When Star Wars first came out I guess I was around 5 or 6, and had no idea what Star Wars was. My first SW memory was of walking around downtown with my mom and we walking past a familiar theatre. In those days they had not just the poster up, but lots of little photos pinned up around it outside, and I remember seeing the cockpit shot of them all in the Millennium Falcon and I thought it was really cool that an ape (Chewie) was one of them (I was a big fan of King Kong and other monster movies). I asked my mom to take me to see whatever movie it was and she said sure.
But after shopping for the rest of the day, we went home. Mom! You promised to take me to the movie (yeah, kinda bratty I know, but that's what kids are)! When your dad gets home from work, he'll take you. Really?! I was so excited that I remember getting dressed early (I loved going to the movies, who didn't?) and hand-washed my own T-shirt, and laid it out to dry on the living room sofa (yeah, that's a whole other story). So my poor dad came home from a long day at work only to get roped into taking me out.
It was dark that night and really late, that's all I remember, but at least we got into see it. Like I said, I didn't know what Star Wars was and I had no idea what to expect. I was literally blown away. My dad slept through most of it (and started a tradition while he was at it) of course. I may not have known what Star Wars was before I went in, but I definitely knew after I came out. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before.
I went home, grabbed a ball and stuck two pieces of card board to it and made my own tie-fighter! It was my second or third attempt at deliberate creativity, something that has lasted me my whole life. The rest of the story is pretty much the usual fanboy stuff, buying up as many toys as I could get (and wasting all my parents money while I was at it) and playing SW with the other kids at school. Star Wars became a huge part of my childhood, and I didn't even really know what it was about. Ya see my English was so bad that I had no idea what any of the dialogue was about, but I got the story visually, and that was more than enough.
I suppose if we hadn't walked by the theatre that day, and saw that SW photo, and then got my dad to take me that night, I might never have seen Star Wars in the theatre. I probably would have went to school and wondered what that 'Star Wars' thing was all the other kids were talking about.