HOLLYWOOD—Hello America! Finally Hollywood Boulevard is, again, looking like the place that for decades, we of the industry, considered it a very special street to be a part of.  It was a time when it was not infested with human maggots wearing costumes of past legends.  Even though it had some tacky moments, during the early years, somehow, the old street maintained its own type of class or maybe, we should label it, history.

Recently, I noticed that all the ghetto-type losers and dope peddlers were suddenly not in view at every turn. There were actually tourists visible, walking freely around Grauman’s, Madame Tussauds and the Academy buildings without being hassled for money.  Obviously, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce played an important role in the cleanup. After all, since Hollywood is known around the globe, and people who come here want to see, not the filthy dirty side of Tinseltown society, but the best of what our industry can offer, everything they imagined it would be.  We should take the necessary steps in securing the image that thousands of creative people in the past worked tirelessly to build delivering the cinematic magic that makes life bearable.  I shout “Amen” for the change of one of my favorite streets, a place where I first spotted Maureen O’Hara and Vincent Price when first arriving by greyhound in the early 1950s.

I love Rachel Maddow!  This young news-lady is one of the brightest and inspiring television personalities we have aboard today.  She recently went to Kabul to interview several of the main characters who are leading figures in the planning of the war, as well as a few reporters who have contributed to her MSNBC news hour.  She doesn’t just sit in front of a camera and read the news, but goes to the source when possible, and in doing so, makes quite an impact on her viewers.  Maddow has moxie and it looks good and right on her!

By the way, it would be a hoot if the Academy elected to have Betty White host next year’s Oscar show.  She is still one of the most delightful stars we have in this business.  When I think of when I first saw her tape the “Betty White Show” in the ’50s, and all the game shows in between and finally “Golden Girls,” I dread the time when she will hang up her comedy gloves and simply rest.  Of course, I don’t think that this is in her character, but who knows, after all this is Hollywood.