The 2019 additions to the Hollywood Walk of Fame (the names in the sidewalk up there) have been announced. They are as follows…
For MOTION PICTURES: Alan Arkin, Kristen Bell, Daniel Craig, Robert De Niro, Guillermo del Toro, Anne Hathaway, Lupita Nyong'o, Tyler Perry, and Gena Rowlands.
For work in TELEVISION: Alvin and The Chipmunks, Candice Bergen, Guy Fieri, Terrence Howard, Stacy Keach, Sid and Marty Krofft, Lucy Liu, Mandy Moore, Dianne Wiest, and Julia Child (Posthumous).
In the category of RECORDING: Michael Bublé, Cypress Hill, The Lettermen, Faith Hill, Tommy Mottola, P!nk, Teddy Riley, Trio: Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris, and Jackie Wilson (Posthumous).
And in the field of LIVE THEATRE/LIVE PERFORMANCE: Idina Menzel, Cedric the Entertainer, Judith Light, and Paul Sorvino.
Nice to see my occasional employers Sid and Marty Krofft being honored…and until this morning, you could have won a lot of money betting with me that they didn't already have a star.
Also nice to see they're saluting the two greatest musical trios around today: The parlay of Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris…and Alvin, Simon and Theodore. If you're a recording artist who has yet to be recognized by the committee, it must be wonderful to know that you don't have a star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame but that three singing chipmunks will.
There are no dates yet for the star dedication ceremonies. The way they do this is that the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce coordinates with the honoree not just about their availability but also about getting some other "names" to show up for the event. The honorees have two years to schedule the installation and unveiling…and usually it's done to correspond to when they have a big movie opening or a new TV series debuting. Sometimes though, the stars are too big to be bothered with it. After George Clooney was voted in, he let the two years expire so he has to wait until they vote him in again. That is, if he cares.
Dedicating the star in conjunction with some P.R. campaign for a project helps with the cost of it. Theoretically, the honoree's fans are supposed to somehow raise the money but I doubt that happens very much. Sometimes, the honoree pays for it but most of the time they get a network or studio to kick in for it. Currently, the price is $40,000.