World's Greatest Cemeteries

- Today, we're in the most amazing city in the world for stars, fortunes and reversals.

It's the dream factory, Hollywood, California.

(Roberto laughs) So what were their hits, the Ramones?

- "Blitzkrieg Bop" and "I Wanna Be Sedated."

- Yeah, we have a Canary palms, date palms.

- Now do people start singing when they come here?

- Often they do, sometimes they break down crying.

- Welcome to "World's Greatest Cemeteries."

(bright upbeat music) The World's Greatest Cemeteries, hold more than mortal remains.

There are monuments to landscape, design, horticulture, and history.

In a world where differences are seen as dangerous, it's more important than ever that our history is as inclusive as possible.

I spent years investigating the lives of the dead, finding out all I count about extraordinary people who were outsiders in their own day, but still managed to make significant contributions to humankind.

- [Man] Action.

(bright upbeat music) - Hollywood is the name of a neighborhood in the City of Los Angeles.

In the 1890s, it was a farming community of less than 20 families.

Developers saw potential and began promoting it as a suburban town.

Movie studios sprang up by the early 1900s, they were attracted by the sunny climate, cheap labor and vast distance between them and inventor Thomas Edison's patents on motion picture technology.

(bright upbeat music) Today, Hollywood is a sprawling metropolis that has become synonymous with America's motion picture industry.

Hollywood Forever Cemetery, is located on Santa Monica Boulevard near Paramount Studios.

So I'm here with Theodore Hovey, who is the Family Service Counselor at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

Theodore, nice to meet you.

- Welcome to Hollywood Forever.

- About how large is the cemetery and about how many people are interred here?

- [Theodore] The cemetery is about 60 acres and there are just shy of 90,000 people interred here.

- [Roberto] Now, are you still burying people here?

- [Theodore] Yes, we have services every day.

It is a very active cemetery.

- How old is this place and how did it happen to be in the middle of the city?

- The cemetery was founded, incorporated in 1899.

The first burial was 1901.

So that makes us about 122 years old.

And it is in the city now, but when it was first founded, there was no city here.

In fact, that's the only reason it could be founded here was that there was no settlement.

There were no residents to object.

- Well Theodore, thank you so much.

- You're very welcome.

- And we're gonna continue our tour of Hollywood Forever Cemetery, in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.

(bright upbeat music) I am thrilled to introduce Karie Bible of Cemetery Tour.

Hi, Karie.

- Hi, Roberto.

- Good to see you.

- Good to see you.

- Carrie is an incredible tour guide and a historian of old Hollywood.

She's gonna introduce us today to a few people that you may have heard of, like - Hattie McDaniel, Johnny Ramone, Douglas Fairbanks, Cecil B. DeMille, Judy Garland, and many more.

- Stay tuned, you won't wanna miss this.

Welcome to this episode.

(bright upbeat music) So here we are near Cecil B. DeMille.

Now, first of all, is that his real name?

- Cecil Blount DeMille is his real name.

- Got it.

Cecil B. DeMille, that name is associated with big things.

So that's why I asked if that was his real name.

So why don't you tell us about some of his favorite, some of his big movies?

- Well, he directed the silent film version of "The Ten Commandments" in the 1920s, and then the talking and Technicolor version in the 1950s with Charlton Heston.

- Gosh, I remember that so, well "The Ten commandments."

I got it.

- Yes.

- And so what was some of his ideas about filmmaking?

One of them I've heard is that he liked things to be big.

- He liked things larger than life.

Often casts of thousands, crew of thousands.

DeMille was truly about the spectacle.

That's why I love seeing his films on a big screen 'cause that's really the way they were meant to be seen.

- Absolutely, and here we have two tombs here or two crypts and who are they?

- This is Cecil B. DeMille right here and next to him is his wife, Constance Adams DeMille.

- Got it and you mentioned that Constance was kind of a do gooder, kind of a socially, a social advocate.

And for who?

- For women.

