STAR TIME: The campaign to get a...

STAR TIME: The campaign to get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for the Beatles launched last week by the environmental group Alliance for Survival might be a case of misdirected, if well-meaning, effort.

The fact is, says Walk of Fame Chairman Johnny Grant, the Beatles already have a star--but it’s sitting in his office. The Fab Four’s honor was approved more than 10 years ago, but when no installation ceremony could be arranged with the group’s members, it was included in a mass installation as part of the walk’s expansion onto La Brea Avenue.

“A week later I got a call from someone at Capitol Records who said the star should be in front of the Capitol tower,” Grant says. “They said that if we removed it from La Brea, they would get one of the Beatles to come for a dedication ceremony at their site.

“So I took it out, and it’s been in my office ever since. It’s very simple. If Paul McCartney or Ringo Starr or George Harrison says, ‘Yeah, . . . I’d like to do it,’ I’ll be ready to go. But I guess none of them are interested. I wish they would do it. This thing weighs 300 pounds and I have to move it every time I clean up.”

A Capitol Records spokeswoman confirmed that none of the three has thus far been willing to participate in a ceremony, though she could give no reason.

Still, Alliance for Survival Chairman Jerry Rubin is undeterred in his mission. He used the petition drive for the star as the centerpiece for his annual candlelight vigil on John Lennon’s birthday last Thursday, which started at Lennon’s star--which is in front of Capitol’s headquarters.

“We hope that [the surviving Beatles] will see how much it would mean to their fans to have a star for the group as well as the one for John,” he says.