THE EARLIEST (1973) Star Wars ARTIFACT & THE BEST George Lucas AUTOGRAPH 4-SALE!

Description

* * * * *
1973 HISTORIC 1-OF-A-KIND
GOLD
!
COMES WITH
BECKETT
AUTHENTICATION!!
THE
EARLIEST
PRE-RELEASE
STAR WARS ITEM!
Up for sale is simply one of the greatest Star Wars items to ever hit the open market. No question, it's definitely the earliest:
An original 1973
Directors Guild of America
ANNUAL FILING REQUIREMENT THAT'S 100% ALL STAR WARS!"
WOW!
Talk about the "WOW FACTOR!" George Lucas hand-signed and executed this document on December 31, 1973. This document pertains to
Star Wars
and
ONLY
Star Wars
. This document actually memorializes the earliest part of the history of Star Wars and the most critical part of its inception. How do I know this? Simple. For the 30th anniversary on Star Wars, the quintessential book accounting the entire history of George Lucas' signature creation was released. It meticulously and accurately chronicles every step in the journey on how Lucas was able to put together his now legendary epic masterpiece. The book entitled, "THE MAKING OF STAR WARS: The Definitive Story Behind The Original Film, Based On The Lost Interviews From The Official Lucasfilm Archives" was written by New York Times best-selling author J. W. Rinzler. I'll point out some of the key information that's documented in that book pertaining to this Director's Guild form throughout this listing.
At the very beginning of the giant 314-page book, on page 12, Rinzler writes:
With Ladd's [Alan Ladd Jr.] interest assured and Universal officially out of the picture, Tom Pollock sent Twentieth Century-Fox a letter on July 13, 1973, outlining the same terms they'd proposed to Universal. "It was a very lowball deal," he says, "with ,000 for the development, ,000 to write the script, and 0,000 to direct, some of which was pledged to the completion of the movie. A 3 million dollar budget and that's it. We had no negotiating power. They were the only ones who wanted it."
Again, WOW! Lucas hand-wrote on the document I'm selling here the estimate of what his income was going to be in 1974 as a director - 0,000. That's the 0,000 he'd hope to get from Fox to direct Star Wars. "Hoped" is the word, as he had no other directing prospects anywhere. The book points out that, despite his many efforts, none of the other studios would hire him in 1973, nor did he even have a 100% concrete deal with Fox to direct Star Wars. He ONLY had an ironclad deal for the writing of the first draft of the screenplay. Needless to say, George Lucas had ZERO dollars of income as a director in 1973, and so on this form he had to declare where he'd derived income from in a non-Director's Guild of America capacity. Notice that he checked the box as WRITER, which was for the writing of Star Wars, and nothing but Star Wars! That's clearly laid-out in the Rinzler book too, as
the
ONLY
paid work Lucas was able to garner in the entirety of 1973 was the ,000 advance he'd received from 20th Century-Fox for the first draft of the screenplay. In 1973, the prospects of Star Wars going into production and Lucas directing it were tenuous at best.
Page 13 of the Rinzler book:
A month after signing, Lucas received ,000; he would receive another ,000 "upon the delivery of the first draft screenplay," and ,000 upon commencement of principle photography. The actual making of the film, however, was far - very far - from being assured at this point. The memo represented only an agreement to go to the next step; there was no formal production distribution contract. The "Election to Proceed - Turnaround" clause made it clear that the studio could withdraw its financial support at any time.
Lucas's greatest achievement came during this time period - THE CREATION OF THE STAR WARS UNIVERSE!
Lucas took his deal with Fox very seriously. By December 31, 1973 -
the date that he signed this document
- he was fully immersed in the heavy lifting of the writing of the script.
Found on page 14, 15, and 16 of the Rinzler book:
"I grew up in a middle-class Midwest-style American town with a corresponding work ethic," Lucas explains. "So I sit at my desk for eight hours a day no matter what happens, even if I don't write anything. It's a terrible way to live. But I do it; I sit down and I do it. I can't get out of my chair until five o'clock or five thirty or whenever the news comes on. It's like being in school. It's the only way I can force myself to write."
"I work with a hard pencil and regular lined paper," he adds. "I put a big calendar on my wall. Tuesday I have to be on page twenty-five. Wednesday on page thirty, and so on. And every day I 'X' it off -
I did those five pages
. And if I do my five pages early, I get to quit. Never happens. I've always got about one page done by four o'clock in the afternoon, and during the next hour I usually write the rest. Sometimes I'll get up early and write a lot of pages, but that doesn't happen much."
Like most writers, even when not at his desk, Lucas was working. "A writer is, every waking hour, constantly pondering scenes or structural problems. I carry my little notebook around and I can always sit down and write. That's the terrible part, because you can't get away from it. I'll lie in my bed before I go to sleep, just thinking - or I'll wake up in the middle of the night sometimes, thinking of things, and I'll come up with ideas and I'll write them down. Even when I'm driving, I come up with ideas. I come up with a lot of ideas when I'm taking a shower in the morning."
Throughout the winter of 1973-1974, Lucas worked on the script, writing and living most of the time alone, as Marcia [Lucas's then wife] was often in Los Angeles, where she was editing Martin Scorsese's
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
.
Lucas finished the first draft of Star Wars in May of 1974, just four months after signing this Director's Guild of America document. As you can see from the few passages I've posted that were taken out of the Rinzler book, it more than well establishes Lucas's engulfment in creating the world of Star Wars when he executed this document on December 31, 1973. Even the HANDWRITTEN address Lucas put down on this form is the house he was living in during that time - where he wrote most of Star Wars. AMAZING! That fact is also documented in the book, which is a must have companion for the next owner of this historic piece, and so I'm including a copy of it in this sale (see photo #2).
