Saturday
Gail asked for a weekend trip for Christmas so I gave her Hollywood. We boarded Amtrak in San Luis Obispo on an early Saturday morning.
It is the rule that Amtrak trains must stand aside for Union Pacific freight traffic and we had the pleasure of waiting thirty minutes before we could even leave the yard in San Luis. We spent the time eating the sandwiches we had packed for lunch and watching the scenery that stayed stationary outside our windows.
We arrived at Union Station in Los Angeles at 12:30 and went underground in search of the Metro Red Line for Hollywood. After some confusion buying tickets at the automated machine, we rode underneath Los Angeles to our stop at Hollywood and Highland.
Coming up several stair flights to the sunlight, we had become disoriented by the time we reached the sidewalk on Hollywood Boulevard. I had to go into Frederick’s of Hollywood for assistance.
It was just around the corner and we walked through the parking lot of the Renaissance Hotel to our little Orchid Suites and signed in and dropped our luggage off.
Back on the street, we walked through the new and enormous Hollywood and Highland (H&H) shopping complex to the Starline Tours kiosk in front of Mann’s Chinese Theater. We had reservations for a trolley tour of Tinseltown and boarded the red trolley for the 2:00 tour.
Charlie drove us first to Hollywood Bowl where we parked and walked inside for a close-up view of the box seating and the famous stage. Then we drove up Beachwood Drive to Charlie’s favorite view of the HOLLYWOOD sign where we disembused and took photos of one another with the sign floating above our heads in the viewing frame.
Charlie told us that the letters of the sign are 36 feet wide and 45 feet high. They were erected to advertise a new housing development in the Hollywood Hills and originally spelled out HOLLYWOODLAND. The land company is still in business and Charlie took us by their office so we could take photos of it.
We rode back into town and drove past several studio entrances and looked at locked doors and gates, then returned to the Chinese Theater for our next tour–See the Stars’ Homes and Where They Live.
Pete drove this tour on a mini-bus and we began with a view of the Kodak Theater’s back entrance, where the stars board their limousines after the Academy Award ceremonies.
We drove through the parking lot of the Magic Castle restaurant, which is open to members only, and up the hill to Yamashiro Restaurant where we disembused and took photos of the Los Angeles skyline.
Then we got into the meat of the tour and began with Bob Barker’s house on Outpost, where he’s lived for 40 years. Then Pete took us onto Sunset and we cruised the Strip.
Pete showed us Paris Hilton’s house with her $500,000 Mercedes McLaren parked outside at the curb. He told us that one of her sources of income is being hired to show up at parties for $100,000 an hour.
Back on the Strip, we went past the Laugh Factory and Comedy Store, House of Blues, Whiskey a Go Go and the Mondrian Hotel’s Sky Bar, which is the hottest and most exclusive night club in Los Angeles.
In Beverly Hills, Pete showed us the house that Edward Doheny built for his son–55 rooms, 46,000 square feet, constructed in 1920 for $5 million. The 18-acre estate is now a city park, open to the public every day from 10-6.
Next door was Ozzy Osbourne’s house. Pete told us that, Sure, the sidewalks are public property, but walking into the driveway is trespassing, and Ozzy has installed a set of high pressure sprinklers amongst the bushes to soak people who walk in to have their photos taken in front of his gate. What a trickster!
We drove by Frank Sinatra’s house and Tom Cruise’s. Everywhere we looked we saw Ferraris, Bentleys, Rolls Royces and three more McLarens (Mercedes makes only 500 a year).
We passed the Beverly Hills Hotel, built in 1912, a historical landmark and currently owned by the Sultan of Brunei. Every year it is listed among the Top Twenty hotels of the world. Johnny Carson had a regular cottage that he lived in each time he went through a divorce.
Ira and George Gershwin lived next door to each other on Roxbury. Jack Benny lived at 1002 Roxbury and Lucille Ball lived next door. Jimmy Stewart lived across the street.
Judy Garland’s front yard was filled with fanciful statues that Howard Hughes gave her when she married Vincent Minelli.
In the Bel Air district, Pete pointed out that the ACS Security Company provided security for every home except one–the driveway leading to Nancy Reagan’s house is guarded by a kiosk equipped with bulletproof glass windows and machine guns.
Nicholas Cage owns the house that Dean Martin built that has a bar in every room.
Farther west on Sunset Avenue was Pacific Palisades where Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks and Arnold Schwarzenegger live.
