Weird Island

29. MINI EPISODE: Pawtucket’s Hollywood Walk of Fame

Episode Summary

Pawtucket has it’s very own, tiny little “Walk of Fame” that Roadside America has dubbed “either the saddest or most optimistic Hollywood Walk of Fame.” I've got a Live Episode coming up on Monday, September 20th at 7:30pm! It's on Zoom, and if you wish to attend please email info@eghps.org and the East Greenwich Historic Preservation Society will send you the Zoom link!

Episode Notes

Pawtucket has it’s very own, tiny little “Walk of Fame” that Roadside America has dubbed “either the saddest or most optimistic Hollywood Walk of Fame.”

I've got a Live Episode coming up on Monday, September 20th at 7:30pm! It's on Zoom, and if you wish to attend please email  info@eghps.org and the East Greenwich Historic Preservation Society will send you the Zoom link!

Episode Source Material: 

• Hollywood Walk of Fame
• Pawtucket, RI - Hollywood Walk of Fame
• Woody Allen's handprints on RI walk of fame
• Woody Allen Summer Project
• DOWNTOWN PAWTUCKET HISTORIC WALKING TOUR 1
• American Buffalo (film)
• American Buffalo
• • Movie genres by average box office revenue in North America 1995-2021
• Domestic Yearly Box Office
• American Buffalo Summary
• American Buffalo movie review (1996)
• Michael Corrente
• Woody Allen
• Irrational Man Filming Locations – Rhode Island, Newport, Providence And More
• Irrational Man (film)
• Irrational Man movie review & film summary (2015)
• History of the Walk of Fame
• Hollywood Walk of Fame | Explore
• stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
• American Buffalo (1996) - Financial Information

