The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 148

4E THE PALM BEACH POST MONDAY, MAY 25, 1987 'Star Wars' celebrates 10th anniversary today CROSSWORD i CUDTHgE spr EN'E WA LrjAH I AmlliT A JM I TRgppTl KE ArT A JT A THE I itlTBSsHgfL. NpR IJal SrTaJn etobCeTTl ava JfgigTl TP PA ACROSS 1 Airway 5 Trim 9 Hurt 10 Mennonite 12 Prison (si.) 13 Marine animal 15 Fashion 16 Youngster 17 Actress Charlotte 18 Short stocking 20 Ramachan- 29 China piece 32 Insect 33 Pulpit talk (abbr.) 34 Turkish weight measure 35 Isolate 37 Enfant terrible 38 Use 39 Church part 40 Arnold or Nelson Saturday's Answer ed on Harrison Ford, who had played a small role in American Graffiti and was working as a carpenter between acting jobs. Lucas talked with Amy Irving and Jodie Foster about playing Princess Leia, then decided on Carrie Fisher, whose film experience was a one-day Shampoo role in which she seduced Warren Beatty. Mark Hamill, who had never appeared in a film, was chosen over hundreds of other young actors for Luke Skywalker, who was created in the likeness of George Lucas. His boyish innocence seemed right for the role.

Star Wars started filming on March 26, 1976, in Tunisia, and the company encountered the first winter rain in the country in half a century. That was just the beginning of Lucas' troubles. He also had to contend with robots that didn't work, an English crew that was openly scornful of the young director and a Fox board of directors that continually griped about 7 NH.fmnWMM. ft jf I i i 23 Aida's "Nile 24 Boat basin 41 Belgian river DOWN 25 Pinafore 7 Border 8 Fellowship 11 Fervent 14 Like the bride's mother Force is strong after a decade By BOB THOMAS The Associated Press LOS ANGELES Star Wars has thrilled the world's movie audiences for a decade, and all evidence indicates that the Force is still with us. Over the past 10 years, the original film and its sequels, The Empire Strikes Back and The Return of the Jedi, have generated $4 billion in theater tickets, cassette sales and screenings on free and pay TV.

Another 2.6 billion came from sales of games, toys, books, clothing, candy bars, bedsheets, wallpaper, posters and other kinds of merchandise. Replicas of the robot characters, C-3PO and R2-D2, appear in the Smithsonian Institution. Earlier this year a "Star Tours" ride based on Star Wars opened at Disneyland, and it immediately became one of the park's most popular attractions. Anniversary gala Star Wars first appeared in the nation's theaters on May 25, 1977, and a gala weekend convention marking the anniversary was scheduled in Los Angeles featuring Chewbacca, C-3PO, R2-D2 and -surprise even George Lucas. Lucas was the youthful filmmak 27 Metallic 30 Czar's edict 31 Ustinov dra's wife 21 Languish 22 Roman highway 23 Pittsburgh "perfume" 25 Woman's garment 26 Instance 27 Without (Latin) 28 Colleen's name 1 Gnocchi, e.g 2 Influence 3 You'll make it! 4 That woman 5 Gustatory sense 6 In the center or Minuet 33 Skidded 16 Smooth consonant 1 9 Compare 20 Italian city 36 UnhaDDv 37 Biscay or Hudson Fox finally pulled the plug when Lucas, Walter Cronkite, left, with R2-D2 In 1980 'Universe' episode.

the budget reached $9.5 million. Lucas was later able to film some added scenes. When the board of directors screened Star Wars, several fell asleep and most considered it a disaster. Theater owners paid only $1.5 million in guarantees, compared to $10 million for the average big movie. Star Wars opened in 32 theaters on May 25, 1977, and crowds were in line before the doors opened.

By the end of August, the film had sold $100 million worth of tickets, an industry record. The trilogy now comprises three out of the top five money-making films in movie history. The impact of Star Wars has been felt ever since its opening. A host of space films followed, ranging from such failures as The Black Hole and hits such as the Star Trek. Lucas has helped add special effects to many science fiction films through his Industrial Light and Magic.

