"Oscar",
It's History
By Stanley Robinson
The Oscar® statue, is Hollywood's greatest prize,
and Hollywood always buzzes as the movie industry prepares
for its biggest awards presentation: the Academy Awards,
commonly known as the Oscars. This Oscar night, February
27th, 2005, millions of people throughout the world
will watch the show on ABC-TV to see if their favorite
movie won the prized Oscar® statue. The Oscars is
an American social occasion, the place where Hollywood's
popular and powerful walk the “red carpet”
and go to see and be seen!
The gold statue "depicts a knight holding a crusader's
sword, standing on a reel of film with five spokes,
signifying the original branches of the Academy: Actors,
Writers, Directors, Producers and Technicians."
The Award is a 8.5-pound (3.85 kg), 13.5-inch (34.3
cm) statue cast in bronze and plated in 24-karat gold,
with a round, black marble base.
When the statue was created in 1928, it was referred
to as the Academy Award of Merit. Although there are
several stories that lay claim to naming the statue
Oscar, the one that the Academy supports is: then-Academy
librarian Margaret Herrick remarked that the statue
looked like her Uncle Oscar (Pierce). The name stuck,
and the Academy staff began referring to the statue
as 'Oscar'. Writing about Katherine Hepburn's Best Actress
win in 1934, Hollywood columnist Sidney Skolsky used
the name 'Oscar' in his column, and it seemed to stick
after that, although the Academy didn't recognize the
name 'Oscar' officially until 1939.
Oscar is awarded by the American Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences, commonly referred to as "the
Academy." The Academy was formed in 1927, and is
a professional honorary organization of motion picture
artists and craftsmen. The primary goal of the Academy
is to "advance the arts and science of motion pictures."
When Award nominations are announced, voting has begun
months prior to that announcement. Award nominees are
voted for by secret ballot, with up to five nominees
in each category. Voting members of the Academy can
only vote for nominees in their respective Academy branch.
There are 13 Academy branches: actors, art directors,
cinematographers, directors, executives, film editors,
music, producers, public relations, short films and
feature animation, sound, visual effects and writers.
This means that directors vote for directors, writers
for writers, actors for actors, etc. All Academy members
nominate and vote for Best Picture.
All Academy members are sent secret ballots to complete
and return to the Academy as late as the week of the
awards. Ballots are opened and counted by an accounting
firm, usually PricewaterhouseCoopers, chosen by the
Academy president. Tabulation of final ballots is done
by simple majority -- the Oscar goes to the nominee
receiving the greatest number of votes. Write-in ballots
have not been allowed since 1935.
Each year, a few hundred films are released, most of
which are Oscar-eligible. Films for nomination are selected
in a first round of voting by a committee of Academy-member
documentarians and a second round where all members
of the Academy in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles
are invited to see the films and participate in the
final determination of the nominees.
In the Academy's early years, the award winners were
announced the night before the ceremony. This allowed
newspapers to have the winners listed in the late-night
editions that would go out on the night of the Oscars
after the winners had been announced.
However, newspapers began printing the Oscar edition
earlier in the evening, and by 1940, ceremony guests
could pick up a paper and find out who won while on
their way to the ceremony. Perhaps sensing that this
early notification would bring an end to people actually
attending the ceremony, and to add the suspense that
we now associate with the ceremony, the Academy began
keeping results in the sealed envelopes that we know
today. Now, when the Oscar presenter says, "and
the Oscar goes to...," we're all finding out at
the same time.
The attention and interest surrounding the ceremony
continued to grow and the media began to have live coverage.
The first telecast (black and white) of the Oscars was
in 1953, and Bob Hope was the host. Today shows are
broadcast on U.S.-network television and beamed around
the world. This world wide coverage has contributed
to the frenzy of media attention that now swirls around
pre-Oscar get-togethers, the ceremony itself and post-ceremony
parties. Modern Oscar ceremonies aren't just about movies.
Musical guests are invited to perform at the televised
event, increasing appeal to a wider television audience.
Great scrutiny is placed on who the nominees are, what
the attendees wear, what the winners say, and who snubbed
the ceremony to stay home.
Here are a few “Oscar” Tid bits...
• First Color Best Picture: Gone With the Wind"
(1939)
• Oldest Winner for Best Actor: Henry Fonda, "On
Golden Pond", 76 years old (1981)
• Oldest Winner for Best Actress: Jessica Tandy,
“Driving Miss Daisy”, 80 years old (1989)
• Oldest Actor to Receive an Award: Groucho Marx,
Honorary Award, 83 years old (1973)
• Youngest Winner: Shirley Temple, Special Award,
6 years old (1934)
• Most Acting Nominations and Awards : Katherine
Hepburn, 12 and 4 wins
• 2nd Most Acting Nominations and Awards : Meryl
Streep, 12 nominations and 2 wins
• Most Musical Nominations: John Williams, composer,
37 nominations
• Most Film Nominations: "All About Eve,"
14 (1950)
• Most Film Awards: "Ben Hur," 11 (1959),
"Titanic," 11 (1997) “LOTR: Return of
the King” 11 (2003)
• Most Oscar wins: Walt Disney, 26 Oscars from
64 nominations
• In 1959, actor-comedian Jerry Lewis hosted the
Academy Awards show. It ran 20 minutes short.
Chris Rock will host the 77th Academy Awards telecast,
honoring 2004 achievements in motion pictures, on Sunday,
February 27, 2005. The 77th Annual Academy Awards Presentation
will be broadcast live from the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood
& Highland by the ABC Television Network, beginning
at 5:00 p.m. PST with a network arrivals show.
Stanley Robinson , an Assistant Director in the motion
picture industry, is based in Phoenix, AZ.
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