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Guest announcement Barbara Frankland formerly Barbara Denham in 1976

 

Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope Saurin Cantina Creature

 

 

WE HAVE FOUND ANOTHER FIRST TIME SIGNER :YAHOO:

 

there were two Saurins in the cantina Barbara played one of them the other is played by Laurie Goode

 

 

250px-Hrchek-kal-fas.jpg

 

250px-Hrchek.jpg

 

Rycar_Hrchek.jpg

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that is great news as she is on my sheet from john mollo regarding cantina aliens and listed as a saurin (crocker)the problem i have is with the 2nd saurin i know laurie goode is acknowledged as it but on this list i have a peter sturgeon can anybody shed any light?? anyway great guest

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that is great news as she is on my sheet from john mollo regarding cantina aliens and listed as a saurin (crocker)the problem i have is with the 2nd saurin i know laurie goode is acknowledged as it but on this list i have a peter sturgeon can anybody shed any light?? anyway great guest

 

Ok, I will try and keep this one brief, but it comes up fairly often so please spread the word and save me typing it all out again next time.

 

While the John Mollo drawing is a very useful reference, it is by no means infallible. It dates from costume/creature meetings that happened a fair time before the shooting of the cantina scene. The names on that drawing correspond to the people who had been cast at the time to play each creature. These actors and extras were then put on retainers while the costumes and masks were made. Unfortunately at some point during this process Stuart Freeborn fell ill, delaying the masks and pushing back the shooting date for the cantina scenes. While some of the previously hired artists stayed on, opting to extend their retainers, some others had to leave the production to go and work on other projects. So what the Mollo drawing represents is a list of people hired to play roles, but not necessarily the ones who shot the scenes.

 

It does mean there is a problem when it comes to identifying actors not named on the Mollo drawing. As call sheets generally don't record extras names, we often have to rely on the memories of these artists about their time on set and try to work out which character they played. When we first talked to Laurie about doing a show Jason and I had a number of conversations with him about what he remembered of his cantina creature. The most significant points he remembered were:

 

- He remembers looking out through a crocadile-like set of teeth that were rather imposing

 

- He remembers fiddling with those teeth while he was not shooting. Jason has a picture in the archive of one of the saurins fiddling with his teeth.

 

- He remembers a series of diamond shaped ridges on the top of the mask. These are clearly visible on the Saurin.

 

- The mask was originally not made for him (most likely made for Peter Sturgeon), and had to be cut up the back and adjusted. Jason has the original saurin mask in the archive that was re-used as the Bossk mask, and it has a large slit up the back where it has been adjusted and re-stitched. This also explains why Laurie's name does not feature on the John Mollo costume designs.

 

- He remembered there being some sort of height issue with the other creature. In the original cantina shots from the archive you can see that one Saurin is standing with his legs bent at the bar to make himself appear shorter, and of similar height to the other Saurin.

 

From these memories we judged that he was most likely a Saurin, something Laurie confirmed when we showed him pictures of the creature.

 

I know it's not as acurate as a pay stub with '1 day's work as a Crocker' on it, but such things simply don't exist. This is a film made 33 years ago, often under chaotic circumstances and sometimes this sort of evidence is the best you can get.

 

I hope that answers your questions anyway,

 

Graham

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that is great news as she is on my sheet from john mollo regarding cantina aliens and listed as a saurin (crocker)the problem i have is with the 2nd saurin i know laurie goode is acknowledged as it but on this list i have a peter sturgeon can anybody shed any light?? anyway great guest

 

Ok, I will try and keep this one brief, but it comes up fairly often so please spread the word and save me typing it all out again next time.

 

While the John Mollo drawing is a very useful reference, it is by no means infallible. It dates from costume/creature meetings that happened a fair time before the shooting of the cantina scene. The names on that drawing correspond to the people who had been cast at the time to play each creature. These actors and extras were then put on retainers while the costumes and masks were made. Unfortunately at some point during this process Stuart Freeborn fell ill, delaying the masks and pushing back the shooting date for the cantina scenes. While some of the previously hired artists stayed on, opting to extend their retainers, some others had to leave the production to go and work on other projects. So what the Mollo drawing represents is a list of people hired to play roles, but not necessarily the ones who shot the scenes.

 

It does mean there is a problem when it comes to identifying actors not named on the Mollo drawing. As call sheets generally don't record extras names, we often have to rely on the memories of these artists about their time on set and try to work out which character they played. When we first talked to Laurie about doing a show Jason and I had a number of conversations with him about what he remembered of his cantina creature. The most significant points he remembered were:

 

- He remembers looking out through a crocadile-like set of teeth that were rather imposing

 

- He remembers fiddling with those teeth while he was not shooting. Jason has a picture in the archive of one of the saurins fiddling with his teeth.

 

- He remembers a series of diamond shaped ridges on the top of the mask. These are clearly visible on the Saurin.

 

- The mask was originally not made for him (most likely made for Peter Sturgeon), and had to be cut up the back and adjusted. Jason has the original saurin mask in the archive that was re-used as the Bossk mask, and it has a large slit up the back where it has been adjusted and re-stitched. This also explains why Laurie's name does not feature on the John Mollo costume designs.

 

- He remembered there being some sort of height issue with the other creature. In the original cantina shots from the archive you can see that one Saurin is standing with his legs bent at the bar to make himself appear shorter, and of similar height to the other Saurin.

 

From these memories we judged that he was most likely a Saurin, something Laurie confirmed when we showed him pictures of the creature.

 

I know it's not as acurate as a pay stub with '1 day's work as a Crocker' on it, but such things simply don't exist. This is a film made 33 years ago, often under chaotic circumstances and sometimes this sort of evidence is the best you can get.

 

I hope that answers your questions anyway,

 

Graham

 

thanks very much for that graham its really appreciated i think i know the sheet you mentioned i have the same sheet but mine was updated by mr mollo in 2002 after he checked some of his records the original sheet states rupert denham not barbara is he a relation?did he have another role?also any info on the bat/kabe creature on the sheet the mollo sheet says barry gnome the call sheet says gilda cohen but rusty goffe always signs the images any clarity would be great

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