Star Wars NPR Radio Drama Poster Art (1981)-Celia Strain

Artist Celia Strain illustrated this beautiful Acrylic painting for the promotional poster, which was part of NPR’s successful publicity campaign. The posters were sent to NPR stations across the country for use in advertisement for the radio drama. The size of the original artwork is 22” X 22.5” and is painted on thick illustration board.

The National Public Radio (NPR) produced and broadcasted an expanded radio dramatization of Star Wars, A New Hope as 13-part radio serial on March 9, 1981. George Lucas sold the rights to NPR for just one dollar. He also allowed them to use all the original sound effects and music from the film for the radio series. The Star Wars radio drama became a huge hit, adding 750,000 new listeners to NPR in a single day.