The very first teaser, April 1977

By the end of May, 1977, lines would be stretching around the block and the cover of Time magazine would be given over to a view of Luke in his beat-up speeder racing across the dunes of Tatooine, but, in mid-April, all we had was the first couple issues of the MARVEL comic adaptation (sold out at the candy store near my house, but my friend had issue #2), and insane rumors from the recent sci-fi conventions that got breathlessly discussed at the comic book store where I and other fifth-graders would congregate. "Have you heard of this movie that's coming out?" I asked my friend Reuel (who lived in Brooklyn); he had, and he told me a couple of stories he'd heard from older kids who claimed to have seen parts of it or seen pictures from it. But one rainy afternoon after school I was trudging toward the 86th Street crosstown bus stop with my bookbag and I passed a plate-glass window and saw this. I stopped dead in my tracks and stood in the rain staring at it for about ten minutes with the Lexington Avenue traffic passing behind me. I had only vaguely heard of "Dolby Sound" (from someone's audiophile dad) and wondered what it had to do with movies. And I thought, A galaxy far, far away... Yeah. I definitely liked the sound of that. An unforgettable moment.