Actually in the 10s and 20s, a lot of women were flooding into Hollywood dreaming of being movie stars.

And for a lot of these women, they would wind up running out of money in the streets, even in some cases, turning to drugs or prostitution.

Mrs. DeMille, saw this and felt it was a real problem.

And so she helped to get the funding for the Hollywood Studio Club.

It was a house in Hollywood.

Young women could pay a monthly fee.

They got three meals a day, a room.

And the idea was it gave them a safe and nurturing environment to begin their careers.

This opened in 1916 and it closed its doors in 1975.

- So Constance DeMille, was kind of a social reformer of her day.

This series loves to put the shine on women, especially who were out there doing things at a time when perhaps it was not so socially acceptable.

- That's true, in fact, another interesting tidbit in the urn at the other end down there is Beatrice DeMille.

She was Cecil and Williams' mother.

She was a playwright, a screenwriter, and an early agent.

And Cecil cited her as his greatest creative inspiration.

- That is fantastic.

Let's take a look over here.

I find it very interesting.

Tales of old Hollywood, tell us a lot about the history of America.

Our next story underscores this point.

(bright upbeat music) So here we come to someone who made an amazing mark in Hollywood.

And why is Hattie McDaniel buried here?

- Well, Hattie McDaniel, this is a memorial marker.

Hattie was the first African-American to take home an Oscar.

She won best supporting actress for "Gone With the Wind."

When she was dying of cancer in the early 50s.

Her last wish was to be here, but the owner at that time told her family, no.

So instead she is interred at Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery, which is another cemetery here in LA.

When our current owner Tyler took over in the late 90s, he wanted to correct this terrible injustice.

Hattie's family did not want to disinter, but they decided to do a memorial marker.

It's right by the water, surrounded by flowers and a terrific tribute to a woman who was a true Hollywood trailblazer.

- During her lifetime Hattie McDaniel, she was a great actress, but she was also controversial.

When I was a kid, her portraying a domestic servant in "Gone with the Wind" was a source of shame for members of my family and many people that I knew.

But looking back on it, it's a bit more complex because that was the kind of role that she could get.

And she knocked it out of the park.

As you said, she won an Oscar, right?

- Absolutely.

- And you know, behind the scenes, she was a great philanthropist.

She helped a lot of people, especially a lot of African-American actors and actresses who weren't able to do for themselves.

So in fact, she's a hero in my book and it's wonderful that now we have other African-American actors like Halle Berry, like so many others who are out there winning Oscars and portraying a wide variety of roles, but she was a trailblazer.

- She absolutely was.

- Fantastic.

Let's kind of check out the scene over here.

(bright upbeat music) A unique feature at this cemetery are the peafowl a symbol of immortality.

The flock numbers over 50 peahens, females and peacocks, males, their likeness adorns the chapel dome.

And I saw them strutting, walking and flying around.

They're big birds and they're quite a sight.

(bright upbeat music) So Karie, you were telling me about Egyptian iconography.

What's the story with that?

- Well, in late 1922 King Tut's tomb was discovered in Egypt and that set off a worldwide craze of Egyptology and Egyptian design.

And that certainly found its way into cemeteries.

- So what's going on here?

- Well, this is the Abbey of the Psalms and the exterior has an art deco Egyptian design at the top of the building.

- Right here in LA, right here in Hollywood.

- Right here in Hollywood.

- I love it.

(Roberto chuckles) All right, let's check this out over here.

(bright upbeat music) So tell me about Douglas Fairbanks.

- Douglas Fairbanks was the first king of Hollywood.

He was a swashbuckling star in movies like "Robin hood," "The Black Pirate," "The Thief of Baghdad," "The Gaucho," and many more.

- [Roberto] I think of Douglas Fairbanks, when I think I was like.

(swords slashing) Right?

- Oh, yeah.

Yeah, that was him, he was a swashbuckling star.

He also co-founded United Artists, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the USC film school.

- So here we are at the sarcophagus, which is enormous.

