Memorial sign "Movie star Toto" - a place that has no better (9 photos)
Because there's no place like home. This is the message contained in the fairy tale "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" by writer L. Frank Baum, published in 1900. Later, Alexander Volkov adapted the story for readers, creating his own series of books - "The Wizard of the Emerald City". 
The number of film adaptations has long exceeded ten, but the most famous is the 1939 MGM musical with Judy Garland in the lead role, which was recognized as the most visited film in the history of cinema. 
Unfortunately for the film's cheerful dog, Terry, who was renamed Toto after his resounding success, his home, where he had lived since puppyhood, was bulldozed by the California State Bulldozer in 1958 to build the Ventura Freeway. 
Years later, concerned that there was nowhere to memorialize the famous pup, fans came together and launched an online campaign to create a memorial for Toto at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles. 
Before Toto was immortalized as "Little Dorothy," the terrier (who was a girl, by the way) grew up and lived on Hollywood trainer Carl Spitz's ranch in the San Fernando Valley in the 1930s. Toto was buried there after his death in 1945. But a decade later, the state of California came knocking with a razing order: the house, including Toto's burial site, was to be torn down. 
The memorial campaign collected donations from a thousand people on the memorial's web page. Artist Roman Gal sculpted a life-size statue of Toto. And the Hollywood Forever Cemetery decided on the monument issue and allocated a special area where the character can be remembered. 
The memorial was opened on June 18, 2011. Robert Baum, the great-grandson of Wizard of Oz author L. Frank Baum, even attended the ceremony to pay tribute to the four-legged movie star. Those gathered at the dedication sang "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," which was performed by Judy Garland in the musical. The song became her signature song and won an Oscar for Best Original Song. 
