adults too, and adults loved Star Wars as well. It
wasn't just kids.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
It people back then of all ages really fell in
love with that story and those characters. Everybody tried to
cash in on the excitement surrounding Star Wars. So it
was always there. It was always in front of us,
trading cards and comic books.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
It lived on.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
So even if that if Star Wars left your local theater,
it lived on. I remember getting bubblegum cards of Star Wars,
and those were very important because that helped me as
a kid remember the movie and also learn more about
the lore of the movie. And these cards would tell
you who the you know, the names of the characters.
(15:43):
You know, it'll tell you, like what was going on
in that scene because it happened so fast when you're
sitting in the theater and I only saw it twice
as a kid, and so these cards helped fill in
those gaps and really expand that story for me. And
it was all canon. It was all stars. It wasn't
like somebody was making stuff up.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
It was all there.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
And so that that helped Star Wars stay in my
mind all throughout that time period seventy seven, seventy eight,
seventy nine, and then the excitement and Empire coming out,
so it never it never waned.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
It was always there.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
And part of it, too, I wonder, is that because
we were never fully satisfied. You know, when you're my
kids today, you know when they see it, we go
to the theater and see a movie, you know, it's
on DVD six months later, and they'll watch it over
and over and over and over again because it's a
great movie. But then it's just kind of you know,
it's gone, and then you know, the next great blockbuster
(16:36):
comes along. I mean, we live in a time period
now where we have so much, so many wonderful stories
being told of properties that we're excited about, superheroes and
space and things that you know that as a kid,
this weren't there and and so it had such staying
power that and the anticipation of the sequel. We had
(16:57):
to find out what happened next, and when we saw
it had next and we find out that, you know,
the good guy's.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Really losing this movie.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Han Solo is frozen, Luke loses his hand, and Darth
Vader as his father, whoa what's gonna happen next? Well,
you have to wait another three years, like what It
was like a lifetime of waiting for that to happen.
But it was always there, and people making products made
sure we were always reminded.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
Of Star Wars.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
You know, they knew it too, and so there was
always something there to remind us. Oh, books on tape,
so we had as a kid, I had a little
story book with a little cassette tape.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
And I listened to that thing over and over and
over again.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
And so I knew the movies well, not because I
saw the movies a lot, but because of all those
other stuff that went along with it.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
And great job is always to Greg Hangler, Jared Roll's
story of Star Wars merchandising, and something more on America
and American lives here on our American Stories
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
and we tell stories about everything here on the show,
including your story. Send them to Ouramerican Stories dot com.
There's some of our favorites. And on this show, America
is the Star, the American people of the Star, speaking
of which the Nostalgia Awakens is an exhibit featuring every
(00:31):
action figure toy made by Kenner from nineteen seventy eight
to nineteen eighty five, based on the original three Star
Wars movies. The Star Wars Toys on Displayer from Jared Role,
the enthusiast and museum curator from Wisconsin. He and his
brother Kevin owned many of the toys when they were children.
As an adult, Jared collected the rest of the original toys.
(00:53):
Here's Jared Roll to share the story of how Star
Wars toys revolutionized movie merchandising, licensing, and even how kids play.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Well. I guess we will go back to, you know,
to the beginning, and that was in nineteen seventy seven.
At that time, I was four years old and my
mother is is a fan.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Of sci fi.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
She watched syndicated Star Trek episodes and she had learned
of this movie called Star Wars that was coming out.
By the time we saw it, it already had gained
a lot of interest, a lot of hype. Star Wars
was released in May of nineteen seventy seven to only
thirty two theaters in the United States, just to put
that in perspective, So thirty two theaters. It's when The
(01:43):
Force Awakens was released. It was it debuted in over
four thousand theaters. So again, there are people who have
documented the story of Star Wars, you know, the Little
Movie that Could.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
And how it just changed everything. When that movie came out,
there was nothing like it. It changed everything.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
It changed how we think about the relationship of toys
and movies, merchandising, licensing, how kids play. I mean, it
really solidified action figure toys. I mean, up to that point,
toys were not licensed for movies like they are now.
