PICS: Kermit Eller - the "tour" Darth Vader

[darth buffalo]

I finally found the Pic of me and darth vader from (I think februari 1982)
and scanned it
I was twelve then...
I do not know if it's Kermit Eller under the suit...

 

[Too Much Garlic]

Cool picture. He has the tunic over the armor ANH style, but the costume is ESB style.

And what's with the crisscross stitching on the pants crossing the wider tour stitching?

 

[DaddyfromNaboo]

I finally found the Pic of me and darth vader from (I think februari 1982)
and scanned it
I was twelve then...
I do not know if it's Kermit Eller under the suit...

Definitely not Kermit Eller. That must be one of the tour suits that were partially on display in the various Star Wars exhibits around the world. Nothing screen used on them, I believe, everything custom built. See the chest box details for example. And the gloves.

 

[kingofnaboo]

I found the story on Kermit Eller then through googleing found your site
I believe I met the 'Tour Vader' 9/26/81. I rember it was at Madame Tussauds wax museum (now closed location) to celebrate their wax figure of Princess Leia that moved to insert a memory chip into R2D2. My signed photo looked like the autograph posted on the site as well. I uploaded my photo of him and me here.

http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/6508/1299060497picsay1299060.jpg

 

[Ghost Host]

No, not KE. TRU had their own tour costumes made of Vader, Troopers, I think Chewie (and maybe 3po???). Rick Baker was hired to make these costumes, and TRU had their own people dress up in them, but the costumes were somewhat substandard, as you can see.

I went to one of those TRU appearances back then, I wonder if that was Kermit Eller. The costume was put on rather poorly. Here are my pics.

 

[clancampbell]

Cool picture. He has the tunic over the armor ANH style, but the costume is ESB style.

And what's with the crisscross stitching on the pants crossing the wider tour stitching?

...and dig that crazy neck chain!

 

[GINO]

No, not KE. TRU had their own tour costumes made of Vader, Troopers, I think Chewie (and maybe 3po???).

Actually that's not true.
They were a mix of standard touring costumes as well as screen used.



.

 

[DaddyfromNaboo]

Actually that's not true.
They were a mix of standard touring costumes as well as screen used.



.

What era are we talking about, here?

 

[GINO]

Screen used costumes appeared at many touring locations including TRU.
It was a combination of tour and screen used.

 

[DaddyfromNaboo]

Screen used costumes appeared at many touring locations including TRU.
It was a combination of tour and screen used.

Not onwards from a certain point of time

 

[Ghost Host]

Well, I guess that's a question for my source vs. yours, my friend. I'm just sharing what I learned.

Actually that's not true.
They were a mix of standard touring costumes as well as screen used.



.

 

[GINO]

Well, I guess that's a question for my source vs. yours, my friend. I'm just sharing what I learned.

Your 'source' doesn't know what he's talking about.
Here's not only a screen used trooper being used for promotional purposes at TRU, but it's actually Han's screen used hero suit/helemet.

.

 

[vaderdarth]

The screen suits were only used very early on at specific TRUS locations. After that the Baker suits were used and this has been verified by more than one source at DPS.

Wow, how old are you gino? Do try to act like an adult.

 

[Ghost Host]

Your 'source' doesn't know what he's talking about.
Here's not only a screen used trooper being used for promotional purposes at TRU, but it's actually Han's screen used hero suit/helemet.

.

:rolleyes very interesting... and nice pics, though I've seen them before... Thanks for posting. :cool My sources were Kermit Eller, Jim Leonard and Rick Baker. I have known them all personally and spoken to them at length about their connection to Star Wars and even about these tour suits. Maybe it's wrong info... maybe not. I thought it was pertinent info to share here. I tend to trust these sources more than rude, know-it-alls though.

 

[hellboy120]

Great story! Thanks to everyone for sharing.