BEVERLY HILLS - Gala opening lures stars to historical AMPAS exhibit
An invitation-only reception gala held Jan. 23 at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills to kick off its new exhibition "And the Oscar Went To… drew a few familiar faces, including Cuba Gooding Jr., who donated his own Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance in the 1996 Jerry Maguire, Shirley MacLaine, Kathy Bates, Louise Fletcher and Saul Zaentz.
The exhibit, which opened to the public Jan. 24, features more than 100 Oscar statuettes presented over the past 75 years to stars such as James Stewart, Bob Hope and Katharine Hepburn.
Most of the venerable statuettes are being borrowed from the winners or their heirs, but a few are already in the permanent care of the Academy. Because organizers were hard at work tracking down a few of the more elusive awards all over the world, it took about five months of full-time detective work to put the exhibit together.
Every Oscar category is represented by at least one winner's statuette, including 10 statuettes handed out during the very first year of the ceremony, 1929. These include Charlie Chaplin's Honorary Award for The Circus and the Award of Merit given to Emil Jannings, the first Oscar ever physically handed to a recipient. Because the winners were announced far in advance of the presentation dinner and Jannings had plans to return to Europe before the ceremony, he was given his statuette early.
Other highlights include the "Ur-Oscar," a plaster statuette that was given out instead during the metal shortage of the World War II era; a wooden statuette with a movable mouth presented to Edgar Bergen for the dummy Charlie McCarthy; a regular-sized statuette and its seven smaller "friends" awarded to Walt Disney for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs; and Judy Garland's miniature Oscar, presented in 1940 for her outstanding performance as a screen juvenile the previous year in The Wizard of Oz.
There are also the three versions of the Thalberg Award, images of legendary producer Irving Thalberg's head; and a special charm bracelet with 32 inch-tall Oscars representing each award given to Walt Disney worn by his wife.
Worthy of a look too is the Academy's "Rogue's Gallery," an amusing assortment of fakes and forgeries confiscated by the Academy over the years.
Some of the Oscars displayed have interesting tales to tell. The award given in 1934 to Clark Gable for It Happened One Night was auctioned off by Gable's son after he died--to anonymous bidder Steven Spielberg, who donated it and several others he's rescued over the years to the Academy. Jimmy Stewart's 1940 Oscar for The Philadelphia Story is here now, but sat in his father's Pennsylvania hardware store display window for some 20 years.
Other notable Oscars to be featured in the exhibit are those won by:
Halle Berry for her Best Actress performance in Monster's Ball (2002)Katharine Hepburn for her performance in Morning Glory (1933)Irving Berlin for the song "White Christmas" from the film Holiday Inn (1942)Robert Wise for directing The Sound of Music (1965)John Wayne for his performance in True Grit (1969)Francis Ford Coppola for penning the screenplay for The Godfather(1972)
The exhibition will also feature statuettes won in each of the five categories swept by 1975's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Actors Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher, director Milos Forman, writers Lawrence Hauben
and Bo Goldman and producers Michael Douglas and Saul Zaentz agreed to loan
their awards.
Want to check it out?
Exhibit: "And the Oscar Went To…"
Location: Fourth Floor Gallery of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, 8949 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills
Hours: Tuesdays-Fridays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; weekends, noon-6 p.m. Through April 17 (Academy opens Feb. 12 at noon)
Admission: Free to the public
Contact: (310) 247-3600.