What is Oscar?
What is Oscar?Oscar is a 13 1/2", 8 1/2 Lb Britannium Alloy statuette with gold plating, handed out each and every year since 1929 to the film industries best.
The Academy Award of Merit (as it is formally known), was first handed out in 1929. The statuette is better known by a nickname, Oscar, the origins of which aren't clear. A popular story has been that an Academy librarian at the time, Margaret Herrick, remarked that it looked similar to her Uncle Oscar. The Academy staff began referring to it as Oscar. By 1934 it was used in the media. The Academy didn't use the name Oscar officialy until 1939.
There are 24 competitive Oscar catagories, but each catagory may have more than one Oscar recipient (Ex. Two people could have written one screenplay), so the Academy orders 50 statuettes. Any surplus statuetts are kept in the Academy's vault.
Each statuette is made specially by R.S. Owens of Chicago, and have been since 1982.
"Casting the Oscar statuettes is our New Year's celebration," says R. S. Owens spokesperson Noreen Prohaska. "It's our first project of the year, and certainly our most prestigious. Though we could probably do it quicker, we take three to
four weeks to cast 50 statuettes. It may sound silly, but each one is done to perfection and handled with white gloves. After all, look at the people who will be clutching it on Oscar Night."
In 1949, the Academy started numbering Oscars, a "serial number" if you will. They began, oddly enough, with the number 501, and to date there have been over 2,622 handed out.
The most coveted award in perhaps the world, the Oscar is the dream of hundreds of thousand of people the world over. It stands today, as it has since 1929, all 13 1/2 inches, without peer, the crown jewel of filmaking glory.
On January 1 of any Calender year, the Oscar season opens. ANY film released within THAT year in ANY commercial, Los Angeles County, California, theatre, having played for more than seven straight days, is elligable to win an Oscar.
Around January 8th, nomination ballots are sent out to all 5,600+ Academy members.
Each Academy member nominates a film from the branch of the Academy that he or she represents. For example, Tom Hanks could one nominate actor, actress, or supporting actor of actress, as well as s Best Picture (which everyone can vote for).
Members have untill the end of the month to mail ballots to Price Waterhouse 
Coopers who tally the nominations. The TOP FIVE nominees in each catagory (there may or may not be five total in *SOME* catagories) are revealed in mid February to massive media hype.
Voting members then receive a ballot to vote in all 24 catagories.
These ballots are then sent again to Price Waterhouse Coopers who tabulate the votes. Only two people from Price Waterhouse Coopers know the results.
Around the last Sunday of March, the winners are announced at the Academy Awards ceremony.
Membership in the Academy is by invitation of the Board of Governors and is limited to those who have achieved distinction in the arts and sciences of motion pictures. Some of the criteria for admittance are: film credits of a caliber which reflect the high standards of the Academy, receipt of an Academy Award nomination, achievement of unique distinction, earning of special merit, or making of an outstanding contribution to film.
Members represent 13 branches: Actors, Art Directors, Cinematographers, Directors, Executives, Film Editors, Music, Producers, Public Relations, Short Films and Feature Animation, Sound, Visual Effects and Writers. A candidate for membership in the Academy must be sponsored by at least two members of the branch for which the person may qualify. Each proposed member must first receive the favorable endorsement of the appropriate branch executive committee before his or her name is submitted to the Board of Governors for its approval. The Board of Governors also may invite to membership members-at-large and associate members.
Members-at-large are those engaged in theatrical film production, but for whose craft there is no separate branch. They have all the privileges of branch membership except for representation on the Board.
Associate members are those closely allied to the industry but not actively engaged in motion picture production. They are not represented on the Board and do not vote on Academy Awards. Life members are designated by unanimous vote of the Board of Governors and have full privileges of membership, but pay no dues.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was founded on January 11, 1927, when 36 people gathered at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles to form the film world's premier organization.
The Academy awards were first given out in 1929 for films released between August 1, 1927 and August 1, 1928. They were handed out at the Blossom Room, Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, Los Angeles, California. It was to be a banquet-style occasion, and this was thought to be a one time event; that was quickly denied and it was stated that this would be a yearly event.
The Award winners had been announced three months in advance of the banquet, which took place on May 16, 1929, and tickets to this banquet cost $10 US.
The first winners of the top five awards were:
Picture: Wings
Actor: Emil Jannings, The Last Command
Actress: Janet Gaynor, Seventh Heaven, Street Angel, Sunrise
Director, Comedy: Lewis Milestone, Two Arabian Knights
Director, Drama: Frank Borzage, Seventh Heaven
Screenplay, Original: Ben Hecht, Underworld
Screenpaly, Adaptation: Benjamin Glazer, Seventh Heaven
During that first year, Janey Gaynor was nominated for one performance, but the nomination was also for two other performances. This does not occur nowadays. If you are lucky enough to be nominated, you're nomination is for ONE PERFORMANCE ONLY. Any other great performances will NOT get their own SEPERATE nomination. It's only the BEST peformance of the year by that actor/actress. YOu could also be nominated for a SUPPORTING performance, but again, only your BEST supporting performance.
George Arliss was nominated for Disraeli and The Green Goddess in 1929-30 (The third Oscars). Ronald Colman, Maurice Chevalier, Greta Garbo, Norma Shearer & Clarence Brown Were all nominated twice in 1929-30. Most recently, in 2001, Steven Soderbergh was nominated for Best Director for both Traffic and Erin Brockovich.
For the first and only time, there are two Oscar cermonies in one year April 3, 1930 (for films from August 1928 - July, 1929). There are no officially announced nominees. The next ceremonyis November 5, 1930 (for films from August, 1929 - July, 1930.)
In 1931, there is only one ceremony. The fourth Oscars took place on November 10th, and the awards are given out for films released between August 1, 1930 and July 31, 1931.
The Fifth Academy Awards ceremony is celebrated on November 18, 1932, and the Oscar are awarded for films released between August 1, 1931 and July 31, 1932.
In 1933, there was no ceremony; The next Academy Awards took place on March 16th, 1934. The Oscars are handed out for films released between August 1, 1932 and December 31, 1933. The first - and only - time they are given for movies released in a year and a half. From then on, they are given out the next March or so for the previous calender year (January 1 to December 31).
Since then, the Oscars have taken place early in the next new year. (Ex. 2003's nominees won their awards on February 29th, 2004).
The Academy Awards have been held in many places, most notibly in the Shrine Auditorium and the Dorthy Candler Pavillion, but have since found a permanent home next to Graumann's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, at the Kodak theatre.
