The Lollipop Guild

On Monday night, we welcomed hundreds of kids and kids at heart to the Chinese Theatre, where the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce Community Foundation and Hollywood Heritage put together an unforgettable evening that brought together Hollywood's unforgettable past with its living present with a screening of a restored print of the Wizard of Oz. Joining us for this special screening were seven of the last nine surviving actors who played the Munchkins in this timeless classic.

The Wizard of Oz first premiered at Grauman's Chinese Theater on August 15, 1939, and being in the original theatre made the night very special. The actors that played the Munchkins spoke on a panel that preceded the screening. In one of my favorite moments, Meinhardt Raabe, who played the Coroner, re-affirmed about the Wicked Witch of the West that the "As Coroner, I must aver, I thoroughly examined her, And she's not only MERELY dead, She's really most SINCERELY dead." I gave each of them a resolution on behalf of the city and had a wonderful time at the movie.

The next day, the Munchkins came back to the Chinese by horse-drawn carriage as the Walk of Fame was transformed into the Yellow Brick Road and on behalf of all 124 Munchkins, they accepted the newest Star on the Walk of Fame.