Forecourt to the Stars

        One of the most famous aspects of Grauman's Chinese Theatre is the hand and foot prints of some of Hollywood's elite and memorable stars. There are many different accounts as to how the foot print ceremony started, but all stories have something in common, it was started by accident, someone walked in soft concrete leaving foot prints. There are two stories that have been published; one has Mary Pickford as the actress who stepped in the wet concrete on her way to see Sid Grauman's new building, and the other credits Norma Talmadge with the misstep. Either story ends with Sid Grauman seeing the footsteps and deciding it was a wonderful way to have a permanent record of the stars, and began inviting selected film personalities to put their hand and foot prints in concrete. The first stars to put their hand and foot prints in concrete were Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, who were also partners in the theatre, on April 30, 1927. Today there are currently around 218 imprints of movie stars infront of Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

         When Sid Grauman was alive he was making the choices as to who he would invite, since his passing the forecourt honorees are selected by a committee made up of the theatre's executives who evaluate "the impact someone has had on cinematic history and how they have contributed to cinema today," said the cinema's director of operations Alwyn Kushner, daughter of Donald Kushner.

 James Stewart added his hand and foot prints on February 13, 1948

Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell on June 26, 1953

  Frank Sinatra adding his hand prints on July 20, 1965

Robert Duvall at his ceremony on January 5, 2011 

 The cast of "West Side Story",  Rita Moreno, George Chakiris, and Russ Tamblyn 

November 15, 2011

 Jane Fonda on April 27, 2013 

 Sandra Bullock adding her hand prints on September 25, 2013

There has been a surge of concrete ceremonies since 2011, many of which were paid for by the movie studios for publicity reasons. One of the theatre's current owners, Donald Kushner, has acknowledged this and has said they are mock ceremonies. Although there has been an increase of cement blocks, the ones that are placed within the forecourt are still chosen by a special committee. The other blocks that are not placed there are placed on the walls in the adjacent Chinese 6 Theatre lobby so fans can still go and see them.

Recently some of the older  hand and foot prints are starting to disappear from weathering. Donald Kushner has said that they will have to start thinking about removing the older ones in the near future in order to preserve and save them. Donald Kushner is not sure as to where they will move the older hand and foot prints of some of Hollywood's most legendary stars but they will eventually find their place.