Who2 Editorial Blog

Notes and Commentary from the Editors

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Forest Lawn: Michael Jackson's Final Resting Place?

(TV trucks outside Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills on 7 July 2009.)

A family funeral for pop star Michael Jackson took place at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills today, and Jackson reportedly (may) be buried there after his funeral today.

Forest Lawn has a long and slightly odd history. It's just over the hill behind the famous HOLLYWOOD sign; a friend and I once walked up the hill past the sign and its many security cameras, over the brow of the hill (Griffith Park to your right as you're heading north) and then down into Forest Park.

Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills is loaded with celebrities: Bette Davis, Lucille Ball, Steve Allen and Telly Savalas among them. Ed McMahon and David Carradine just landed there, too.

(Note: Walt Disney himself is at a different Forest Lawn property, Forest Lawn Glendale, which is a few miles away.)

As an additional Hollywood touch, from the cemetery you can look right across the Ventura Freeway at the Disney animation studios in beautiful Burbank.

Forest Lawn's other claim to fame is its extravagant (some would say kitschy) tributes to the American Revolution. The cemetery includes a replica of Boston's Old North Church and other odd items. Per the Forest Lawn website:

- Feel the excitement of the American Revolution as you stand before the world's largest historical mosaic, The Birth of Liberty.

- Visit a faithful reproduction of Boston's fabled Old North Church

- See larger-than-life-sized bronze statues of Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln

- Watch a free 26-minute movie about the American Revolution

- Tour the Plaza of Mesoamerican Heritage, a tribute to the early civilizations of North America who thrived in the land that is now Mexico

Not your average Boot Hill, in other words.

Hubert Eaton, who founded Forest Lawn, didn't go for the gloomy graveyard model. He believed in "memorial parks" where families could come to visit and even picnic among the dearly departed. Toward that end, he banned stand-up headstones in favor of flat tablets, and he's credited with inventing (as it were) this all-flat-tablet style of cemetery.

(Eaton, like Disney, is buried at Forest Lawn Glendale.)

We didn't even know it was a celebrity burial ground at the time of our walk, but we marveled over the Old North Church replica and the Revolutionary details, which have an olde-time Hall of Presidents feel. It's a strange scene.

As another friend said today, "All you need is a Ferris wheel and Michael will feel right at home."

Labels: David Carradine, Ed McMahon, Forest Lawn, Hubert Eaton, Lucille Ball, Michael Jackson, Steve Allen, Telly Savalas, The Old North Church, Walt Disney

Posted by Mr. Holznagel at 12:33 PM Share on Facebook 0 comments

Monday, January 12, 2009

Telly Savalas Was Born in 1922, Not 1924

We had 1924 as the birth year for Telly Savalas, but our friends at Answers.com asked us to double-check the date.

We did, by writing to CMG Worldwide, the management company that runs the official Telly Savalas website and manages his image for his estate. Their reply:

Hello, thank you for your inquiry on Telly Savalas. I have confirmed his birthdate was Jan. 21, 1922.

Thank you for you time and concern.

Regards,
Matt Graves
CMG Worldwide, Inc.

Telly may have fudged the date a bit during his career, as so many other actors have done. His NY Times obituary, for instance, says 1924. And various sources note that he died in 1994 just one day after his "70th" birthday.

But we're comfortable with that confirmation from CMG Worldwide, and have changed our official word to 1922.

(Heh! Nice coincidence: Doris Day made the exact same fudge -- from 1924 to 1922.)

Labels: Disputed Birth Dates, Doris Day, Matt Graves, Telly Savalas

Posted by Mr. Holznagel at 8:19 AM Share on Facebook 0 comments

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