Historic Walking Tours of Hollywood Forever Cemetery Reveal Forgotten Scandals and Beloved Stars
WHAT: Historic Walking Tours of Hollywood Forever Cemetery hosted by Karie Bible
WHEN: October 25th (noon), October 26th (3:30pm), November 2nd (noon), November 15th (noon), December 6th (noon), December 13th (noon). Upcoming tour dates will be posted online. The tours are year round.
WHERE: Hollywood Forever Cemetery, 6000 Santa Monica Blvd, LA, CA 90038
COST: $12 per person
INFO: http://www.cemeterytour.com , 818-517-5988
Hollywood Forever Cemetery is one of the most celebrated and intriguing locales in Los Angeles. For the past six years, historic tour guide Karie Bible has been giving official walking tours of the property. This tour has been one of the city's best kept secrets-- until now.
The two-hour tour evokes the storied past and navigates the labyrinth of the present as it highlights the various historic tales, scandals and mysteries that remain a part of Hollywood lore.
The tour begins with an introduction that focuses on the diversity of the cemetery and how it has evolved over the past several decades. Attendees then take a journey around the pond and into the life stories of numerous luminaries, including Griffith J. Griffith, who gave the city Griffith Park-- and in 1903 gave his wife a bullet to the head. Surprisingly she survived the attack and Griffith served only two years in San Quentin for the crime.
Showbiz names on the tour literally run the gamut from A to Z, with award-winning director John Huston being only feet away from Maila Nurmi, known to the world as "Vampira" from Ed Wood's Plan 9 From Outer Space. Legendary director Cecil B. De Mille also rests only a short distance away from bit player Virginia Rappe, whose only fame came through her death three days after Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle's ultimately tragic weekend party in San Francisco. Other stars featured include Fay Wray, Janet Gaynor, Cecil B. De Mille, Marion Davies, Tyrone Power and Columbia Pictures founder Harry Cohn. The tour also includes three "cenotaphs" or memorials for stars whose remains are interred elsewhere including Jayne Mansfield, Hattie McDaniel and Johnny Ramone.
Later the tour explores the Cathedral Mausoleum, which houses silent screen star Rudolph Valentino. According to tour guide Bible, "In all of the years I've been giving this tour, his grave remains the most popular and asked about one in the entire cemetery." The Cathedral Mausoleum also includes tragic silent vamp Barbara La Marr, slain film director William Desmond Taylor and actors Peter Finch and Peter Lorre.
After the Cathedral Mausoleum, the tour visits the graves of Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and Jr., Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, "Golden Girl" Estelle Getty (a recent addition) and finally Mel Blanc whose grave fittingly reads "That's All Folks!"
Appropriately, Karie Bible was born on Halloween night, has two different colored eyes and a very pale complexion which helps to make her a perfect host for an afternoon of walking among crypts. She developed the rigorously researched tour under the guidance of acclaimed Hollywood historian Marc Wanamaker. In an effort to evoke old Hollywood glamour, she even gives the tour in a black vintage gown and matching parasol, which makes her a living photo op for tour guests wanting to remember their adventure at Hollywood Forever.
Karie Bible says, "I show people the graves and tell them great stories, but I always encourage people to watch the films of these stars. The films are what they left behind. Ultimately that is their legacy and the way that they continue to live on."
Upcoming Hollywood Forever tour dates:
Saturday, October 25th at 12 noon
Sunday, October 26th at 3:30pm
Sunday, November 2nd at 12 noon
Sunday, November 9th at 12 noon
Saturday, November 15th at 12 noon
Saturday, December 6th at 12 noon
Saturday, December 13th at 12 noon
This tour is year round and future tour dates can be found at
http://www.cemeterytour.com
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