DATELINE: Los Angeles -- Philip Potempa is reporting from the West Coast while on assignment.

Closer to home

One of my assignments while out on the West Coast for the next few days is to cover Tuesday's unveiling of a new star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame honoring the Munchkins from the 1939 MGM classic "The Wizard of Oz."

As already reported here, representing the 12 surviving little cast members who greeted Judy Garland at the start of the Yellow Brick Road will be Mickey Carroll, 88; Lewis Croft, 88; Ruth Duccini, 89; Jerry Maren, 88; Olga Nardone, 87; Margaret Pellegrini, 84; Meinhardt Raabe, 92; Karl Slover, 89; and Clarence Swensen, 89, all who be attending Tuesday's unveiling ceremony.

If you're looking for a bit of "Wizard of Oz" history a little closer to home, I recently stumbled on one amazing collecter's piece from the film that seems to have been quietly overlooked.

You won't find it at our own Yellow Brick Road "Wizard of Oz" Museum and Gift Shop in Chesterton.

But last month, while interviewing Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme at the Paramount Arts Theatre and Hollywood Casino in Aurora, Ill., I noticed right off the second floor main lobby of the casino pavilion, where all the restaurants are located, a beautiful mounted framed piece displaying the original checkered vest of the Mayor of Munchkinland, played by tiny actor Charlie Becker, who would be 120 years old one week from today on Nov. 24! (He died at age 80 here in California in 1968.)

If you've never checked out this gaming property, it's pretty amazing. The place is filled wall-to-wall with rare and highly valuable original costumes, jewelry, props and other authentic movie memorabilia on display.

As for back here on the West Coast, on Monday night, Grauman's Chinese Theatre will host a premiere screening of the film with the Munchkins as guests.

By the way, for all those Hollywood history buffs, Sid Grauman never owned the theater outright, but held a one-third interest with his partners, Howard Schenck, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks Sr. Grauman sold his share to Fox West Coast Theatres in 1929 and then served as managing director of the theater until his death in 1950.

The Theatre is celebrating its 80th birthday this year, and it was Pickford and Fairbanks (naturally) whose handprints and footprints became the first to start Hollywood's most famous celebration of wet cement.

The star treatment

Check out my cover-story interview on tomorrow's Lifestyles features section with the newest addition to our Times advice columnist page, astrologer Jacqueline Bigar, whose King Features Syndicate daily horoscope column will begin running in Monday's editions, replacing our Tribune Media Services syndicated astrologer Jeraldine Saunders' horoscope column.

"My latest passion right now are horses," Bigar told me during a telephone interview last week from her mountain home near Phoenix.

"I attended boarding school out this way, and horses are very common as a hobby. And since my father is Swiss, we would spend our summers in Europe, where many people also like to ride. I first learned to ride on a Shetland pony. And just recently, I purchased a new horse, part Mustang and part thoroughbred, which I've named Spirit. I'm turning 60 in January, and my friends like to kid me that when people turn 60, they like to buy a Mustang (car), but not an actual Mustang (horse)."

Bigar said that sometimes her love of her many pets, ranging from her horse and parrot to six cats and dogs, causes her to procrastinate on her work.

As for her love of stars and astrology, Bigar's interest began in 1958 and grew after she met her soon-to-be husband Tom Livingston (now her ex-husband), while the two worked on their college newspaper at Scripps College.

Bigar's prediction for me while she had me on the phone?

She said I'm going to have teeth problems.

Somewhere out there, Dr. Gregory MacDonald, my dentist back home in Valparaiso, is smiling and waiting.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer. He can be reached at ppotempa@nwitimes.com or 219.852.4327.

celebBirthdays

Olympic decathlon champ Bob Mathias is 77. Singer Gordon Lightfoot is 69. Movie director Martin Scorsese is 65. Actress Lauren Hutton is 64. "Saturday Night Live" producer Lorne Michaels and actor-director Danny DeVito and baseball star Tom Seaver are 63. Actor Stephen Root ("King of the Hill," "NewsRadio") is 56. Actress-producer Yolanda King is 52. Actress Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio is 49. Actor William Moses is 48. Entertainer RuPaul is 47. Actor Dylan Walsh ("Nip/Tuck," "Brooklyn Bridge") is 44. Actress-model Daisy Fuentes and actress Sophie Marceau ("Braveheart") are 41. Singer Ronnie DeVoe of New Edition and Bell Biv DeVoe and keyboardist Ben Wilson of Blues Traveler are 40. Musician Jeff Allen of Mint Condition is 39. Actress Leslie Bibb ("ER," "Popular") is 34. Actor Brandon Call ("Step By Step") is 31. Country singer

Aaron Lines is 30. Actress Rachel McAdams ("Wedding Crashers") is 29. Guitarist Isaac Hanson of Hanson is 27. Actor Justin Cooper ("Liar, Liar") is 19. Actress Raquel Castro ("Jersey Girl") is 13.