Why is it so big?

- This grave is really befitting the regal status of Douglas Fairbanks.

He's got this whole lawn, this beautiful reflecting pool.

And this really is one of the most beautiful centerpieces of the cemetery.

- And this is a monument not only to Douglas Fairbanks, but to... - Douglas Fairbanks Jr., is in here as well.

Jr. was from Fairbank's marriage before Pickford.

He became a star in his own right.

His most famous film is probably "Gunga Din" from 1939 with Cary Grant.

He also served in the Navy in World War II.

- Fantastic, well, let's keep going and checking out some more of these wonderful monuments.

Now what about these stones up here, what are these?

- Those are rock sculptures and they're sort of pieces of modern art, if you will.

- They're beautiful.

- Yeah, they're very fascinating.

And they certainly kind of give a whole different texture and look to the Fairbanks lawn.

- Yeah, love it.

Okay, we're just gonna keep walking down here.

(bright upbeat music) So here we come to, I think the coolest monument in the cemetery, and this is - - Johnny Ramone of the rock band, The Ramones.

- That is so cool.

(Roberto laughs) So what were their hits, The Ramones?

- "Blitzkrieg Bop" and "I Wanna be Sedated."

- I love it, but now you mentioned that there's an annual commemoration of some sort?

- There is, sadly Johnny died of prostate cancer.

So once a year, usually in August, we have a Johnny Ramone Night on the back wall of the Fairbanks lawn.

We show a movie, we have celebrity guests.

We show Ramones concert footage and proceeds from the night help to benefit prostate cancer research.

- Fantastic, well, let's keep going.

(bright upbeat music) As wonderful as it is to have a guide, sometimes it's great to get out of the car and if you can, just walk.

No map, no guidebook, no phone, no GPS, no cemetery app.

Just go slowly without a plan and look, listen, touch and smell.

I have been doing these cemetery walking meditations for years.

It makes chance discoveries all the more rewarding and finding nothing as valuable as a pot of gold.

Join us all season long as we travel to the World's Greatest Cemeteries.

Touring masterpieces of landscape, gardens and culture, while reliving dramatic stories about diverse historical figures.

- I will be speaking on behalf of the political arrangements of the working class and secular and free education.

- We'll discover artistic designs, check out stunning vistas and uncover surprising facts about the past.

(speaks foreign language) - London's Highgate Cemetery.

- It's a phenomenal ecological embracing of the urban environment.

- Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge.

Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.

Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles.

- In spite of whatever she was going through.

She gave a 100,000% every time she sang.

- [Roberto] All, on World's Greatest Cemeteries.

(bright upbeat music) - So you are in charge of all the landscaping here at Hollywood Forever?

- Correct?

- I am fascinated by the trees that you have here.

Can you talk about some of the varieties of trees that we have here?

- Yeah, we have, uh, Canary Palms, date palms.

- [Roberto] The date palms are those super tall ones.

- [Adolfo] Tall ones, yeah, the skinny tall ones.

We have jacarandas.

- [Roberto] And the jacarandas right at this time of year, they have those beautiful purple blossoms.

- [Adolfo] They're blossom right now.

We have, uh, weeping willows, cypress.

- [Roberto] Those cypress are the tall pointy ones.

And for my friends, from the Northeast, they look like arborvitae on steroids.

They're really tall.

- [Adolfo] We also have uh, well, we have a lot of ficus around here.

They're almost throughout the whole cemetery.

- And how long have you been in charge of landscaping here?

- Seven years.

- Seven years.

That's a long time.

- June 1st, seven years, this year.

Congratulations.

- Thank you.

Well, this seems to me like the trees here are in great shape.

They're in good hands with you.

I really appreciate you being on the show.

- Thank you.

- Thank you so much, my friend.

All right.

- You're welcome.

Take care.

- You too.

- Okay.

(bright upbeat music) In a cemetery full of celebrities, whom do we pick out?

Well, my choice is someone like this, we're coming to.

