Photo: TCM/Getty Images |
On the second morning of TCM Classic Film Festival 2017, I had the pleasure of attending the Carl Reiner and Rob Reiner hand and footprint ceremony in the forecourt of the Chinese Theatre.
I was especially excited to cover this ceremony, because this is the first time a father and son have been simultaneously awarded this honor.
This was my fourth time attending the ceremony and my seatmates, along with several other bloggers were the fabulous Karen and Raquel:
Karen, Raquel and Me |
For the first time we were seated for the ceremony, which was a bit disappointing, since we had a perfect spot for taking photos at the Francis Ford Coppola ceremony the year before, but it was also nice to have an assigned spot from which to watch the proceedings.
I felt a lot better when I realized we were sitting behind Cary Elwes:
Wow, even the back of his hair is charming |
I mean that's cool. Except he kept blocking my shots:
Thanks Cary |
Thanks again Cary |
I finally did take a good shot on purpose:
Okay, you are a handsome man, you can block anything you want |
Ben Mankiewicz, Tom Bergeron and Billy Crystal provided the introductions:
Ben |
Tom |
Billy (can you tell I was trying to crop Elwes out of all these shots?) |
The Reiners were as charming as I expected. Carl has often spoken about the importance of loving, supportive parenting, and you could see that he took his own advice in the way he interacted with his son. These profoundly funny men clearly adore each other.
Carl told a touching story about Rob as a child. Apparently the junior Reiner told his father one day that he wanted to change his name. Assuming that his son wanted to distinguish himself from his father, he stoically accepted his child's decision. It turns out that he wanted to change his name to Carl. True mutual adoration.
The pair approached the ceremony with humorous gusto, suggesting at one point that they put their bald heads into the cement. When Rob made a crack that he had a "wide stance" he looked over, delighted, when several people in the crowd got the reference and laughed.
Photo: TCM/Getty Images |
In a tweet that morning, Carl Reiner had joked that he was excited about the ceremony, but worried he wasn't going to be able to get up. Fortunately, there are people for that.
Photo: TCM/Getty Images |
Photo: TCM/Getty Images |
Norman Lear was also in the crowd that morning. I got a shot of him greeting Kevin Nealon:
Doesn't he look great?
I'm also endlessly fascinated by these guys:
We don't know their names, but there wouldn't be a ceremony without them!
As always, the hand and footprint ceremony at The Chinese Theatre was a fascinating, one-of-a-kind event. It was a delight to see these two men honored together. They seemed delighted to be up there together themselves.
More TCMFF coverage to come!
All photos property of A Classic Movie Blog except where noted.
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