TBT: Halloween 1977 Star Wars & Pope Paul VI

This is a wonderful story from a friend in Michigan about Halloween 1977. I had to share especially since both Star Wars and The Pope visited the US again this year. Life Full Circle. 

As we approach another Halloween, I felt compelled to share a story that has brought much laughter to my family and friends over the years. It was Halloween 1977, and the original Star Wars film had been released earlier in the year on May 25th. Its popularity through the summer was extraordinary, especially since I remember sitting in the aisle at the old Grosse Pointe Woods Theater at 7 Mile and Mack to see the movie because it was sold out nearly every night.

This year, like every year on Halloween night at dusk, it was tradition for my best friends Billy, Scotty, and I to gather at the foot of the driveway in front of my house to go trick or treating. This event was so ritualized that we did not have to call each other, and we certainly did not text one another. We just knew every year on Halloween as the street lights came on, it was time to go get some candy.

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On this special night in 1977, Billy and Scotty gathered in the driveway, and although I don't remember exactly who was wearing what, they both had on very cool Star Wars like costumes. In fact, the entire street began to fill with Luke Skywalkers, Darth Vaders, Chewbaccas, Storm Troopers, Princess Leias, and Hans Solos until of course, I came out onto to the driveway in a complete Pope Paul VI costume. A costume that my mother worked on for what seemed like months for a school play at St. Joan of Arc where I played the part of... yes, the Pope.

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As I descended down the porch and onto the driveway, I began to do the very large, sweeping sign of the cross to Billy and Scotty just like the Pope, and no amount of words or descriptions can do justice to the detail of my costume. I had gold buttons, a shawl type shoulder garment, a sashe, and even a very tall hat that my Dad made out of red poster board, resembling the eternal flame. To top it my off, my Dad also whittled, for what also seemed like months, a very long, wooden staff that I carried to complete the papal look.

Once I made it down the driveway in a very slow spiritual walk, I was met by Billy and Scotty, who were puzzled, dumb-founded, and frankly, in shock. As they adjusted their light sabres and what not, they simply greeted me with cautious acceptance, and we carried on through the neighborhood.

All through the night, there were hundreds of Star Wars characters, but only one Pope Paul VI, and if it weren't for my parents, I probably would have been Chewbacca. For Halloween 1977, the force was with me, but it was Jesus not George Lucas.

by Robert D. Livernois

Sterling Heights, Michigan