Page 94 - Star Wars Insider (Special Edition 2019)

In the Beginning....

n the late 1970s, the
offices of “The Star Wars

Corporation” in Los Angeles
Iwere a motley cluster of
trailers near the Universal lot.
Inside, no more than a dozen
full-time employees worked on
what outsiders thought to be a silly

science-fiction movie. “My check
literally was made out from ‘Star
Wars,’” says Sherry Kaplan, an
executive assistant at the time.
“You don’t know the funny looks
I got at the bank.”
Charles Lippincott, vice-
president of marketing and
merchandising, received slews
of similar funny looks when he
tried to make tie-in deals. Company
after company said no. His
persistence paid off when Marvel
Comics editor Roy Thomas and
artist Howard Chaykin agreed to
tackle a mini-series adaptation. Del
Rey Books editor Judy Lynn del Rey
also saw value in the property and
purchased the novelization rights.

Six months before the film even hit
theaters, thousands logged their
first hyperspace jump into the Star

Wars galaxy by reading that book.
The novelization topped the
paperback bestseller list not long
after it was published. SIX MONTHS BEFORE THE
FILM EVEN HIT THEATERS,
The Flood THOUSANDS JUMPED INTO
THE STAR WARS GALAXY BY
READING THAT BOOK.

hen the film shattered box-office records in

May 1977, phones in the Lucasfi lm trailers
started to ring off-the-hook. Marvel wanted
The First Editorsitors
d
d
E
F
E
Wto extend the comic into a monthly series. Del The T h First E d
Rey sought to recount new adventures of Luke Skywalker
and friends in novels and children’s storybooks. The tiny

Lucasfilm team was quickly overwhelmed. “It looked like arol Wikarska (later Titelman), spent days hanging around
three people looking up at a tsunami coming for them,” the Lucasfi lm offices while her boyfriend, Lippincott,

says Bill Stout, who designed the original Star Wars worked all hours. She got a job answering the phones, yet
Coca-Cola cups for Lucasfi lm. Cit became clear that her talents made her a much more

With the sheer amount of work, continuity—the valuable asset to the company. Her experience as a film critic and
consistency of a fictional universe’s events, characters, editor of the prestigious journal Women and Film prompted Lucas

and settings—was not a major concern at first. Alan Dean to promote her to vice-president of publishing. She would be the fi rst
Foster, ghost-writer of the Star Wars novelization and gatekeeper to the Star Wars universe.
author of its “sequel,” Splinter of the Mind’s Eye, The job was a dream come true for Titelman, as she was suddenly
remembers that during these early days “there was no a power-broker in both Hollywood and New York. “Whoever
continuity, and not much universe. There was just the one thought?” she says, reminiscing. “It was an energizing time. I ran
film. Continuity came later with… continuing.” three departments—all of me!”

Yet as the publishing program grew, Lucas wanted Titelman hired Valerie Hoffman and, later, Lindsay Smith, Diana
offi cial Star Wars books live up to a standard that other Attias, and Deborah Call to assist her. While she made deals and
Hollywood studios would have ignored in their rush to served as the conduit to Lucas for story questions, her editorial
license products. He had poured so much energy into team supervised the expansion of Star Wars lore in books, comics,
creating his universe, he wanted to be sure that new and even radio. Titelman’s exploitation of the fi lm’s storytelling
stories did not cheapen the experience or interfere with power across such diverse platforms would turn Star Wars into one

plots of future films. Someone needed to manage this of the first modern “transmedia” franchises long before that term

continuity before the Star Wars galaxy fell into chaos. came into vogue.
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