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Find the Pomona stars in the Walk of Fame.
 Alas, this photograph is a fake. Gumby doesn’t have a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame. Yet. But there are four other famous Sagehens
who do. Arguably the most famous sidewalk in the world, this 18-block
section of Hollywood and Vine is home to more than 2,000 brass star
plaques embedded in pink and charcoal terrazzo squares, each bearing the
name of a celebrity. Those expecting glamour and glitz are often
underwhelmed by the dirty streets and tacky souvenir shops, but that
doesn’t stop millions of tourists from visiting each year.
Intrepid Pomona students might want to search out the stars belonging to
four distinguished Sagehens: actor Richard Chamberlain ’56 (star located
at 7018 Hollywood), whose credits include Dr. Kildare, The Thorn Birds
and Shogun; actor Robert Taylor ’33 (1500 Vine), nicknamed “the Man with
the Perfect Profile”; conductor and director Robert Shaw ’38 (1559
Vine), known as America’s greatest choral conductor; and actor Joel
McCrea ’28, who boasts two stars—one for movies (6901 Hollywood) and
another for radio (6241 Hollywood).
A couple of other Pomona alumni who lack a star yet surely merit one
include:
Kris Kristofferson ’58. It’s hard to believe this gravel-voiced singer,
songwriter and actor—with five gold albums, three Grammys and 50 movies
to his credit—doesn’t have a star, but then, maybe the former Rhodes
scholar, always an iconoclast, doesn’t particularly want one.
Gumby ’43. The actual alumnus, of course, is Gumby’s creator, Art Clokey
’43, who got his debut on Howdy Doody in 1956 and his own spin-off a
year later. That series, following the adventures of kind-hearted Gumby
and his pony pal, Pokey, ended in the 1960s, but enjoyed a resurgence 20
years later, thanks to the popularity of Eddie Murphy’s bad-attitude
Gumby on Saturday Night Live (“I’m Gumby, dammit!”).
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