By: debbie lynn elias
TCM Classic Film Festical opened this morning with the unveiling of three slabs of concrete that launched what we now know and love as the Graumann’s Chinese Courtyard.
In 1926, Sid Graumann began construction on the Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. As concrete was being poured into the courtyard, he accidentally stepped in it, leaving his footprints.
According to Robert Osborne, Hollywood historian and host of the TCM Classic Film Fest, Mary Pickford was the first to notice what her friend Sid had done. Seeing this as a fun opportunity, Pickford and husband Douglas Fairbanks then placed their own prints in the cement.
These three iconic slabs were removed from Graumann’s in 1958 to make way for construction of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Initially tossed away when dug up, the slabs were saved by a worker at the site and have since travelled among several owners before winding up in the ultimate possession of Nick Olaerts and his family.
Last seen over 20 yeasrs ago but never at their original “home”, the Olaert family joined Robert Osborne today at the TCM Club in the iconic Hollywood Roosevelt, and unveiled the three slabs for press and fest-goers alike. The air was filled with magic and reverance to these three pioneers and their small immortalization in stone.
