Grauman's Chinese Theatre

The TCL Chinese Theatre ( listen^{? /i}) (former names: Grauman's Chinese Theatre Listen^{? /i} and Mann's Chinese Theatre Listen^{? /i}) is a movie theater on Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, Los Angeles. It was opened in 1927 by movie theater owner Sid Grauman as a premiere movie theater in the style of a Chinese pagoda. The cinema became world famous for the hand and shoe prints of numerous film stars immortalized in cement slabs in the entrance area of the cinema.

Portal of the Grauman's Chinese Theatre

History of the Chinese Theatre

The TCL Chinese Theatre was built by the entrepreneur Sid Grauman, who had erected one of the first movie palaces in Los Angeles in 1918 with the Million Dollar Theatre. In 1922, he built Grauman's Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, until then only home to several film studios, a large cinema designed like an Egyptian palace. With this cinema built on Hollywood Boulevard, the cinemas shifted from the centre of Los Angeles to the suburb of Hollywood.

In January 1926, Grauman decided to build another movie theater on Hollywood Boulevard just a few blocks from the Egyptian Theatre. Partners in this building project were the actors Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford as well as the entrepreneur Howard Schenck, it was designed by the architect Raymond M. Kennedy. The building was completed in the spring of 1927. Grauman's Chinese Theatre opened on May 18, 1927, with the world premiere of Cecil B. DeMille's monumental silent film King of Kings about the life of Christ.

The construction costs for the cinema amounted to two million US dollars. It was built in Chinese style using many original parts from China. The portal of the building is dominated by two 27 m high red columns. Above them are iron masks depicting mythological dogs. Above them is the curved bronze roof. Between the columns hangs a Chinese dragon carved out of stone. In front of the portal is a walled forecourt, which served as a reception area for many film premieres. The interior had room for 2200 spectators on one floor. Since the cinema was planned before the breakthrough of sound film, a modern Wurlitzer cinema organ was installed; however, the cinema also offered space for an orchestra and a show stage, on which an elaborate entertainment program with music and dance framed the film screenings in the early years of the Chinese Theatre.

In 1929, Sid Grauman sold his interest in the Chinese Theatre to film producer and cinema operator William Fox; however, Grauman remained manager of the film theatre until his death in 1950. From 1944 to 1946, Grauman, a founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, hosted the Academy Awards with his Chinese Theatre.

In 1968, the cinema was listed as a historic monument. In 1973 it was taken over by Ted Mann, operator of the Mann cinema chain, and renamed Mann's Chinese Theatre. In the 1980s, two smaller 750-seat movie theaters were built next to the main building. However, these outbuildings were closed and demolished in the late 1990s. The Kodak Theatre, the venue for the Academy Awards since 2002, was built in place of the annexes.

In 1986, Mann sold his cinemas to Gulf and Western, the owners of Paramount Pictures. The Chinese Theatre was damaged in the massive earthquake of January 17, 1994, requiring extensive renovations. In 2001, the cinema was returned to its historic name of Grauman's Chinese Theatre. It is still used today as a premiere cinema, but also for normal film screenings.

The Chinese electronics company TCL secured the naming rights to the theatre for over five million US dollars, so that it has officially been called TCL Chinese Theatre since 2013.

Interior of the Chinese Theatre

Collection of hand and shoe prints

Even though the portal of the TCL Chinese Theatre is one of the most famous sights in Los Angeles, most of the four million visitors a year come mainly for the hand and shoe prints in the cement floor of the forecourt.

Legend has it that the actress Norma Talmadge got her high heels stuck in the damp cement floor during a visit to the cinema, which was still under construction, whereupon Grauman had the idea of immortalizing such prints as the "autograph" of the stars at the Chinese Theatre. Evidence, on the other hand, shows that construction worker Jean Klossner left his handprint and monogram when he finished laying out the forecourt. Klossner later oversaw the imprinting ceremony from 1927 to 1962.

On April 30, 1927, the first prints made were those of Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks in a formal ceremony. Some 200 more stars were added over the next 70 years, though the 1970s and 1980s, when the cinema was run by Mann's Theatres, saw a sharp decline in the number of film premieres and, with them, new prints.

In addition to handprints and shoeprints, some stars also left other prints. Harold Lloyd, for example, left an imprint of his nickel glasses and the horses of Western stars Tom Mix, Gene Autry and Roy Rogers immortalized their hoofprints.

