(Encapsulated PSA/DNA TYPE I) Offered are two photos capturing
The Snows of Kilimanjaro star Ava Gardner as her handprints are enshrined at Grauman's Chinese Theatre on October 21, 1952, just before the film's Los Angeles release two days later. The two shots show Gardner placing her foot in the wet cement and cleaning her hand off. At the time, she was at the peak of her career on the heels of the films
One Touch of Venus (1948),
Show Boat (1951) and
Lone Star (1952), and she would be nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award in
Mogambo the next year. The photos measure 8 x 10 inches and both have Gardner's name neatly notated on the border. Strong Near Mint condition overall.
This photo comes from a collection of more than 100 photographs offered in this auction which document the early decades of the famous "handprint" ceremonies at Grauman's Chinese Theatre on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. The theatre was built by theatre mogul Sid Grauman over 18 months beginning in January 1926, the theater opened May 18, 1927, with the premiere of Cecil B. DeMille's The King of Kings. It has since been home to many premieres, including the 1977 debut of Star Wars, as well as many private events and three Academy Awards ceremonies. Nearly 200 Hollywood celebrity handprints, footprints and Signeds are in the concrete of the theater's forecourt. Though many other handprints have been added nearby in recent years, the ones placed within the forecourt are still chosen by a special committee which selects celebrities based on their contributions to Hollywood cinema. Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford were the first, done on April 30, 1927. Master of Ceremonies Jean Klossner appears with his signature beret in many of the photos. During the theatres initial construction, Grauman hired Klossner to formulate an extremely hard concrete for the forecourt of the theater. Klossner later became known as "Mr. Footprint", performing the ceremonies from 1927 through 1957.