STAR WARS Blenko Visitors Center

George Elliott - 'IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO BE WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE BEEN'

Chess Set - 2nd Floor Blenko Glass Museum

A Work of Art - Dedicated to STAR WARS

Designed by Don Shepperd and Created by SHORTY FINLEY of Milton

This week I am sending the story of Shorty Finley's Chess Set and photos to the STAR WARS Production Company after all - 'its never too late to be what you might have been!'

To all who know him Shorty Finley is a friend, an excellent craftsman, teacher and a good honest man. Harry Hepner said: " Once we discover how to appreciate the timeless values in our daily experiences we can enjoy the best things in life." Everyone who knows my friend, Shorty Finley, will tell you he has the ability to enjoy all of life.

The CHESS SET is located at the Visitors Center on the 2nd floor - Shorty recalls being so excited and inspired by the Star Wars movie that he ask Shepherd to help him create a 'big' chest set with 'space creatures.' Shepperd drew several designs before he and Shorty agreed on the final creatures.

Its a giant chess set - designed for Shorty Finley by his good friend Don Shepherd. Shorty blew each piece and contracted with a wood worker in Roane County to build the chess board. The board cost Shorty $70 a large sum in the early 80s.

The CHESS SET was often on display and was available for purchase. While at the Huntington Museum of Art the price tag was $3,500 - no one bought it - Shorty ask Mr. WH Blenko if he could store it at Blenko - since he had no room for such a large item in his home. Mr. Blenko agreed and the CHESS SET found a home on the second floor of the Visitors Center.

With the recent anniversary of STAR WARS and the renewed interest, I thought its time the news of Shorty Finley's chest set became public knowledge. It is a find tribute to STAR WARS, its a wonderful piece of art, its BLENKO GLASS, its an example of what these Factory Craftsmen can do. . . .they are truly artist. . . it requires a great deal of artistic ability and skill to attain the tittle of blower or finisher at BLENKO.

When you are next at the BLENKO GLASS Company, walk up stairs to view the chess set. I'll be interested in your thoughts when you see it....let me hear from you. hjh

The following remarks I took with permission from my friend Chris' Blog - THIS IS NOT MY BLOG - Chris is one of the many talented WV Bloggers. Google- WV Blogger -and then spend the afternoon reading, or as I do often, an evening looking at RICK LEE 's photographs. West Virginia Bloggers!
On this day, May 25, in 1977, Memorial Day weekend opened with an intergalactic bang as the first of George Lucas' blockbuster Star Wars movies hit American theaters.The incredible success of Star Wars--seven Oscars, $461 million in U.S. ticket sales and a gross of close to $800 million worldwide--began with an extensive, coordinated marketing push by Lucas and his studio, 20th Century Fox, months before the movie's release date. "It wasn't like a movie opening," actress Carrie Fisher, who played rebel leader Princess Leia, later told Time magazine. "It was like an earthquake." Beginning with--in Fisher's words--"a new order of geeks, enthusiastic young people with sleeping bags," the anticipation of a revolutionary movie-watching experience spread like wildfire, causing long lines in front of movie theaters across the country and around the world.With its groundbreaking special effects, Star Wars leaped off screens and immersed audiences in "a galaxy far, far away." By now everyone knows the story, which followed the baby-faced Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) as he enlisted a team of allies--including hunky Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and the robots C3PO and R2D2--on his mission to rescue the kidnapped Princess Leia from an Evil Empire governed by Darth Vader. The film made all three of its lead actors overnight stars, turning Fisher into an object of adoration for millions of young male fans and launching Ford's now-legendary career as an action-hero heartthrob.Star Wars was soon a bona-fide pop culture phenomenon. Over the years it has spawned five more feature films, five TV series and an entire industry's worth of comic books, toys, video games and other products. Two big-screen sequels, The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and The Return of the Jedi (1983), featured much of the original cast and enjoyed the same success--both critical and commercial--as the first film. In 1999, Lucas stretched back in time for the fourth installment, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, chronologically a prequel to the original movie. Two other prequels, Attack of the Clones (2002) and Revenge of the Sith (2005) followed.The latter Star Wars movies featured a new cast--including Ewan McGregor, Liam Neeson, Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen--and have generally failed to earn the same amount of critical praise as the first three films. They continue to score at the box office, however, with Revenge of the Sith becoming the top-grossing film of 2005 in the United States and the second worldwide.Thanks to my friend Paula for reminding me and sending me the write-up.Personally, I've seen all six of these in the theater when they were first released including being at the midnight premiers of the remastered original trilogy as well as the prequel trilogy. It was quite a thing to behold and I've never seen the movies the same way after seeing them with a packed theater full of enthusiastic people who truly reacted to the things on the screen including the iconic moments of the original trilogy. If you haven't seen these movies then all that I can ask is "what the hell is wrong with you? ... Go see them immediately!" :-)
# scribbled by jedijawa :