.
.
.
.
.
.
___________________________________________
Noel Buller, 21, of Los Angeles stands on his skateboard in the middle of Hollywood Boulevard, flashing a peace sign, as Los Angeles Police Department officers move into the area to gain control. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times / July 27, 2011)
The premiere for a movie about a music festival with a controversial past got out of hand itself late Wednesday when thousands of people attempted to crash the Hollywood event, police said.
Crowds spilled into the street around Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, with some people throwing bottles at police. Witnesses said others were dancing on a police car, taunting officers and “planking” — lying down in the street. There were also sporadic fights among people in the crowd.
Police in riot gear shut down streets around the theater, and dozens of other officers in police cruisers responded to the disturbance.
Click here to continue reading
__________________________________
(starpulse.com)
Peter O’Toole was joined by family and friends as he placed his hands and feet in cement outside Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. Introduced as ‘Peter the great’ by Robert Osbourne on behalf of the TCM Classic Film Festival, O’Toole was flanked by his son and daughter as he quipped “it’s been many years since I had an intimate relationship with cement…and that relationship turned out to be not a happy one.” He was joined by a host of stars including Anjelica Huston and Rose McGowan.
The 78 year-old actor is best known for his roles in Lawrence of Arabia and Becket, and more recently for his part in the TV show The Tudors. He’s been nominated for eight Academy Awards, but has never won an Oscar, making his the record holder for the most nods without a win. He was however bestowed with an honorary Academy Award in 2003, celebrating his body of work.
_________________________________________
A wax war is heating up on Hollywood Boulevard.
For 44 years, the Hollywood Wax Museum has been Tinseltown’s only wax attraction featuring celebrities, a monopoly that has kept it open through wars, recessions and riots.
But that all is changing with the opening of Madame Tussauds, Hollywood Boulevard’s newest multimillion-dollar attraction, next to the historic Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.
The 40,000-square-foot building officially opens to the public Aug. 1, but visitors can get early admission starting today. Inside, they’ll see 115 wax figures, including representations of President Obama, Samuel L. Jackson and Marilyn Monroe.
Click here to continue reading
___________________________________
(1958 – 2009)
The helicoptors buzzing over my roof reminded me that the world was watching fans congregate at the Walk of Fame star for singer Michael Jackson, located in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theater. So I decided to check it out walking the five blocks from my home and finally working my way into the crowds as Michael Jackson songs blared from souvenir stores and hawkers sold Michael Jackson T-shirts on Hollywood Boulevard.
I never got close enough to see the “King of Pop’s” actual star since the wait in line was a half-block long and about 6 deep on the star-studded sidewalk. But here are a few of the sights I was able to record:
___________________________________
The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce has revealed its honorees for 2010 and Russell Crowe’s name was on a list of 28 entertainers.
A date for the New Zealand-born Oscar winner’s ceremony, where a star will be placed on Hollywood Boulevard, is yet to be scheduled, but it will occur during 2010.
Other celebrities set to cement a place in Hollywood history in 2010 are director James Cameron, actors John Cusack, Colin Firth, Adam Sandler, Emma Thompson and Mark Wahlberg, and musicians Bryan Adams, The Funk Brothers, Chaka Khan, Van Morrison, Ringo Starr, the band ZZ Top and Roy Orbison.
The Chamber of Commerce selected just 28 names from more than 200 nominations.
Australians who recently received the honour include Nicole Kidman and Cate Blanchett.
Earlier this year Hugh Jackman received another honour, leaving his hand prints in wet concrete outside Hollywood’s Grauman Chinese Theatre.
__________________________________
By Allan R. Ellenberger
Oscar. The Academy Award. Regardless of its name, it evokes the same emotion of respect for those who have been fortunate enough to receive one. And for those lucky ones, whether deserved or not, it is the brass ring, the ultimate in praise from their peers.
And so it was for little eight year-old Margaret O’Brien, arguably the most talented of all the child stars of her day – or since – who received the coveted award for most outstanding child actress of 1944 for her performance in Meet Me in St. Louis (1944). The special Oscar, which was a miniature version of the acclaimed award, was given sporadically in the thirties and forties. Previous winners included Mickey Rooney, Deanna Durbin and Judy Garland who was Margaret’s co-star that year.
Born Angela Maxine O’Brien, little Margaret’s rise to fame was meteoric. After seeing her photograph on the cover of a magazine, an executive at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer signed her for a one-line scene in Babes On Broadway (1941). The powers that be at MGM saw the raw talent that the four year-old possessed, and immediately cast her in a war-time drama with Robert Young called Journey For Margaret (1942), from which she took her new name. Small parts in three films soon followed until her starring role in Lost Angel, (1944) which was the first written specifically for her.
