Shawn Vestal: Yuletide Moon last rose when ‘Star Wars’ first came to town

If there’s a break in the clouds tonight, go outside and look up: That big, bright, full moon doesn’t appear for Christmas very often.

For the first time since 1977, we’ve got a Yuletide Moon. Only every 38 years does this happen – a full moon falling on Christmas. This year’s moon will be high in the sky overhead, and if the clouds give it any room to shine, it’s expected to provide an extra luminous glow.

The phenomenon follows on the heels of the winter solstice, the longest night and shortest day of the year. According to Washington State University astronomy professor Guy Worthey, the moon should appear on Christmas Eve and reach its peak at 3:11 Christmas morning. The next one is expected in 2034.

The Yuletide Moon isn’t the only Christmas echo from 1977. Movie theaters in that year were packed with people seeing the new “Star Wars” film – the first one. It was also the year that Bing Crosby, the famous son of Spokane whose many associations with Christmas remain potent, died.

Thirty-eight years is a strange and random interval, but with the Yuletide Moon as an excuse, I took a spin through the newspaper’s archives, wondering how much attention the lunar phenomenon received back then.

As far as I could tell, it was completely ignored by The Spokesman-Review. Here are a few items from the archives of December 1977 that weren’t:

On Christmas morning, a 14-year-old Spokane boy, Peter Erickson, got a surprise call from the Los Angeles Police Department, inviting him to Southern California later that week. His trip was to include a visit to Disneyland, and his lodging would be a different officers’ house each night.

The reason for the gift? Peter had been in contact with the LAPD over requests he had made for his extensive collection of badges and insignia from police and fire departments. When he asked them for a photo of the department’s helicopters, they were so impressed with the kid that they took up a collection for his trip.

Also on Christmas morning, Charlie Chaplin died in Switzerland.

An apartment was destroyed on Christmas Eve by a fire above a downtown restaurant, the Buddha Gardens at 912 W Sprague, which is now the Tamarack Public House. The three residents were gone at the time.

Action Corner, a former Spokesman-Review feature that helped consumers resolve complaints, took up the issue of a woman who couldn’t get a refund for an electronic hairsetter that wasn’t working. The company, prodded by Action Corner, fixed her curler, gave her an additional one, and refunded the original purchase price. In its letter to the paper, the company drolly added, “You might check to see if there isn’t something else we can do for her.”

Dorothy Dean, identified as a representative of the S-R Homemakers Department, answered a request for Frozen White Fruitcake, a confection of whipped cream, crumbs and candied cherries.

In Coeur d’Alene in mid-December, a group of people concerned about the “constitutionality” of a proposed comprehensive land-use plan in Kootenai County, stormed out of a public hearing, led by a state lawmaker who said the plan was the work of “do-gooder socialists.”

Lenny Wilkens returned to take the head coaching spot for the Seattle SuperSonics not long before Christmas 1977. He had been the team’s second coach from 1969 to 1972, but had moved into the front office. In December of 1977, he returned to replace fired coach Bob Hopkins and immediately turned the team around, taking them to the finals. They lost to the Washington Bullets that year, but in 1979, Wilkens and the Sonics beat the Bullets for the title.

In entertainment news, Man Watchers Inc., a San Diego organization attempting to equalize the beauty standards game, named the top 10 most watchable men in the world. Sylvester Stallone was No. 1, edging out runner-up Bruce Jenner.

The Ice Capades was in town for five nights.

The holiday newspaper ads showcased a who’s-who of former Spokane retailers, including The Crescent, Newberry’s, Skagg’s, Thurman Electric, Woolworth, and the Spokane Fur Co., among others.

One butcher shop advertised a 10-pound pail of chitterling for $5.90.

There were also full-page ads for cigarettes, booze, the Columbia Record & Tape Club, and Coors beer (“The Ring-Pull is Back”).

And an ad seeking newspaper carriers at least 12 years old listed “10 Good Reasons to Become a Carrier,” including: “You’ll discover the satisfaction of performing a useful service for others,” and “You’ll meet many new people and make new friends of all ages along your route.”

“Star Wars” was indeed playing in town, with big ads touting the “26th Record-Breaking Week!” Also playing: “Semi-Tough,” “Pete’s Dragon,” “Saturday Night Fever,” “Looking for Mr. Goodbar” and “Rocky.”

And there were, of course, many examples of Christmas charity and good will.

The newspaper’s annual Christmas Fund effort surpassed $45,000.

Millwood barber Donald Jones donned a Santa costume and did his best to make sure that the Christmas spirit wasn’t only seen in the big shopping malls and stores.

The Gerontology Club at Spokane Falls Community College hosted its annual dinner for about 110 seniors.

Parishioners at Emmanuel Presbyterian Church had a “mitten tree” to provide winter gear to the needy.

And the 1978 Washington Wheat Queen, Mary Kaplan, posed for a photo with a wreath of braided dough, accompanied by the following caption: “Bread is an unusual material for a wreath, but appropriate if your interest is wheat.”

Shawn Vestal can be reached at (509) 459-5431 or shawnv@spokesman.com. Follow him on Twitter at @vestal13.