Depicted here is an original and quite scarce Star Wars : Men Behind The Mask's World Tour Original Prototype T-shirt. 25 years ago in 1995, Icons secured the first Star Wars 1:1 scale prop replica license and was trying to find unique ways to promote Star Wars and the upcoming 20th anniversary in 1997.
At the time there was no yearly "Star Wars Celebration" Convention and Lucasfilm refused to grant a license to any company to produce Star Wars conventions including Creation Entertainment.
In 1993/1994 Icons co-founder James Latta had co-produced / co-promoted a quarterly convention called "The Back to the Past Show" which was held in Pasadena, California. Actor David Prowse who had wore the Darth Vader costume in the first Star Wars trilogy was a featured guest at one of these events and had appeared on Jim's weekly collectibles television show "The Sci-Fi Trader" which aired on the Sci-Fi Channel.
Prowse mentioned to Jim that he was aware of the location of several other Star Wars supporting actors who wore masks & costumes in the original trilogy. Now mind you at the time there was no announcement of a new Star Wars Trilogy being produced.
Latta came up with the concept of locating Star Wars actors who wore unique masks and costumes in the trilogy and put them out on tour. Dubbing the concept "Star Wars : Men Behind The Masks".
At the time there was no yearly "Star Wars Celebration" Convention and Lucasfilm refused to grant a license to any company to produce Star Wars conventions including Creation Entertainment.
In 1993/1994 Icons co-founder James Latta had co-produced / co-promoted a quarterly convention called "The Back to the Past Show" which was held in Pasadena, California. Actor David Prowse who had wore the Darth Vader costume in the first Star Wars trilogy was a featured guest at one of these events and had appeared on Jim's weekly collectibles television show "The Sci-Fi Trader" which aired on the Sci-Fi Channel.
Prowse mentioned to Jim that he was aware of the location of several other Star Wars supporting actors who wore masks & costumes in the original trilogy. Now mind you at the time there was no announcement of a new Star Wars Trilogy being produced.
Latta came up with the concept of locating Star Wars actors who wore unique masks and costumes in the trilogy and put them out on tour. Dubbing the concept "Star Wars : Men Behind The Masks".
So, under the supervision of Latta (and Derek Maki), Icons created, produced, sponsored and coordinated a 160 City Worldwide Tour of the supporting Actors from Star Wars, fully sanctioned by Lucasfilm LTD, in conjunction with the 20th Anniversary of Star Wars.
Icons was the FIRST company to offer officially licensed photos to be signed by cast members.
The tour was successful and many fans were brought face to face with their favorite actors of the original trilogy.
After Icons went bankrupt, some of the actors went off on their own while others were represented by companies like Coolwaters Productions LLC.
Derek Maki worked for Icons and then created Coolwaters to assist actors as well as to bring, for the first time, actor Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian) and Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) to conventions as well. 25 year history all starting with this tour !!!
The tour would feature David (Darth Vader) Prowse, Anthony (C3-PO) Daniels, Kenny (R2-D2) Baker, Peter (Chewbacca) Mayhew, Jeremy (Boba Fett) Bulloch, Warwick (Wickett) Davis, Maria (Greedo) de Aragon, Michael (Bib Fortuna) Carter, John (Lobot) Hollis and many others.
The tour would feature David (Darth Vader) Prowse, Anthony (C3-PO) Daniels, Kenny (R2-D2) Baker, Peter (Chewbacca) Mayhew, Jeremy (Boba Fett) Bulloch, Warwick (Wickett) Davis, Maria (Greedo) de Aragon, Michael (Bib Fortuna) Carter, John (Lobot) Hollis and many others.
The autographs on the shirt are not hand-signed, they are printed as part of the design and used WITH AUTHORIZATION from each actor.
Just prior to the start of the production of this T-shirt, the Star Wars : Men Behind The Masks logo was changed (see above) to remove the words "Star Wars" following the announcement that Pepsi-Cola had secured the rights to all of the Star Wars characters in a billion dollar marketing deal.
"The Blue Shirts"...because everyone had one on (Al Zequeira, Alan Payne, the Fab & Design guys...), that's how Icons staff was called in 1996, when Icons debuted at Comic Con, after a year in secrecy. No one knew that the company was premiering at the show (upset many bootleggers...LOL).
I think only 8 to 12 of these were produced. They were made for trade-shows/conventions. The Icons logo is metallic gold. Very good quality.
I think only 8 to 12 of these were produced. They were made for trade-shows/conventions. The Icons logo is metallic gold. Very good quality.
This is the Icons "saber construction crew" T-shirt. Made especially for the guys working on the assembly line of the first-time ever Star Wars authenticated and licensed lightsaber replica made by Icons. Few of that one were made. Also shown is the concept art drawing for that T-shirt, designed by Daren Dochterman.
That is one of the first T-shirts made at Icons. You can find pics of Mike Moore and Steve Horch wearing them during photo sessions at Skywalker Ranch, during Icons prototyping period in 1995, when studying some pieces from Lucasfilm...very rare item (with first and never seen after Icons logo) and a piece of history :-)
This is a gift from Mike & Nancy who received their Icons B9 robot........
Those are two Icons Collector Society T-shirts. They were sent to customers who subscribed to the ICS.
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