Joan Carroll, Lucille Bremmer, Judy Garland, Tom Drake and Margaret O'Brien
in a scene from Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
At the request of director Vincent Minnelli, the studio cast her in the role of Tootie Smith in their new Technicolor musical, Meet Me in St. Louis. MGM had big hopes for this film and spent an astronomical $100,000 to build the St. Louis street on their back lot. Besides Margaret, the film included Judy Garland, Lucille Bremmer and Mary Astor and introduced such musical standards as “The Boy Next Door,” “The Trolley Song,” and the holiday classic, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” which Garland sang to Margaret.
When the film was released near the end of 1944, critics across the country applauded Margaret’s performance. The Hollywood Reporter claimed that she was the hottest thing on the MGM roster.
“Hers is a great talent,” the Reporter continued, “as distinctly outstanding as the greatest stars we have. The O’Brien appeal is based on her naturalness. She’s all America’s child, the type every person in an audience wants to take into his arms.”
But it wasn’t only America that raved. In London, the film was the biggest hit that city had seen in months. The Daily Express prophetically declared, “Her quiet, compelling acting, worthy of an Academy Award, steals the show.”
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences shared that opinion and awarded her a Special Oscar for the Most Outstanding Child Actress of 1944. At the ceremony, which was held at Grauman’s Chinese Theater on March 15, 1945, Margaret was given her Oscar by director Mervyn LeRoy. The emcee for the evening, comedian Bob Hope, lifted Margaret to the microphone so she could be heard by the listening radio audience.
“Will you hurry up and grow up, please?” Hope said as he struggled with the young winner.
As LeRoy handed her the Oscar, he said, “To the best young actress of the whole year of 1944. Congratulations.”
“Thank you,” she replied. I really don’t know what to say. Thank you very much.”
However she did know what to say. Her mother had written her an acceptance speech, but at the last minute Margaret decided to improvise her very own thank you to the Academy.
During her career, Margaret O’Brien was bestowed with many awards and accolades, including the honor of placing her hands and footprints in cement in the forecourt of Grauman’s Chinese, but the Oscar would be her most prized and valued possession. Unfortunately the little statuette would not stay around for long.
At the O’Brien home on Beverly Drive, Margaret had a separate room for her awards. One day in 1958, their maid took the Oscar and several other awards to her home to polish – a practice she did on several occasions. After three days, the maid failed to return so Mrs. O’Brien called and told her that she was dismissed and asked that she return the awards.
Not long after, Mrs. O’Brien, who was not in good health, suffered a relapse and died. Grief stricken, Margaret forgot about the maid and her Oscar until several months later when she tried to contact her, only to find that her phone was disconnected. The maid had moved and did not leave a forwarding address. Margaret considered the Oscar gone forever. A few years later, the Academy graciously replaced the award with a substitute, but it was not the same.
Over the next thirty years, Margaret would attend memorabilia shows searching for her lost Oscar. Then, in early 1995, a friend saw that Oscar in a catalogue for an upcoming memorabilia auction. Margaret contacted the Academy legal department who acted swiftly in having the Oscar returned.
Margaret O’Brien with her stolen Oscar that was returned to her by the Academy, and me in my younger days (no I’m not drunk it’s just one-of-those-pics) Michael Schwibs photo
On February 7, 1995, nearly fifty years since she first received it, the Academy officially returned the stolen Oscar to Margaret O’Brien in a special ceremony at their headquarters in Beverly Hills. Once reunited with her award, Margaret told the attending journalists:
“For all those people who have lost or misplaced something that was dear to them, as I have, never give up the dream of searching – never let go of the hope that you’ll find it because after all these many years, at last, my Oscar has been returned to me.”
Two days before The X-Files: I Want to Believe is debuting in the theaters across the U.S., the 20th Century Fox held a very special event celebrating the world premiere of the highly anticipated sci-fi movie of this summer. The first special screening event was held on Wednesday, July 23, at the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California.
The celebration which is open for all X-Philes saw some of its star cast ensemble grazing the red carpet, including Gillian Anderson, David Duchovny, Xzibit and Amanda Peet. Aside from the cast, the movie’s two key people, director/writer Chris Carter and producer/writer Frank Spotnitz were also making an appearance at the red carpet. Other celebrities spotted coming for the event included Bai Ling and Madeline Zima.
Being the second film made in the spirit of the ’90s hit television series The X-Files, I Want to Believe picks up a stand alone story in the tradition of some of the show’s most acclaimed and beloved episodes. The movie will reunite FBI agents, Mulder and Scully, to investigate a new and inexplicable phenomena in which involving the disappearance a group of women. Coming to theaters this Friday, July 25, it is said to also put the complicated relationship between the two agents to an unexpected direction.
______________________________
It took a year’s study and installation of a “test strip” on Hollywood’s busiest corner to figure out how best to stabilize the buckling bronze stars and pink-and-black terrazzo that line Hollywood’s aging Walk of Fame.
Now, officials of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority are trying to determine just how to pay for the estimated $4.1-million repair job.
MTA officials said Wednesday that their agency will take the lead in lining up funding from Los Angeles, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, the Hollywood Historic Trust as well as other entities — including itself. (click on ‘Continue Reading’ for more)