We passed the UCLA campus on Sunset next door to Bel Air and drove into the Holmby Hills past Ed Asner’s house. Beyond that, next to the public park, is Aaron Spelling’s modest 123-room, 46,500 square foot cottage which he named "The Manor." He built it by purchasing twelve neighboring estates, tearing down their mansions and building his own for $47 million. His wife Candy and their son, Randy, live there now. Tori Spelling moved out because she said it was too small. Can’t imagine what she moved into. The gift-wrapping room alone is 850 square feet.
Pete told us that Mr. Spelling was the most prolific producer in history and retained the rights to every show he produced. That means that the money his family makes from their daily residual checks is more than a person can spend.
We drove past the Beverly Hilton, owned by Merv Griffin and currently home to the Golden Globes. Mr. Griffin created Jeopardy and wrote the "thinking" song that they play during the show. His residuals from that song alone has earned him $84 million and counting.
From Wilshire Boulevard, we turned onto Rodeo Drive, the most expensive shopping district in the world. Many of the shops we passed displayed signs saying that they were open by appointment only.
We drove past the Palm Restaurant on Santa Monica where Jack Nicholson likes to go after a Lakers game for a Martini and a Porterhouse.
At the end of the tour, Pete dropped us off at the Chinese Theater and Gail and I walked upstairs to the Great Steak and Potato Company and bought cheesesteak sandwiches to take to our room for supper.
Sunday
Out the door at 9:30 for a walk to the Egyptian Theater where we bought tickets for a tour and a movie.
Sid Grauman looked for gold in the Klondike and failed and turned to selling newspapers. He moved to San Francisco and went to work in a movie house. The day after the 1906 earthquake, he put up a tent and showed moving pictures.
A real estate developer asked him to come to Southern California and build a movie palace to help lure people to the isolated farming community of Hollywood. Mr. Grauman completed the Egyptian five months before the discovery of King Tut’s tomb in Egypt. Timing is everything.
The Egyptian has a large outside courtyard, a small lobby, and a small screen. Live prologues introduced screen features on a stage outlined by a classically beautiful proscenium. The theater seated 2,000 people.
With a surprising lack of insight, Grauman did not see the value of selling food to his patrons. Food stands sprang up lining the courtyard entry and a door in the wall led into the neighboring Pig and Whistle watering hole.
American Cinematheque has restored the theater and shows historical films in their original format.
Gail and I tried the door in the wall and it was locked, but a bus boy inside opened it and we had lunch at the Pig and Whistle, just like Cary Grant used to do.
After lunch we signed up for the tour of the Kodak Theater, which was built specifically to host the Academy Awards show. It seats 3,200 and has a 70-year contract with the Academy. The FBI has identified the Kodak as a primary terrorist target so we were not allowed to take cameras inside.
Kodak paid $75 million for name rights to the theater for 25 years and the company is proud to point out that every Oscar-winning movie has been shot on Kodak film–68 consecutive years.
Hollywood begins setting up for the annual awards celebration by rolling out the red carpet on Hollywood Boulevard, a quarter-mile walk that takes a week to set up. Limousines unload their precious cargo on the night of the show and the stars saunter along the row of cameras and cheering fans. Bars inside the theater serve cocktails free of charge until 5 pm, attempting to lure the audience into their seats before curtain time.
Leading actors are seated in the first row, supporting actors in the second, directors in the third, and so on. Nominees are moved closer to the stage to a vacated row as their time approaches. 150 extras are on hand to race to fill vacant seats whenever a star needs to go potty.
Each nominee receives two tickets, the rest are distributed by lottery to members of the Screen Actors Guild. An additional 300 tickets are given by lot to the general public in an August drawing each year. Those lucky individuals get to watch the perp parade from across the street, then are escorted into the El Capitán Theater to watch the awards show on the big screen.
Sid Grauman sold the Egyptian Theater in 1927 and built the Chinese Theater after returning from a tour of China. Gail and I bought tickets and toured the Chinese after we left the Kodak.
The first footprints in the courtyard out front were made by Norma Talmadge on May 18, 1927, when she slipped and stepped into wet concrete. The most recent at the time of our tour were imprinted by Kevin Costner on January 6, 2006. The rule is that you must be a star attending the premiere showing of your most recent movie to qualify to step into the concrete. Two stars are admitted each year and the next one scheduled was Will Smith.
The foyer and lobby are works of art in an Oriental motif. Our guide escorted us to a VIP lounge upstairs where you can hang out and watch for stars. The upstairs theaters have loge sections with seat numbers so you can order popcorn and have it delivered.
