The Mirrorball Champions on Dancing With the Stars are Crowned After Their Dance to "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" While the Hollywood Walk of Fame Walk All Over the Oscar-Winning Lyricist by Not Installing the Star Awarded to Him 30 Years Ago

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*SHERMAN OAKS, CA / ACCESSWIRE / December 8, 2020 /* Leo Robin Music congratulates former "Bachelorette" Kaitlyn Bristowe and her partner Artem Chigvintsev for being crowned the Mirrorball champions of "Dancing With the Stars" after their spectacular freestyle dance to the "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" version, composed by Jule Styne with lyrics by Leo Robin, from the film "Moulin Rouge." They received a perfect score of 30/30 on this dance from the no holds barred judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough, and Bruno Tonioli in the last night of the competition on November 23. Then the moment came for the hostess with the mostess Tyra Banks to announce the news of the winner of the 29th season of Dancing with the Stars and wrap up its 2020 series. Kaitlyn and Artem were absolutely thrilled to be crowned the winner and receive the Mirrorball Trophy and so were their fans.

Former "Bachelorette" Kaitlyn Bristowe and her partner Artem Chigvintsev were crowned the Mirrorball Champions of "Dancing With the Stars" after they performed
their freestyle dance to the "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" version, composed by Jule Styne with lyrics by Leo Robin, from the film "Moulin Rouge"

More than 30 years ago, the Hollywood Walk of Fame Committee awarded a star to lyricist Leo Robin but the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce never installed it. We all know what it's like to visit the Hollywood Walk of fame where the fans can go to their favorite stars and walk on it, stand on it, sit on it, lay next to it and even touch it. Unlike the adoring fans paying tribute to the 2691 stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Hollywood Chamber has walked all over the legendary lyricist ever since Leo Robin was awarded the star more than 30 years ago by not installing and unveiling his star.

In 1988, both Cherie Robin, and actor, Bob Hope, wanted to see to it that Leo would be acknowledged for the legacy that Roy Trakin, who is the crème de la crème of entertainment journalism, reported on in his Variety article," Thanks for the Memory: How Leo Robin Helped Usher In the Golden Age of Song in Film;" to this end, Cherie Robin and Bob Hope sponsored Leo for a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Tragically, Cherie Robin never received the good news about Leo's star because she passed away on May 28, 1989, a little over one year before the letter from the Hollywood Chamber was sent out on June 18, 1990 announcing that her husband had been awarded the star. As a result of these ill-fated circumstances, Leo's star was never installed. On July 6, 2017, Leo's grandson discovered Leo's long-lost star when he stumbled upon it on the internet. When, later that day, the grandson called the Hollywood Chamber and spoke to Ms. Martinez, Producer of the Walk of Fame, he told her about his discovery of Leo's long-lost star; she officially confirmed it was true and said, "Nothing like this has ever happened before."

Almost two years later on May 23, 2019, Ashley Lee from the Los Angeles Times first broke the grandson's serendipitous discovery in her story, "Leo Robin never got his Walk of Fame star. Now his grandson is fighting for it." In the wake of the release of this story last year by The Times, Leo Robin Music was outraged to learn what happened 30 years ago. When the acceptance letter was mailed to Mrs. Robin (deceased) and subsequently returned to sender, Ms. Lee reported what happened, "The envelope was returned to its sender and has since remained in the Chamber of Commerce's records." She also tweeted, "at first I didn't believe that Leo Robin's star had really slipped through the cracks" with a photo of that acceptance letter and the envelope stamped "RETURN TO SENDER." The Hollywood Chamber made no attempt to notify the co-sponsor, Bob Hope, who has four stars on the Walk. What the Chamber did after the letter was (marked) "Return to Sender" was not customary practice but smacks of disregard for the individuals honored by the Walk of Fame Committee.

After the recent finale of Dancing With the Stars, would anyone believe "Bachelorette" star Kaitlyn and her partner Artem being announced the winner but not being given the Mirrorball trophy to take home. But this is what happened to Leo Robin -- he was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame more than 30 years ago but it was never installed and unveiled.

