Norma and her big step

1893 Norma Talmadge (d. December 24, 1957), American actress who, on May 18, 1927, became the first celebrity to leave her mark in the famous concrete outside Grauman’s Chinese Theater. Legend has it that before the theatre officially opened, owner Sid Grauman was giving a tour to some celebrities, during which Norma unintentionally walked across a wet slab of cement. Grauman’s publicists saw the fortunate mistake as the opportunity for publicity, so they continued the practice.

Variations of this honoured tradition are imprints of the spectacles of Harold Lloyd, the cigars of Groucho Marx and George Burns, the legs of Betty Grable, the ice skating blades of Sonja Henie and the noses of both Jimmy Durante and Bob Hope. Two of today's birthday boys are also represented in Grauman's concrete in unusual ways: a stroll outside the theatre will reveal Al Jolson's knees and John Wayne's fist. Errol Flynn I'm not sure about.

One of Norma's husbands was comedian George Jessel (1898 - 1981). Like her actress sisters Natalie Talmadge (who married Buster Keaton in 1921) and Constance Talmadge, her grave marker gives a false date of birth (1897).