To be perfectly honest, it wasn’t George Lucas the filmmaking genius that attracted me to Star Wars.  It was George Lucas the marketing genius that roped me in.  In 1977, like most kids my age (I was six), I saw the movie.  Yes I liked it, but it was just some movie.

One day I was next door at my neighbor lady’s house, playing with her visiting grandson who was about my age. She had a present for him. He opened it, and as typical with little kids, he wasn’t shy about expressing disappointment.

“Grandma! I already have Darth Vader!”

He already had it. I did not. I didn’t have any Star Wars toys.  I hadn’t even thought about collecting them.  So the neighbor lady gave me the Darth Vader.  Well, I knew I couldn’t just have one Star Wars character.  I asked my parents for more. Next came R2D2 and C3PO.  That Christmas, under the tree from Santa, there was The Death Star Space station along with Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Princess Leia.

From that point on, I was hooked! I could barely remember the Star Wars plot. I acquired comic books and did what I could to research the story.  More toys came my way, more play sets.  Finally, the movie came back to the theaters. I saw it again and I loved it!!!!   It’s a love I still have to this day!