Vintage T-Shirt Forum & Community Authentication Appraisals

Hello,

I'm looking for Star Wars cast and crew clothing from Industrial Light and Magic or Lucasfilm between the years of 1976-1986.

I am also seeking any vintage foreign (bootleg) or really bizarre Star Wars shirts too.

I am a collector, not a reseller, so I will pay the going rate (subjective, I know.)

A few of my top wants are:

Empire Strikes Back "Night Crew" t-shirt (mens or womens)

Blue Harvest logos on white/black (or anything non blue) shirts

"Sound People or Worse" shirt from the Empire Strikes Back

"Empire Day" shirt, circa 1980-1981

Thanks!

~Steve

Hey Steve - will keep an eye out. Did you see our recent blog post?

jimmyj wrote:Hey Steve - will keep an eye out. Did you see our recent blog post?

Yes I did, Jimmy, and thank you; I'm quite flattered to be hailed as a "t-shirt Jedi."

It was a great article. I read some debates over the years about the authenticity of the Transceletians (is that how you spell it?) shirt; most of it denied any connection to Star Wars--mainly due to the fact that no one really heard or cared about Star Wars in its infancy, so why would there be another working title? The earliest title I am aware of is "The Star Wars." It can be found on early crew gear, stickers mostly. By the time Return of the Jedi was being filmed, there was quite a following by fans so "Blue Harvest: Horror Beyond Imagination" was used as to deter people from flocking sets. I am not debunking that it may have a connection, its just no proof has surfaced in almost 40 years.

If I was the owner of the Transcelestians shirt, I'd comb through the ILM/Lucasfilm yearbooks and/or contact the Lucasfilm library and see if any photographic evidence can be found. A lot of the cast/crew members have been photographed wearing crew shirts over the years. Many ex-ILMers are still around who worked on the original trilogy, too. I know Joe Johnston has an ebay store, and he was one of the original crew members. With a little leg work on the owners part, this mystery can eventually be solved. Also, didn't Ben Burtt work on E.T.? Maybe the shirt is a working title from another film?

I really appreciate you keeping an eye out for me in my search.

I love Defunkd by the way, it is a great and informative website. I have many more shirts to list, just need to carve the time out to photograph, format, and post


Thanks Jimmy!

~Steve

Thanks good tips I will let Matt know. And good idea on the alternate films he may have worked on. I checked ET - working title was A Boy's Life. Theres lots of working titles for first run movies - check this list:

http://mentalfloss.com/article.php?id=52871

thanks for the info and keep the tees coming!

jimmyj wrote:Thanks good tips I will let Matt know. And good idea on the alternate films he may have worked on. I checked ET - working title was A Boy's Life. Theres lots of working titles for first run movies - check this list:

http://mentalfloss.com/article.php?id=52871

thanks for the info and keep the tees coming!

Sweet, thanks for the link.

I'm not sure offhand what films Ben worked on but I'm sure it can be easily researched.

I know Matt stated that "....I had it briefly listed in my online store and the emails I received from fanatics were hilarious. It’s amazing how vehemently people will defend a fictional universe…….kinda like religion."

I'm not sure on who contacted him but, to be fair, vintage Star Wars collectors overall have devoted decades of countless hours in researching and piecing together the merchandising history of the franchise, and when someone comes along and states a "fact" without evidence, it will be met with opposition, for most of the known provenance has come straight from the source, especially when it comes to the preproduction (toy) and cast and crew items. The Star Wars collector community is heavily tied to the original developers, be it Kenner employees or Lucasfilm crew. Philip Wise, a very respected Star Wars enthusiest, contacted Stephen Sansweet (who worked for Lucasilm) and Sansweet said about the shirt "it wasn't true", and he is the Worlds Record holder for the largest Star Wars collection (way over a quarter million items I have heard.)

I encourage Matt to prove everyone wrong; nothing is more exciting than when a new discovery is made, for it completes the history a little bit more, but he has a lot of work to do. Until it can be proven, I feel it will never be accepted as real.

Thanks Jimmy J

Oh, and here is a link to the first discussion I saw regarding the shirt:

http://forum.rebelscum.com/t1043016/
~Steve

Thanks sir. Totally agree. It's odd there's no info on the name at all in today's day and age let alone be a star wars related item. But I still hope! But more wonder what the hell it really is.