Twenty years ago, when I first created the Cantina Customs Tripod website, I wanted to have a page with a list of every cantina patron I could find. Back then, there was not nearly as much information or pictures available as have come to light over the subsequent twenty years. I mean, back then, J. W. Rinzler, Pablo Hildalgo, and others were barely scratching the surface in their researching and archiving of actual Lucasfilm materials. So, a lot of the characters in the cantina did not have “official” names. I still question some of the so-called official names and have actually diverted back to some of John Mollo’s character names like “Crocker” or “Snaggletooth.” I will admit that it is pretty cool hearing or reading Star Wars fans refer to an obscure background character as Fu-Man-Chu, knowing that my old website was the first published use of this name, but I digress.
Unfortunately, one of the grave mistakes I made in identifying cantina patrons was in assigning the name “Little Aunt Beru” (Gilda Cohen) to Geoff (Jeff) Moon’s “Local Ugly Man” character. Now, in my defense (1) as mentioned, there was limited information on characters and actors twenty years ago and (2) I actually borrowed that identification from another website, which is where I found the black and white costume photo of the character.
I never thought the character/actor looked female, but since another website identified the character as “Little Aunt Beru,” from John Mollo’s original character sketch notes, I just figured they probably knew more than I did. The problem, though, is that I cannot remember the name of that site. I thought I got it from Red 6’s now defunct page, but looking through the Way Back Time Machine, I could not find any references to Geoff’s character at all.
Given that my old Tripod site has stood the test of time and is still active today, despite my inability to update and correct information, I may be the main source of this misinformation. Later, after I lost the program to update the Tripod site, I found this image of the Tonnika Sisters with the “Flash Gordon Midget” and unmasked “Bat,” and lo and behold, there is Gilda Cohen in the Kabe costume.
Gilda was originally listed in Mollo’s character sketch notes as “Little Aunt Beru.” So, I have known for several years (a decade or more) that the moniker “Little Aunt Beru” was ascribed to wrong character, but I had no way of updating that old Tripod site. Other (newer) fan websites and Star Wars convention panels have discussed that the wrongly ascribed “Little Aunt Beru” character was in fact not Gilda Cohen but Geoffrey Moon (a man).
Geoff also appeared in the 1978 Dudley Moore adaptation-comedy of (Sherlock Holmes) Hound of Baskervilles. Geoff has a speaking part as Perkins the driver (“Drive on Perkins”) that can be seen between 17:00–19:00 minutes. IMDB indicates that Geoff passed away in 1979, just short of his 26th birthday. Hopefully, with the renewed interest in the cantina through Haslab’s Mos Eisley Cantina modular diorama, Hasbro will focus more on cantina patrons, including “Ugly Human” characters like Geoff Moon’s.
Geoff Moon's name (spelled "Jeff") listed in John Mollo's character sketches among other "Local Ugly Men," Fred Wood, Robert Davies, Anthony Lang, and Salo Gardner.
Cantina scene call sheet from April 14, 1976. Geoff Moon's name is third from the bottom.
Geoff Moon mentioned in J. W. Rinzler, The Making of Stat Wars the Definitive Story Behind the Original Film, p. 168.