(02:21):
They just movies weren't around long enough to justify the
costs for toy companies to invest in a toy line. So,
with the exception of some evergreen licenses like Disney Looney Tunes,
you know, because they were around for decades and they
had other ways of appearing unless it was a TV show,
(02:44):
action figure and toy lines. They weren't made for movies,
and so that's why when the Kenner Toy Company signed
on to be the sole producer of toys for the
Star Wars movies, they were taking a risk. If you
would go to Walmart today or Target or any place
where toys are sold, you will see toys in the
(03:06):
aisle four blockbuster movies before the movie even comes out.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
That's a given.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
You want to just get the most out of it,
help even create excitement for that property. But when Star
Wars came out in nineteen seventy seven, kids like me
who left the theater, we wanted toys for that movie,
but there are.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
No toys to be had.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
When George Lucas was in the process of creating Star Wars,
he knew he had a story that would appeal to kids.
So George Lucas shopped around the Star Wars license to
the big toy companies, first saying, you know, I've got
a movie coming out. I can't tell you a lot
about it. I can't show you much about it because
(03:50):
I'm keeping it a secret. But you know it's going
to be science fiction and it's going to involve you know,
characters that I think will translate well into a toy line,
and the bigger toy companies like Mattel and Migo, you know,
they said we'll pass. You know, there's too much risk involved.
Quite frankly, you know, science fiction, this really doesn't appeal
(04:11):
to kids right now, and so it's not worth our
risk to do that. That's where now the Kenner Toy
Company enters the Sino Kenner. At this point, they were
a small toy manufacturer in Cincinnati, Ohio. They were a
subsidiary of General Mills Foods. So if you've ever eaten,
count Chocula cereal and that's the company we're talking about.
(04:33):
And they were just the small toy arm of General Mills.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
And so they were willing to take a look at it.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
And it was just one of those stories where you
just had the right people working for Kenner at the
time that saw the potential of this movie. And being
a smaller company, they have slightly less risk and they
can be a little more nimble, and then versus a
giant toy company. And so Kenner Toy said, we will
(05:01):
do this, we can do this. They shared some product
samples with the lucasfilm and Lucasfilm said yeah, you you know,
we're we're on the same page when it comes to this,
and so they signed an agreement with Lucasfilm and they
were the ones to make these toys. You know, people
will tell the story about Bernie Loomis, you know, being
asked the question, you know, usually he was the president
(05:22):
of Kenner at the time, what size should we make
these action figures? And Bernie and Loomis will you know,
stretched out as his finger and his thumb and said,
Luke should be this tall and that size was three
and three quarter inch. The decision that Kenner made was
based on the idea that they knew to make this
toy line really really catch on with kids, they needed
(05:43):
to have a world for kids to play in. They
needed to have environments, you know, what we call playsets.
They needed to have vehicles for the figures that go in.
And to do that, you can't do that inexpensively with
a twelve inch toy line. Up to that point, up
to nineteen seventy seven, twelve inch was a very common
(06:03):
action figure or doll size for boys, dolls or action figures.
G I. Joe really started that certainly solidified it in
the sixties and early seventies that they knew to have
a millennium falcon, that you can't make a millennium falcon
for a twelve inch han solo there was it would
be so expensive and there you know in retailers wouldn't
(06:24):
want it for their shelves because it would dominate the
entire shelf for itself.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
And so the three and three quarter inch.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Line, you know that that made sense, and Bernie Loomis
made that choice to keep the figures to that smaller
size for that reason. But it would take a full
year before action figure toys were even available for that property.
