Some of Hollywood’s hotels can be considered as historical as Hollywood itself — like the Knickerbocker.

It was built in 1925 as a luxury apartment building, and its Renaissance Revival bar was a favorite hang out of the stars. Rudolph Valentino loved to tango here. FIlm director D. W. Griffith spent many hours at the bar, especially after he was “dismissed” by Hollywood after years of pioneering the industry. He was was walking in the lobby when he had a stroke, and died under the huge crystal chandelier.

Another Knickerbocker patron was Frances Farmer, who enjoyed an intense, but brief, career. She appeared in 18 films, three Broadway plays, thirty major radio shows and seven stock company productions, but alcohol, drugs, and weight problems had her career in shambles before she was 28. In 1943 she was arrested while she was at the Knickerbocker, and had to be dragged (half naked) out of her room. Famous costume designer Irene Gibbons also committed suicide here, checking in under another name, then trying to slit her wrists. When that didn’t work she jumped from the window.

The Knickerbocker was also the “lovenest” of William Faulkner and Meta Carpenter, a script girl from the Fox studios, Marilyn Monroe and Joe Dimaggio. Other celebrity guests were Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Mae West, Lana Turner, Cecil B. DeMille, Frank Sinatra, Laurel and Hardy and many others.

The Knickerbocker was also the stage for the last Houdini seance. After an hour, a violent thunderstorm drenched participants and ended their attempts. They later discovered that the storm didn’t occur anywhere else in Hollywood — only above the hotel!

Today a coffee shop called “The All-Star Theatre Café & Speakeasy” stands where the bar used to be, and is frequented by celebrities like Sandra Bullock and Leonardo DiCaprio.

It usually takes many years for a movie to take the long transition from idea to finished product. The process is brutal and careers are usually put on high risk for each movie project. Not to mention the fact that millions are usually invested in a picture due to the high production expenses (hiring many professionals, actors, building sets, composing music, building sets and marketing the movie).

But because of the almost instantaneous reporting of box office results once a movie is shown in theaters, studios and production outfits will immediately know (usually within a few hours) if the movie that took so long in making and cost so much is a box office bomb or a huge blockbuster.

This is in huge contrast to about thirty years or so ago when movie executives would actually drive to theaters and look at the opening day lines to the theaters ? a much more hands on approach compared to today?s very strategic juggling of advance polling techniques, demographic minded scheduling and usage of historical models.

With the level of accuracy of the agencies that report box office takes for the movies getting more and more accurate, studio executives are relying on them on an ever increasing basis to gauge if they are actually going to make money or not.

The bad thing though with an industry that has become more obsesses with math and the bottomline is that quality and artistic expression has fallen by the wayside. Movies are nothing more than products now that is marketed no differently from a hamburger.

Hopefully the movie studios will also realize that money is not the be all and end all in a place that fuels the imagination like no other.

It is always heartwarming to see a good cause succeed. We all recently heard about the passing away of Hollywood icon Paul Newman. I am sure that if he had any way of knowing what is happening after his passing away, he would be quite happy. An annual fundraiser for a children’s camp for those with life-threatening diseases was held on Monday and the support that it received from the who’s who of Hollywood was overwhelming. More than actually turning up to help raise money for a good cause, the people also turned up to pay their own tribute to Paul Newman. The Associate Press has this report:

The lineup for a dramatic reading of “The World of Nick Adams” on Monday night at San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall already was set when the acting legend died of cancer Sept. 26 at the age of 83. The event benefited The Painted Turtle, a camp for children with life-threatening illnesses, that was started by Newman in 1999.

“We expected Paul to be with us and so this kind of turned into kind of a tribute,” said Danny Glover, who joined Jack Nicholson, Julia Roberts, Tom Hanks, Warren Beatty, Sean Penn and other big names in the reading. “This is the first time we are doing this without Paul — there is a void there, without a doubt.”

