Movie Star Maps

Since movie stars have moved into the big mansions of Beverly Hills and Bel-Air, vendors have sold maps of their homes with varying accuracy. Although most stars resent unwanted intrusions of fans, many take it with good humor. Sitting in his swimming pool, Oliver Hardy would welcome fans who climbed over his fence. "Hey, how about a dip?" In the earliest days, Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks would drive up next to people with star maps and ask them for directions. And more recently, television producer Aaron Spelling would come out and pitch show ideas to tourists.Sometimes the famous have special relationships with their fans at their houses. Before he became an ultra recluse, Elvis Presley loved taking his Memphis relatives on tours of the star's homes. The singer who was in no way hypocritical, once shocked his date Natalie Wood by taking time to chat with fans who had blocked his driveway, after they moved out of the way to let him park. Jack Benny and George Burns, who like Ozzy Osbourne gave out their addresses on their TV shows, used to instruct their maids to give out autograph pictures to fans who knocked. If Benny and Burns answered the door themselves you might get invited in for lemonade. And Doris Day's love of homeless animals brought unexpected baggage after she sold her home. For several years after the new owners posted a sign that said, "Please do not leave your small dogs and cats, Miss Day has moved!"
Many celebrities simply tire of the fan attention. Paul Newman and Joann Woodward put their Beverly Hills house on sale after they found out it was on the star maps. Pop star Prince threw rocks at passing tour buses. Sara Michelle Gellar threatened to one up him and shoot their tires out. Ozzy Osbourne, famous for calling the police on to chase off lookyloos away from his Beverly Hills property, one day answered the door to greet some teenagers. "Come on in, Kelly's upstairs." "Great, he wants us to meet his daughter." The light bulb of recognition lit up in Ozzy's brain. "Wait a minute, who are you?" "We're just some kids who found your house on the star map." Ozzy swore, threatened to get the dogs and chased them off.
With all their complaints of loss of privacy the stars often use the maps themselves. Anthony Hopkins idolized the late Humphrey Bogart and had to see his house. The reclusive Woody Allen had to meet Jack Benny and parked in front of the comedian's house for hours to get a quick greeting. After creating headlines by making an obscene gesture to the paparazzi in Mexico, Britney Spears returned home and bought a map to the stars homes and went on a tour with her girlfriends. When they found Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston's house in Beverly Hills the tiny Britney Spears stood on the car hood to peak over her hedges and almost fell off and hurt herself. And once, actor Lee Marvin was so drunk he couldn't find his house, so he pulled over and bought a star map to locate it. Unfortunately, it was newly built and not on the map yet!
Author Stephen Schochet is a professional tour guide in Hollywood who years ago began collecting little known, humorous anecdotes to tell to his customers. His new book Hollywood Stories: Short, Entertaining Anecdotes About the Stars and Legends of the Movies! The book contains a timeless treasure trove of colorful vignettes featuring an amazing all-star cast of icons including John Wayne, Charlie Chaplin, Walt Disney, Jack Nicholson, Johnny Depp, Shirley Temple, Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando, Errol Flynn, and many others both past and contemporary. Tim Sika, host of the radio show Celluloid Dreams on KSJS in San Jose has called Stephen, "The best storyteller about Hollywood we have ever heard." Available at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, or wherever books are sold. For more information go to http://www.hollywoodstories.com/

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