I always think of him as this fresh faced little kid.

He's cheerful.

Oh, gee willikers kind of guy.

But he was much more than that, right?

- Yes.

- And he was a friend of Judy Garland's.

He was in all kinds of movies.

And who am I talking about?

- We're talking about Mickey Rooney!

Mickey Rooney started out pretty much in infancy.

His mom and dad were Vaudevillians.

So he was on the "Vaudeville" stage as a baby.

He worked in silent film, worked in Sound.

He basically worked from infancy until he died at age 93 years old.

- Amazing.

And did he ever get past being thought of as a child actor?

- He pretty much did.

Well, he served in World War II and after he got back from the war, he looked a little bit older.

And you can't play 16 year old boys, the rest of your life.

You gotta move on.

So Mickey kind of transitioned into being a character actor after the war and more or less, that's what he did for the bulk of his career.

- That's fantastic.

Let's go inside this mausoleum, which is unbelievable.

(bright upbeat music) So one of the things I love about these old cemeteries is the architecture.

And here we have an outstanding example of a beautiful structure.

And what is it?

- [Karie] This is the Hollywood Cathedral Mausoleum.

This was originally constructed in 1919.

- Wow, Hollywood Memorial Park Cathedral Mausoleum.

- Yes, that was Hollywood Memorial Park was the original name of the cemetery before our current ownership changed it to Hollywood Forever.

- So who's buried here.

- Well, we have silent film star Rudolph Valentino, Peter Finch from the film "Network".

Peter Lorre and slain silent film director, William Desmond Taylor.

- Amazing, let's go inside and check it out.

(Roberto laughs) This is really something.

And who are these statues?

- These are the 12 Apostles.

(bright upbeat music) - And we have this lovely marble floor and this very high vaulted ceiling.

And it's nice and cool in here, isn't it?

- Yes, which is very important on a hot day like this.

(Roberto laughs) (bright upbeat music) - One of the things I love about Hollywood is all these old Hollywood stories.

And here we have this very interesting man, Herb Jeffries.

So who was Herb Jeffries?

- Herb Jeffries was known as an African-American, singing cowboy.

He made five films in the 1930s that were westerns with names like "Harlem Rides the Range" and the "Bronze Buckaroo."

- And these are known as race films, correct?

- Yes, they would have an African-American cast.

And he was sort of known as like the African-American answer to Gene Autry and Roy Rogers.

- Amazing, but the thing about Herb Jeffries is that there was a question about his heritage.

Was he African-American?

- He was part Cuban and part Sicilian.

- Now, this is fascinating because you know, a lot of Cubans in particular are of African heritage.

And a lot of Sicilians can be sort of dark-skinned people.

So how did Herb Jeffries utilize this to his advantage?

- Well Herb was very light-skinned, but I've seen video footage of him talking about going to Max Factor and getting a kind of foundation called "Egyptian Bronze" to make his skin look a bit different in shade.

- And in today's world, that would be called going in "blackface", except that he wasn't doing it to make a mockery of African-Americans.

He was doing it to be taken as an African-American.

Now, again to what advantage could that have possibly been in those days?

- That's a good question.

Well, he wanted to sing with Duke Ellington and I think he made the decision that that was what he wanted to do.

And that was what would give him the certain opportunities that he was looking for.

- It's amazing.

Now, to those of us who grew up watching Gene Autry, who was "the" singing cowboy, this would have been very powerful for African-American audiences.

- Absolutely, because representation matters.

We've seen with movies like "Black Panther," "Crazy Rich Asians."

People wanna see themselves represented on screen and Herb's movies were very popular with African-American audiences.

So I'm sure it meant a great deal to see a hero and see a cast that people could relate to.

And that's very important.

- Fantastic.

Well, let's keep going on with your cool stories about old Hollywood.

(bright upbeat music) The more time you spend here, the more monuments you'll notice like comedian Don Adams star of TV's "Get smart."

