Shortly
after the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was
incorporated in 1927, a dinner was held in the Crystal Ballroom
of the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles to discuss
the goals of the new organisation. One of those goals was
devising a method of honouring outstanding achievements,
thus encouraging higher levels of quality in all facets of
motion picture production.
Once the decision had been made to
institute an award, a major item of business was the creation
of a trophy to symbolize film achievement. MGM art director
Cedric Gibbons designed the statuette and Los Angeles sculptor
George Stanley was selected to bring to three-dimensional
form the figure of a knight standing on a reel of film,
hands gripping a sword. The Academy’s world-renowned
statuette was born.
Since the initial awards banquet on May 16, 1929, in the
Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel's Blossom Room, 2,622 statuettes
have been presented. Each January, additional new golden
statuettes are cast, moulded, polished and buffed
by R.S.Owens & Company, the Chicago-based awards speciality
company
retained by the Academy since 1982 to make the award.
Oscar stands 13 and a half inches
tall and weighs a robust eight and a half pounds. The design
of the statuette has never changed from its original conception,
but the size of the base varied until the present standard
was adopted in 1945. Officially named the Academy Award® of Merit,
the statuette is better known by its nickname, Oscar, the
origins of which aren’t clear. A popular story has
been that Academy librarian and eventual executive director
Margaret Herrick thought it resembled her Uncle Oscar and
said so, and that the Academy staff began referring to it
as Oscar. In any case, by the Sixth Awards presentation in
1934, Hollywood columnist Sidney Skolsky used the name in
his column in reference to Katharine Hepburn's first Best
Actress win. the Academy itself didn’t use the nickname
officially until 1939.
The 15 statuettes presented at the initial ceremonies were
gold-plated
solid bronze. Within a few years the bronze was abandoned
in favour of britannia metal, a pewter-like alloy, which
made it easier to give the statuettes their smooth finish.
Due to the metals shortage during
World War II, Oscars® were
made of painted plaster for three years. Following the war,
all of the awarded
plaster figures were redeemed for gold-plated metal ones.
Achievements in up to 24 regular categories will be honoured
on February
25, 2007, at the 79th Academy Awards® presentation at
the Kodak Theatre at
Hollywood & Highland Center®. However, the Academy
won’t know how
many statuettes it will actually hand out until the envelopes
are opened on Oscar Night®. Although the number of categories
and special awards will be known prior to the ceremony, the
possibility of ties and of multiple recipients sharing the
prize in some categories makes the exact number of Oscar
statuettes to be awarded unpredictable. As in previous years,
any surplus awards will be housed in the Academy’s
vault until next year’s event.
“Each Oscar statuette is individually hand-crafted,” says
Scott Siegel, president of R.S.Owens. “This statuette
is only a tiny portion of our overall business, but it makes
us known all around the world. No other award is as universally
recognised as the Oscar, and we treat it with the extra-special
tender loving care that it deserves. We are extremely proud
that the Academy has entrusted its manufacture to us.”
Except in years when the Academy created
a publicity event out of the delivery of the Oscars from
Chicago to Los Angeles, they normally were sent overland
by common carrier. However, in 2000, only a few weeks before
the presentation date, that year’s shipment of Oscars was stolen from the overland
carrier's loading dock. They were recovered a week later,
but not before some nerve-racking days had passed. Since
then, the Academy has had the statuettes delivered on a special
United Air Lines flight and has kept a ceremony’s-worth
of statuettes on hand.
The Oscar statuette is the most recognised award in the
world. Its success as a symbol of achievement in filmmaking
would doubtless amaze those who attended that dinner nearly
80 years ago, as well as its designer, Cedric Gibbons.
It stands today, as it has since 1929, without peer, on
the mantels of the greatest filmmakers in history.
12/05 — “Oscar®,” “Oscars®,” “Academy
Awards®,” “Academy Award®,” “A.M.P.A.S.®” and “Oscar
Night®” are the trademarks, and the ©Oscar® statuette
is the registered design mark and copyrighted property, of
the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
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