Gail and I went by Beard Papa for cream puffs and fondants on the way to our room and picked up salads and sandwiches at Green Earth Café. We ate dinner watching the Colts beat the Patriots to advance to the Super Bowl.
Monday
Out the door at 9:15 a.m. and next door to the Renaissance Hotel. We took an elevator to the Grand Ballroom on the penthouse floor and peeked around inside. On the evening of the Academy Awards, the ballroom is configured to seat 1,600 invited celebrities for the Governors dinner–the Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science, not the Governor of California.
As we exited the ballroom, a uniformed security guard asked us what our business was and we said we were tourists and she suggested that we move on. We took the grand stairway to the lobby and used the rest rooms and moved on.
At 10 o’clock we met our Red Line Walking Tour guide, Mick, at the Stella Adler Hotel. Mick was a retired Sergeant Major from the British Army and a former Beefeater at the Tower of London who married an American girl he met on a tour of the Tower. He showed us a poster-sized photo of himself standing next to Queen Elizabeth and told us how much he enjoyed watching The Queen at the Egyptian theater in December with a live introduction by Helen Mirren.
The Stella Adler is a school for actors and we toured the hallways and visited a 1920s speakeasy that was hidden inside a secret passageway.
As we walked on Hollywood Boulevard toward the Egyptian, Mick told us about the sidewalk stars. Recipients must be prominent in either Film, TV, Radio, Recording or Live Stage. Only one person has been honored for all five media performances and I will tell you the name later.
Stars must be involved in charitable works, they must attend the Star ceremony and they must put up $15,000. Donald Trump at that moment was the most recent Star of 2,326 Stars installed. One star is not on the sidewalk. Muhammad Ali is posted on a wall to honor his wish that people do not walk on the name of Muhammad.
El Capitán Theater was built in 1926, four years after the Egyptian. It is owned by Disney and makes more money than any theater in the world. It was sold out for five weeks straight for Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Mans Chest, five shows per day, 2,000 seats per show. Gail and I had earlier noted with alarm that it was being sold out over the weekend to children lining up to see Mary Poppins.
We had lunch at Miceli’s, in what our host insisted was Julia Roberts’ favorite booth. I fantasized that my butt sat where hers has.
After lunch we walked to the Hollywood Entertainment Museum and found that it no longer exists. We did find the five-media star, though, which was awarded to Gene Autry.
We went inside the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, a famous and historic landmark, location of the first Academy Awards presentation, which lasted fifteen minutes in 1929. Here is a description of that ceremony from the World Wide Web:
The first Academy Awards ceremony was held on May 16, 1929. It was a quiet affair compared to the glamor and glitz that accompany the ceremonies of today. Two hundred and fifty people attended the black-tie banquet that evening in the Blossom Room of Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Though this was the first time these awards were to be given, the attendees were not anxious. Unlike the secrecy that surrounds the winners of today's ceremonies, the winners of the first Academy Award ceremony were announced three months early.
After everyone had eaten dinner, Douglas Fairbanks, the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, stood up and gave a speech. Then, with the help of William C. deMille, he called the winners up to the head table and handed them their awards.
The statuettes that were presented to the first Academy Awards winners were nearly identical to those handed out today. Sculpted by George Stanley, The Academy Award of Merit (Oscar's official name) was a knight, made of solid bronze, holding a sword and standing upon a reel of film.
The very first person to receive an Academy Award didn't attend the first Academy Awards ceremony. Emil Jannings, the winner for best actor, had decided to go back to his home in Germany before the ceremony. Before he left for his trip, Jannings was handed the very first Academy Award.
In contrast, Gail and I found the hotel to be dark and dismal and mostly empty and depressing, so we went to see Mary Poppins. It was delightful. We arrived late and stayed through the intermission to see the beginning.
The theater was spectacular–fully restored–elegant and extravagant. A live Mary Poppins introduced the movie on stage and encouraged us to sing along, with "a spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down." And best of all, the weekend was over and all the children had gone away.
Beard Papa afterward for dessert and back to our room to indulge in leftover lunch from Miceli’s.
Tuesday
Wouldn’t you know it–the Academy announced this morning the nominees for this year’s awards, from Merv Griffin’s Beverly Hilton. Did we ever feel like insiders!
Out the door at 0830, onto the Metro and to Union Station where we boarded our Amtrak car. Bloody Marys and lunch and we arrived in San Luis Obispo almost on time.
