Sitting at the Four Seasons’ Culina Restaurant with a tomato juice in hand, politely asking to turn the heaters up on a fair weather day, composer Alan Menken recalls the afternoon before, when he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
“That was a trip,” he says. “I didn’t know how much to make of it or not to make of it. It’s not a moment where someone says, ‘You’ve won this because you accomplished this.’ It’s a moment in time when someone says, ‘You know what? You should have a star.’”
And it’s not the most out-of-line observation, given what Menken has meant to filmmaking, particularly animated filmmaking over the past two decades. It seems surprising that, however political an honor such as this may be, that he didn’t have one. But like he seems to take most praise, Menken was politely appreciative and didn’t quite know what else to make of it.
“It was almost a little like going to a funeral. Because they have the thing covered up and you’re standing there and then they uncover it. And then I went back later in the day to visit my star and it’s a little strange, your star is still there and you’re walking away. On cold nights I can picture homeless guys peeing on it.”
The star rests on the sidewalk outside of Disney’s El Capitan Theatre, a fitting place given Menken’s undeniable contribution to the studio’s legacy over the last 21 years.
On Independence Day, no less…