Before the studios and the stars, Hollywood was pastureland — dotted by citrus groves, barns, and large herds of cows (and the occassional camel). That all changed in the 1920’s. The film industry had boomed, and the large barns were easily converted into studios. Real estate companies tried to take advantage of the sudden growth, and one erected a very large (and at that time considered very tacky) ad: the word “Hollywood” displayed on the hills.

The movie industry survived the Great Depression and two world wars, but the sign barely did. In 1976 some very bored truants manipulated it to read “Hollyweed”. Two years later, another group edited it to “Holywood” (because of a visit by Pope John Paul). In the 80s, during the Iran contra scandal, it was once again vandalized into “Ollywood”.

The sign was falling apart, sparking a community-wide “Save the Sign” campaign. About $250,000 was raised — and now, it stands proud.

August has whizzed by, and with September upon us, so are the television specials on one of the most horrible and shocking events in modern history, September 11.

For U.S viewers, the shows titled “Inside 9/11,” The Final Report: Osama’s Escape” and “Triple Cross: Bin Laden’s Spy in America,” will be airing next week from Sunday and again on the 11th.

In “Inside 9/11,” they’ve added the Zacarias Moussaoui trial, the secret Able Danger Osama hunters, etc. “Final Report” charts the generally stumbling pursuit of bin Laden. There’s a misnomer here because there’s no final report. Don’t get your hopes up.

The stunning episode is “Triple Cross,” which the network likens to a Tom Clancy plot. Of course we tend to think of how big intrigues will play on a big screen — and this one is continually fascinating, start to finish.

Ali Mohammed has had his fingers in many if not most of the terrorism gambits all over the world on behalf of radical Islam. He has worked tightly with bin Laden himself — and at the same time he has consulted with the FBI, CIA, the Army, etc.

Not to spoil the ending for you — but after 14 years as a mole for everybody (so it seems), he now is hidden away in America’s federal prisons.

There isn?t a little black dress more famous (and more iconic) than the gorgeous Hubert de Givenchy creation worn by Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany?s.

The Blake Edwards film ?Breakfast at Tiffany?s?, adapted from the Truman Capote novella, was a certified hit when it was released and continues to be a well-loved film classic today, introducing to women of all generations the delightful character of Holly Golightly, played to perfection by Audrey Hepburn.

The famous dress which came out in the film?s opening scene was designed by Givenchy to fit Hepburn?s ?impossible? 34A-20-34 measurements like a glove. The famous opening scene sees Hepburn, wearing the iconic dress, emerge from a taxi onto a deserted Fifth Avenue in New York during the early morning, peering through the window of jewelry store Tiffany’s while munching on her breakfast out of a brown paper bag.

Needless to say, the dress (and the role) catapulted Hepburn into stellar fame. One of the world?s best-loved actresses, she spent her later years traveling as a goodwill ambassador for Unicef, passing away in January 1993 from colon cancer at the age of 63.

But the good news today is that ?that dress? is now to go on sale, and for a good cause too. On December 5th, Holly Golightly?s black dress will be part of Christie?s annual film and entertainment sale in London.

Proceeds from the auction will go to an Indian charity organisation, City Of Joy Aid, which helps underprivileged children in Kolkata.

The dress is expected to fetch between ?50,000 and ?70,000.

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.

Its about everything and everyone on Hollywood!