It's an interesting story and your friend may very well be sincere but there are too many things about it that don't add up. First, and most obvious, there is no trace of a DP helmet on screen in either ESB or RotJ. Next, to Aku's point, the number of helmets he's claiming is disproportionate to those that might have been used (and would had to have been shipped overseas to Elstree Studios). Then, to my eye the biggest flaw in his story is the part where he says there are special decals or applique's on this helmet doesn't jive: just as he reports, that is a garden variety Don Post standard helmet made sometime between 1978 and 1982 and nothing special about it at all -- at least from the provided photo -- the stickers on his helmet are the exact ones you see on any commercially available helmet which contradicts his statement that they are custom. To be nerdy about it they are the blue colored sticker variant seen on helmets made earlier -- later versions used a gray color on the stickers that was closer to "screen accurate". During this period of production at Don Post the lenses on the Stormtrooper helmets were separate pieces of vacuum-formed plastic (typically green or smoky gray) so that wouldn't have been anything unusual either (further nerdiness: after 1982ish they stopped doing the separate lens pieces and just cut holes in the helmet to see out of). The helmet also suffers from the fairly typical condition where the lenses and brow strap have fallen off due to the contact cement having dried out over time.
I expect that either he was misinformed in the first place or perhaps he's got his story mixed up from 40 years of time having elapsed and he probably doesn't live and breathe this stuff like we do. If Don Post had provided helmets to be used on screen I would think it would be a matter of common knowledge by now --Lucasfilm ordering 300+ helmets and shipping them to the UK to be used in the sequel to Star Wars would have been a pretty big deal and lots of people involved would know. There are interviews with Don Post Jr on youtube discussing the Star Wars license and he makes no mention of it in any of them -- again if they had provided helmets used in the film he would be all over it and rightly so (as their advertising team would have been back in the day). This situation is also never mentioned in Lee Lambert's History of Don Post Studios but, unlikely as it seems, that could be an oversight.
Some other things that make me think he's just mixing up his facts is that we do know the screen-used Stormtrooper helmets in ESB were refurbished after ANH and that they did use custom made stickers to redress the helmets -- as noted, those stickers are not the ones you see on this helmet. We also know that there are a few Don Post standard Stormtrooper helmets in the LFL archives but we're talking maybe two or three of them not two or three hundred. Photos of them at the archives have been posted here at the RPF by independent sources so at some point LFL got their hands on some Don Post Stormtrooper helmets but they were never used on screen.
That is all we can say for certain.
Cheers,
Dave C
Hi Dave thanks very much for this!
I’m going to copy and paste a couple of other things hes said since I made this post.
I have no idea who you spoke with, but he's wholly wrong. In fact the license that DPS originally got was inclusive of "Any full sized representation of the characters" and lasted 7 years, so any use of full size characters in the U'S' had to go through DPS and I was personally in charge. I worked with Maggie Young and Sid Ganis at LucasFilm and was on set with the first full color repaints of Boba Fet in Buttercup Valley, CA. We had to approve any use for promotion as well as were the landing point for a lot of items coming from Elstree to shoot second Unit in America. I worked a lot with The Toy Company and Elstree Props etc. and directly with Kit West and Stuart Freeborn. This was not highly publicized but I lived and breathed Star Wars at DPS. In 2006 an avid collector / client wanted some pieces for his Malibu screening room and I worked again with Elstree to create pieces from original molds and with screen used parts. Here's a couple pictures from that project! I also provided the whole set from the last pieces of Vader pulled in the original mold, which was finished at Elstree and presented with much fanfare to David Prowse before he passed. BTW, we made the second generation Vader masters in North Hollywood and these parts were for reference. That Vader was sculpted by Jim Leonard who went on to work for Rick Baker for 16 years! Let's talk tomorrow .
Sam, Here's a quoted list from my book Shadowman, Stories from the Shadows of Hollywood (Amazon Press) - We were working very hard to make ends meet, so I focused on Special Projects to lower some of our personal financial stress while increasing the coffers with that 5%. In the time that I was at Don Post Studios I sold, and with my crew completed, forty-four Special Projects totaling over $400,000. By now my little department had grown to include Sculptor/moldmaker Jim Leonard, custom prop builder Jim McGeachy, Art Director/painter Dennis Calaba, moldmaker/prop builder Barry Crane, and part time use of painter, Rob Tharpe (Rob also headed Quality Control for DPS). Our projects included:
- Assisting David Lynch with the designs and concepts of prosthetics for “The Elephant Man”.
- Creating the closing sequence creature for Toby Hooper’s “Deadly Blessing”.
- Sculpting and creating the two spinning body forms used for stop motion animation in “Star Trek, The Motion Picture”.
- Supplying over 300 Custom Stormtrooper masks for “Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi”. These were used for background only shots.
