Kevin Chu is right - today is the 30th anniversary of the release of "Star Wars". He has a far better anniversary story than I do, given that he actually appears, visibly, in one of the re-jigged special edition films. My own is piffling by comparison, but here it is.
Some time not long after the film was released, I was at home on school holidays. 'Home' in this case was the British Embassy compound in Jeddah. The embassy used to get a batch of films every so often (probably about 3 a month, if I remember right). I think they were flown out by the air attaché. I remember the same thing from other postings, and although the films often represented a rather eclectic and unpredictable selection, they made up for a lack of cinemas and English-language television. How times have changed. (Cue rambling reminiscences... "We had to make our own entertainment in those days, my lad... make no mistake...")
Anyway, the good thing about this system was that someone (in this case, me) got to be the projectionist. All the films were on 16mm celluloid, on spools about a foot in diameter, and the film 'leader' had to be carefully threaded through the projector. When you got it right, the projector whirred, the room went dark and the small audience fell silent. It was all most satisfying.
When you got it wrong... well, I'll tell you about that another time.
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