Giant chicken leg stilts used in the original 1977 Star Wars film are set for auction offering collectors a chance to stand out from the crowd!
The stilts – one of the quirkiest finds ever made by Hansons Auctioneers – were worn by English actor Peter Barbour (1922-2005). He played The Stilt Monster in Star Wars IV A New Hope, just after the bar scene, and in another scene which was deleted but later reused. The stilts will be offered in Hansons Auctioneers’ May 3 Star Wars Auction with a guide price of £1,000-£1,200.
Peter’s daughter Dr Sue Barbour, who performed as a stilt-dancer with her father, Peter, said: “Star Wars director George Lucas had a dream of a giant chicken. The next day when he went to Pinewood Studios he mentioned it to his cameraman who suggested ‘the Barbours’ as we had just finished filming Mr. Quilp starring Anthony Newley with him.”
The Barbours are a renowned family of stilt-dancers and entertainers. The stilt-dancing act began in Blackpool in the 1940s courtesy of Sheffield-born comedian Roy Barbour’s three sons, Peter, Roy Junior and Geoffrey. They grew up in show business, learning skills from a young age after Roy moved to Blackpool to make his mark in 1923. Sue’s mother Jean, Peter’s wife, later joined the act and when Jean retired in 1977, Sue stepped in. The Barbours were well known at home and abroad and when the Star Wars opportunity emerged they were keen to help.
Sue said: “Peter and I were contacted by Leslie Collins, an agent, who asked us to go to Pinewood to meet George Lucas. When we arrived George took us round the prop rooms. This was before filming had started. He showed us all the amazing ideas he’d developed and asked my father if he thought a giant chicken could be done.
“Peter suggested he could use the stilts he’d made for another film, The Hellfire Club. We took the stilts to Pinewood and they created the giant chicken legs around them. They decided that only the legs would be visible.
“The ground of the film set was very uneven as they were going to Tunisia to film and wanted the studio street to look like a Tunisian street. On one take Peter tripped and fell on Sir Alec Guinness, who told him, ‘don’t worry, dear boy!’
“The props department also made some short grey hippo-like legs for me but they were never used. Years later, when George Lucas brought his daughter to Walt Disney World when Peter and I were working there, he told me he’d kept all the discarded footage as he might use it in one of the follow-up films.
“We had invitations to the Star Wars premier at the Odeon in London’s Leicester Square but I didn’t want to go as I didn’t like science fiction films. I sold my ticket.”
Also set for auction are Pelham Puppets used in the Barbours’ famous Speciality Act which saw them manipulated from their stilts. They will go under the hammer at Hansons Auctioneers on April 25.
Sue said: “These oversized professional puppets were carved by Bob Pelham’s woodcarver, Gil Leeper. They range in height from 2ft-4ft. The marionettes were put on very long strings and operated from the stilts, in full view of the audience. The act was immensely popular from the 1940s until 2001 when my dad had a stroke.
“He had been performing since the age of 14. His father paid an act called The Astairs to teach two of his sons staircase and stick dancing. They also leant to walk on stilts. Peter, not content to just ‘walk’ on stilts, decided to dance on stilts, originally putting taps onto the bottom of the size 2 children’s Oxford shoes, which he put on the bottom of the stilts to make them more lifelike.
“The Barbours, who dressed immaculately in top hat and tails, to perform, found dancing on stilts a tiring business, so Peter decided it would be a good idea to get some giant Pelham Puppets, like a clown he had seen in Hamley’s toy shop in London.
“He contacted Bob Pelham, explaining that he and his two brothers were booked to appear at the Prince of Wales Theatre, in London, in ‘Paris to Piccadilly’ starring Norman Wisdom. Peter met up with Bob and they discussed suitable characters for the Speciality Act.
“The first three puppets bought were The Scotsman (Scottie), The Girl (Girlfriend) and The Spiv. More Pelham puppets followed including a Clown, a Dog called Mitsy, the Toreador and the Little White Bull and the Indians (Native Americans), complete with papoose!”
Hansons said: “This is an amazing collection from an amazing show-business family. The Barbours carved a niche in Britain’s 20th century entertainment industry that will never be forgotten. They entertained people all over the world for more than 50 years.
“To give you some idea of their pedigree, the Barbour Brothers and Jean appeared on America’s famous Ed Sullivan Show in 1956. They also performed in the Latin Quarter Club in New York, toured Australia and Europe and entertained at the Royal Command Performance in April 1955.
“In the 1980s Sue and Peter performed in Barnum at the London Palladium and, later at the same venue, in Babes in the Woods with Cannon and Ball. They also entertained countless families at Walt Disney World in Florida from 1989-1997. The fact that they knew George Lucas says it all.
“When Sue joined the act in 1973, they added The Wombles to their act and those puppets, which are not Pelhams, are also set for auction.”
Auction: The Pelham puppets and Wombles, guided at £500 each, will be offered in Hansons Auctioneers’ April 25 Toy Auction. The chicken leg stilts will be offered in the May 3 Star Wars Auction.
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