Academy Awards of Yore

Grace Kelly and Marlon Brando both took home Oscars in 1955.

  

Two sleeps and a wake til’ the Oscars this Sunday!  Ever wonder what the first Academy Award ceremony was like?  The very first ceremony lasted only 20 minutes!  It took place on May 16, 1929 in the “Blossom Room” in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.  I’ve been in the room!  The room seems so small to have held such a momentous event.  The Roosevelt is also one of the most haunted hotels around. 

The old home of the Oscars, the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, is across the street (Hollywood Blvd to be exact) from the new home of the ceremony, the Kodak Theatre.

 

Inside the Kodak Theatre during the 2009 ceremony

 

The Oscars was first televised at the 25th ceremony in 1952.  NBC-TV and radio carried the ceremony, honoring the films of 1952.  It was live from Hollywood with Bob Hope as master of ceremonies and from the NBC International Theatre in New York with Conrad Nagel as host.  A major upset that year when the heavily favored High Noon lost to Cecil B. DeMille’s The Greatest Show on Earth, which is now considered by some to be among the worst films to have ever won the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Read more about the history of the Academy Awards here: http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/about/history.html

1953 Academy Awards Ceremony

What about that gold Ken Doll-like statuette they call “Oscar”?  Well, he weighs a mighty 8½ pounds stands 13½ inches tall.  Officially called the “Academy Award of Merit”, find out where he got his nickname and what he’s really made of here: http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/about/awards/oscar.html

Is there chocolate inside?