Miriam Karlin celebrity print 1972

Summary

This concrete footprint was formerly located as a part of the iconic McEwans celebrity pavement. Between 1972 and 1994, scores of celebrities had their handprints and footprints immortalised in cement at the entrance to the McEwans hardware store on Bourke Street. The City of Melbourne Art and Heritage Collection acquired a number of these impressed concrete slabs from the original celebrity pavement in 2005.

"The first celebrity to leave her mark in concrete at the McEwans entrance was the British actress, Miriam Karlin, who was in Melbourne to promote the movie, 'A Clockwork Orange.' (As the film had yet to be screened in Melbourne, McEwans’ management were likely unaware of the fate of Karlin’s character – beaten to death with a giant phallus.) Before the end of 1972, Karlin’s prints were joined by those of another twelve celebrities; with ten more in 1973; five in 1974; three in 1975; two in 1976; one in 1977; four in 1978; three in 1980; followed by a sporadic handful over the next eighteen years." - Robyn Annear, 2023