The story of Star Wars in the L street house officially begins before my birth, one of my older brother’s, Reise, was into some of the major tales of the time, Conan the Barbarian being memorable for the mural he painted on the garage wall. It was, after all, his color yourself poster I would hang proudly in my room fifteen years later. But I don’t know much about that history I only know mine with the movie and what it would bring to the house. That story doesn’t begin until I am just slightly old enough to comprehend the moving picture stories.

When I was that little, and I mean pre-school and before my brother Reise would move, out I got indoctrinated into the cult of Star Wars. Back in 1980 home VHS was not commonplace. They were instead expensive, and people hadn’t really bought into the concept yet. Thusly, most kids my age wouldn’t really have known of Star Wars until either The Empire Strikes Back (ESB) of The Return of the Jedi (ROTJ), which were the sequels that came out during our lives. However, I got lucky. My parents church decided to rent this newfangled thing called a VCR and a tape of the original Star Wars (ANH). Then hooked that VCR up to multiple televisions, rolled those televisions into the churches gymnasium and gave a free showing of the film. So, at the age of somewhere around three I got to see the films starting in order.

Oddly for being so young I can actually remember sitting in a metal fold out chair like you’d see ringside at a wrestling match and watching the movie. Maybe it’s a testament to those movies that even smoothed brained little ones could backup its contents to their memory. But beyond remembering the film my dad and brother really stuck its importance to me by stopping by the Longs drugs store around the corner from our house on the way home and getting me a little Kenner Stormtrooper action figure. And it was love. Remember him? He was in my picture from my fifth birthday as we are being presented the cake.

I played with that guy on my bed, for what my memory tells me, was the whole night. I remember using my red bed sheet as a desert for him to wander in, I was so hooked. When ESB came out in the summer of 1980 my memory gets a little hazier, I know I saw it soon after and for some reason I have it locked in with Superman the Movie or perhaps Superman 2, which with a quick bit of research came out the same year. As you get older not all memories stick, but the fact I remember ESB, and Superman lends something to the idea Dad had found some weird kid centric double feature to take me too. Or maybe it was even a drive in, going to the movies was different when I was little.