Statue to the stars

Eric Spiegelman at Cinemocracy treks to the wilderness of Beverly Hills—"or, as I usually refer to it, across the street"—to check out the odd monument to film celebrities that rises at the corner of Olympic and Beverly Drive. Designed in 1959 by sculptor Merrell Gage, who also did the electric water fountain-light show at Wilshire and Santa Monica boulevards, the statue credits Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and Rudolph Valentino with saving Beverly Hills from annexation in 1923 by the hated Los Angeles. The inscription reads:

In tribute to those celebrities of the motion picture industry who worked so valiantly for the preservation of Beverly Hills as a separate municipality.

Although Beverly Hills calls the stars' actions "the first union of show business and politics in our national life," Cinemocracy asks what about the Lincoln assassination by actor John Wilkes Booth—"an action that sparked 140 years of animosity between Republicans and celebrities."