By: Emily Safron
Hollywood, CA, (The Hollywood Times) 4/28/24
The Hollywood Heritage Museum in Los Angeles, CA, recently opened its Meet the Stars exhibit, celebrating Hollywood’s Golden Era and highlighting Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios’ 100th Anniversary. The exhibit features a wide array of vintage memorabilia including a costume worn by Judy Garland from Meet Me in St. Louis and a technicolor camera used in The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind.
The Hollywood Heritage Museum has been around for 45 years in the oldest structure in Hollywood, the DeMille Barn. The Barn was used to make the first feature-length motion picture, The Squaw Man in 1913. Before being transferred to Paramount Studios, the Barn was located at the corner of Selma and Vine Streets and later seen as the Paramount Gymnasium. It moved to its current location in 1983.
The idea for the exhibit came to fruition after realizing how many collectors had garages and closets full of items that people couldn’t see. “We want to promote the museum as a community center and an open place to get new people in and younger people interested,” said Darin Barnes, co-curator of the exhibit and Norma Shearer memorabilia collector. Barnes was born and raised in L.A. and got his love of old movies from his grandparents. “I had a teacher who loved old movies and would always equate things to old movies. For a final project, I was assigned Norma Shearer. I took the bus to Hollywood and visited the old bookstores and memorabilia shops. I just started collecting and meeting all these people and having all these experiences at age 13,” he shared. “In this old movie community, we all know each other’s names. When I got brought in last year, I just loved it so much.”
Angie Schneider serves as the Director of the Museum and as the Treasurer of Preservation. She originally began her career in vet medicine, but later followed her passion for old Hollywood when she started collecting memorabilia. One of her favorite pieces in the exhibit is the “Farewell to Earth” painting by Tino Costa. The piece was commissioned by Jean Harlow’s mother in 1937 after the actress passed away at age 26. The artwork was believed to be lost but was found 80 years later in a house in Kansas behind a piece of furniture. Several Harlow collectors were able to acquire it after it went up for auction and later had it conserved. “Seeing these paintings in color and in person just kind of blows you away,” she shared.
When asked about the coolest story behind the items, Barnes shared about Louise Weiner’s infamous fur coat. “She was the first ever to win multiple Oscars and first to win back-to-back Oscars. After she won her first Oscar, she didn’t think she stood a chance, so she didn’t go to the ceremony,” said Barnes. When Weiner did end up winning, she was brought over to the ceremony wearing a fur coat. The fur coat was later stolen by her ex-husband and Hollywood Heritage was able to help her daughter, Francesca, reunite with it. “We’re humanizing them through their items. They purchased these items, and it meant something to them,” he said. “It’s cool to see the costumes and to see what they were actually like.”
“Hollywood is the one true American thing. Go to Italy for Rome and ruins or Greece and these items are preserved,” said Schneider. “The Academy does what they can do but there isn’t that go-to place for these pieces. We’re hoping to preserve the past. This history just doesn’t get told.”
To learn more about the Hollywood Heritage Museum, visit https://www.hollywoodheritage.org.
