Cyd Charisse and Tony Martin 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.

"Cyd Charisse (1922-2008) starred opposite Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly in golden-age Hollywood musicals including ‘Silk Stockings’ and ‘Singin’ in the Rain’. She reputedly had ‘the most beautiful legs in America’. Her husband, singer Tony Martin (1913-2012), was a fixture of the Las Vegas club scene. Charisse was in Melbourne as star of the musical ‘No, No, Nanette’ at Her Majesty’s Theatre." - Robyn Annear, 2023