Thursday, October 9, 2008

Let's Go To The Movies



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A few interesting and random facts that you may not know about Hollywood and Motion Pictures.








Fact #1

Hollywood got its name from a man named Hobart Johnstone Whitley, known as "The father of Hollywood" and his wife Gigi, who coined the name Hollywood while on their honeymoon in 1886. Whitley, one of the nation's most succesful land developers, motivated the movie industry to move to his new town of Hollywood. Aren't we glad he did?


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Random Fact:

H.J. Whitley died in 1931 at the Whitley Park Country Club near Hollywood. He was buried in Hollywood Forever Cemetary and his gravestone reads "The Father of Hollywood."

Fact #2

The first motion picture ever to be made was called "The Horse In Motion." In 1878, Eadweard Muybridge accomplished this by using multiple (24 to be exact) cameras and assembling the individual pictures into a motion picture. Muybridge was commissioned by Leland Stanford (California governor/ Stanford University) to scientifically answer a popularly debated question during this era - are all four of a horse's hooves ever off the ground at the same time while the horse is galloping? The answer was yes. Muybridge's time-motion photography proved they indeed were, and the idea of motion photography was born.







Random Fact:

Four years before Muybridge completed this historic break-through, he discovered that his wife had a lover, Major Harry Larkyns. Muybridge went looking for his wife's lover and when he found him he said, "Good evening, Major, my name is Muybridge and here is the answer to the letter you sent my wife." He then killed the major with a gunshot.

Muybridge was put on trial for murder, but was acquitted as a "justifiable homicide."


Fact #3

The phrase "silver screen" comes from the fact that genuine silver was embedded into the material used for movie screens. Real silver was also used to make film for many years.


Fact #4

The first hotel that was built in Hollywood was the Glen-Holly Hotel. It sat at the corner of Yucca Street which today is really kinda yucca.


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Fact #5

The first movie studio was established in 1911 and was named Nestor Studios. The studio was located at the corner of Sunset Bloulevard and Gower Avenue. An advantage for its location was that the weather in California made it possible to film year round. Nestor Studios later merged with other studios to become Universal Studios.


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Random fact:

Every week the studio pumped out a Western picture single reel, a Dramatic picture single reel and a single reel of the popular "Mutt and Jeff" comedy.


Fact #6

The Hollywood "Walk Of Fame" was created in 1958 to give Hollywood one of its first face-lifts. It was designed by Southern Californian artist Oliver Weismuller. When first created, there were 2,500 blank stars. The walk begins at Gower Avenue and ends at La Brea Avenue. The walk is about 3 1/2 miles round trip.


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Random Fact:

The first star ever to be awarded was on February 9, 1960 and the recipient was Joanne Woodward.

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Fact #7

The HOLLYWOOD sign was created in 1923. The sign originally read as HOLLYWOODLAND. Its purpose was to advertise a new housing development in the hills above Hollywood. The Hollywoodland developers advertised the area as a "superb environment without excessive cost on the Hollywood side of the hills." Wow. If that were only true today! The land developers only meant for the sign to stay up for about a year or so. It was not intended to be permanent. After the rise of the American cinema in Los Angeles, it became an internationally recognized symbol and was left there.

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Random fact:

The HOLLYWOODLAND sign became so associated with Hollywood that in 1932, actress Peg Entwistle committed suicide by jumping to her death from the letter "H." She saw the sign as a symbol of an industry that had rejected her.

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Fact #8

The very first Academy Awards ceremony was on May 16, 1929. It was held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel and 250 people attended. The nominees were not sitting on the edge of their seats like they are today waiting to hear who won because the winners names had already been released to the press 3 months earlier.

Random Fact:

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.

Fact #9

Clark Gable was paid $4,500 a week to play Rhett Butler in "Gone With The Wind." It was reported this week that Johnny Depp is being offered $55 million to reprise the role of Captain Jack Sparrow in "Pirates of the Caribbean," the highest amount an actor has ever been paid for a single movie. Do the math.


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Fact #10

Marlon Brando couldn't get out of his seat fast enough to run up to the stage to receive his first Oscar in 1973 for Best Leading Role in "On The Waterfront.," But in 1973, when he won his second Best Leading Role Oscar for "The Godfather,," he not only didn't show up be he refused to accept the award. He sent a female American Indian in his place to explain his reasoning; Marlon felt that Hollywood had portrayed and treated American Indians poorly. Kind of ironic for a man who was receiving an award for his portrayal of an Italian gangster. A few American Italians may have had a problem with that.


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See video here of those Oscar moments:

Marlon Accepting the Oscar

Female American Indian Declining the Oscar for Marlon

Digg!