Tuesday, October 11, 2011

HOLLYWOOD FOOTNOTES

Prologue

Yesterday, Mama Butch took me to Hollywood where I shoot some stars.

I've have that day lots of pavement stars, 3 Marilyn Monroes, and a Jamie Foxx at the Walk of Fame; and one who is said to be a rapper at the Universal Studios' CityWalk.

There's also a reluctant frame of me (Mama Butch insisted) at the Kodak Theater's Grand Staircase, Michael Jackson dancing for tips across Capitan Theater, and Frank Sinatra's prints at Grauman's Chinese Theater.

I though my best was a frame of the star of "Sa Bawat Gubat" with the (in)famous Hollywood sign in the background. Mama Butch did a good job on that one. 


FOOTNOTE 1: The famous Hollywood sign originally read "HOLLYWOODLAND" and was erected in 1923 to advertise a housing project in the booming Hollywood movie district which has become the locus of the American film industry. "LAND" was dropped from the sign during repair works in 1949. It was refurbished in 1978 through the efforts of rock star Alice Cooper and again in 2005. Five years later, the Trust for Public Land with the help of a $1 million contribution from Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner bought the area where the sign stands for $12.5 million dollars and annexed the property to Griffith Park.

Epilogue

FOOTNOTE 2: The first star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame was laid down in 1960. Since then, more than 2,000 stars have been added. That of The Beatles is located near the Silver Four Ladies of Hollywood gazebo along La Brea Avenue, where the Walk of Fame begins and ends, besides that of Elvis Presley.


FOOTNOTE 3: Grauman's Chinese Theater opened in 1927 and became famous for the nearly 200 autographed foot and hand prints of stars preserved in the concrete pavement of its forecourt. It also served as the venue of the Oscars from 1944 until 1946. Nearby across Hollywood Boulevard is El Capitan Theater that opened a year earlier in 1926. Both theaters were projects of Sid Grauman and are still first-run or premiere theaters. Both were declared as historic and cultural landmarks.


FOOTNOTE 4: The Kodak Theater was built in 2001 on the site of the famous Hollywood Hotel (circa 1902) and has been the venue of the Academy Awards. Since then, stars and celebrities walked through its famous Grand Staircase for the Oscar Awards.


FOOTNOTE 5: The Universal Studios in Hollywood was established in 1912 by Carl Laemmle and today is one of the oldest American movie studios and one of the 6 major outfits.

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