12 3k 4 7 9 PHP IE 11 MH IHH HHHHH tftHHl MBMHH HH BMHBB 15 HP 16 HP 17 26 Sip7 HHB 28 29 SO 3 32 jj 33 If 36 37 ilL 38 pp 39 er who electrified the film world in 1977 with his space adventure, which became the biggest moneymaker up to that time. Now 43 and almost as reclusive as the late billionaire industrialist Howard Hughes, he agreed to fly in from England where he is producing a new fantasy, Willow. More than 13,000 Star Wars devotees were expected to crowd the convention by the time it closed late today. On the agenda were screenings of the trilogy, exhibits of props from the films, actual space-station hardware from Rockvell International, forums with ucas, Billy Dee Williams (Lando Cairissian), Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca), Anthony Daniels (C-SPO) and others. The best history of Star Wars is contained in Dale Pollock's 1983 book, Skywalking: The Life and Films of George Lucas.

Pollock writes that after finishing American Graffiti, Lucas spent 2Vi years the worst years of his life writing and rewriting his space epic. On the basis of a 13-page outline, the project had been rejected by United Artists and Universal, but Alan Ladd Jr. at 20th Century Fox agreed to sponsor it. "I was trying to get fairy tales, myths, and religion down to a dis tilled state, studying the true form to see how and why it worked," Lucas said. Alec Guinness got role He at first considered Japanese star Toshiro Mifune for the sage Ben Kenobi.

Alec Guinness was in Hollywood to film Murder by Death, and Lucas sent him the script. The British actor was intrigued, even though space adventure was far from his normal kind of role. Christopher Walken, Nick Nolte and William Katt were in the running for Han Solo, but Lucas decid Tour takes fashion buffs to 'pulse point' of designing 525 CRYPTOQUOTE AXYDLBA AXR isLONGFELLOW One letter stands for another. In this sample A is used for the three L's, for the two O's, etc. Single letters, apostrophes, the length and formation of the words are all hints.

Each day the code letters are different. the beaten path. "This is a tour for people who never take group tours," he said. Afternoons are left free for shopping, and tour members will receive discounts of 10 to 30 percent at some of Milan's finest shops. Translators will be available as shopping companions for an extra fee.

The Thanksgiving trip will include an option for a one-day excursion to Rome for an afternoon of shopping with the Fendi sisters, who have built a handbag, fur and clothing empire in Italy. Each tour will start with a weekend at Hotel des lies Borromees, a spa on Lago Mag-giore, and five days at the Principe di Savoia Hotel in Milan. The trip costs $4,385 per person double occupancy and includes accommodations, most meals and limo transfers. Airfare is not included. Tour groups are limited to 16 people.

For information and reservations, call Arthur Seale at Expotravel: (212) 221-6306. Odds and enders Good news for the house of Chloe. Martine Sitbon, one of Paris' promising young designers, will be part of the new design team for the French fashion house, which has suffered since Karl Lagerfeld left in 1983. Sitbon will continue designing her own ready-to-wear collection. Perry Ellis, meanwhile, has lost a member of its design team.

Co-designer Jed Krascella has left the firm to pursue a career on the stage, said Ellis spokeswoman Amanda Manogue. Krascella, 30, worked with the firm for 8 years. "He's wanted to do this for so long," Manogue said. "He was torn between admiration and devotion to Perry and his dream of becoming an actor and being on a Broadway stage." Co-designer Patricia Pastor will now be designing the collection solo. Norma Kamali is back in the wholesale clothing business since she signed a licensing deal with Zamasport earlier this month.

The Italian manufacturer produces the Romeo Gigli, Callaghan and Luciano Soprani collections. Zamasport will be manufacturing Kamali's complete line of women's clothing, from even-ingwear to swlmsuits, beginning with the spring '88 collection. The clothes will be available for European distribution and sold in her two OMO shops in New York. FASHIONfrom IE Touted as "fashion and shopping adventures for men and women," the tours will leave for Milan, Italy, six times this fall and six times next spring. The first trip is scheduled for Sept.