With awards season around the corner, everyone will be tuning in to watch the winners announced at the Grammy Awards and the Academy Awards. Can you imagine if multi-Grammy winner Tony Bennett winning the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance in 1997 for his album Here's to the Ladies - which theme of the album was songs made famous by female singers and included "My Ideal" with lyrics by Robin to pay tribute to Margaret Whiting for performing her theme song - but not being given the Grammy to take home or multi-Oscar winner Robert De Niro winning for Best Actor the Oscar in 1980 for the film Raging Bull - which used a few songs with lyrics by Robin including "Prisoner of Love" performed by Perry Como (1946), "Prisoner of Love" performed by Russ Columbo (1934) and "Bye, Bye Baby" performed by Marilyn Monroe (1953) - but not being given the Oscar to take home.

"Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" is a jazz song introduced by Carol Channing in the original Broadway production of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Based on a novel by Anita Loos, Gentlemen Prefer Blonds began as a series of satiric articles Loos wrote for Harper's Bazaar about Lorelei Lee, a flapper of the 1920's who travelled to Paris to be an entertainer and was much more interested in collecting expensive pieces of jewelry from her boyfriends than she was in marriage. But it was most famously performed by Marilyn Monroe in the 1953 film version of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. A great many entertainers have copied the iconic performance ranging from memorable performances by Madonna and Kylie Minogue to Geri Halliwell and Anna Nicole Smith to Ariana Grande and Beyoncé and Nicole Scherzinger. It has been recorded by a numerous actresses and singers including Ethel Merman in 1950, Lena Horne in 1958, Della Reese in 1960, Eartha Kitt in 1962, a country music version by Emmy Lou Harris in 1983, Thalía in 1991, The Puppini Sisters in 2011 and countless more.

Left: Leo Robin crowns the diamond tiara on Carol Channing, who always called him Uncle Leo, during the run of the 1949 Broadway smash hit Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, which introduced her to Broadway. Right: Marilyn Monroe wore a diamond tiara in a scene from the 1953 film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, where she rendered an iconic performance of "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" which went on to become her signature song.

The song has also been featured in many films such as the 2001 film Moulin Rouge!, in which it is sung principally by Nicole Kidman in the role of Satine, the fictional star performer of the famous Moulin Rouge nightclub in Paris, at the turn of the 20th century. Christina Aguilera did the song on her first featured film Burlesque in 2010. The song was recently performed by Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn while dressed as Monroe in the 2020 Birds of Prey film. The song is performed regularly on television series. It was performed by the female Glee Cast in the TV show Glee in 2013. In the 100th episode of Gossip Girl, it was portrayed by Blake Lively in a dream in which she is Marilyn Monroe and sings it. In episodes of The Muppet Show, Miss Piggy did the song with Carol Channing and then again with Whoopi Goldberg.

Meanwhile, in contradiction to its mission, the Hollywood Chamber is not doing justice to the nomination of Robin. Instead we are witness to the injustice of Leo's long-lost star and the Hollywood Chamber's refusal to honor their commitment to Robin's memory. It has always been true when a letter has been "Return to Sender," the sender will verify the address and resend it. In 1990, the Hollywood Chamber obstructed installation of the star when it placed the acceptance letter that was returned to sender in its files and made no attempt to resend it. The Hollywood Chamber made no attempt to notify the sponsor, Bob Hope, who was one of the most famous entertainers in the world at the time. The Hollywood Chamber must have had Bob Hope's number from their own dealings with him. The Hollywood Chamber continues to walk all over Leo Robin ever since he was awarded the star more than 30 years ago by not installing his star.

Throughout the past sixty years, the Hollywood Chamber has successfully kept track of 2,691 honorees and has seen to it that each and every one of them received a star, which was then successfully installed on the Hollywood Walk of Fame - except for Leo Robin. One would think that today's Hollywood Walk of Fame would honor the decisions made by those who served before them. At this point, one can't help but conclude that Robin, his sponsors, his family and the 1990 Walk of Fame Committee, itself, have been treated unjustly by the Hollywood Chamber. It's now time for the Hollywood Chamber to stop walking all over Leo Robin and to honor their obligation to install the star that was awarded to the legendary lyricist more than 30 years ago and put Leo's long-lost star in its rightful place on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

For more information, visit the Newsroom at the official website of Leo Robin at http://leorobin.com/.

*CONTACT*:

Scott D. Ora
President - Leo Robin Music
thanks4thememory@icloud.com
(818) 618-2572
Leo Robin (@LeoRobinMusic) / Twitter

*SOURCE*: Leo Robin Media
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