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    Hollywood Forever Cemetery: The Unauthorized Guide
    Hollywood Forever Cemetery: The Unauthorized Guide
    Hollywood Forever Cemetery: The Unauthorized Guide
    Ebook119 pages1 hour

    Hollywood Forever Cemetery: The Unauthorized Guide

    By Mark Masek

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    For more than 100 years, Hollywood Forever Cemetery has been one of the premier burial locations for entertainment celebrities, studio executives and members of the Hollywood film community. Today, it’s one of the top tourist destinations for fans who want to pay their respects to their favorite stars. “Hollywood Forever Cemetery: The Unauthorized Guide” is the most complete and comprehensive directory to find the final burial locations for everyone from “The First Movie Star” to the most recent additions, along with detailed personal and professional biographies.
    Organized as four separate walking tours of the property, the book includes nearly 70 names, from the legendary Rudolph Valentino, Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and Cecil B. DeMille, to more recent additions, including Don Adams, Mr. Blackwell, Estelle Getty and “Vampira.” The book also features the stories behind the stones, including the legend -– and the true story –- behind Valentino’s mysterious “Lady in Black,” the mystery of Marion Davies’ secret child, the ghosts seen at the graves of silent film actress Virginia Rappe and actor Clifton Webb, the death of Carl “Alfalfa” Switzer, the secret life and unsolved murder of director William Desmond Taylor, and the puzzling epitaph on the crypt of gangster Bugsy Siegel.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMark Masek
    Release dateApr 29, 2011
    ISBN9781452469980
    Hollywood Forever Cemetery: The Unauthorized Guide
    Author

    Mark Masek

    Mark Masek was born and raised in Joliet, Ill., about 40 miles southwest of Chicago. He was always interested in history and Hollywood and, when he moved to the Los Angeles area in 1999, he was able to combine his interests, and wrote "Hollywood Remains to Be Seen: A Guide to the Movie Stars' Final Homes," a detailed history and guidebook to 14 cemeteries in the Los Angeles area, as well as a guide to find the final burial locations of more than 300 entertainment celebrities. He is also a member of the Hollywood Underground, a group of people with the similar interests of finding and documenting the final resting places of celebrities. If they're famous, and they're dead, and they're buried somewhere in the Los Angeles area, he probably knows where to find them.

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      Book preview

      Hollywood Forever Cemetery - Mark Masek

      Hollywood Forever Cemetery: The Unauthorized Guide

      Mark Masek

      Smashwords Edition

      Copyright 2014 Mark Masek

      Discover other titles by Mark Masek at www.Smashwords.com

      or visit his website at www.CemeteryGuide.com.

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      All rights reserved. This book contains material protected under U.S. and international copyright laws and treaties. Honest. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the express written permission of the author.

      Hollywood Forever Cemetery

      6000 Santa Monica Blvd.

      Los Angeles, Calif.

      Introduction: What’s the one place in Hollywood where you’re guaranteed the chance to get up close and personal with real celebrities and legends of the entertainment industry? Strange as it may seem, cemeteries are becoming one of the most popular destinations for Hollywood tourists and film fans who want to visit the final and permanent homes of the rich, famous and deceased.

      But why are fans so interested in seeing the plot of earth or marble vault that houses a celebrity’s earthly remains? What’s the attraction to seeing a celebrity’s name carved in granite or etched in bronze, along with the dates of their birth and death?

      You could just as easily ask why do fans pay to buy a map, or be driven by the bus-load past the homes where celebrities haven’t lived for years, if they ever lived there at all. Why do they search for a celebrity’s star on the Walk of Fame along Hollywood Boulevard? Why do they spend thousands, even millions of dollars to buy items of celebrity memorabilia? Simply put, we are fascinated by celebrity, and our fascination is growing.

      And while celebrities might have lived in a lot of different houses during their lives, they’re only buried in one spot. For many, the location and style of their burial says a lot about who they were in life, and how they wished to be remembered. Do they have a simple plot with a humble marker, or a lavish sarcophagus surrounded by marble pillars?

      Marilyn Monroe’s crypt at Westwood Memorial Park still attracts hundreds of fans every day to pay their respects, leave flowers and notes, and pose for pictures in front of the small bronze plaque with her name on it, even though most of her visitors weren’t even born when she died. And here at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, hundreds of fans show up every year for a memorial service on the anniversary of the death of Rudolph Valentino, even though many of their parents weren’t born when he died.

      There are probably as many reasons to visit a celebrity’s grave as there are visitors. Most, I hope, are simply fans who want to pay their respects to someone who has brought them joy. Perhaps it’s just an opportunity to spend some time in quiet, peaceful surroundings. Or, since we’re all going to end up there eventually, perhaps it’s a way for us to face and prepare for our own eventual fate.

      Whatever the reason, however, before you go off traipsing through cemeteries, a few words of etiquette and advice are in order. Remember, for many people, cemeteries are sacred grounds where the mortal remains of their loved ones are buried. Whenever you are in any cemetery, be as polite, respectful and courteous as you would be in a stranger’s home or a place of worship. Also, it’s possible that a burial service will be in progress when you visit. At some of the larger cemeteries, perhaps even several services.

