Tag: Harvey Korman

The Star Wars Holiday Special 1978

Star Wars TV Special With all the buzz about the new film Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which continues to break box-office records, one is bound to think back to another holiday season affected by the Star Wars franchise. After the successful release of the original Star Wars film in 1977, the following November gave television viewers The Star Wars Holiday Special.

The Special

CBS broadcast the 97-minute television show on Friday, November 17, 1978 at 8:00-10:00 p.m.  The Star Wars Holiday Special centered around Chewbacca and his family celebrating Life Day, a holiday that happens to be a lot like Christmas.

The musical-variety show featured many of the characters from Star Wars, even though many of the stars did not really want to be involved in the show. As Harrison Ford explained during a 2011 press tour: “It was in my contract. There was no known way to get out of it.” In the special, the movie stars were helped out by TV stars of the era like Bea Arthur, Diahann Carroll, Art Carney, and Harvey Korman.

The Star Wars Holiday Special included an animated segment that is notable for showing Luke, Han, and Leia having their first encounter with bounty hunter Boba Fett.  The bounty hunter, of course, would later appear in The Empire Strikes Back.

Below is the special.

Reception

Fans of the movie had high expectations for anything related to Star Wars.  So, they were disappointed with the Star Wars Holiday Special, including its low budget and its motivation to sell toys to kids. The special became pretty much universally reviled by everyone including George Lucas.

Still, through the years, some fans have grown more fond of the show for its kitschy and nostalgic appeal. There is an entire website devoted to the TV show. And Mental Floss recently posted “An Oral History of The Star Wars Holiday Special.”

Below is a 15-minute “best of” compilation from the special.

If you still want more, you may watch the entirety of The Star Wars Holiday Special on YouTube. May the Force be with you through this holiday season.

Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Actress Hedy Lamarr Invented the WiFi?

    hedy lamarr Today is International Women’s Day, and as we discussed in a post last year about Helen Reddy and “I Am Woman,” the day’s history goes back to 1911. Speaking of the special day, you may not know that a famous woman played a key part in the technology you likely are using right now to access the Internet. This week on CBS Sunday Morning, the show profiled a side activity of famous movie actress Hedy Lamarr. Although she was known for her beauty and her stardom, she had a room set aside to study engineering and work on ideas for new inventions. Richard Rhodes recently wrote about Lamarr and her roles in real life in Hedy’s Folly: The Life and Breakthrough Inventions of Hedy Lamarr, the Most Beautiful Woman in the World.

    One of Lamarr’s ideas later formed the basis for wi-fi technology. She had developed the idea as a way to help defend against German torpedoes as World War II approached. At the time, though, the Navy dismissed her idea and instead asked her to use her beauty instead of her brains to sell war bonds, which she did. If you only know her for her acting roles such as in Samson and Delilah (1949), or even if you only know her name from the references to her in Blazing Saddles (1974) by Harvey Korman’s character Hedley Lamarr.” (which prompted the real Lamarr to sue Mel Brooks), check out this story below.

    The little-known hobby of the actress shows that Lamarr was more complicated than many knew at the time. While her beauty gave her a great career, fame, and money, one sees a touch of tragedy in her search for something more.

    What is your favorite Hedy Lamarr film? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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