On this day 45 years ago, George Lucas started writing the treatment for a new film called “The Star Wars”. He had just finished his first major film, American Graffiti, and began the 13-page treatment using thematic parallels with Akira Kurosawa’s 1958 film The Hidden Fortress. Numerous studios passed on the “weird” film idea, until Alan Ladd, Jr., the head of 20th Century Fox, believed enough in the young filmmaker to fund its development. The result was galactic gold at the box office. WATCH the new trailer for Solo, due out May 25… (1973)
More Good news on this Day:
- The Peak District became the United Kingdom’s first National Park (1951)
- Jerrie Mock became the first woman to circumnavigate the world by air–using a single-engine Cessna airplane (1964)
- The Ford Mustang first hit showroom floors, for sale to the public (1964)
- Apollo 13, which had been in trouble while in space, returned safely to Earth (1970)
- All four of The Beatles had solo singles on the UK charts–Paul McCartney with ‘Another Day’, John Lennon ‘Power To The People’, George Harrison…