11. "I really wanted to do something that was going to promote Milan as it is in the '80s," said tour organizer Steven Rosenhaus. "It's my opinion that Milan is really the pulse point of what's happening in design." Rosenhaus, the former creative head of Revlon International, has enlisted the help of some of Italy's top designers. Krizia, Missoni, Glanfranco Ferre Fendi, Genny, Byblos, Er-reuno (designed by Armani) and Laura Biagiotti are some of the design firms that will offer inside looks at their operations and previews of their spring collections. The tour will include visits to the Missoni factory and the Fendi fur laboratory.

To give the tour the right flavor, meals will be at designers' favorite haunts, like Bice and Oca, where Armani could easily be at the next table. Rosenhaus has made sure the tour goes off nngo (Gnpurgz) IPXQ YFAEPZY WIAEgFJ MZL PI) 'J YAAL I) A A HMGX MZL BAE DBg WIAEgFJ YFAEZ. LMZZO XMOQ Saturday's Cryptoquote: THIEVES RESPECT PROPERTY. THEY MERELY WISH THE PROPERTY TO BECOME THEIRS THAT THEY MAY MORE PERFECTLY RESPECT IT. O.K.

CHESTERTON Her own 'whale' picture on the fridge door did a lot for Liz gone. On the set she seems quietly the Week. For Liz, only the Disease of the Century will do. Her involvement is total. She's national chairman for AIDS research in America, testifying before congressional committees and appearing at benefits to boost the coffers for the AIDS foundation that bears her is that that makes people eat nervously, compulsively.

You have to find the root of the trouble, face It, put it out in front of you and deal with it. "A lot of diets aren't healthy. They're too radical. But you must find that willpower not to Indulge. It's a lot like with alcohol.

I could easily have become a chocoholic after leaving the Betty Ford Center. I caught myself because I could see it would be very in keeping with my character to become a chocoholic. I have a passion for chocolate. It's not like alcohol or drugs it's not going to kill you. But it can shorten your life, make you look unattractive.

If you enjoy wearing clothes but have to settle for a little fat wardrobe which you cling to like an alcoholic clings to a bottle, then you're denying yourself an awful lot of fun." Taylor's New York publicist and longtime friend, Chen Sam, says the re-emergence of her most famous client was not deliberate strategy. "The timing was just right," she uys. "Eliubeth has been discussing the perfume and the book for more than two years. It's just all come together now." Legends need a cause But at her station in life, having weathered the storms, a legend needs more than a book and a business deal She needs a good cause. Liz has picked a lulu AIDS.

It was probably Inevitable. This woman, who throughout her life has seemed to enjoy the best of bad health, positively gallops to the side of those who suffer Rock Hudson wu never a close friend of hers. But as he lay dying, there was Liz claiming him as her bosom buddy. (Similarly, when Robert Wagner lost his wife, Natalie Wood, in tragic circumstances, Liz wu one of the first at his tide to comfort and console UZfrom IE expect to hear the full story of her latest struggle from the lady herself. She's much better at describing the before than the after.

"I had a hollow leg," she said. "I could drink everyone under the table and not get drunk. My capacity was terrifying." She was also, she says, horribly shy. She found that a couple of Per-codans washed down by a drink or two before she left the house did wonders for her confidence. But that was pre-Betty Ford.

Now, working again and getting the kind of reaction that is usually reserved for British monarchs and certified Mints, she finds it hard to explain how she could have sunk so low. She says she doesn't understand it herself. Gained weight gradually "What's so amazing is that nobody not Just myself, but my friends as well nobody sat down and Mid. 'Take a look at yourself in the mirror. What are you doing to yourself?" It happened gradually.

It was like I was settling into being a jolly, middle-aged fat woman. But inside there was a skinny, much tnoi viul person whose heart was being broken by all the jokes, even though I was making them first" When ah heard that women across America were pinning up fat photos of ber on their refrigerator doors to quell their craving for food. Us picked out her worst "whale" picture and did hkewlse. It helped a lot "It's making op your mind and deciding to suck with it," she explains. "And when you're idle you tend to eat more because yoti have more time to think about It I never get bored now.