Gail asked for a weekend trip for Christmas so I gave her Hollywood. We boarded Amtrak in San Luis Obispo on an early Saturday morning.
It is the rule that Amtrak trains must stand aside for Union Pacific freight traffic and we had the pleasure of waiting thirty minutes before we could even leave the yard in San Luis. We spent the time eating the sandwiches we had packed for lunch and watching the scenery that stayed stationary outside our windows.
We arrived at Union Station in Los Angeles at 12:30 and went underground in search of the Metro Red Line for Hollywood. After some confusion buying tickets at the automated machine, we rode underneath Los Angeles to our stop at Hollywood and Highland.
Coming up several stair flights to the sunlight, we had become disoriented by the time we reached the sidewalk on Hollywood Boulevard. I had to go into Frederick’s of Hollywood for assistance.
It was just around the corner and we walked through the parking lot of the Renaissance Hotel to our little Orchid Suites and signed in and dropped our luggage off.
Back on the street, we walked through the new and enormous Hollywood and Highland (H&H) shopping complex to the Starline Tours kiosk in front of Mann’s Chinese Theater. We had reservations for a trolley tour of Tinseltown and boarded the red trolley for the 2:00 tour.
Charlie drove us first to Hollywood Bowl where we parked and walked inside for a close-up view of the box seating and the famous stage. Then we drove up Beachwood Drive to Charlie’s favorite view of the HOLLYWOOD sign where we disembused and took photos of one another with the sign floating above our heads in the viewing frame.
Charlie told us that the letters of the sign are 36 feet wide and 45 feet high. They were erected to advertise a new housing development in the Hollywood Hills and originally spelled out HOLLYWOODLAND. The land company is still in business and Charlie took us by their office so we could take photos of it.
We rode back into town and drove past several studio entrances and looked at locked doors and gates, then returned to the Chinese Theater for our next tour–See the Stars’ Homes and Where They Live.
Pete drove this tour on a mini-bus and we began with a view of the Kodak Theater’s back entrance, where the stars board their limousines after the Academy Award ceremonies.
We drove through the parking lot of the Magic Castle restaurant, which is open to members only, and up the hill to Yamashiro Restaurant where we disembused and took photos of the Los Angeles skyline.
Then we got into the meat of the tour and began with Bob Barker’s house on Outpost, where he’s lived for 40 years. Then Pete took us onto Sunset and we cruised the Strip.
Pete showed us Paris Hilton’s house with her $500,000 Mercedes McLaren parked outside at the curb. He told us that one of her sources of income is being hired to show up at parties for $100,000 an hour.
Back on the Strip, we went past the Laugh Factory and Comedy Store, House of Blues, Whiskey a Go Go and the Mondrian Hotel’s Sky Bar, which is the hottest and most exclusive night club in Los Angeles.
In Beverly Hills, Pete showed us the house that Edward Doheny built for his son–55 rooms, 46,000 square feet, constructed in 1920 for $5 million. The 18-acre estate is now a city park, open to the public every day from 10-6.
Next door was Ozzy Osbourne’s house. Pete told us that, Sure, the sidewalks are public property, but walking into the driveway is trespassing, and Ozzy has installed a set of high pressure sprinklers amongst the bushes to soak people who walk in to have their photos taken in front of his gate. What a trickster!
We drove by Frank Sinatra’s house and Tom Cruise’s. Everywhere we looked we saw Ferraris, Bentleys, Rolls Royces and three more McLarens (Mercedes makes only 500 a year).
We passed the Beverly Hills Hotel, built in 1912, a historical landmark and currently owned by the Sultan of Brunei. Every year it is listed among the Top Twenty hotels of the world. Johnny Carson had a regular cottage that he lived in each time he went through a divorce.
Ira and George Gershwin lived next door to each other on Roxbury. Jack Benny lived at 1002 Roxbury and Lucille Ball lived next door. Jimmy Stewart lived across the street.
Judy Garland’s front yard was filled with fanciful statues that Howard Hughes gave her when she married Vincent Minelli.
In the Bel Air district, Pete pointed out that the ACS Security Company provided security for every home except one–the driveway leading to Nancy Reagan’s house is guarded by a kiosk equipped with bulletproof glass windows and machine guns.
Nicholas Cage owns the house that Dean Martin built that has a bar in every room.
Farther west on Sunset Avenue was Pacific Palisades where Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks and Arnold Schwarzenegger live.