George Lucas's estrangement from the Directors Guild, which came shortly after the release of
"The Empire Strikes Back," provides another point of historic fact that makes this 1-of-a-kind document even more interesting: In 1980, the Director's Guild of America hit Lucas hard with a 0,000 fine because he broke with Guild rules by refusing to put Irvin Kershner’s directing credit at the front of "The Empire Strikes Back." Lucas wanted the sequel to have a cohesive look that followed its predecessor. If you'll remember; George Lucas's directing credit (and all the other credits) came unusually at the end of Star Wars. In 1977, the Guild gave Lucas a waiver to proceed with the end of film credit because they didn't think that the moderately budgeted sci-fi outing was going to be a widespread success. After the surprise sensation that erupted upon the release of Star Wars, the Directors Guild didn't want the tail-end credit situation to become a trend, and so they clamped down and played hardball with Lucas on "Empire," refusing him a waiver for the sequel. Lucas didn’t comply, and so they ultimately slapped him with a quarter of a million dollar fine! Well, Lucas paid the fine and then just "took his ball and went home" by permanently leaving Hollywood and the Directors Guild, and, by loudly denouncing his membership in that filmmaking community. He had enough of Hollywood's restrictive ways, and so he also withdrew from the Writers Guild before closing the door on his way out. The tumultuous episode served nicely as an epitaph or capper on George Lucas's early Hollywood years and a benchmark moment in the rise of his storied,
truly independent
, filmmaking career. It’s also great information that underscores the ultimate rarity and importance of this document!
I've been collecting Star Wars full-time since 1977; I've followed every auction and major Star Wars sale and I've seen it ALL, that is, except for anything else that dates back to 1973! This is the ONLY 1973 Star Wars piece I've ever heard of in private hands. The fact is; there aren't many Star Wars artifacts in existence from 1973. That's because Star Wars was only a tiny fetus in the early stages of being developed in '73. Lucas has some 1973 artifacts in his archive that were used for the Rinzler book, but I've NEVER heard of any legitimate authenticated items to hit the open market - except for this remarkable piece. Additionally, beyond the earliness of the Star Wars history, what you have here is simply the GREATEST George Lucas autograph you'll ever find!!
THIS
GEORGE W LUCAS JR.
SIGNATURE IS 2ND TO NONE
!!
If you're an autograph collector, then you know - It's nearly impossible to find a legible signature on Lucas. Almost 100% of all his autographs are what you'd have to describe as a mere "dismissive" squirrelly squiggle. It's Lucas's big FU to the world. He won't sign legibly for ANYONE, not even his friends; he's done with it! His signature today is akin to the 'X' mark you'd see the illiterate characters use in the old western films when they’d have to sign their name. Actually, his signature today is even more dismissive than that. Lucas's digression of penmanship started immediately upon his stardom and household name status after Star Wars hit big in 1977. That's why a good signature is nearly impossible to find. To put a visual representation to what I'm talking about, I've posted a photo of a 2002 letter (
ORIGINAL NOT INCLUDED IN THIS SALE
) that Lucas sent to his friend and colleague, legendary actor, Robert Duvall (see photo #3). That letter was executed 18 years ago; he wouldn't even sign legibly for Duvall then, on a letter where he's asking a favor no less, and so you KNOW he's done with it!
This Director's Guild Document has a signature that's as good as it gets and better than GOLD! Beyond the fact that it's perfectly
legible
, you get the full name
with
the middle initial and the Jr.! That's unheard of in the autograph-collecting world. Interestingly, on page 6 of the Rinzler book, a small picture of a 1972 contract that Lucas saved is reproduced. It's his original contract to write American Graffiti for United Artists. The Lucas signature on that early piece is identical to this 1973 one adorned on this original Director's Guild of America document - a perfectly legible George W Lucas Jr. That makes perfect sense, and, another reason why the Rinzler book is an essential item to be included with this 1-of-a-kind historic artifact. This is perhaps the greatest and most important entertainment related autograph of all-time! It’s certainly one of the most rarified elite examples of an important signature out there!
IF THERE EVER WAS A HOLY GRAIL STAR WARS PIECE – THIS IS IT!
George Lucas .... creator
Gary Kurtz ....  producer
John Williams ....  original Music
Mark Hamill ....  Luke Skywalker
Harrison Ford ....  Han Solo
Carrie Fisher ....  Princess Leia Organa
Peter Cushing ....  Grand Moff Tarkin
Alec Guinness ....  Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi
Anthony Daniels ....  C-3PO
David Prowse ....  Darth Vader
James Earl Jones ....  Darth Vader (voice)
Buying this 1973 original Director's Guild document is ECONOMY PROOF!
Why waste your money in the stock market? It can crash regardless of any decision you make and can even crash regardless of any decision made by the company related to the stock - Leaving you with a near worthless piece of paper that won't inspire anyone! With the purchase of an historic document such as this 1973 Star Wars autograph, it doesn't matter what happens to the economy, you'll still have the autograph, which can be displayed and enjoyed. The magnificence of art and historic documents have an inherent value that relates to civilization and society. Unless civilization itself crashes then this piece will hold its value, and, if civilization itself crashes - Who'll care about money? This is definitely
ECONOMY PROOF!
MRS.MINIVER WILL ACCEPT
TIME PAYMENTS
FOR MOST ITEMS LISTED
☆
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