Charlie Chaplin's hand and footprints from 1928 were removed. The concrete slab with his prints is still missing today. Chaplin had previously been refused re-entry to the USA - because of alleged proximity to communism - and had subsequently settled in Switzerland.

A counterpart of the collection in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, officially calls itself the Walk of Fame Europe.

1920s

Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks Sr. - April 30, 1927
Norma Talmadge - 18 May 1927
Norma Shearer - August 1, 1927
Harold Lloyd - 21 November 1927
William S. Hart - November 28, 1927
Tom Mix and horse Tony - December 12, 1927
Colleen Moore - 19 December 1927
Gloria Swanson - ca. 1927
Constance Talmadge - ca. 1927
Charles Chaplin - ca. January 1928 (has been removed again)
Pola Negri - April 2, 1928
Bebe Daniels - May 11, 1929
Marion Davies - 13 May 1929
Janet Gaynor - 29 May 1929
Joan Crawford - 14 September 1929

1930s

Ann Harding - August 30, 1930
Raoul Walsh - 14 November 1930
Wallace Beery and Marie Dressler - January 31, 1931
Jackie Cooper - December 12, 1931
Eddie Cantor - March 9, 1932
Diana Wynyard - 26 January 1933
Marx Brothers - February 17, 1933
Jean Harlow - September 25 and 29, 1933
MauriceChevalier and Jeanette MacDonald - December 4, 1934
Shirley Temple - March 14, 1935
Joe E. Brown - March 5, 1936
Al Jolson - March 12, 1936
Freddie Bartholomew - April 4, 1936
Bing Crosby - April 8, 1936
Victor McLaglen - 25 May 1936
William Powell and Myrna Loy - October 20, 1936
Clark Gable and W. S. Van Dyke - January 20, 1937
Dick Powell and Joan Blondell - February 10, 1937
Fredric March - 21 April 1937
May Robson - 22 April 1937
Tyrone Power and Loretta Young - May 31, 1937
Sonja Henie - 28 June 1937
Ritz Brothers - September 22, 1937
Eleanor Powell - December 23, 1937
Don Ameche - 27 January 1938
Fred Astaire - February 4, 1938
Deanna Durbin - February 7, 1938
Alice Faye and Tony Martin - March 20, 1938

Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy - July 20, 1938
Jean Hersholt - 11 October 1938
Mickey Rooney - 18 October 1938
Nelson Eddy - 28 December 1938
Ginger Rogers - September 5, 1939
Judy Garland - October 10, 1939
Jane Withers - November 6, 1939

1940s

Linda Darnell - 18 March 1940
George Raft and Rosa Grauman - March 25, 1940
John Barrymore - September 5, 1940
Jack Benny - January 13, 1941
Carmen Miranda - 24 March 1941
Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Taylor - June 11, 1941
Rudy Vallee - July 21, 1941
Cecil B. DeMille - August 7, 1941
The Andy Hardy Movie Series Cast: Fay Holden, Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Lewis Stone, Ann Rutherford and Sara Haden - August 15, 1941
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello - December 8, 1941
Edward Arnold - January 6, 1942
Joan Fontaine - 26 May 1942
Red Skelton - June 18, 1942
Premiere party of the film Mrs. Miniver and leading actress Greer Garson - July 23, 1942
Henry Fonda, Rita Hayworth, Charles Laughton, Edward G. Robinson and Charles Boyer - July 24, 1942
Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour - February 5, 1943
Betty Grable - 15 February 1943
Monty Woolley - May 28, 1943
Gary Cooper - August 13, 1943
Esther Williams and Private Joe Brain - August 1, 1944
Jack Oakie - February 21, 1945
Jimmy Durante - October 31, 1945
Gene Tierney and Sid Grauman - January 24, 1946

Irene Dunne and Rex Harrison - July 8, 1946
Margaret O'Brien - 15 August 1946
Humphrey Bogart - August 21, 1946
Louella Parsons - September 30, 1946
Ray Milland - April 17, 1947
Lauritz Melchior - 17 November 1947
James Stewart - 13 February 1948
Van Johnson - March 25, 1948
George Jessel - 1 March 1949
Roy Rogers and Horse Trigger - April 21, 1949
Richard Widmark and Charles Nelson (winner of a talent search) - April 24, 1949
Jeanne Crain - 17 October 1949
Jean Hersholt - 20 October 1949
Anne Baxter and Gregory Peck - December 15, 1949
Gene Autry and Horse Champion - December 23, 1949