Episode Transcription

• Imagine you’re walking down a sidewalk with coral stars embedded into the pavement. Your eyes are fixed on the ground as you read off the names of famous actors, directors, producers, musicians, radio hosts and even fictional characters. There are thousands of people around you doing the exact same thing, shuffling through packed crowds down 18 blocks of sidewalk that showcase over 2,600 stars. Now imagine that you look up from the ground to see that the city around you is downtown Pawtucket. 
• Oh wait, did you think I was talking about the Hollywood Walk of Fame? That famous tourist attraction in California that draws in some 10 million visitors every year? If that’s what you thought, then obviously you were right. But here’s the thing - Pawtucket actually has it’s very own Walk of Fame, one that Roadside America describes as “either the saddest or most optimistic Hollywood Walk of Fame.” Optimistic is definitely the right word to use to characterize any comparison to the Hollywood variant, because the Pawtucket version spans less than one block and only includes 5 stars. And it’s been stepped on and driven by and largely unnoticed for 26 years. 
• I’m Sara, and you’re listening to Weird Island. Each week, I’ll be telling you about the strangest stories I can dig up in my tiny, little state of Rhode Island. And this week, we’re going to downtown Pawtucket to visit the sad but hopeful little Pawtucket Walk of Fame.  
• This whole thing started back in 1995 with director Michael Corrente. Corrente was born in Pawtucket, and obviously has a love for the Ocean State. He’s known for his films Federal Hill and Outside Providence, which both feature Rhode Island in the storytelling and in the setting. And in ‘95, he was in downtown Pawtucket, shooting a movie called American Buffalo. With him were Dustin Hoffman, Sean Nelson and Dennis Franz, the only three actors in the film. 
• If you haven’t seen the movie, here’s my 30 second recap - The film stars Dennis Franz as Don, the owner of a junk shop, who has recently sold a buffalo-head nickel to a man who is living around the corner from the store. After selling the coin, Don becomes convinced that it may actually be more valuable than the $90 the man paid for it and he thinks perhaps the man is a rare coin collector, so he hatches a scheme to break in to his apartment to steal back the coin - and any other valuable coins the man may have. He enlists a young man named Bobby (played by Sean Nelson) to break in, but is later convinced by a slimy, fast-talking, manipulative friend he calls Teach (played by Dustin Hoffman) that Bobby can’t handle the job. The story centers around their dishonesty and mistrust of one another, and one review describes it as a “sparse but tense, dialogue-driven tale of would-be thieves and junkies struggling at the bottom of the American capitalist food chain.” 
• The film is actually an adaptation of a play by the same name, which is apparent in that there are only three actors, the dialogue is really driving the story, and the setting is fairly limited. Most of the movie is shot within the junk shop, but those scenes that aren’t in the junk shop, feature a rundown and worn out looking Pawtucket. And they really didn’t have to do much work to make Pawtucket look ragged for the film. In fact, the movie features a diner that the characters frequent, called the Riverside Diner, which had been called the Times Square Diner before the movie. The film crew actually applied a metal facade over the front, and a neon marquee with the name Riverside on it, which gave it a 1950s look, and while it was intended to make it look older and outdated, it kind of improved the look of the place. After filming wrapped up, the diner just kept the facade and the marquee and changed its name to the Riverside. It’s since closed down, and the metal framing and sign have been removed, but it’s really saying something that the movie dressing intended to make the area look run down actually made it look better. 
• At the end of filming, Dustin Hoffman, Dennis Franz, Sean Nelson and director Michael Corrente left another mark of their presence in Pawtucket. They placed their hands in wet cement. Stars were carved around the handprints, and smaller bronze star plaques were placed beside each, all surrounding a bronze buffalo in the center. The date 7-10-95 was carved into the cement, and this was all placed into the sidewalk in front of the diner. And that’s it, that was the start of the Pawtucket Walk of Fame. 
• It was just those four names for 19 years. But then, in 2014, for some reason, there was a new addition: Director Woody Allen. Roadside America jokes, “Woody Allen must have stumbled into conveniently wet cement.”
• But, no, he didn’t stumble. The Blackstone Valley Tourism Council actually coordinated the addition to the Walk of Fame while Allen was in the state filming the movie Irrational Man, which starred Emma Stone and Joachim Phoenix. President of the Council, Bob Billington, stated, “It’s our dream that we complete it with the last two stars,” but sadly they must have declined, because there are two blank blocks of smooth red cement where their prints would have been. 
• Since Woody Allen’s prints were added in 2014, there have been no new additions, and the Walk of Fame needs some maintenance. But to revisit Roadside America’s assessment of the “tourist attraction,” if you will, it’s either sad or optimistic, and I’m choosing to go with optimistic. 
• Because even though downtown Pawtucket is a little run down, and the walk of fame is kind of a joke, I love Pawtucket’s downtown area. To me, it looks like an abandoned movie set--why? I don’t know. It just does. Maybe it’s the scale of the buildings which feel kind of small, maybe it’s the character that they have, and the fact that so many of them are just empty but kind of beautiful in a grimy in-need-of-some-love kind of way. So the addition of an abandoned Walk of Fame just completes the whole feel for me. And it’s kind of unique, because Dustin Hoffman and Woody Allen famously don’t have stars on the actual Hollywood Walk of Fame, so it’s pretty unique that they left their mark here. But I haven’t given up hope yet. 
• The Hollywood Walk of Fame is called “one of the most successful marketing ideas ever produced.” 
• When the concept was proposed, in 1953, E.M. Stuart, who is credited with the idea, said it was a means to “maintain the glory of a community whose name means glamour and excitement in the four corners of the world.” But the truth is, that when the Hollywood Walk was created, the area was in decline and it was becoming seedy. After construction was officially completed in 1960 and the first 1,500 stars had been installed - 8 years passed without the addition of a new star. It was radio personality Johnny Grant who turned things around when he implemented the rule that stars had to attend their unveiling ceremony. This brought glamor to the walk of fame. It made it a place where celebrities could actually be spotted. Today, it’s one of the most popular tourist attractions in the United States - with 10M visitors every year. Even though at one point it sat untouched for 8 years. 
• The Pawtucket Walk of Fame has been there for 26 years with very little fame, but technically, it’s only been 7 years since that last star was added. So, who knows, maybe someone is just about to have that great idea that will turn things around. 
• Sadly, when I went to see the walk of fame, I was only able to find Woody Allen’s prints and the two blank squares where Emma Stone and Joachim Phoenix were meant to be. There was some construction happening right where the prints are - so maybe the other stars were blocked. But I’m not totally sure. It’s definitely not worth going out of your way to see this, but if you do check it out and you’re able to find the prints from the American Buffalo actors, let me know!
• Thanks so much for listening! Next week, I’ll be live on Monday night, September 20th, with the East Greenwich Historic Preservation Society at 7:30pm. Don’t miss it! I’ve heard from so many of you via email and social media, and I would love to meet you over Zoom! I’ll be talking about the podcast and why I started making it, and I’ll tell you a little bit about what goes into making a podcast. And of course I’ll be sharing stories about all things weird and wonderful in Rhode Island - including some new ones I haven’t shared before. So check out the show notes or social or the East Greenwich Historic Preservation Society’s events page for more details on how to tune in. 
• See you next week - live on Monday night - as we dig up more stories about all things weird and wonderful in the little state of Rhode Island. Until next time!