Yesterday, celebrity news website TMZ published an “exclusive” feature about the upcoming Profiles in History auction, The Personal Property Auction of Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, scheduled for September 23rd. Below their attention-grabbing headline, TMZ explains, “Carrie Fisher’s most prized possessions are about to hit the auction block … but behind the scenes there’s a scramble because turns out some of the items weren’t hers at all”. [Read more…]
From Luke’s yellow ladder A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back to his hero lightsaber from Return of the Jedi, the “Star Wars Original Props and Costumes” discussion panel at Star Wars Celebration 2015 in Anaheim ran the gamut of obscure background props to the best of the best. Participants included Stephen Lane and Brandon Alinger from Prop Store, Tom Spina from Tom Spina Designs, and legendary collector Gus Lopez, creator of the Star Wars Collectors Archive. Each panelist took us through one of their own “prop story” tales, showcasing the background of one of the prized pieces in their own collection. Of note was that this was the first public announcement by Brandon Alinger that he owns what is essentially the hero Luke Skywalker lightsaber from Return of the Jedi, which was also used by Sir Alec Guiness in A New Hope as a fighting lightsaber (and not to be left out, it was also a practice dueling saber employed in The Empire Strikes Back). It was an incredible display of both knowledge and images, and overall it underscored the importance of collectors in tracking down, identifying, restoring and preserving these important pop culture artifacts. [Read more…]
The “Secrets of the Cantina” panel at Star Wars Celebration was one of the events that I was most looking forward to, and it did not disappoint. Featuring co-presenters Pablo Hidalgo from the Lucasfilm Story Group and Tom Spina of Tom Spina Designs, they delved deep into the mythos of one of the most popular scenes from Star Wars: A New Hope, talking exclusively about those creatures (and ugly humans) that inhabited that infamous bar. At times playing out like a spoken word CSI: Tatooine, they talked about some of the crazy methods they’ve developed to identify some of the actors behind the monsters, as well as the actors who played parts with make-up but without the masks. [Read more…]
Following my pictorial preview of Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim for 2015 last night (Wednesday night, before officially starting), below are photos I took of the exhibit hall on the first full day (Thursday). Being my first Celebration, it was bigger than I expected, but still not a massive as San Diego Comic Con (and thankfully, many of the aisles are much wider as well). The calm before the storm was when the doors opened but the J.J. Abrams/Kathleen Kennedy panel was going. For those who elected not to sleep overnight within the convention center to attend in person, the jumbo monitors at the LEGO booth streamed it all in real time, to the astonishment of fans who were thrilled by the premiere airing of the new “teaser” trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. [Read more…]
My friends at Prop Store have a very big presence with Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim in 2015… in addition to their impressive exhibitor booth (#1140, replete with hero-class original production props, costumes, and artwork), Brandon Alinger (Chief Operating Officer) and Stephen Lane (Chief Executive Officer) are participating in several high profile discussion panels to the packed crowds at the Anaheim Convention Center. I took time today attend the Star Wars Costumes: The Original Trilogy panel, which consisted of Lucasfilm executive editor J.W. Rinzler, Brandon Alinger, and Delia Greve, senior editor at Becker Mayer. [Read more…]
Star Wars Celebration officially kicks off tomorrow (running April 16th – 19th), but there is already a substantial massive line in the belly of the Anaheim Convention Center, filled with fans queued up for The Force Awakens panel featuring J.J. Abrams and Kathleen Kennedy. As I walked in to check it out, dozens of pizzas were being hand-delivered to fans (courtesy J.J. Abrams and Kathleen Kennedy), starting with those at the front of the massive crowd. It was announced today that 4-Day passes/badges have sold out, and when I picked up my media badge at around 5:00 this afternoon, they only had about 400 Saturday tickets left to sell at the door. Below are some photos I took while walking around the convention center. [Read more…]
Star Wars Celebration, the world’s only official Star Wars convention, is coming to Anaheim, California from April 16th to 19th. It is anticipated that 150,000 fans will be in attendance, which rivals San Diego Comic Con numbers. With much to see and do and a focus on the upcoming Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, there is still quite a bit to look forward to for those focused on original props and costumes. I’ve gone through the published scheduled and put together the highlights below, which might be of interest to readers of the Original Prop Blog who also are fans of Star Wars. [Read more…]
Renowned pop culture expect and collector James Comisar is featured in the latest issue of American Way magazine, in an article called “Magnificent Obsession” by Ken Wysocky. It provides an excellent overview into Mr. Comisar’s backgrounds and origins in collecting as well as his future objectives in establishing his Museum of Television. [Read more…]