busy day

on tues I walkd from my motel on Western down Hollywood Blvd to the Roosevelt Hotel. I was going to get a quick breakfast before the unveiling of the Munchkins star on the Walk of Fame. breakfast wasn't to happen because I walkd right into the gathering of 7 of the 9 surviving actors who playd Munchkins in the 1939 classic "The Wizard of Oz."



lively Mickey Carroll signd a poster for me then turnd it over to write "may the magic of Oz always be with you. follow the yellow brick road." Joey Luft was there. I told him I last saw him when he was a boy performing with his mother Judy Garland at the Palace. he'a a gracious man. I also had a few words with 98 y/o Carla Laemmle who had bits in the silent "Phantom of the Opera" as well as the original "Dracula."

then it was across the street to Grauman's Chinese Theater where I shot this quick video.



on hand to greet the Munchkins for the ceremony was a contingent of former stars -- from GWTW's Ann Rutherford to Hitchcock heroine Tippi Hedren. when the festivities were over I walkd back down Hollywood Blvd but soon found it closd for a demonstration of striking Writers Guild of America.



I spottd a zoftig Connie Stevens among SAG members showing solidarity before I found a Thai restaurant for a small sald. a quick rest & then I was back down the boulevard in the direction of Boardner's. in the '30s this had been the site of the famous gay bar Cherokee House. later it became a watering hole for everyone from Elizabeth Short to Charles Bukowski. I met James Robert Parish & T. Allan Taylor for homemade ravioli.