It’s the 50th anniversary of American Graffiti and Lucasfilm are celebrating this milestone release by not only putting on an exhibit of rare items from the film and it’s promotion but also celebrarting the film in the latest History In Objects.
At Lucasfilm headquarters in San Francisco, company historians have created a special exhibit display of rare materials from our very first production, American Graffiti, which is currently celebrating its 50th anniversary. Dozens of pieces of memorabilia, cultural artifacts, and behind-the-scenes items chart the story of Graffiti’s making in 1972 and public reception when it first debuted in 1973. This special edition of our “History in Objects” series explores a handful of these treasures.
AN “ORIGINAL” SCORE
Both American Graffiti and its 1973 counterpart The Sting featured the groundbreaking use of non-original soundtracks. George Lucas wrote Graffiti’s script with his childhood collection of 45 rpm records, noting specific songs for each scene in the film. Graffiti’s music licensing was a huge undertaking, costing nearly 1/7th of its total budget (some music that Lucas hoped to include, like Elvis Presley’s, was excluded due to the high cost). The resulting American Graffiti double-record soundtrack released by MCA became a top seller. Today, the practice of hiring a music coordinator to help curate existing music for a film’s score is common practice.
