My local cobbler is a) a fabulist or b) an unsung costuming hero

MFP 2020

Dale Herndon of Dale's Shoe Repair in Westminster, CA, is my go-to guy for leather work. He's been in the business for 45 years. He repaired, resoled and reconditioned my vintage Rossiter "Mad Max" boots, altered my MFP leather jacket, and has done several other leather-related jobs for me. Today my wife and I took a pair of her boots in for cleaning, and I spotted a very out-of-place boot on a shelf:





I said, "Is this a Boba Fett boot?" (I wouldn't have recognized it if I hadn't seen some of the Fett threads here.) He replied, "Road Warrior." I blinked. Now, I'm a guy you don't argue Mad Max with, but I just started slowly feeding out rope.

He claimed that he'd worked on not only The Road Warrior, but Mad Max and Beyond Thunderdome as well. He didn't say that he'd actually been on location in Australia, but he did claim to have had lunch with Mel Gibson at a Hollywood studio cafeteria, during production, when Mel was "very young," and said that Mel was always joking around. If any of this is actually true, then I have to wonder why he didn't recognize the replica jacket or original boots when I brought them in. I suppose it's possible that he actually did work with Mel at some point, but since all three MM movies were made in Australia with no Hollywood involvement (save for MMBTD, perhaps), maybe he worked on some other movie and just got confused. He also talked about working on "the series," but I don't recall whether he was talking about TV. To my knowledge, there was no Mad Max TV series, at least in the US.

One thing I know for damn sure: No one in any Mad Max movie wore a boot anything like that one.

At one point he claimed that he'd built the original Vader codpiece ("the big guy with the black cape"), from leather, and that it was tricky because of the curves. He said something about having made two because they needed one for the stand-in. (When the first guy got too hot, he said, they'd bring in the other guy.) This claim actually sounded more likely, only because Star Wars was produced in Southern California. (I don't know whether Dale was living and working near the studios; I'll have to ask later.)

I asked if he'd happened to keep any of his original work, but he said the production company took everything. Legal stuff. He said that the boot was his original prototype and he would have sold it to them for $2000 (and should have), but he argued that he'd made it with his own materials and it belonged to him, so he was keeping it. If he built it for ESB or ROTJ, it's remarkably clean for having sat on a shelf for 30 years. It appears to be vinyl, and well-constructed, although the flat high-density-foam sole looks kinda cheesy. If I had to guess, I'd say he made it for someone's replica costume--if he made it at all.

Anyway, we said, "That's so cool" and said we'd be back to pick up the boots next week. He's always seemed like a very down-to-earth guy and I can't fathom why anyone would make up stories that are unlikely on their face and can be easily debunked. So he's either full of bull or he's confused about what he actually worked on. (Or a combination.)

Any SW/Fett experts want to weigh in on the boot or codpiece?

dbalschi

Look like Fett boots to me

Risu

I go to him, too. He told me he made all the boots for Star Wars when I was getting my Solo boots made more accurate.

voice in the crowd

The Star Wars claim actually sounds the least likely.

The sets and actors for Star Wars filmed mainly at Elstree studios in England. I believe for Star Wars the original Vader cod was made at Elstree as was the whole costume.

Only the models for the space ships were made and filmed in the US.

I think most of the costumes for the whole original trilogy where made in the UK.

Not sure any scenes with Vader where filmed in the US at all. The only scenes filmed in the US that involved actors were Jabba's skiff scenes and the Endor scenes in ROTJ.


Cheers Chris

MFP 2020

The only supporting evidence I found was in Rinzler's Making of Star Wars book, which briefly refers to parts of Vader's costume being made of leather.

VariablePenguin

Seriously doubt those are something he made for Star Wars. Just by how good of condition it's in is the first sign. Second is that they don't look much like real Fett boots of any kind I've seen. From the original all white super trooper concept to the ROTJ suit.

The spikes on the front are all wrong, oh, and they're made of leather.

terryr

The old time braggarts are having a tough time with the Internet.

Make up a movie and ask if he did the boots for that.