Iconic Star Wars Prop Made in This Historic New York City
May the Force Be With You!
The holiday season is always a great time to go back and watch Star Wars. One year for Christmas, I got a box set of the Original Trilogy on DVD, and most years since, I always tend to gravitate toward the series while other people are watching Christmas specials.
Honestly, it's not hard to pair up Star Wars and the holidays. Love them or hate them, the Star Wars Sequel films were all released in December 2015, 2017, and 2019. The Mandolorian gave us one of the best moments in recent Star Wars history with their Season 2 Finale, which dropped on December 18th, 2020. And then, of course, there is The Star Wars Holiday Special, but we don't like to talk about that too much.
This time of year, my social media feeds are bombarded with Star Wars content (somebody is listening). One thing that just popped up was really exciting and gave me a lot of pride!
Luke Skywalker's Lightsaber
When I say Luke's lightsaber, I'm referring to both his and his father, Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber, which Luke gets from Obi-Wan in Episode 4.
That first film truly was a DIY project all the way around. According to Popular Science, the original lightsaber hilts were cobbled together from literal spare parts. Sounds like something Luke would have to do on Tatooine anyway. Providing most of the raw material were antique cameras. Obi-Wan Kenobi's, Darth Vader's and Luke Skywalker's sabers were all made from flash handles. Luke's and Obi-Wan's from antique Graflex, and Vader's from an MPP Microflash.
Hard to unsee, right? Really impressive! But turns out, Luke's lightsaber was made nearby, only a stone's throw from the Hudson Valley. Less than 1.5647e-11 of a parsec from the Townsquare building!
Luke's Lightsaber Was Made in This New York City
Star Wars may be in a galaxy far far away, but the Graflex camera that the lightsaber was made in Rochester, New York.
Founded in the late 1800s, Graflex was the most well-known for developing several models of cameras. Camera manufacturing was a big part of the Rochester economy in the late 1800s through the 1900s.
By the 1970s of when Star Wars was being made, those cameras were pretty much obsolete, but they were repurposed to be one of the most iconic movie weapons in history.
Whatever wacky Star Wars trivia do you know? Anything that pertains to New York? Write in through the app!