1950s

John Wayne - January 25, 1950
Lana Turner - May 24, 1950
Bette Davis - November 6, 1950
William Lundigan - December 29, 1950
Cary Grant - 16 July 1951
Susan Hayward - August 10, 1951
Hildegard Knef (as Hildegarde Neff) and Oskar Werner - December 13, 1951
Jane Wyman - September 17, 1952
Ava Gardner - October 21, 1952
Clifton Webb - December 7, 1952
Olivia de Havilland - December 9, 1952
Adolph Zukor - 5 January 1953
Ezio Pinza - 26 January 1953
Donald O'Connor and wife Effie O'Connor - February 25, 1953
Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe - June 26, 1953
Premiere celebration of CinemaScope and the first film released in CinemaScope, The Robe, and its leading lady, Jean Simmons - September 24, 1953.
Danny Thomas - 26 January 1954
James Mason - 20 March 1954
Alan Ladd - May 12, 1954
Edmund Purdom - 30 August 1954
Van Heflin - October 8, 1954
George Murphy - November 8, 1954
Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr - March 22, 1956
Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson and George Stevens - September 26, 1956
Elmer C. Rhoden - September 16, 1958
Rosalind Russell - February 19, 1959

1960s

Cantinflas - 28 December 1960
Doris Day - 19 January 1961
Natalie Wood - December 5, 1961
Charlton Heston - January 18, 1962
Sophia Loren - 26 July 1962
Kirk Douglas - November 1, 1962
Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward - May 25, 1963
Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine - June 29, 1963
Mervyn LeRoy - 15 October 1963
Hayley Mills - February 22, 1964
Dean Martin - 21 March 1964
Peter Sellers - 3 June 1964
Debbie Reynolds - 14 January 1965
Marcello Mastroianni - February 8, 1965
Frank Sinatra - July 20, 1965
Julie Andrews - 26 March 1966
Dick Van Dyke - June 25, 1966
Steve McQueen - 21 March 1967
Sidney Poitier - June 23, 1967
Anthony Quinn - 21 December 1968
Danny Kaye - 19 October 1969
Gene Kelly - November 24, 1969

1970s

Francis X. Bushman - November 17, 1970
Ali MacGraw - December 14, 1972
Jack Nicholson - June 17, 1974
Tom Bradley and Ted Mann - May 18, 1977
50th Anniversary of the Chinese Theatre - May 24, 1977
The characters of Star Wars: Darth Vader, R2-D2 and Anthony Daniels as C-3PO - August 3, 1977
George Burns - 25 January 1979

1980s

John Travolta - June 2, 1980
Burt Reynolds - September 24, 1981
Rhonda Fleming - September 28, 1981
Sylvester Stallone - June 29, 1983
George Lucas and Steven Spielberg - May 16, 1984
Donald Duck and Clarence "Ducky" Nash - May 21, 1984
Clint Eastwood - August 21, 1984
Mickey Rooney - February 18, 1986
Eddie Murphy and Hollywood's 100th Anniversary - May 14, 1987

1990s

Star Trek's 25th anniversary (1966-1991) and its creator Gene Roddenberry, as well as actors William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols and George Takei - December 5, 1991.
Harrison Ford - June 4, 1992
Michael Keaton - June 15, 1992
Tom Cruise - June 15, 1992
Mel Gibson - August 23, 1993
Arnold Schwarzenegger - July 15, 1994
Meryl Streep - September 25, 1994
Whoopi Goldberg - February 2, 1995
Bruce Willis - May 18, 1995
Steven Seagal - July 10, 1995
Jim Carrey - November 1, 1995
Johnny Grant - May 13, 1997
Robert Zemeckis - July 8, 1997
Michael Douglas - September 10, 1997
Al Pacino - October 16, 1997
Denzel Washington - January 15, 1998
Walter Matthau - April 2, 1998
Warren Beatty - May 21, 1998
Danny Glover - July 7, 1998
Tom Hanks - July 23, 1998
Robin Williams - 22 December 1998
Susan Sarandon - January 11, 1999
William F. "Bill" Hertz - March 18, 1999
Ron Howard - March 23, 1999
Sean Connery - April 13, 1999
Richard Gere - July 26, 1999
Terry Semel and Bob Daly - September 30, 1999

