Academy Awards begin
The Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars, began in 1929 as a formal recognition of excellence in the film industry, shortly after the introduction of sound in cinema. Established by the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences, the awards aimed to provide both prestige and publicity to films during a significant period of growth for Hollywood. The first ceremony featured awards in twelve categories, including best actor, actress, and outstanding picture, with notable films like "Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans" receiving recognition. The event was marked by the presentation of the first Oscar statuettes, designed by sculptor George Stanley, which would come to symbolize cinematic achievement.
The inaugural ceremony not only celebrated artistic accomplishments but also showcased technological innovations, such as synchronized sound. Over time, the Academy Awards evolved, adjusting categories and nomination processes to reflect changing industry standards and preferences. The awards have since grown to become a global cultural event, significantly influencing public perception and the success of films and their creators. The tradition established in the late 1920s continues to impact the film industry, drawing international attention and fostering a sense of competition and recognition among filmmakers.
Academy Awards begin
The first awards ceremony held by the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences took place in 1929, a mere two years after the first “talking” pictures were released, providing both prestige and publicity for the already rapidly expanding filmmaking industry.
In the wake of a 1926 union agreement between film studios and technicians, Louis B. Mayer, the production chief of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and one of the most powerful people in Hollywood, sought to strengthen the position of the studios in future union negotiations. In January 1927, Mayer and two colleagues invited more than thirty industry executives to a banquet, where they introduced their proposal for the formation of the International Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The word “International” was soon dropped, and the state of California granted a charter giving it nonprofit status as a legal corporation in May 1927, with the distinguished actorDouglas Fairbanks, Sr., as its first president. Membership in the organization was available for $100, and 231 people accepted an invitation to join. Among other goals, academy founders wanted to establish “awards of merit for distinctive achievement,” and by 1928, a committee had developed a system through which each member would cast a vote for a nomination in his or her discipline. The nominations would be tallied, and a panel of judges with one member from each discipline would choose the winners.
Establishing the Categories
In July, 1928, the awards committee announced there would be prizes in twelve categories: actor, actress, dramatic director, comedy director, cinematography, art direction, engineering effects, outstanding picture, artistic production, original story, adapted story, and title writing. The release of The Jazz Singer in 1927, the first “talking picture,” or “talkie,” had such an impact on the industry that it was ruled ineligible for the outstanding picture award because it was considered unfair competition for films without synchronized sound that contained written inserts (or “titles”). Otherwise, films opening between August 1, 1927, and July 31, 1928, were eligible for consideration.
Almost one thousand nominations were received, and a list of the ten candidates with the most votes in each category was compiled. Boards of judges representing the five disciplines—acting, writing, directing, producing, and technical production—assembled a short list of three selections in each category. A Central Board of Judges then made the final selections, joined by Mayer. The winners were announced in mid-February 1929, right after the selection meeting, and the awards were presented at the Academy’s second-anniversary dinner in Los Angeles on May 16, 1929. Sculptor George Stanley had been paid $500 to cast a small bronze statuette (eventually called the “Oscar”), finished with 24-karat gold plate, to be given to the twelve winners of the Academy Award of Merit.
The First Academy Awards
As an acknowledgment of the importance of synchronized sound, the first Academy Awards ceremony began with a demonstration of the newly developed Western Electric projection device for showing talking pictures. The film clip showed Douglas Fairbanks presenting the outstanding picture award for Wings to Paramount Pictures president Adolph Zuckor in Paramount’s New York studio. F. W. Murnau’s Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans won the artistic production award over King Vidor’s The Crowd, partly due to Mayer’s active support for a film that he felt would lend prestige to the industry. (Mayer’s own studio, MGM, had produced Vidor’s film, which Mayer considered too bleak to represent the industry.) Janet Gaynor (Seventh Heaven) and Emil Jannings (The Last Command and The Way of All Flesh) were named best actress and best actor, respectively. Frank Borzage was named best dramatic director for Seventh Heaven, Lewis Milestone won best comedy director for Two ArabianKnights, and Charles Rosher and Karl Struss shared the cinematography award for their innovative work on Sunrise. Though ineligible for outstanding picture, The Jazz Singer was nominated for engineering effects (won by Wings) and for adapted story writing (won by Seventh Heaven), and Warner Bros. received a special award for producing The Jazz Singer.
The Evolution of the Awards
Shifts in the number of nominees in each category and the names of the categories for the second and third Academy Awards ceremonies reflected changes in which elements the academy considered most worthy of recognition. Because of changes in timing and scheduling, both of these ceremonies were held in 1930: The second Academy Awards, honoring films made in 1928 and 1929, took place on April 3, 1930; the third, honoring films from 1929 and 1930, took place on November 5.
Of the twelve initial award categories, only seven were retained for the second (1928/1929) Academy Awards ceremony. There were five nominees each for outstanding picture, actor, art direction, and cinematography, and six for actress, director, and writing. Among the winners were the 1929 musical The Broadway Melody (best picture), Frank Lloyd (best director, The Divine Lady), Warner Baxter (best actor, In Old Arizona), and Mary Pickford (best actress, Coquette).
The third (1929/1930) Academy Awards expanded the categories to eight, adding an award for best sound recording, captured by The Big House and its sound director Douglas Shearer. Lewis Milestone was named best director for All Quiet on the Western Front, which was also named outstanding (best) picture, beginning the common practice of pairing these two awards with the same film. Also for the first time, nominations were voted on by all of the members of each discipline, and the entire membership of the academy voted on the final ballot.
Impact
A tradition born in the late 1920s with the advent of sound films, the Academy Awards have become one of the most important honors in popular culture, capturing a worldwide audience and considerably enhancing the reputation of its winners.
Bibliography
Holden, Anthony. Behind the Oscar: The Secret History of the Academy Awards. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993. A witty, incisive, and readable history of more than six decades of Oscars.
Levy, Emanuel. All About Oscar: The History and Politics of the Academy Awards. New York: Continuum, 2003. A thorough scholarly study, reliable and authoritative.
Osborne, Robert. 80 Years of the Oscar: The Official History of the Academy Awards. New York: Abbeyville, 2008. A comprehensive and complete history by an expert.
Wiley, Mason, Damien Bona, and Gail MacColl. Inside Oscar: The Unofficial History of the Academy Awards. 5th ed. New York: Ballantine, 1996. An entertaining, informative, and irreverent account.