The famous Hollywood sign was built in 1923 for $21,000. The sign originally said "Hollywoodland,” in 50-foot-tall letters, and was built to promote a new 500-acre subdivision of homes.
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In 1949, the "Hollywoodland” sign was in total disrepair. Due to public outcry, rather than tear down the sign, the city refurbished it and shortened it to "Hollywood.”
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The second restoration of the Hollywood sign in 1978 cost $27,000 per letter and was financed through private donations.
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The Hollywood sign is a trademark of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. Commercial usage of the sign, such as in movies, requires the approval of the chamber.
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Lillian Millicent Entwistle (1908-1932), a depressed actress, committed suicide at age 24 by jumping from the "H” of the Hollywood sign.
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The Hollywood Memorial Park cemetery was established in 1899. Among the celebrities buried there are Rudolph Valentino (1895-1926), Douglas Fairbanks (1883-1939) and Clifton Webb (1891-1966).
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The average cost of a funeral in the United States is $5,778. That does not include the cost of a burial plot.
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The first cemetery for pets in the United States was the Hartsdale Pet Cemetery in New York, established in 1894.
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Boots the dog is buried at Hartsdale Pet Cemetery. Boots, a celebrity dog of the 1940s, acted in movies and made appearances that helped raise $9 million in World War II war bonds.
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The goal of the war bond campaign was to finance WWII. More than 85 million Americans invested in war bonds.
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Purchase of a $18.75 war bond returned $25 in 10 years.
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Hollywood played a large part in promoting sales of war bonds. In September 1942, 337 celebrities encouraged Americans to buy bonds during the Stars Over America ‘bond blitz.’ The participating stars included Bette Davis (1908-1989), Rita Hayworth (1918-1987) and Dorothy Lamour (1914-1996).
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On Jan. 6, 1941, in President Franklin Roosevelt’s State of the Union address, he spoke about a world founded on four essential human freedoms. Norman Rockwell boosted war bond sales by illustrating the four freedoms in the "Saturday Evening Post” magazine. Can you name the four freedoms of which FDR spoke? See answer at end.
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When Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) tried to enlist in World War I, he was refused for being 8 pounds underweight. He gorged himself on bananas and doughnuts to reach the weight limit.
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Winchell’s Donuts has 200 franchise stores in 12 western states, New Zealand and Saudi Arabia. Dunkin’ Donuts has 5,500 stores around the world.
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Krispy Kreme Donuts went public on the New York Stock Exchange in April 2000. Their stock symbol is KKD.
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More than $5 trillion are traded annually on the New York Stock Exchange.
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The New York Stock Exchange is located at 11 Wall Street, New York, NY 10005. Cross streets are Broad and New streets.
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Answer: Freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear. Norman Rockwell translated the concepts of freedom into four scenes of everyday American life. The images reached millions of Americans when they were published in the "Saturday Evening Post” in the spring of 1943.
Know It All is by Kerry McArdle. It runs in the weekend and Wednesday editions of the Daily Journal. Questions? Comments?
E-mail knowitall@smdailyjournal.com or call 344-5200 x114.
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