When I first arrived in Hollywood from the Midwest, I had several experiences that are lifetime memories, such as Katherine Hepburn tossing me a wave from her convertible next to what is now the American Film Institute , or Cyril Delevanti reciting his poem from John Huston's "Knight of the Iguana", and seeing firsthand the launch of George Lucas's professional career.
The film departments of UCLA and Southern California University had an annual film competition for students from both schools at a time when they and New York University were about the only schools in the country offering a degree in cinema.
In 1967, I attended the showing at UCLA's Royce Hall, and George Lucas's THX 1138 was a standout work among many very good ones. Not only was it the audience's favorite, but the judges awarded it best picture. Lucas was called to the podium to accept his award. He seemed nervous and shy at the microphone, but then startled as he was interrupted at the microphone, apparently a surprise to all on stage, by a lawyer from Warner Brothers who announced that Warners was offering whoever won the competition the opportunity to turn it into a feature.
That was of course George. It seemed an eternity while he stood speechless, mouth open. Warners already had the young Francis Ford Coppola under contract, so they assigned him as producer to George. I then saw the resulting feature "THX 1138" in 1971 at a theater in Hollywood. It was not great commercial success, but the success of the George Lucas career is legendary.
