Press releases

MINSK, 20 June (BelTA) – Larry King and Kirk Douglas have been touched by the gifts from Belarus – T-shirts from a limited collection rolled out by the Mark Formelle company, BelTA learned from the company.

A collection of T-shirts From Belarus With Love was designed for 15 celebrities whose ancestors lived in Belarus. They have already received their souvenirs. The T-shirts are designed to reflect a family history of each of the celebrities, among whom are Lisa Kudrow, Michael Douglas, Gwyneth Paltrow, Scarlett Johansson, Ralph Lauren, Steven Tyler and Liv Tyler, Alex Galchenyuk, Anna Galchenyuk, Winona Ryder, Harrison Ford and others.

Actor Kirk Douglas and journalist Larry King responded with a thank-you message. Kirk Douglas’s assistant wrote: “Mr. Douglas was very touched by your letter. He and Mrs. Douglas enjoy their new t-shirts and thank you for such a thoughtful gift.” The actor wrote in his memoirs that when he was a child, he had reproductions of his famous compatriot Marc Chagall in his bedroom. Therefore, he was happy with the Chagall- inspired print on the T-shirt. The print depicts young Kirk Douglas and his wife flying over the city.

Larry King’s wife wrote: "Larry received your T-shirt and loved it!” His mother moved to the USA from Minsk in the late 1920s.

Mark Formelle’s chief Svetlana Siparova noted: “Some of our gift recipients have no clue what their ancestral land looks like. Others try to find their roots and are proud of their ancestors who once left everything behind and gave everything away for a ticket to New York. We thought it would be great to remind the celebrities about the land of their ancestors”.

The project spanned several months. At first the list of celebrities featured 56 persons and was shortlisted to top 15. The people who worked on the project studied the archives, talked to residents of the towns and villages where the celebrities’ ancestors once lived. A dozen concepts and designs were considered. One of the toughest tasks was to find out home addresses of the celebrities so that the gifts would not get lost in the offices of their managers.