      You will also likely encounter people who are paying their respects to departed loved ones. They might not know and perhaps couldn’t care less that an Academy Award-winning actor or the star of your favorite movie is buried a few feet away. Remember the last funeral service you attended for a friend or family member. You wouldn’t want to look up and see a bunch of loud, raucous people rambling over the nearby graves. Try to dress appropriately, and be as quiet, discreet and considerate as possible. Since most of the cemeteries are privately owned, you could be asked to leave.

      And cemeteries aren’t the place to be looking for souvenirs, either. As tempting as it might be, don’t take any flowers, dirt or chips of marble from the grave of your favorite celebrity. If you really need a lasting memory, a discreetly snapped photograph should be enough.

      R.I.P. – Read in Peace

      History: In the Hollywood glamour days of the 1920s and 1930s, Hollywood Forever Cemetery – then known as Hollywood Memorial Park – was the premier burial spot for entertainment celebrities, studio executives and members of Hollywood high society and the film community. Everyone who was anyone was buried in Hollywood Memorial Park, often with great fanfare and spectacle, with hundreds of fans and mourners there for the final send-off.

      The cemetery was founded in 1899 by developers Isaac Newton Van Nuys and Isaac Lankershim, and originally covered 100 acres. Nearly 40 acres along the south side of the property were sold to Paramount Pictures studios in 1920. (Van Nuys and Lankershim aren’t buried here, however. They’re both at Evergreen Cemetery on the east side of Los Angeles, which was the cemetery of choice for the city’s business and civic leaders.)

      Within the walls of Hollywood Forever, visitors can find the final resting places of screen legends Rudolph Valentino, Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and Jr., Janet Gaynor, Peter Lorre, Nelson Eddy and Tyrone Power; directors Cecil B. DeMille, William Desmond Taylor and John Huston; and Columbia Pictures founder Harry Cohn. Charlie Chaplin’s first wife is buried here, as well as his mother, his ex-mother-in-law and his namesake son.

      The cemetery is also the final home to many prominent figures in the growth and development of Los Angeles and Hollywood, including Harvey and Daeida Wilcox, the true founders of Hollywood; Al and Charles Christie, and David Horsley, who ran the first film studio in Hollywood; William A. Clark Jr., philanthropist and founder of the Los Angeles Philharmonic; Col. Griffith J. Griffith, who donated the land that became Griffith Park; Gen. Harrison Gray Otis, founder of the Los Angeles Times; Harry Chandler, publisher of the Los Angeles Times; and Hollywood developer Charles Toberman.

      As Forest Lawn Memorial-Park in nearby Glendale grew in size and popularity in the late 1930s and 1940s, Hollywood Memorial Park slipped into decline. By the early 1990s, Hollywood Memorial Park had taken on the Norma Desmond role as an aging and forgotten legend, a faded shadow of its former glory. The cemetery grounds were battered by normal wear and tear, and the feet of thousands of visitors. The mausoleums suffered damage from a 1994 earthquake, and needed repairs were not done. The roads through the cemetery were riddled with potholes, weeds sprouted among the tombstones, windows in the rust-stained mausoleums were cracked or broken, and dead leaves swirled through the musty-smelling hallways. The huge reflecting pool in front of the Fairbanks memorial was murky and choked with weeds, and graffiti was scrawled on DeMille’s crypt.

      At this point, the story of Hollywood Forever becomes a tale of drama and intrigue, hidden pasts and secret finances, and a thrilling last-minute rescue – a true Hollywood ending.

      From 1939 until state inspectors showed up in 1995 to check the cemetery’s financial operations, the property was run by Jules A. Roth. On the surface, Roth appeared to be a cemetery manager sent over from Central Casting – smooth, neatly dressed and debonair, with a small, well-trimmed moustache. But Roth had kept his shady past well hidden. He had been convicted of grand theft and securities fraud in 1932, and served five years in San Quentin. While running Hollywood Memorial Park, Roth lived well, spent lavishly and traveled frequently – often on his own luxury yacht. He reportedly purchased expensive paintings and sculpture for display at the cemetery, but kept the art at his elegant home in the Hollywood Hills. Still, Roth wanted to make more money from the cemetery. He considered drilling for oil on the property, and made $9 million by selling off two strips of the cemetery’s land along Santa Monica Boulevard, where developers immediately put up gaudy strip malls.

      Families with relatives in the cemetery started to complain about the condition of the property. Some remains, including legendary Hollywood make-up artist Max Factor, were removed from the cemetery and buried elsewhere.

      When the state inspectors arrived, they discovered that Roth had illegally mixed money from Hollywood Memorial Park with another cemetery and mortuary he operated. Money that should have been spent on cemetery upkeep and repairs was apparently being diverted to other uses, though the full extent of the mishandling of funds may never be known, since the statute of limitations prevented state auditors from looking back more than a few years. When Roth died in early 1998, inspectors were still going over the books. (Roth is buried in the Cathedral Mausoleum at Hollywood Forever, next to his parents and his wife. His crypt marker identifies him as General Manager and President Emeritus – Hollywood Cemetery.)

      The Hollywood Cemetery Association, the official owner of the property, filed for bankruptcy in 1997, with only $1.8 million in the cemetery maintenance fund, $2.3 million

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