Hollywood Walk of Fame (Avenue of Stars)
The famous Hollywood Walk Of Fame is one of the most famous attractions in Los Angeles, which attracts annually about ten million people. Almost two and a half thousand stars on either side of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street, more than half a century, are a sign of appreciation of outstanding figures of show business of America.
The stars are permanent public monuments for achievements in the entertainment industry. The stars have the names of actors, musicians, directors, producers, musical groups and even fictional characters.
Each star consists of gold comprising a pink five-pointed star rimmed with bronze and inlaid into a charcoal square. Inside the pink star is the name of the honoree inlaid in bronze, below which is a round bronze emblem indicating the category for which the honoree received the star. The emblems are:
Classic film camera for contribution to the film industry;
Television receiver for contribution to the broadcast television industry;
Phonograph record for contribution to the recording industry;
Radio microphone for contribution to the broadcast radio industry; and,
Comedy/tragedy masks for contribution to live theater.
However, Disneyland's star has an emblem of a building.
It was originally planned that the star on the Walk will be divided into four categories - cinema, theater, radio and recording. TV was added to this list later. A special committee was appointed for the selection of nominees. Of all the stars on the Walk to date, 47% have been awarded in the motion pictures category, 24% in television, 17% in audio recording, 10% in radio, and less than 2% in the live performance category. On the whole, about twenty or thirty Stars appear at the Walk of Fame each year.
The first fifteen hundred stars found their place on the Walk of less than half a year, after which the process of distribution of awards went a little slower. Annually in June the organizing committee decides whom the star would be put on the Walk of Fame.
The idea to create a place which would honour Hollywood and its celebrities came back to 1953 , but the process and approval was quite long. According to preliminary calculations, the cost of Alley exceeds one million dollars.
In 1956 the actress Virginia Mayo was the first to make a symbolic star at the Hollywood Boulevard. On the 8th of February, 1960 at the corner of Hollywood and Highland the ceremony of laying the Walk of Fame was held. This date is considered to be the date of its foundation. The next day the first star dedicated to actress Joanne Woodwar appeared on the Mall.
Along with the five-pointed stars on the Walk of Fame, you can see the badges round in honor of the astronauts "Apollo 11", in 1969 landed on the moon. In addition, there are stars dedicated to organizations that are not related to show business - for example, the Police Department of Los Angeles (LAPD), baseball clubs Los Angeles Dodgers, and the star dedicated to Alley itself. On the Walk you can also find a star to the boxer Muhammad Ali, Thomas Edison, a physicist, the British group Beatles and others. According to the rules, stars can be laid not only to alive celebrities but to the dead as well. To put a star, the committee should get permission from the celebrity or from their relatives.
Sometimes the question arises why a well-known actor has not got yet a star. The answer is quite simple - because of his busy schedule or for other reasons. Ceremony itself can be put off for a long period - up to five years.
A lot of famous film stars haven`t got their stars, among them Julia Roberts, Clint Eastwood and others, because they just refused to take part in this ceremony.
The candidacy of Charlie Chaplin, one of Hollywood's most famous actors of the twentieth century, was not approved by the Committee for many times. The star of "great silent" appeared on the Walk only in 1972.
Surprisingly, the prime-minister of Poland in 1919 Ignacy Paderewski was also nominated to have a star for his contribution to music.
Ronald Reagan is one of American Presidents who has a star on the Walk of Stars as well as Arnold Schwarzenegger - the governor of California, because they were well-known American actors.
In 1978, in honour of the fiftieth anniversary of the cartoon “Mickey Mouse” the star was laid to the main character for the first time in history. Since then many fictional characters have got their stars: Donald Duck, the Simpsons, Snow White and seven dwarfs and many others.
Being one of the most popular sights of America, the Walk of Fame attracts thousands of tourists from all over the world daily. You can not only see the Walk of Fame, but to take part in the ceremony of laying the star, to take pictures with characters or just relax at the holiday of cinema lovers. So, don`t miss a chance to visit this wonderful attraction.
If you are keen on cinematography, it would be interesting for you to know some facts about Hollywood actors and actresses. Do you know that some of them have Russian roots?
So, Elizaveta Smirnova was a grandmother of Leonardo DiCaprio, who immigrated to Germany and later to the USA. And as the actor said his granddad was also Russian.
Mila Kunis was born in the Ukraine in Chernovtsy and later her family immigrated to America. Her full name is Milena Markovna Kunis.
The supermodel and actress Milla Jovovich was also native from Kiev as well as her famous mother Galina Loginova.
As for producer Steven Spilberg, his granddads were Russian, and his sister's husband is a distant relative of Boris Pasternak, a Russian poet, novelist, and literary translator.
Moldavia gave to Hollywood its actress Natalie Portman.
Grandparents of Harrison Ford were immigrants from Belarus, when it was part of the Russian Empire.
Grandma of Sylvester Stallone was born in Odessa and she couldn`t imagine that her grandson would become a famous actor.
David Duchovny's father is a Russian Jew. His name was Amram Duckovny because he'd changed his last name to adjust it to American pronunciation. David, however, changed its back.
Kirk Douglas who played the role of Spartak in American film was native from Russia but immigrated to the USA because he didn`t want to fight in Russian-Japanese War.
I`m glad to tell you that many of our compatriots made a great contribution to the development of world cinematography, they became outstanding Hollywood stars.
