Customer Reviews

Hollywood at Your Feet: The Story of the World-Famous Chinese Theater

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What a wonderful book - as the Library Journal mentions it is an absolute must for movie buffs. Conscientiously written, I have found it to be an end-all reference source for years...and so much fun. Highly recommended!

The pictures are nice but that's where it ends! My grandfather, JEAN KLOSSNER built the Chinese theater in 1926-27 and then went on to perform the footprint ceremonies for Forty years (I assisted him in '53-'54) and I can tell you that these authors failed to do their homework! When you choose to write about a subject you should at least know something about it! A little research at the files of the Hollywood Chamber of commerce would have proved invaluable to these people who apparently were more interested in deadlines than facts. There are five surviving members of our family who remember "Grandpa Jean" or "Mr. Footprint" as Hollywood knew him, and any one of us could have provided much more insight to the facts, trivia and stories. These authors missed so much of the real stories (They weren't there!) that the book is a shell of what it could have been..... if they only had done some research.....JR

Length:: 2:11 Mins

Hollywood at Your Feet: The Story of the World-Famous Chinese Theater

This book may interesting for the photos but it lacks a certain depth and lack of simple research. Published, as it is, the publishing company did a disservice to my Great Uncle, Mr John Tartaglia, who was the cement artist who replaced Jean Klossner after a feud, of sorts, with Sid (Sid Grauman). That feud set the stage for John Tartaglia. What was thought to be a temporary take-over job turned out to be 34 years (1953 - 1987) of service, "When Hollywood was Hollywood," in making Hollywood history enshrining 38 stars in the forecourt of the Grauman's (Mann) Chinese Theatre, from Jean Simmons in September 24, 1953 to Eddie Murphy in May 5, 1987.

Our family would kindly appreciate that John Tartaglia receive the same recognition as we would want Jean Klossner to receive for his services as well in any and all future publications on the web, videos and/or in print. (Please take note on page where John Tartaglia is standing just behind Sidney Poitier, while being referred to as "Others Unidentified")

Please look for John Tartaglia in photos and articles on Facebook (keywords: John Tartaglia Chinese Theatre), Google (Jet Magazine and The Florence Times - Tri-Cities Daily page 6), Tweetcepts ([...] - Courtesy of Dan Ferrero - [...]) and also Craigslist (Los Angeles Events - John Tartaglia Chinese Theatre).

You may see John Tartaglia in Jet Magazine with Eddie Murphy by Google searching in "Google Books" as well as an article entitled, "Footprints Tell Story of Talented Man" in The Florence Times - HERE: [...] Thank you for reading!

Please watch this Video interview from his son and I with Judd Mcilvain:

THE VIDEO: [...]

In regards to the Klossner family, I feel we should colaborate our efforts and info if you have any interests in developing and publishing our own book devoted to Hollywood history. You may also converse with my Godfather who is John's son. I only wish I knew sooner to contact you and the shortcomings of this publishing company. My family and I are working on resolving these errors as well.
Please feel free to contact me via my website:
(Courtesy of Dan Ferrero - [...])
(We have additional Footprint Ceremony photos as well!!!)