By: Gregory

Gregory — Wed, 09 Jun 2021 18:22:53 +0000

In the late 70’s I appeared at a number of malls and Sci-Fi conventions as C-3PO, wearing a “costume” made by a guy who was THE best Star Wars re-creator of the time. John Marco was a master craftsman and had made near-perfect radio controlled R2D2 and R5 droids, costumes for Darth Vader, Leia, Luke, Boba Fett, Jawas (with illuminated eyes) and a solid BRASS C-3PO! His strength was in metal working, so he used sheet brass for arm and leg pieces, turned other bits and pieces from solid brass dowels, literally hammered sheet brass over forms for feet, the chest, etc., and cast the head, which then took a billion hours to polish smooth. It was much more a suit of armour than it was a costume and I had to be bolted into it. The head was a two piece clamshell, the face connected to the back of the head by screwing in the “earrings”. The eyes lit up and there was a microphone inside the head that projected out Threepio’s abdomen (I would do my best Tony Daniels). The suit was incredibly hot and heavy, so when appearing at malls we’d be swarmed by kids and the best I could do was about 30 minutes before collapsing.
John would sell perfect repros of Star Wars blasters, light sabers, impy insignia and full costumes at conventions, then his R2 and I would ham it up at the costume contests. People lost their minds—at that time to see a Threepio that looked that good was unheard of, nobody had the skills or equipment to make anything near as nice, so we had full rockstar status for a while there. Eventually I moved on (think I got a girlfriend or something) and I kinda remember John getting the full cease & desist from Lucas, so that probably ended his winning season. Back in those great, fuzzy days before The Empire had full control.

Comments on: Pod Stallions Episode 92: 70s Variety Shows

By: Gregory