50 for ’76: Early Star Wars Promotions (Part II)

Danny writes:

 While next year, 2027, is the 50th anniversary of Star Wars in theaters, 2026 is the 50th anniversary of when the promotion of Star Wars really kicked off. This is part two of a multipart series about Star Wars promotions before the initial release. Click here to read part one.

During the Summer of 1976, Charles Lippincott was a busy man. Charley was the executive at Star Wars Corporation in charge of Advertising, Promotion and Merchandising and he had to get the word out to attract a large audience or the movie would flop at the box office. Charley had a plan that was seen at the time to be unconventional but has since become the standard. Star Wars is a science fiction movie – go to where the sci-fi fans are. The idea was to interact with fans at their conventions and give them a taste of what the movie would be like in order to build interest a full year before the general release.

Charley gave Star Wars presentations at three different comic book and science fiction conventions:

1. Westercon in Los Angeles July 4th weekend

2. San Diego Comic-Con in late July

3. MidAmeriCon (WorldCon) in Kansas City in September 2-6.

Principle photography for Star Wars ran longer than originally planned, so Charley had to present at the July conventions on his own. The only visualizations he could show in his slide deck were Ralph McQuarrie concept art and a few production stills. 

Nowadays, convention promoters have websites and email distribution lists to keep interested parties apprised of the latest news and projected plans and schedules; but in the 1970s all this information had to be printed and mailed out. These initial mailings were called Progress Reports. Larger, more complex conventions would have multiple Progress Reports spanning several years. This leaves a surprising amount of paper items to collect from these conventions. 

 Westercon 29

The first public presentation about Star Wars was on Friday July 2, 1976 at the 29th West Coast Science Fantasy Conference, Westercon, at the Hyatt House Hotel in Los Angeles. Collectors might not know about the Westercon presentation because there is no mention of Star Wars in any Westercon paperwork. The Star Wars presentation was technically during the meeting of the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society (LASFS) held at the hotel the night before the con officially started.

Westercon 29 program, pocket guide, and progress report

Comic-Con

On Thursday July 22 at San Diego Comic-Con, Charley gave a similar presentation but this time was joined on stage by Roy Thomas and Howard Chaykin who were working on the movie’s Marvel Comics adaptation. Also for sale at Charley’s booth was “Poster #1” by Chaykin which was sold for $1.75. The art for this poster would be adapted into the cover of the Star Wars #1 comic released in Spring 1977. The Chaykin poster did not sell too well at the convention but has since become one of the most coveted posters in the Star Wars collector world.

Poster #1 by Howard Chaykin

Comic-Con program

This was Charley’s personal copy of the Program Schedule with his panel.  Note that they spelled his name wrong “Liddencott” 

MidAmeriCon

Finally, there was The World Science Fiction Convention (WorldCon) which is the annual convention of the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS). Members of the WSFS vote for the best new science fiction and fantasy works in various categories and the winners receive the coveted Hugo Award. The 34th WorldCon in 1976 was in Kansas City, Missouri and named MidAmeriCon (WorldCon returned to Kansas City in 2016 for MidAmeriCon II so don’t get confused when tracking down memorabilia). 

The Prequels to MidAmeriCon

The location of each WordCon is chosen by member vote several years ahead of time and each candidate location has to advertise and promote themselves to convince voters why their hometown is the ideal spot. This leads to A LOT of even earlier WorldCon memorabilia to collect that could be considered tangentially related to Star Wars.

Kansas City won the vote two years earlier at the 1974 WorldCon in Washington, D.C. called Discon 2. Ads and articles lobbying for Kansas City appear in Discon Progress Reports as early as 1973!

Discon 2 program and its five Progress Reports 1972 - 1974

One of the several advertisements to lobby for Kansas City to host WorldCon in 1976

Once the site for a future WorldCon is determined, planning and execution goes into high gear for that selected team and over the course of the next few years, they produce a lot of Progress Reports. From 1974 and 1976, MidAmeriCon produced five Progress Reports of their own as well as appearing in program ads for the 1975 WordCon in Melbourne Australia, AussieCon. 

Information for Australians to sign up for next year's WorldCon in Kansas City

AussieCon 1975 Program

The Actual MidAmeriCon

MidAmeriCon was the first WordCon with a hardcover program and is quite collectible. There was also a “pocket program” small brochure for attendees to carry with them that contained the finalized time schedules and convention floor maps. "The Star Wars" is mentioned in Progress Report 4 and 5, the hard cover program, and the pocket program. 

MidAmeriCon hardcover program, pocket guide and Progress Reports 2-5. Please note that in this photo there are two copies of both the program and pocket guide to display both sides. The program had wrap around cover art.

Ralph McQuarrie triangle logo printed in a Progress Report

Program Book description of the Star Wars Display (note Mark Hamill's name is spelled wrong).

Since principle photography had wrapped, Mark Hamill was able to join Charley Lippincott and Gary Kurtz on stage for the Star Wars presentation and Q&A about the upcoming movie. This presentation was taped and has been digitized by the FANAC Fan History project and can be watched on YouTube. Star Wars props, costumes, story boards and production stills were viewable in the Star Wars Exhibition Gallery on the 3rd floor. Like at San Diego Comic-Con, Charley handed out flyers and sold Chaykin posters. Mark Hamill was also available in the Star Wars Display room to chat about the upcoming movie and to sign autographs.

MidAmeriCon Star Wars flyer

The WorldCon program has pages for autographs. Unfortunately, most program books found for sale online were overstock or unused so those pages are usually blank. However,  sometimes you can find a program for sale with autographs inside it. There were many big names in science fiction who attended the convention including: Robert Heinlein (who was the Guest of Honor), Alfred Bester, Frank Herbert and Ben Bova. For readers of this article, an even bigger name can sometimes be found on the autographs pages: Mark Hamill signed at least a few programs. These signed programs and Chaykin posters are the earliest Star Wars autographs intended for the general public. 

Mark Hamill signed program. He had to include his character name, Luke Skywalker, so attendees would know who he was.

This really was the key moment in Star Wars promotions when the hype started to build. Lippincott's unorthodox methods changed movie promotions forever. 

Stay tuned for part three in this series...