So when Christmas seventy seven rules around, kids like me
want we want Star Wars toys for Christmas. That Christmas
(06:52):
is the time that we get our toys. And unfortunately Kenner,
you know, even though they're all working none stop weekends,
round the clock to try to get toys out as
fast as they can, there's no way they can get
them to the shelves in time for the holiday seventy
seven season.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
And we're listening to Jared Rowll tell the story of
our small toy company beats the big company to the
market on the Star Wars toy franchise when we come
back more of this remarkable story about Star Wars on
Our American Stories Folks, if you love the great American
(07:32):
stories we tell and love America like we do, we're
asking you to become a part of the Our American
Stories family. If you agree that America is a good
and great country, please make a donation. A monthly gift
of seventeen dollars and seventy six cents is fast becoming
a favorite option for supporters. Go to our American Stories
dot com now and go to the donate button and
(07:52):
help us keep the great American stories coming. That's our
American Stories dot Com. And we continue with our American
Stories and this story from museum curator Jared Roll. Let's
(08:15):
pick up where Jared left off, telling the story of
how the small toy company Kenner took the offer from
George Lucas to manufacture Star Wars toys after all the
big toy companies passed on what seemed to be too
much of a gamble. Kenner began production immediately, but wouldn't
have a single action figure on the shelves until a
year after the first Star Wars movie premiered, but they
(08:38):
had a plan kind of here again is Jared roll.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
So rather than miss out on all the excitement about
Star Wars that Christmas Kenner Toys, Bernie Loomis as the
president at the time, he and his team come up
with an idea and it was a very risky idea,
and that was the cell and empty package to kids,
(09:05):
so that at least there's something to go under the
tree that year. And what that was it was called
the Early Bird Kit and it was approximately, you know,
sixteen inch by nine inch cardboard envelope, very colorful, and
the inside all you had was a a cardboard display
(09:25):
arena with pictures of what the action figures will eventually
look like. There are just representations of the characters translated
in the action figures.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
So it's a little display arena.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
And then there's some stickers and then a slip that
you filled out put in the in the mail, and
then it says when these figures are available, you know,
which is between February and June of nineteen seventy eight,
you're going to get them. You'll get Luke, you'll get
Lea R two in Chabacca, the first four and so
it was a real risk, and some people scoffed at
(10:00):
the idea. It's like, where do you where do you
come up with the idea of selling an empty package
for kids for Christmas? That seems like a non gift.
But yet at the same time, for the people that
did receive those, for those kids that did receive those
early Bird kids under the Christmas tree, right, it wasn't
the figures, but it was the next best thing. It
(10:20):
was a promise for the figures, and at least it
was something. And by all accounts the people that I
spoke to personally who did receive one at Christmas time
or the accounts I've read, they were excited to get them.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
And many of them. Thousands were sold.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
And it's one of those just wonderful toy stories that
has gone down in history about when Kenner's sold an
empty package to kids when inside all you had was
a promise, and that is kid, you're going to be
the first to get them when they're available. They're just
not ready right now for you.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
Merry Christmas.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
So the early Bird kid, if you can find one sealed,
like unopened, we're.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Talking five figures, you know.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
I honestly, they don't come up very often, you know,
but if you have one, like I have one as
part of the Nostalgia Awakens exhibit. I have the original
envelope and thankfully the kid who opened it did a
really nice job opening in it just on the side
just to kind of slit the side open just so carefully,
had pulled the contents out, and so it has all
(11:20):
the contents yet. And you know, that thing costs a
few thousand dollars to buy, at least a day when
I had bought it, because again it's cardboard, is what
you call ephemeral. It's not meant to last forever. Now,
I did not get the Early Bird Kit as a
kid at the time. I wasn't even aware of it
(11:42):
as a kid. Where when I first started getting toys
was when everybody else pretty much did, and that was.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Going to be in spring of nineteen seventy eight.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
So I remember the day actually, so I would have
been five years old, just about five, yeah, because I
turned five in April and it was spring to because
it was warm out, and my mom and my brother
and I were over at her friend's house visiting, and
my mother's friend's son, Jamie, who is my age, he
shows me a little Darth Vader action figure, and I
(12:14):
buged my mom said, Mom, they have toys of Star Wars. Now,
can you take me to go get one? And you know,
after enough haranguing, we eventually went to what we used
to call the five and dime stores. And I still
remember the creaky wood floors and walking in there and
that kind of smell of a small town five a
(12:36):
dime store and walking in and seeing the display for
Star Wars and walking really quickly up to it and
just looking and scanning with my eyes just to see
what they made. And they're in this end cap is
a selection of action figures, you know, on blistered cards,
and I remember just standing there and I would take
one off. I would look at the back and then
i'd set it in and just have to make a choice.
