An ornate fantasy of chinoiserie, the theater (1926, Meyer & Holler) was commissioned by showman Sid Grauman$; many locals still call it Grauman's Chinese, though it is now owned by the Mann Theatres chain. Opened in 1927 with a gala premiere for Cecil B. DeMille's King of Kings, the Chinese has hosted more premieres than any other Hollywood theater.The monumental exterior is dominated by an eclectic, mansard-roofed pagoda topped by stylized flames and flanked by white-marble dogs; the ornate and cavernous interior took its inspiration from Chinese Chippendale furniture. The U-shaped cement forecourt features the footprints and signatures of more than 200 Hollywood celebrities, with new ones added almost every year. Various accounts exist of how the tradition began, most involving either Grauman, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks or Norma Talmadge accidentally stepping in wet cement during the theater's construction. Pickford and Fairbanks were the first to officially leave their prints, on April 30, 1927.