Saunders on the ‘H’
My appetite for random historical curios has thrown up an interesting fact of which I was previously unaware: the famous Hollywood sign in Los Angeles has only existed in it’s present form since 1978. As proved by the picture above, the original sign was for the less snappy ‘Hollywoodland’ and, according to Wikipedia, had an uncertain future after official funding for it’s maintenance ended in 1939.
The letter ‘H’ in the sign also has a long and storied history. In 1932 the actress Peg Entwistle threw herself from the top of the 50-foot letter to her death, having grown depressed at her lack of opportunities in film. Ironically, a letter mailed the day before she had jumped was opened by her relatives after her death, offering the lead role in a stage production (in which her character would commit suicide in the final act). Her ghost haunts the sign with a whiff of Gardenia scent, her favourite perfume, apparently.
Later, in 1940, the sign’s official caretaker, one Albert Kothe, drunkenly crashed his Model T Ford into the ‘H’ destroying both car and letter. Kothe, presumably rather shamefacedly, walked away without injury.
Although the sign received a new lease of life with funding from the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, who shortened it to it’s present form in 1949, it continued to look rather dilapidated. In the late 1970’s nine donors, including Alice Cooper, Hugh Hefner and Andy Williams paid $27,000 each to sponsor replacement letters, five feet smaller than their predecessors. These were revealed to a television audience of 60 million people on November 14th 1978, the 75th anniversary of Hollywood.
The sign that was originally created as an advertisement for a new housing estate, only intended to last 18-months (according to some sources), that became an icon for the sleaze and splendour encapsulated in the most famous suburb in the world. I find it constantly amazing that I know so little about landmarks, places, events and people that are so instantly recognisable to a world-wide audience.
So much to learn - and so depressingly little time to do it in.