In my mom's like, okay, make a choice. I'm ready
to go, ready to check out. And I didn't know
(12:58):
which one, and I could only pick one, which is
really hard because I don't know what you do with
just one of them.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
But at the.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
Time, I remember C three PO was there and and
R two D two was there, and a Sam person
was there.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
But but Luke wasn't there, Otherwise I would.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Have got him right away, I'm sure, but Chabacco was there,
and so he was the one I picked, and I
took him home, and he was my first Star Wars
action figure, and he's the one that that has started
at all. And then from that point on, getting Star
Wars toys was such an important part of my childhood.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
You know.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
It was always on my radar, you know, if I
could save any little bit of money, you know, and
we would stop at a small you know, at our
store or whatever grocery store sometimes carried them.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
And they weren't very expensive.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
They were originally they were under two bucks apiece, so
they're you know, they're.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Within purchasing power of a kid.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
But the real big, you know, big opportunity to start
a collection would have been at Christmas of that year,
Christmas of seventy eight. My grandparents, they were the ones
that really gave us a toy as grandparents, and they
would also get the Sears and JC Penny Christmas catalogs
in October. And I remember that year getting, you know,
(14:10):
laying down on the floor their carpetive floor in their
living room and turning page by page and just seeing
those toys in there and just circling and circling and circling,
and of course the circle them all because you want
them all.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
That year, that Christmas was wonderful because we received.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
A lot of a lot of Star Wars product under
the tree, and that was amazing. Star Wars had such
staying power in the late nineteen seventies. I mean, we
have to remember that it didn't just influence kids, you know,
kids toys and kids imagination. It influenced everything. When we
(14:46):
go back and look and see the influence on entertainment.
For example, Star Wars was parodied on on Saturday Night Live.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
It was there.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
There were so many knockoff movies that were produced during
that time.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
Adults too, and adults loved Star Wars as well. It
wasn't just kids.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
It people back then of all ages really fell in
love with that story and those characters. Everybody tried to
cash in on the excitement surrounding Star Wars. So it
was always there. It was always in front of us,
trading cards and comic books.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
It lived on.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
So even if that if Star Wars left your local theater,
it lived on. I remember getting bubblegum cards of Star Wars,
and those were very important because that helped me as
a kid remember the movie and also learn more about
the lore of the movie. And these cards would tell
you who the you know, the names of the characters.
(15:43):
You know, it'll tell you, like what was going on
in that scene because it happened so fast when you're
sitting in the theater and I only saw it twice
as a kid, and so these cards helped fill in
those gaps and really expand that story for me. And
it was all canon. It was all stars. It wasn't
like somebody was making stuff up.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
It was all there.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
And so that that helped Star Wars stay in my
mind all throughout that time period seventy seven, seventy eight,
seventy nine, and then the excitement and Empire coming out,
so it never it never waned.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
It was always there.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
And part of it, too, I wonder, is that because
we were never fully satisfied. You know, when you're my
kids today, you know when they see it, we go
to the theater and see a movie, you know, it's
on DVD six months later, and they'll watch it over
and over and over and over again because it's a
great movie. But then it's just kind of you know,
it's gone, and then you know, the next great blockbuster
(16:36):
comes along. I mean, we live in a time period
now where we have so much, so many wonderful stories
being told of properties that we're excited about, superheroes and
space and things that you know that as a kid,
this weren't there and and so it had such staying
power that and the anticipation of the sequel. We had
(16:57):
to find out what happened next, and when we saw
it had next and we find out that, you know,
the good guy's.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Really losing this movie.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Han Solo is frozen, Luke loses his hand, and Darth
Vader as his father, whoa what's gonna happen next? Well,
you have to wait another three years, like what It
was like a lifetime of waiting for that to happen.
But it was always there, and people making products made
sure we were always reminded.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
Of Star Wars.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
You know, they knew it too, and so there was
always something there to remind us. Oh, books on tape,
so we had as a kid, I had a little
story book with a little cassette tape.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
And I listened to that thing over and over and
over again.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
And so I knew the movies well, not because I
saw the movies a lot, but because of all those
other stuff that went along with it.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
And great job is always to Greg Hangler, Jared Roll's
story of Star Wars merchandising, and something more on America
and American lives here on our American Stories
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