All around the world, “Star Wars” nerds are spending Monday celebrating the holiest day in the galaxy: May the Fourth. Stemming from a cheeky pun based on a bit of Jedi jargon (“May the force be with you”), the day has become an excuse to rally around the lore of what very well may be the greatest science-fiction series of all time (no disrespect to the “Star Trek” fans out there).
If there’s a ground zero for the “Star Wars” universe (aside from Tatooine), it’s definitely the Bay Area. George Lucas originally moved here after graduating from film school at the University of Southern California in the 1960s and has since made it the headquarters of his company, basing Lucasfilm in San Rafael (it moved to San Francisco in 2005) and later starting Industrial Light and Magic in San Francisco’s Presidio and building Skywalker Ranch 40 minutes north of the city in Nicasio.
The Coronet Theatre in San Francisco, the weekend after “Star Wars” opened in the city in May 1977. The movie played exclusively in San Francisco at the Coronet, and lines snaked around the block for weeks. Longtime Chronicle photographer Gary Fong took this photo close to noon on a busy day — he later said “the light was terrible” — but still captured a moment in history.
In the past, SFGATE has honored May the Fourth by diving into the annals of “Star Wars” history, with stories exploring strange corners of the franchise’s past, like a beach photo shoot in Marin for Rolling Stone in the summer of 1983; the San Anselmo parade where Boba Fett was introduced; and the many Bay Area landmarks that influenced the series. We’ve also highlighted contemporary fan culture by featuring modern droid-makers. And it doesn’t take a faux holiday to warrant exploring other elements of the franchise, like the obscure Berkeley study that shaped the ending of the first film.
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This year, we decided to dig into the Getty Images archives to present some rarely seen photos from the history of the series. Scroll down to see everything from Carrie Fisher joking around with stormtroopers to Darth Vader making a cameo at a Queen concert.
Carrie Fisher on the set of “Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back.”
“Star Wars” gives three performers that all-important break. Featured in the popular movie are, from left, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford, who were in Denver for a press tour.
American actor Mark Hamill reading a 1977 copy of “Preview” magazine featuring an article on “Star Wars” in 1978.
Tony Danza, C-3PO, Mary Lou Retton and R2-D2 appearing in the ABC TV special “ABC Saturday Sneak Peek & Fun Fit Test.”
Mark Hamill, who plays Luke Skywalker in “Star Wars,” during a visit to London on Jan. 1, 1979.
Darth Vader holds singer Grace Slick in a death grip at a party with Jefferson Starship.
A “Star Wars” exhibition on display at the Science Museum in London in December 1977 featuring stormtroopers, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke Skywalker and his hovercraft, the X-34 land speeder.
A stand of “Star Wars” toys in Paris on Sept. 12, 1979.
American actors Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher on the set of “Star Wars,” written, directed and produced by George Lucas.
Left to right: Carrie Fisher on the set of “Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back”; Mark Hamill on the set of “Star Wars,” written, directed and produced by Georges Lucas.
A “Star Wars”-themed van in Toronto.
John Belushi as Eric Von Zipper, Bill Murray as Frankie Avalon, Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia, Gilda Radner as Annette Funicello and Garrett Morris as Chubby Checker during the “Beach Blanket Bimbo From Outer Space” skit on Nov. 18, 1978, on “Saturday Night Live.”
Left to right: Gilda Radner and Carrie Fisher in bathing suits for a sketch on “Saturday Night Live”; Freddie Mercury of Queen wears a Flash Gordon T-shirt and salutes the crowd while on the shoulders of Darth Vader during a performance at Wembley Arena, on Dec. 10, 1980, in London. Also pictured is bassist John Deacon.
Many hours before the curtain went up at the University Theatre in Toronto, hundreds of “Star Wars” fanatics were lined up to buy tickets for the 1983 premiere of “Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of The Jedi.”
Left to right: Peter Mayhew, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Kenny Baker of “Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back” attend a photocall outside the Savoy Hotel in London on May 19, 1980; Mark Hamill, Kenny Baker (R2-D2) and Anthony Daniels (C-3PO) of “Star Wars” attend a press conference at the Holiday Inn Hotel in Birmingham, England, on Jan. 25, 1978.
Large crowds and long lines turned out for the opening of “Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi” at the Meyerland Cinema in Houston.
Singer and actor Olivia Newton-John with a “Star Wars” stormtrooper during rehearsal for the Rock Music Awards at the Palladium in Los Angeles in 1977.
Left to right: An anniversary poster for “Star Wars”; a 1977 “Parents of Earth” American public health poster to raise awareness of immunization.
“Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi” shows at the Loews Astor Plaza cinema in the Times Square area of New York in 1983.
The stars of “Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back” attend a photocall outside the Savoy Hotel in London, with stormtroopers marching through sunbathing office workers in the Embankment Gardens on May 19, 1980.
American actors Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford at a press conference for one of the “Star Wars” films, circa 1980.
Comedians Tim Brooke-Taylor (left) and Graeme Garden with the “Star Wars” robot R2-D2 in a sketch from episode “U-Friend or UFO?” of the BBC television series “The Goodies” on Dec. 14 1979.
Actor Peter Mayhew poses for a portrait as Chewbacca on the set of “Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back” in 1979 in London.
View of Carrie Fisher as she aims a semi-automatic pistol at a firing range in New York in 1979. The American actor was taking target practice as part of the preparation for her role in “Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back.”
Left to right: Akira Kurosawa and George Lucas pose with a model of the walker, on a set used for the 1980 film “The Empire Strikes Back”; Mark Hamill and his wife Marilou York, with R2-D2, attend the royal premiere of “The Empire Strikes Back” at Odeon Leicester Square in London on May 20, 1980.
Portrait of Carrie Fisher as she holds a target, complete with bullet holes, from a firing range in New York in 1979. She was taking target practice as part of the preparation for her role in “Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back.”
Left to right: Oakland Raiders fans dressed as Darth Vader watch the game against the Denver Broncos at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on Oct. 16, 1977, in Oakland, Calif.; Darth Vader and two stormtroopers stand menacingly over some roadwork on London’s Oxford Street on March 31, 1980.
David Prowse in his Darth Vader costume, cooling off during the filming of “Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope” in 1977. The Darth Vader mask is an early test prototype, which was slightly different from the one used in the finished film.
Director George Lucas on set during the filming of “Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope” in 1977.
Left to right: Carrie Fisher on the set of “The Empire Strikes Back.” The stars of the film, including Fisher and stormtroopers, attend a photocall outside the Savoy Hotel in London, on May 19, 1980.
Photographed at home in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Aug. 17, 1984, Harrison Ford, who plays Han Solo in the “Star Wars” films, was also a keen woodworker and made tables and chairs for his home when he was married to his second wife, screenwriter Melissa Mathison, whom he married in March 1983.
American actor Carrie Fisher, who stars in “Star Wars” as Princess Leia, arrives in London to promote the film on Sept. 28, 1977.
Left to right: The “Star Wars” droid C-3PO puts his footprint on Hollywood Boulevard; C-3PO attends the 50th Academy Awards circa 1978 in Los Angeles.
The special-effects team films space ship models during the production of “Star Wars” in 1977.
American actors Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher on the set of “Star Wars,” written, directed and produced by George Lucas.
Left to right: Actor Mark Hamill and C-3PO attend the 50th annual Academy Awards on April 3, 1978, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles; a “Star Wars” exhibition, featuring C-3PO, at the Science Museum in London on Dec. 30, 1977.
“Star Wars” trilogy costars Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher.
