November 29: Japanese Actor Gets Star on Walk of Fame

On 29 November 2004, (ゴジラ (Godzilla) received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Godzilla made his film debut in 1954. His 28^th film was Gojira: Fainaru uôzu which premiered a few hours after Godzilla received his star.

Damian Dovarganes explains that “On screen, the fire-breathing sea creature was spawned by nuclear weapons testing. He made his appearance in Japanese theaters in November 1954 — while the United States was conducting nuclear tests in the South Pacific.”

In addition to his fire breathing, Godzilla is known for his roar. Godzilla’s roar was initially developed by Akira Ifukube when he rubbed a resin coated glove on a contrabass. However, over the years, there have been some modifications in its tone.

Although the 2004 Godzilla film was subtitled “Final Wars,” a new Godzilla film is in production. Simply called Godzilla, the film is currently scheduled for release in May 2014.

Concern over nuclear weapons is seen is a variety of 1950s science fiction films. Although Godzilla would have been inspired as a response to Hiroshima, the science fiction films made in America were more in response of the development of the H-bomb which was tested in 1952.

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Students who wanted an extension for an assignment that wasn’t completed in 1958 might have claimed that they had encountered a monster on their way to the library. Released by Universal pictures the year I was born, the Internet Movie Database summarizes the plot of Monster on the Campus as “The blood of a primitive fish exposed to gamma rays causes a benign research professor to regress to an ape-like, bloodthirsty prehistoric hominid.”

–Steven L. Berg, PhD

Although Today in History is primarily student written, there are some days when we do not have a student author. You will enjoy another student entry tomorrow.

Posted on November 29, 2013 by stevenlberg
Categories: American History: Modern, World History: Modern
Tags: films, Japan, United States

14 Responses

Christopher Nichol says:

29 November 2012 at 2:29 am

There were two sounds emanating from Japan in 1954 which have had an effect on science fiction forever. One was the roar of Gojirabetter known as Godzilla to American audiences, the other was the music that accompanied the majority of his early films; scored by Ifukube. Sadly he passed away in Tokyo at Meguro-ku Hospital due to multiple organ dysfunction on February 8, 2006 at the age of 91. I’m looking forward to the new Godzilla in a couple years. I follow movies closely and that is one film I’m eager to see. Great read!

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wilker32 says:

29 November 2012 at 2:34 pm

Akira Ifukube was a japanese compose of classical music and film scores. It is known that his best work is on the soundtracks of Godzilla. When he was still a child he was strongly influenced by traditional music while attending secondary school, Sapporo. By the age of 14 his goal was to become a composer. There were many influences in his life such as, The Rite of Spring.
In 1935 was Ifukube’s “big break” his first orchestral piece, Japanese Rhapsody, won the first prize in an international contest. After his big break he continued to reach his goal for becoming a composer. There were some bumps in the road along the way but from 1946 to 1953 and the next fifty years he composed more than 250 film scores and one was known as Godzilla.
Godzilla was and is known as one of the oldest and most classical films produced and will continue to be watched as people undated the technology throughout the film. I am very excited to watch the new Godzilla when i comes out in theaters and see how they changed it from the original one!

-Shari Wilke

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Allie Coleman says:

3 December 2012 at 5:05 pm

I am glad that you chose this topic because it is something I knew little to nothing about. The part that I found most interesting would definitely be when you talked about it’s link to World War 2. After doing some research I read that many of the Japanese took the movies as a threat! I now look forward to seeing a new movie come out about Godzilla and see if it is related at all to the war.

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Crystal Heidler says:

6 December 2012 at 2:51 pm

THe part about when the students wanted extensions on assignments, they would use the excuse that they had an encounter with a monster that prevented them for doing any of their work. This kinda sounds like the old wise tale that students would tell their teachers that my dog ate my homework in order to get out of the work. I personally have not seen “Godzilla” but know it about a mutated lizard that grows and terrorizes the city of new york. They have made 2 movies about the giant lizard with the latest being made in 2004 called “Godzilla: Final Wars”. The movie was made in the 50’s and I think it was intended to be a scary movie but in the modern day the movie is seen as just funny. there have been posters and video game and action figures made in replication of the horrendous creature. Godzilla has said to have been one of the movies industries biggest movie monster in the 50’s.

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Benny Marsalese says:

6 December 2012 at 11:58 pm

After being very fascinated by this article, I decided to do research on some of the villains from the Godzilla movies from my childhood. After reading I learned that Godzilla had been defeated many more times than I thought by multiple nemesis. Probably his most famous nemesis, Mothra, the giant butterfly often allied with Godzilla but defeated him in previous other movies before returning to Space. Some of Godzilla’s most feared foes were King Ghidorah, the giant three headed dragon, and Destroyah, the giant purple dragon (No, not Barney) that caused many serious problems, and Gigan the giant creature that can teleport, fly, and use his sharp exteriors to mess with opponents. The big guy often needed help in taking these guys down. These things still interest me today, and it the ideas and stories of these creatures fascinates me beyond belief.

