16 may 1929
seventy-five years ago today the academy of motion picture arts and sciences presented its first awards, at the roosevelt hotel in hollywood. go figure!eligible films premiered between 01 august 1927 and 31 july 1928. the best picture award went to wings, starring clara bow and gary cooper. emil jannings won the best actor award for the last command and the way of all flesh.
note: this seems best left for oscar night proper, but since i refrained from watching them this year in protest against the "censorship delay"... «there is no agreement as to why the awards came to be called the oscars. allegedly, margaret herrick, a librarian (and eventual executive director) for the ampas commented that the statuette looked like her uncle oscar. there is also an anecdote about bette davis remarking that the statuette's buttocks resembled those of one of her husbands, harmon oscar nelson. but credit for the first documented use (1934) of the nickname belongs to syndicated gossip columnist sidney skolsky, who claimed he called it "oscar" to minimise any attendant pretension.»
via the history channel and history television canada.
