On weekends, I allow myself the occasional non-political post. Since the Star Wars saga is coming to an end, this may be my last opportunity to share this anecdote.
The year was 1976. I was in high school. Having spent some time at the UCLA library, I hopped over to the Avco theatre to see Silver Streak with Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder.
A fair-haired young man and his younger brother (or so I presumed the relationship to be) came into the theater and sat nearby. The trailer for Star Wars came on -- the original trailer, with the goofy "futuristic" music. After the trailer was finished, the young man and his bro got up to leave.
"Wait," I asked. "You came just to see the trailer?"
"I was in the movie," the young man replied. "It stars SIR ALEC GUINNESS." He pronounced the name in all caps, the way an ancient priest might have pronounced the name of his deity.
This fellow seemed incredibly excited by the upcoming film, which he described in tones of nerdish wonder. Repeatedly, he told me of the sheer awe he felt, just being in the presence of SIR ALEC GUINNESS. I had no idea (he told me) what it was like to speak to SIR ALEC GUINNESS.
Well, I thought, whoever this guy was, he could not have played a very large role in the film. Probably a bit part. Maybe an extra. He could not have been one of the leads, because someone in a starring role would not refer to SIR ALEC GUINNESS with such awestruck reverence.
"Yeah," I said. "Looks like it'll be pretty good. But the one I'm really looking forward to is Close Encounters." Remember: The year was 1976, and Steven Spielberg had recently made the highest-grossing film of all time.
The young "bit player" sitting near me looked a bit miffed by my words, and left without so much as a 'see ya.' Must've been something I said, I thought. (I said those words to myself quite often during my awkward adolescence.)
Oddly troubled by the encounter, I waited after Silver Streak to see the trailer again. Turned out that the guy I spoke to was no mere extra. His face (I now understood) showed up quite often in the preview.
When Star Wars finally came out, I finally realized that I had pissed off Mark Hamill.
As a teen, I stuck my foot in my mouth so often that I grew quite used to the flavor. These days, I sometimes come close to forgetting the taste of my own toes. But life always finds a way to remind me.
4 comments:
You might be interested to know that Sir Alec had nothing but contempt for "Stars Wars" -- he considered it a unimaginative recycling of mass-market trash, and was dismayed that so many (including children) held the thing in esteem and wonder.
Priceless anecdote, Joseph!
I got a blow job in that place.
That was a great story. I just saw the original trailer and remember that cheesy music.
One of the stars, I think it was Mark, had a similar tale.
After the trailer had played and the finishing line of the announcer was like "This story from far far away is coming to your galaxy this summer." A guy in the back row said, "And coming to our TVs in two months!"
Yeah, memories. That is a funny funny story.
Post a Comment