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Tom Charara says:

7 December 2012 at 1:38 am

A movie about Godzilla was also released in 1998. It happens to be one of my favorite childhood movies; it stars Matthew Broderick, Jean Reno & Maria Pitillo. The concept is essentially the same, a monstrous, lizard type being emerges from the water. The image is a little different though, instead of the traditional Godzilla appearance, it was displayed as more of a Velociraptor-dinosaur-type thing.

Another twist on the original story is that instead of the United States testing nuclear weapons, the French are doing the testing. The scene shows the testing being watched by a group of marine Iguana’s as well, which is what the Godzilla in this version had been “morphed” from.

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Kenneth Lyons says:

7 December 2012 at 1:11 pm

Good topic, I didn’t know much about Godzilla untill now. However I’m not sure how I feel about a creature from the movies having a star on the hollywood walk of fame. Kind of degrades it in my opinion.

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Chris Duncan says:

8 December 2012 at 12:06 pm

The reason there were so many monsters and the like created around this time was because people were worried about the fallout from the bombs dropped on Japan. The studies of radiation were new and peoples imaginations were wild so they came up with all kinds of crazy scenarios with mutations and the like. However, much to every science fiction writer’s chagrin, radiation has only been seen to cause gastrointestinal and nervous system problems, cancer, and death, no huge monsters or wings.

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Gino Pasquali says:

8 December 2012 at 5:17 pm

Im glad this topic got brought up. I have also been curious in the Godzilla claims and about the creature. I have never been a fan of Godzilla, but after reading this article it does make you seem a bit more interested in the topic of Godzilla. I’ve seen a movie with Godzilla before and I do in fact remember his famous roar. I used to have nightmares about it! I like to see that a new Godzilla movie is coming out in 2014, that will definitely grab my attention what it gets released.

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Emily Rumrill says:

9 December 2012 at 3:58 pm

Nearly 50 years after his big screen debut, Godzilla was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Godzilla is not the first fictional character to be recognized on the Walk of Fame. On November 18, 1978, Disney’s Mickey Mouse was the first fictional character to be rewarded with a star. Stars are rewarded to people of celebrity status from the television, radio, film, music, and theatre industry. Since the Walk of Fame’s opening in 1958 there have been a total of 3 live-action animals as well as 15 fictional characters to be incorporated into the Walk of Fame.

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Justin Ghannam says:

9 December 2012 at 7:56 pm

This is pretty neat actually. Although I’ve rather familiar with the Godzilla idea as a whole, it’s interesting to think that he was spawned in the movie at least from nuclear waste. I haven’t seen any movies of the beast since I was around the age where you just start being a conscious human being so any ideas like that would of gone far over my head. I don’t think it’s a wise idea to do a remake of the movie coming out in 2014. I feel it would just open up old wounds that were left from WW2. One could argue what’s done is done but it’s not exactly common courtesy, especially when from the AMERICAN director Gareth Edwards. I strongly believe anything bringing up the past in a negative manner (which all it really is in hindsight, a negative experience) should really be avoided. The world right now is in a really volatile state, and the last thing we need is some national level drama.

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Cedrick Cole says:

9 December 2012 at 8:36 pm

What many people don’t realize is that their where 11 actors who portrayed the character of Godzilla. He has also had three main aesthetic changes made to his appearance over the span of 58 years. Since his first appearance in 1954 he has been featured in 28 films and has become a meta in monster movie film making. Godzilla has had many personalities displayed over the years, in his early start he was more so displayed as a mindless monster more focused on destroying the cities of Japan. As the years progressed his writers began to try to give Godzilla an almost sentient mind. Such movies as Godzilla versus Mothra began to show Godzilla softer side rather than a mindless hulking monster. He also began to display affections towards people which had never been done any of his previous work which was used to have the audience get a better understanding of Godzilla personality. I find this very interesting cause it shows how a fake movie monster could evolve and mature over 58 years into a sentient being.

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Meagan Nystrom says:

9 December 2012 at 11:25 pm

I think that it is so cool and interesting that you brought this topic up. I have known about Godzilla since I was little but I didn’t know about him to this extent. One of the things I find cool about Godzilla is the different forms of weapons (or bodily weapons) used throughout his years. His most popular or “trademark” weapon is his breath. Godzilla had atomic breath that helped him through many things. When his dorsal spines glowed it could produce radiation and help him fend off or destroy things. At one point it even helped him to fly by aiming it at the ground. Throughout the years Godzilla has gained other “powers”. Such as the ability to create magnetic fields and also having laser beams from his eyes. I just find the timeline of Godzilla fascinating, and also just how far and popular this monster has come.

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Acacia Farley says:

9 December 2012 at 11:30 pm

All around the world in 1954 there were big things happening. In the United States we were conducting nuclear tests, and in Japan they were awaiting the screen appearance of there biggest star ever, Godzilla. Everyone that you ask the question “Who is Godzilla?” you will get a response about that famous “roar”.

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