We passed the UCLA campus on Sunset next door to Bel Air and drove into the Holmby Hills past Ed Asner’s house. Beyond that, next to the public park, is Aaron Spelling’s modest 123-room, 46,500 square foot cottage which he named "The Manor." He built it by purchasing twelve neighboring estates, tearing down their mansions and building his own for $47 million. His wife Candy and their son, Randy, live there now. Tori Spelling moved out because she said it was too small. Can’t imagine what she moved into. The gift-wrapping room alone is 850 square feet.
Pete told us that Mr. Spelling was the most prolific producer in history and retained the rights to every show he produced. That means that the money his family makes from their daily residual checks is more than a person can spend.
We drove past the Beverly Hilton, owned by Merv Griffin and currently home to the Golden Globes. Mr. Griffin created Jeopardy and wrote the "thinking" song that they play during the show. His residuals from that song alone has earned him $84 million and counting.
From Wilshire Boulevard, we turned onto Rodeo Drive, the most expensive shopping district in the world. Many of the shops we passed displayed signs saying that they were open by appointment only.
We drove past the Palm Restaurant on Santa Monica where Jack Nicholson likes to go after a Lakers game for a Martini and a Porterhouse.
At the end of the tour, Pete dropped us off at the Chinese Theater and Gail and I walked upstairs to the Great Steak and Potato Company and bought cheesesteak sandwiches to take to our room for supper.
Sunday
Out the door at 9:30 for a walk to the Egyptian Theater where we bought tickets for a tour and a movie.
Sid Grauman looked for gold in the Klondike and failed and turned to selling newspapers. He moved to San Francisco and went to work in a movie house. The day after the 1906 earthquake, he put up a tent and showed moving pictures.
A real estate developer asked him to come to Southern California and build a movie palace to help lure people to the isolated farming community of Hollywood. Mr. Grauman completed the Egyptian five months before the discovery of King Tut’s tomb in Egypt. Timing is everything.
The Egyptian has a large outside courtyard, a small lobby, and a small screen. Live prologues introduced screen features on a stage outlined by a classically beautiful proscenium. The theater seated 2,000 people.
With a surprising lack of insight, Grauman did not see the value of selling food to his patrons. Food stands sprang up lining the courtyard entry and a door in the wall led into the neighboring Pig and Whistle watering hole.
American Cinematheque has restored the theater and shows historical films in their original format.
Gail and I tried the door in the wall and it was locked, but a bus boy inside opened it and we had lunch at the Pig and Whistle, just like Cary Grant used to do.
After lunch we signed up for the tour of the Kodak Theater, which was built specifically to host the Academy Awards show. It seats 3,200 and has a 70-year contract with the Academy. The FBI has identified the Kodak as a primary terrorist target so we were not allowed to take cameras inside.
Kodak paid $75 million for name rights to the theater for 25 years and the company is proud to point out that every Oscar-winning movie has been shot on Kodak film–68 consecutive years.
Hollywood begins setting up for the annual awards celebration by rolling out the red carpet on Hollywood Boulevard, a quarter-mile walk that takes a week to set up. Limousines unload their precious cargo on the night of the show and the stars saunter along the row of cameras and cheering fans. Bars inside the theater serve cocktails free of charge until 5 pm, attempting to lure the audience into their seats before curtain time.
Leading actors are seated in the first row, supporting actors in the second, directors in the third, and so on. Nominees are moved closer to the stage to a vacated row as their time approaches. 150 extras are on hand to race to fill vacant seats whenever a star needs to go potty.
Each nominee receives two tickets, the rest are distributed by lottery to members of the Screen Actors Guild. An additional 300 tickets are given by lot to the general public in an August drawing each year. Those lucky individuals get to watch the perp parade from across the street, then are escorted into the El Capitán Theater to watch the awards show on the big screen.
Sid Grauman sold the Egyptian Theater in 1927 and built the Chinese Theater after returning from a tour of China. Gail and I bought tickets and toured the Chinese after we left the Kodak.
The first footprints in the courtyard out front were made by Norma Talmadge on May 18, 1927, when she slipped and stepped into wet concrete. The most recent at the time of our tour were imprinted by Kevin Costner on January 6, 2006. The rule is that you must be a star attending the premiere showing of your most recent movie to qualify to step into the concrete. Two stars are admitted each year and the next one scheduled was Will Smith.
The foyer and lobby are works of art in an Oriental motif. Our guide escorted us to a VIP lounge upstairs where you can hang out and watch for stars. The upstairs theaters have loge sections with seat numbers so you can order popcorn and have it delivered.
