VALPARAISO | When Hollywood movie theater owner Ted Bulthaup considered Hollywood Walk of Fame stars, he assumed the Munchkins from the original "Wizard of Oz" already had one dedicated to them.
"I took it for granted that they did," Bulthaup said. "Godzilla had a star, so I thought the Munchkins surely had a star."
He told the audience at the opening ceremonies of the Wizard of Oz Festival at the Porter County Expo Center on Saturday morning how that discovery spurred a lengthy process to give the Munchkins what they deserved.
"They've been friends of mine, and I appreciate them to no end," Bulthaup said in front of five of the original Munchkins in attendance at the festival.
Bulthaup filled out the necessary paperwork and submitted it to a committee, which makes selections on the celebrities who receive stars each year.
"There were 624 applicants that year, and 22 of them were selected. P. Diddy and Erik Estrada made it, but the Munchkins didn't," he said.
So Bulthaup said he began enlisting the help of his Hollywood friends to write letters and make phone calls in support of the star.
"I got letters of endorsement from all of the major movie studios, except 20th Century Fox -- boo -- and I got a hold of Steven Spielberg, who was only too happy to write a letter, which was a segue to George Lucas," Bulthaup said. "I got Hugh Heffner, Roger Ebert -- but Roeper wouldn't -- Ted Turner, Mickey Rooney, the state of Kansas and the Little People of America.
"I got a call from Johnny Grant, the mayor of Hollywood saying, ‘Enough of the letters, we're going to do it,'" he said.
There are more than 2,600 stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and in November 2006, the Munchkins finally got theirs.
"We got the preeminent place, right in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater, which is absolutely appropriate. That's where they belong," Bulthaup said.
"The Wizard of Oz" premiered in 1939 at Grauman's Chinese Theater, also called Mann's Chinese Theater, and, the night before the ceremony to unveil the star, the movie was screened at the same theater. The ceremony featured a rainbow balloon arch over the theater entrance, as well as a yellow carpet instead of a red one.
"It was an absolutely tremendous event," Bulthaup said to the Valparaiso audience, which exploded in applause at the conclusion of his tale.