Anton Yelchin an actor who passed away at the age of 27 after starring as Ensign Chekov in the reboot of "Star Trek."

Fay Wray star of the 1933 "King Kong" movie and Tony Scott director of action, thriller films, such as, "Top gun," "Crimson Tide," and "Enemy of the State."

In addition, there are many monuments that stand out for their interesting design elements.

(bright upbeat music) So there are so many interesting people buried here.

We're in Hollywood.

One of my favorites of all time is this person here.

And that is.

- Judy Garland.

(Roberto laughs) - Amazing.

Now do people start singing when they come here?

- Often they do, sometimes they break down crying.

- [Roberto] Yeah., she had a really tough life, didn't she?

- She did, but I never focus on that.

I talk about how in spite of whatever she was going through.

She gave a 100,000% every time she sang, every time she acted.

And she really helped lift people out of their troubles, out of their everyday life.

And she was just pure joy to watch.

- Fantastic.

Let's go inside and check it out.

- Okay.

Thank you.

- Oh, wow, look at this.

Isn't that something, I love the skylight, brings all the light into this chamber and you have these niches.

Oh my goodness.

And here's the sign-in book.

- Yes, people from around the world, visit this grave and write beautiful letters to Judy.

- Over here, look at that, isn't that something?

- Yeah.

- That's lovely.

- Judy is the greatest all around entertainer who has ever lived from her vaudeville debut at two years old to the remarkable films she made at MGM.

"The Wizard of Oz," her concert series, Judy truly is a star for the ages.

And I'm so glad that we have her here at Hollywood Forever.

(bright upbeat music) - I love this, now this dog looks pretty familiar.

And over here it says in memory of - - Toto from the Wizard of Oz," this is a monument in memory of the dog.

That's one of the most iconic canines in film history.

- Is Toto buried here?

- Toto, is not here, but Toto was originally buried on her owner's property in Studio City in 1945, in 1958, they paved over that whole property to build the Ventura Freeway.

I know, right under which Toto is resting.

Although I doubt that is in peace.

So 10 years ago, some cemetery experts joined forces with an animal advocacy group to build this lovely monument for Toto.

- And one of the things you see here is that Toto has all sorts of little coins.

And I can see that these coins are from all over the world.

And huggy toys, and all that, Toto I think has a special place in our hearts.

(bright upbeat music) So the truth is, this is why I'm here.

Mel Blanc is the king of all voiceovers.

He's a legend.

Mel Blanc did the voices of... - Bugs Bunny, Tweety Bird, Porky Pig, Pepe Le Pew, Foghorn Leghorn, and countless others.

- Oh my God, he's incredibly talented.

And an amazing person.

Why don't you tell us a bit more about him?

- In the 1960s, he was in a devastating car accident, breaking multiple bones and sending him into a coma.

He came out of the coma, reportedly talking like Bugs Bunny.

And he went back to work.

I've seen photographs of him laying in a hospital bed with a microphone over his mouth, doing the voiceovers.

- Unbelievable.

And apparently his son, Mel Blanc Jr. Also has taken over the family business, right?

And does some of the voices that his dad did and also does some other voices.

- Yeah, so that's gotta be a tough act to follow.

- Yeah, gotta be.

I noticed the people leaving all sorts of things on top of this headstone and what are some of the things that people leave?

- People leave Looney Tunes, people leave carrots, people leave rocks, which is a tradition in the Jewish faith as a symbol that you've visited and paid your respects.

- That's fantastic.

Well, believe it or not, this was the chief draw for me.

(Roberto laughs) And then you've introduced us to so many more.

So you've just been super, thank you so much for doing this for us.

- Thank you so much.

I really appreciate it.

- Fantastic.

All right, good, let's get outta here this way.

(bright upbeat music) Thanks for joining us at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.

Tune in next time for World's Greatest Cemeteries.

You can find out more about this episode.

Just get in touch or tell us about your favorite cemetery or historical figure at worldsgreatestcemeteries.com.

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