Gail and I went by Beard Papa for cream puffs and fondants on the way to our room and picked up salads and sandwiches at Green Earth Café. We ate dinner watching the Colts beat the Patriots to advance to the Super Bowl.
Monday
Out the door at 9:15 a.m. and next door to the Renaissance Hotel. We took an elevator to the Grand Ballroom on the penthouse floor and peeked around inside. On the evening of the Academy Awards, the ballroom is configured to seat 1,600 invited celebrities for the Governors dinner–the Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science, not the Governor of California.
As we exited the ballroom, a uniformed security guard asked us what our business was and we said we were tourists and she suggested that we move on. We took the grand stairway to the lobby and used the rest rooms and moved on.
At 10 o’clock we met our Red Line Walking Tour guide, Mick, at the Stella Adler Hotel. Mick was a retired Sergeant Major from the British Army and a former Beefeater at the Tower of London who married an American girl he met on a tour of the Tower. He showed us a poster-sized photo of himself standing next to Queen Elizabeth and told us how much he enjoyed watching The Queen at the Egyptian theater in December with a live introduction by Helen Mirren.
The Stella Adler is a school for actors and we toured the hallways and visited a 1920s speakeasy that was hidden inside a secret passageway.
As we walked on Hollywood Boulevard toward the Egyptian, Mick told us about the sidewalk stars. Recipients must be prominent in either Film, TV, Radio, Recording or Live Stage. Only one person has been honored for all five media performances and I will tell you the name later.
Stars must be involved in charitable works, they must attend the Star ceremony and they must put up $15,000. Donald Trump at that moment was the most recent Star of 2,326 Stars installed. One star is not on the sidewalk. Muhammad Ali is posted on a wall to honor his wish that people do not walk on the name of Muhammad.
El Capitán Theater was built in 1926, four years after the Egyptian. It is owned by Disney and makes more money than any theater in the world. It was sold out for five weeks straight for Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Mans Chest, five shows per day, 2,000 seats per show. Gail and I had earlier noted with alarm that it was being sold out over the weekend to children lining up to see Mary Poppins.
We had lunch at Miceli’s, in what our host insisted was Julia Roberts’ favorite booth. I fantasized that my butt sat where hers has.
After lunch we walked to the Hollywood Entertainment Museum and found that it no longer exists. We did find the five-media star, though, which was awarded to Gene Autry.
We went inside the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, a famous and historic landmark, location of the first Academy Awards presentation, which lasted fifteen minutes in 1929. Here is a description of that ceremony from the World Wide Web:
The first Academy Awards ceremony was held on May 16, 1929. It was a quiet affair compared to the glamor and glitz that accompany the ceremonies of today. Two hundred and fifty people attended the black-tie banquet that evening in the Blossom Room of Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Though this was the first time these awards were to be given, the attendees were not anxious. Unlike the secrecy that surrounds the winners of today's ceremonies, the winners of the first Academy Award ceremony were announced three months early.
After everyone had eaten dinner, Douglas Fairbanks, the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, stood up and gave a speech. Then, with the help of William C. deMille, he called the winners up to the head table and handed them their awards.
The statuettes that were presented to the first Academy Awards winners were nearly identical to those handed out today. Sculpted by George Stanley, The Academy Award of Merit (Oscar's official name) was a knight, made of solid bronze, holding a sword and standing upon a reel of film.
The very first person to receive an Academy Award didn't attend the first Academy Awards ceremony. Emil Jannings, the winner for best actor, had decided to go back to his home in Germany before the ceremony. Before he left for his trip, Jannings was handed the very first Academy Award.
In contrast, Gail and I found the hotel to be dark and dismal and mostly empty and depressing, so we went to see Mary Poppins. It was delightful. We arrived late and stayed through the intermission to see the beginning.
The theater was spectacular–fully restored–elegant and extravagant. A live Mary Poppins introduced the movie on stage and encouraged us to sing along, with "a spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down." And best of all, the weekend was over and all the children had gone away.
Beard Papa afterward for dessert and back to our room to indulge in leftover lunch from Miceli’s.
Tuesday
Wouldn’t you know it–the Academy announced this morning the nominees for this year’s awards, from Merv Griffin’s Beverly Hilton. Did we ever feel like insiders!
Out the door at 0830, onto the Metro and to Union Station where we boarded our Amtrak car. Bloody Marys and lunch and we arrived in San Luis Obispo almost on time.