I think many people find that if their minds arenl occupied, their mouths arc." She offers drink and pours fcer-tll another cup of weak tea The oil tvttlirx bawdy Tajlor Us renecuve, even a tad low-key, a quality rarely associated with her in the past. She's determined that it's not going to happen again. Some say her relationship with the supremely narcissistic George Hamilton is by way of being a guarantee. "George keeps her on her toes," says a friend of the couple. "He's a looks-and-health fanatic.

He won't let her slip. He looks fantastic; so long as she's with him, she has to keep up." It's a symbiotic relationship, but not, they Insist to everyone who asks, a romantic one. Together from Gstaad to Lincoln Center, they've pushed Madonna and Sean Pcnn off the front pages of the tabloids, which can't be doing the career of either of them any harm. Hamilton, long enamored of the good old days when glamour was glamour and the star was tailored on Saville Row and not Melrose, says they're joined at the hip. "We speak the same language.

I start sentence and she finishes it," he uys. Adds Liz, "George has one of the best senses of humor around. We will be close friends for the rest of our lives." Hamilton admits to still being in a slate of shock from discovering that the tumultuous life Liz has led has bad such little effect on her. "Elizabeth is a child." he uys, "wonderfully naive," Back In the spotlight It's almost axiomatic to My that where there's a new Image, there's a commercially exploitable product. And this story is do exception.

We're probably going to be seeing more of Elizabeth Taylor in the next year than we have In the last decade. Lots more. At present she's negotiating to make her return to the icwa li it happens, it will be the first time the done a feature film since USD. when the starred opposite Roc Hudson and Kim Novak in The Mirror Crr 4 i name. "That never stops," she uys, "that's my 24-hour-a-day job.

There is so much to be done In education, support and research. I don't think people can think about it enough until a cure is found. I think the public isn't even yet aware of the danger." And then the seven-times-married Liz (she wed Burton twice) delivers a homily on the need for less promiscuity and a return to old-fashioned romance. "People can't afford to be loose and casual anymore." the uys. "I think we have to learn to be damned careful, and hopping from bed to bed.

well, I think it's really a thing of the past dont you?" Some might find it odd that a woman who claims to be so shy that she once needed Percodan to face the public should now be pursuing the limelight with such vigor. But Liz. after all. is a star. She has been all her life.

She wu hooked oo public adulation long before the found alcohol or pills. For her. perhaps, that addiction was the most potent And now that she's ready to make her return as the familiar and beautiful star, the public Is embracing her with open arms. But nobody it more delighted with Taylor Redux than the lady herself. -I may see it myself the uys, "but tell me some more, I cant get enough of it You feel healthier and have a lot more energy and it gi es you something to be proud of.

God. when Im in shape Courtesy of Los Angeles Magazine. Copyngbt im by Cfcte The bewitching beauty of Elizabeth Taylor shines through in this portrait from the 1957 Civil War epic, 'Raintree County. Parfums International the perfume division of Chesebrough Ponds, will spend $10 millioo to launch Passion, the personal perfume choice of Elizabeth Taylor, promoted by her face oo TV. magazines, billboards and bolstered by personal appearances In department stores to push the product Following the perfume will come the book for Putnam (written wita Jane ScovelL who last penned the memoirs of Marilyn Home.

Liz got a whopping advance (reportedly half a miiiKM dollars) for the tome, titled ElitMbtik Taylor Takes Off on Weight Cain, Weight Loss. Self lmagt and Self Esteem phewl "It's really about how you get to the place I was In and how you get out of it," the uys. You really get to know yourself, your own particular traps, your own pitfalls. There's oo magic, do passwords. It's just common sense.

Usually weight is brought on by some kind of lack of self-esteem, so whatever it is that has brought about that lack of self-esteem loneliness, boredom, whatever it Other celebrities are content to wave the banner for the lsease of.