Hollywood's Honorary Mayor Johnny Grant is out of St.Joseph's hospital where it was determined he has a broken bone in his back. He tells me no surgery is anticipated, but he will be in braces for weeks to come. Grant, 84, says he'd been in endless pain since July 5 and was wheelchaired when he officiated last week at the Walk of Fame star ceremony for Michelle Pfeiffer. "Nothing was going to keep me from missing her," he said. And he will officiate at Thursday's ceremony for Vin di Bona on the Vine Street site where Merv Griffin's theater once stood.
Grant's also hopeful he will be ok to join the celeb crowd expected at Sunday's, August 26, farewell party for the Hollywood Professional School. The "farewell" is a little late--the school closed in 1984. However, the building has now been razed in readiness for new construction. The Champagne Party, 2-5 p.m., will be held on that site, 5400 Hollywood Blvd., at the corner of Serrano. A time capsule will be dedicated commemorating the school and its students. Alumnus Robert Granite is organizing, and alums wishing to attend should contact him at hpssiteparty@yahoo.com. Former SAG President and alumnus Barry Gordon will officiate. Among the tales they'll probably recall is how Errol Flynn would deliver and pick up his (very young) girlfriend Beverly Aadland at school--but across the street in the alley. The school, which bowed in 1935, includes among its alumni: Natalie Wood, Connie Stevens, Peggy Ryan, Tatum and Ryan O'Neal, Donald O'Connor, Judy Garland, Betty Grable, Karen Sharpe, Linda Blair, Jimmy Boyd, Annette Funicello, Melanie Griffith, Jil St.John, Val Kilmer, Mickey Rooney and hundreds of others.