2000s

Anthony Hopkins - January 11, 2001
Nicolas Cage - August 14, 2001
Martin Lawrence - 19 November 2001
John Woo - May 21, 2002
Morgan Freeman - June 5, 2002
Christopher Walken - October 8, 2004
Jack Valenti - December 6, 2004
Sherry Lansing - February 16, 2005
Adam Sandler - May 17, 2005
Johnny Depp - September 16, 2005
Samuel L. Jackson - January 30, 2006
Kevin Costner - September 6, 2006
Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Matt Damon and Jerry Weintraub - June 5, 2007
Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint - 9 July 2007
Will Smith - December 10, 2007
Michael Caine - July 11, 2008
Hugh Jackman - April 21, 2009
Robert Downey Jr. - December 7, 2009

2010s

Jerry Bruckheimer - May 17, 2010
Cher - 18 November 2010
Robert Duvall - January 5, 2011
Kobe Bryant - February 19, 2011
Helen Mirren - 28 March 2011
Peter O'Toole - 30 April 2011
Jennifer Aniston - July 7, 2011
Mickey Rourke - October 31, 2011
Alvin and the Chipmunks - November 1, 2011
Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner - November 3, 2011
George Chakiris, Russ Tamblyn and Rita Moreno on the 50th Anniversary of West Side Story - November 15, 2011.
David Guetta - December 3, 2011
The Smurfs: Smurfette, Clumsy and Papa Smurf - December 13, 2011
Michael Jackson (represented by his children Prince Michael Jr, Paris Michael Katherine and Prince Michael Joseph II) - January 26, 2012.
Kim Novak - April 14, 2012
Lee Byung-hun and Ahn Sung-ki - June 23, 2012
Uggie - June 25, 2012
Christopher Nolan - July 7, 2012
Britney Spears, Demi Lovato, Simon Cowell and L.A. Reid - September 11, 2012
Robert De Niro - February 4, 2013
Jane Fonda - April 27, 2013
Jackie Chan - June 6, 2013
Jerry Maren - September 18, 2013
Sandra Bullock - September 25, 2013
Feng Xiaogang - November 1, 2013
Emma Thompson - November 7, 2013
John Goodman - November 14, 2013
Ben Stiller - December 3, 2013
Leo the Lion - 22 January 2014
Jerry Lewis - April 12, 2014
Melissa McCarthy - July 2, 2014
Mel Brooks - September 8, 2014
Peter Cullen and Optimus Prime - September 30, 2014
Gena Rowlands - December 2, 2014
Ethan Hawke - January 8, 2015
Vince Vaughn - March 4, 2015
Christopher Plummer - March 27, 2015
Vin Diesel - April 1, 2015
Dwayne Johnson - May 19, 2015
Justin Lin, Zhao Wei and Huang Xiaoming - June 3, 2015
Katy Perry - September 9, 2015
Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth - October 31, 2015
Quentin Tarantino - January 5, 2016
Francis Ford Coppola - April 29, 2016
Roland Emmerich - 20 June 2016
Tim Burton - September 8, 2016
Jeffrey Katzenberg - September 29, 2016
Jessica Chastain - November 3, 2016
Donnie Yen - November 30, 2016
Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling - December 7, 2016
Jeff Bridges - January 6, 2017
Rob Reiner and Carl Reiner - April 7, 2017
Ridley Scott - May 17, 2017
Michael Bay - May 23, 2017
Stan Lee - July 18, 2017
Tamer Hosny - August 9, 2017
Kenneth Branagh - 26 October 2017
Mariah Carey - November 1, 2017
Lionel Richie - March 7, 2018
Cicely Tyson - April 27, 2018
Jim Parsons - May 2, 2018
Quincy Jones - November 27, 2018
Pitbull - December 14, 2018
Sam Elliott - January 7, 2019
Billy Crystal - April 12, 2019
Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, Kevin Feige - April 23, 2019
Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Simon Helberg, Kunal Nayyar, Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch - May 1, 2019
Keanu Reeves - May 14, 2019
Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes - July 19, 2019
Kevin Hart - December 10, 2019