UK shop display - Palitoy and Kenner

[Bonsai_Tree_Ent]

You may have seen this pic before but I think its interesting to see that Kenner Yoda figure sharing space with all the Palitoy branded cards. The timing of this pic seems to be transition between Star Wars and the very first ESB toys, also interesting to see the Palitoy Cloud Car at the top of the pic - must be very first wave of ESB appearing.

 

[Pomse2001]

Cool picture, is it yours ? if yes can you scan it so we can see more details on the picture ?

 

[tiefighterboy]

Better watermark that. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Anyways...I have never sen that picture. Thanks for the share.

 

[Bonsai_Tree_Ent]

Ha, no not mine so this is the best quality Im afraid. I believe its freely available so no need for a watermark with my name writ large!

 

[palitoyjunky]

Ooooh I wonder what 30 backs r there that we can see the back of :?: :?: Prob some of the first 10, maybe a couple of the real toughies or dare I say it a couple of SW character 30 backs :!: :!:

 

[jedisearcher]

That does seem a bit odd because the first Kenner Yoda (orange snake) was the on an ESB 32 back which obviously followed on from the ESB 21's and 31's, and yet there are still Palitoy SW logo cards on the shelves as well.

The SW stock must have been moving really slowly, or the shop had a ton of overstock for that stuff to all be on the shelves at the same time as the ESB stock - just based on the years between the films the gap must be 3+ years. There are some Palitoy 30a's on there as well.

I love these old photos - thanks for sharing

 

[itfciain]

What a great picture - look at all that Palitoy goodness

Baring in mind that Palitoy C3POs seem to be going for 1000GBP these days then anyone want to have a guess at the value of everything in that pic ?

 

[edd_jedi]

Would it be fair to assume Palitoy would be months behind Kenner? Didn't the UK get most of the figures quite a lot later? That may explain why there are Kenner ESB cards and Palitoy SW cards.

 

[Bonsai_Tree_Ent]

I think that's fair, there wasn't much global synchronicity back then. The first movie hit cinemas in May 1977 in the US, in the UK I believe it was Nov 1977 so a six month lag. Could well have been a similar lag on the toys too, and photos like this provide us with that snapshot of a moment in time.

 

[Bonsai_Tree_Ent]

What a great picture - look at all that Palitoy goodness

Baring in mind that Palitoy C3POs seem to be going for 1000GBP these days then anyone want to have a guess at the value of everything in that pic ?

There are three Cantina Playsets in that pic. I've never even seen one MISB Cantina playset on the market or in a limelight, does one even exist?

 

[palitoyjunky]

I think that's fair, there wasn't much global synchronicity back then. The first movie hit cinemas in May 1977 in the US, in the UK I believe it was Nov 1977 so a six month lag. Could well have been a similar lag on the toys too, and photos like this provide us with that snapshot of a moment in time.

Actually SW hit our big screens Dec 27th 1977.
Back in the day toys stayed on the shelves a lot longer, I have seen many archival photos of SW and Empire together and Empire and Jedi together.
As for the Kenner Yoda, judging by what's on/probably on the rack, this was an era where the Yoda hadn't yet been released by Palitoy as he debuted on a 30B back-2nd series 30 back card. So I have prob more or less answered my own question as to what 30 backs r in the pic...some of the first 10 on A cards and not any SW character 30 backs as they were only released on 30B back cards.

 

[snlmace]

Thats an awesome photo
Thanks for sharing! Gotta love this forum 8)

 

[naughtyjedi]

Actually SW hit our big screens Dec 27th 1977.

It did, but only for Londoners..

Star Wars premiered in the UK on 27th December 1977, opening at the Leicester Square Theatre and the Dominion, Tottenham Court Road. During its first seven days at Leicester Square and the Dominion (a location closely associated with Star Wars releases in the UK) the film took a record-breaking £117,690, beating out Jaws' previous record of £90,655 from 1976. Back in the day, films always opened first in London and rolled out across the country afterwards, and as such the film remained at these two cinemas for over four weeks until 29th January 1978 when it broadened to twelve major cities around the UK and a further 16 cinemas in Greater London the week afterwards.

http://www.starwars.com/news/star-wars-in-ihe-uk-1977-the-first-star-wars-christmas

 

[x-wingMark]

Thanks for sharing the photo. A great bit of history for vintage goodness.

 

[jedisearcher]

I don't have a catalogue for when the 30 backs were around, but in the 82 catalogue the retailer could buy different assortments of figures, some of which were ESB only, some fully mixed SW/ESB.

So assuming that the retailer in the pic had a load of 12 & 20 backs left over from 77/78 they could have probably just bought 30 back assortments from Palitoy in the early 80s. I always assumed the assortments were always mixed SW & ESB and I'd never really considered that shops might have had stuff hanging around for the 3 years til ESB. Perhaps it's just shelf-hangers on the 12 and 20 backs - pretty sure the PD would be a shelf hanger.

Perhaps the Yoda was bought from a wholesaler, rather than direct from Palitoy. We did that at the toy shop when we saw stuff at wholesalers.

Interesting

 

[steve obi wan]

Great photo , nice piece of vintage history!

 

[chipsteak]

It's a cracking picture. It tallies with my memory. I got into SW in 1980 and the first 12 were mostly still on 12 backs, the second wave on 20 backs, etc. Just about all my Star Wars figures were on Star Wars cards with none of them bought in the 70s.

 

[SublevelStudios]

I have a 'Special Screening' ticket for a showing on the 16th October (Sunday) at the Dominion, Tottenham Court Road, so this would have been one of the very first times Star Wars was shown ahead of the general release later in the year. I then have 'Special Premiere' tickets for The Odeon in Manchester for 29th Jan 1978 - which would have been when it had a wider release in the UK but still yet to hit the provincial theatres.

 

[Bonsai_Tree_Ent]

I have a 'Special Screening' ticket for a showing on the 16th October (Sunday) at the Dominion, Tottenham Court Road, so this would have been one of the very first times Star Wars was shown ahead of the general release later in the year. I then have 'Special Premiere' tickets for The Odeon in Manchester for 29th Jan 1978 - which would have been when it had a wider release in the UK but still yet to hit the provincial theatres.

Mark, unlike yourself I don't actually own them but last week I was privileged to see a pair of tickets to the first UK screening of Star Wars - Weds 20th July. Again described as a 'Special Screening' and again at the Dominion Tottenham Court Road. They will be on display at 'May The Toys Be With You' exhibition in Canterbury.

 

[SublevelStudios]

Crikey, you learn something new every day - so was that the first ever showing you think? Amazing the think there was such a delay over getting a wide release over here, when clearly the film was shown in the UK not so long after it was released in the US in May.

Do you have a pic of that ticket so I can compare it to mine Matt? Will there be any other items like that ticket going on display?