So what is the deal behind the Academy Awards , how did they originate and who are they thanking when they thank "the academy"? These are all very good questions boys and girls and I'll do my best to answer them.
So here goes:
* The 1st Academy Awards ceremony was held on Thursday, May 16, 1929, at the Hotel Roosevelt in Hollywood to honor outstanding film achievements of 1927 and 1928. The winners were announced three months earlier than the event. There were 250 guests and the awards part of the dinner was short and sweet. It was hosted by Douglas Fairbanks(actor) and Cecil B. Demill (producer)
*The statuettes that were presented to the first Academy Awards winners were nearly identical to those handed out today. Sculpted by George Stanley, The Academy Award of Merit (Oscar's official name) was a knight, made of solid bronze, holding a sword and standing upon a reel of film
* The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) is a honorary organization ostensibly dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of motion pictures
*The 1927-1928 Academy Award Winners
Picture (Production): WingsPicture (Unique and Artistic Production): Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans Actor: Emil Jannings (The Last Command; The Way of All Flesh)
Actress: Janet Gaynor (Seventh Heaven; Street Angel; Sunrise)
Director: Frank Borzage (Seventh Heaven) / Lewis Milestone (Two Arabian Knights)
Adapted Screenplay: Benjamin Glazer (Seventh Heaven)
Original Story: Ben Hecht (Underworld)
Cinematography: Sunrise
Interior Decoration: The Dove / The Tempest
*The funnest bit of trivia I came across is that no one knows for sure how Oscar got his name! One story is that the then Academy's librarian upon seeing the statue said that it looked like her uncle Oscar. Another story is that the statue was named by Bette Davis after her ex-husband Harmon Oscar Nelson Jr. Nobody knows for certain but somehow the name stuck.
For more on the Academy Awards click on Oscar:
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