Today’s picture exemplifies the unidentified and forgotten bits of cinema history that are floating around out there. While sold to me as a “paperweight”, this chunk of metal is actually a piece of the structural steel that went in to building Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. A left over punching from the manufacturing process, the piece was affixed to a McClintic-Marshall Corp. medallion and issued as a construction commemorative, at the time of the theatre’s completion (a common practice of the period). McClintic-Marshall was a major steel fabricator/erector for bridges and commercial buildings during the early twentieth century; Grauman’s Chinese being one of their many projects.
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One can only wonder about the journey that saw this item go from high profile keepsake to discounted castoff. Fortunately, it’s true significance has once again been rediscovered.
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