As recently as 2005, it was used once again in context with the American Fourth of July holiday. In ensuing years, evidence for use of the phrase in public or private is hazy. He shared it with others on the set, and would continue to write an annual message to the company declaring “May the 4th Be With You” for years to come. May 4, 1982, happened to be a working day, and Thom recalled thinking of the pun on his own when contemplating the date. Thom joined the production unit in northern California as they shot in the redwood forest doubling for the moon of Endor. Randy Thom, who today is the director of sound design at Skywalker Sound and has been with the company for over 40 years, worked as a location sound recordist on Revenge of the Jedi (its title, of course, was later changed, and at the time of production it was known under the codename Blue Harvest). Congratulations!” (Coincidentally, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back was in production at nearby Elstree Studios at the same time, and issues of the Evening News could have appeared in Lucasfilm’s offices.)Īnother lesser-known instance came from within Lucasfilm in 1982.
Britain’s new prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, happened to assume office that day, and another clever newspaper writer for The London Evening News declared in a full-page ad: “May the Fourth Be With You, Maggie. It was on May 4, 1979, that the first known instance of “May the 4th Be With You” being used to mark the earlier date took place. “May the Force be with you,” as heard in A New Hope, had been appearing on licensed (and unlicensed) buttons, posters, and various items for months, enough to convince those writers that the joke would be well-received by their readers.Įnglish-speaking audiences in the United Kingdom were familiar with it as well. That summer of ’78, clever newspaper writers used the phrase as a gimmick to mark Independence Day celebrations on the Fourth of July. By then, Star Wars was firmly established within American popular culture and became “like a handshake,” as Professor Leo Braudy would later comment in the documentary, Empire of Dreams. The earliest uses of the phrase “May the 4th Be With You” that we have evidence for date from 1978, one year after the release of Star Wars: A New Hope. Around the world, “May the 4th Be With You” is more ubiquitously known as “ Star Wars Day.” It is a grassroots phenomenon that now transcends the English language pun that inspired it. It has no official commencement year, no formal dedication.
Like anything that emerges from the collective passion of a group of people, the Star Wars fan holiday on May the 4 th each year has no single point of origin.
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