- Paint, assembly and flame-thrower fire gag effects for two Boba Fet sets for Trailer footage for “Return of the Jedi”. Back in the ESB days, Boba was originally designed to be Stormtrooper White, but when it was pointed out that this minor (at that time) character would be a great personal appearance opportunity, the decision was made to paint it the colors we all recognize today. Dennis Calaba matched these color designs to the suits and Boba Fet was born! We later added the flame thrower Effect (done by me Via MTSD) for the ROTJ trailer and film footage.
- Re-making and completing the screen-used second generation Darth Vader helmets and shoulder pieces for “Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi”. The second generation Darth Vader was sculpted by Jim Leonard and created, molded and master cast at Post.
- Designing and doing test make-ups for a test on a live action “Tom & Jerry” movie.
- Working on the not so loved owl prop for “Clash of the Titans” for Ray Harryhausen. Meeting Ray was one of my dreams come true. What a nice man!
-Creating cast metal pieces for “Revenge of the Jedi” before the name change.
- Casting metal pieces for “Star Trek”, the Wrath of Khan.
- Developing reflective half dome markers and nodal suits for Disney’s “Tron”.
- Designing and doing tests for the dental prosthetics and make-up look for “Quest for Fire”.
-Testing, making and installing over three hundred Rim Urethane manhole covers for Disney’s EPCOT.
- Testing, making dozens of Cannon Bollards for EPCOT.
- Recreating FDR inaugural plaque in Rim Urethane for Hall of Presidents, EPCOT.
- Re-creating thirty-six bonded bronze duplicates of the lighting sconces from the Hall of Congress for EPCOT, Hall of Presidents.
- Consulting on tail material for “Dragonslayer”, Disney.
- Consulting in New York on Gelfling skin material and hair for “Dark Crystal” for Jim Henson.
- Building two custom props for “Shark Boy”, Rafaela DeLaurentiis and David Lynch.
- Design and test make-up for Jonathan Winters as a “Pooka” bear character for “Maximillian”.
- Head cast and reproduction of Anthony Geary for “General Hospital”.
- Creation of all the “Silver Shamrock” mask props and 2nd Unit work – “Halloween III, Season of the Witch”.
- Head casts of Loraine Yarnell and Doug Henning for “NBC Henning Magic Special”.
- Magic props for John Gaughan and Doug Henning, “Merlin”, Broadway.
- Black Dahlia body prop for “LA Confidential” for Michael Westmore.
- Miscellaneous magic prop elements John Gaughan, Norm Neilson.
- One hundred and fifty six Still suits for “Dune”, David Lynch, Rafaela DeLaurentiis.
- Face Casts and custom masks for “Real People” reality show.
-Fifteen full body casts for “Dune”.
By the way I suggested Kit West for the Effects on Dune to David Lynch ......
When I got to Don post in 1978 they had removed the Stormtrooper from production due to costs, primarily around the eyes and the lenses. I took a blank and drilled a series of holes in the eye area, which was cast solid, then painted in the black, making a way to see through the eyes, have eyes that appeared fine and cut out all the trimming and adhesion costs and difficulties with the eyes. For Mask Production I had a die made that punched the eye holes out with a single move and bought a hand punch press to do the job. To get this approved I had to take prot-types to Maggie Young for approval and we got to discussing the Stormtrooper in general and she was getting requests from Production for low cost Helmets they could use in the background shots instead of the multi piece vacuum formed and assembled hero helmets. I spoke with the Board, gave her a price and they ordered about 150, then another 150, then piecemiel about another 36-50 (some had some further customization on them). We reworked several dozen before ROTJ. So, when this was made Don Post was not in production of Stormtroopers, the version two, which I did get approved had holes and paint over the eye section, and I am well known for being the person who was there, in charge and doing this. we NEVER asked for or got credit for the films. These were purchases from Post sold to Lucasfilm, period. It is slao not documented that the American Darth vader was Kermit Eller, or that he was a Don Post Employee when he started going out as Darth Vader, or that at first he wore the Original Episode Costume, which was kept and maintained at Don Post under my Supervision. We eventually reproduced the suit elements to preserve the original, but I was on the road with Kermit as Darth Vader many many times. What was never mentioned is that, as liason for Post, Lucasfilm had to get my permission before each appearance of any of the characters. This is how we painted and prepared the first Bobo Fet shots in Noth Hollywood, CA for the buttercup Valley shoot (excerpts shown in Bob Fet Behind the Mask on Disney Plus and many other uses of the characters from the Tonight Show to placing their footprints in cement at the Chinese Theater. There's a reason my book is titled Shadowman and this is only one of them. I have ad sheets of the reintroduction of the Stormtrooper and photos of the punched eyes, which I will include with the piece .
he Rotatioonally cast vinyl helmets we provided are slightly smaller that the close-up helmets and have detail decals (also a bit more detailed than our product line) instead of cut or drilled details, so any time you saw a group of Stormtroopers, the foreground ones were Heros and the ones behind them and in group battle or marching sequences, those were the Background pieces. If I remember correctly the costs were somewhere between 5 and 6 to one, so they had bunches on hand for whenever they needed them. They also damaged some and used them as post battle props sometimes.
This is the end of the quoted messages
Thanks for chatting!