Some 2,500 people attended the star-studded benefit, which began with a video in which Newman discussed his work with the Association of Hole in The Wall Camps, which runs 11 camps around the world including The Painted Turtle.

Just take note of those names mentioned above and you will understand how big the event turned up to be. I am sure that the children involved – and Paul Newman, if he were alive – would deeply appreciate the gesture.

We’ve known that Hollywood legend and American cultural icon has been battling cancer for quite some time now. Still, his passing away has caused ripples of emotions all throughout the country and even the rest of the world. Paul Newman, a man looked up to by many, passed away at 83.

AFP writes:

Paul Newman, a Hollywood legend and American icon beloved for his piercing blue eyes and roguish charm, has died after losing his fight with cancer, his family said Saturday. He was 83.
Newman, whose health had been the subject of intense speculation ever since photographs of him looking frail and gaunt appeared in the press in June, passed away on Friday, a spokeswoman said.

A devastatingly handsome leading man who appeared in scores of Hollywood classics, Newman’s death relegated the US presidential election and Wall Street’s financial meltdown to second place in news bulletins Saturday.

“Our father was a rare symbol of selfless humility, the last to acknowledge what he was doing was special,” Newman’s daughters said in a statement.

“Intensely private, he quietly succeeded beyond measure in impacting the lives of so many with his generosity.”

Tributes began flowing in from around the globe, with friends, co-stars and celebrities hailing an “exemplary life.”

Robert Redford , Newman’s friend and co-star in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” and “The Sting,” led the emotional outpouring.

“There is a point where feelings go beyond words,” the 72-year-old said in a statement. “I have lost a real friend. My life — and this country — is better for his being in it.”

Though some of today’s generation may not know much about this man, those if us who witnessed his life and his work will certainly remember him for the man he was.

The Oscars is one of Hollywood’s most important award ceremonies. Any Hollywood buff worth his collection of movie posters should know as much about it as possible. Test your knowledge of the Oscars with this quiz.

Any serious Hollywood fan or student of film should watch this interview of pioneer internet author Don Wrege and Robert Carl Cohen. Cohen is the writer, producer, director, cameraman, and editor of MONDO HOLLYWOOD.

Forget buying Christmas gifts for other people — what should Hollywood fans get for themselves? What about these vintage movie posters, available at emovieposter.com This site carries some of the posters from old blockbusters, from Disney’s 102 Dalmations to Empire Strikes Back to Ghostbusters.
Better yet, arrange a Hollywood tour that’ll bring you to the studios or sets. Now that’s what we call bragging rights.

Think of these shirts as the pop quiz / secret handshake of all Hollywood geeks.
Available at lastexittonowhere.com their meaning is only apparent to those who have either watched the movie or know enough about pop culture to get the reference. (The significance of Amity Island? The setting for Jaws — duh!)

Of course, still higher on the Hollwood Fan List of Things to Know and Do is to stand on the Walk of Fame and kiss the ground that one’s idol has literally walked on.

It looks harmless. Even boring. Just an office building, with names of production companies, which don’t even leave much impact to the average tourist.

Until they know the story behind the street.

8439 Sunset Boulevard, now called Piazze del Sol, used to be the site of Hollywood’s most exclusive brothel, called “House of Francis.” People would go here for a different kind of networking, and whatever happened behind its doors stayed behind those doors.

Today there are still brothels, but they are typically held in private houses.

What do Clark Gable, Errol Flynn, the Marx Brothers, Clara Bow, Tallulah Bankhead, and Humphrey Bogart have in common?

These Hollywood stars were all residents of the apartment called Garden of Allah, which stood on Sunset and Crescent Heights. This was right in front of Schwab’s Pharmacy, and due to the location and prestigious residents, was a Hollywood hub. Celebrities gathered here for parties, lunches, private and very exclusive get-togethers. Get an invitation to the Garden of Allah, and you know you’ve arrived.

Unfortunately the apartment was torn down, a tragedy that Joni Mitchell sung about in her song “Big Yellow Taxi”: paving paradise and putting up a parking lot.