The 79th Academy Awards take place on February 25th, and one thing you can count on is that we will have differences of opinion on who should win. At the library, we have a yearly contest for Best Picture, and asking people's opinions on even this one category raises great discussion at the service desk. We all know films that we have loved, that haven't won any awards, and likewise know films that have won many awards that we just couldn't understand the appeal of. Controversy is part of the history of the Oscars, and has made them one of the most popular events of the entertainment world.
When was the Academy established?
The International Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (the International was later dropped) first met on January 11, 1927. The prestigious originators were Louis B. Mayer, actor Conrad Nagel, director Fred Niblio, and producer Fred Beetson. Among the original thirty-six members, other prominent names included Mary Pickford, Gloria Swanson, Douglas Fairbanks, Darryl Zanuck and Lon Chaney. Membership to the Academy was by invitation only and it remains so to this day. The first Awards were given on May 16, 1929, at that time there were only twelve awards. 70 Years of the Oscars: The Official History of the Academy Awards by Robert Osborne is a wonderful source of information, pictures, quotations and statistics, for the Oscar's buff.
What fan of Charlie Chaplin's grew a mustache to match his hero's?
Adolph Hitler had an 1880's type handle-bar mustache until he saw Chaplin's character in the Little Tramp. After that he trimmed it to match Chaplin's. Did you know that Chaplin won an Honorary Award in 1927, this despite the fact that his initial nominations for Best Actor, Best Director and Best Writer were nullified? He was always a controversial figure, know for his marriages to younger women. He once had blows with Louis B. Mayer over the studio chief's snide remarks about the star's divorce from ingenue Mildred Harris (Chaplin got in the first swing, but Mayer decked him). Don't miss all the detailed notes about films, actors and studios in The Academy Awards by Gail Kinn and Jim Piazza.
What other major film was not selected at Best Picture in 1939?
Of course, the winner that year was Gone with the Wind. It was the most publicized, anticipated and financially successful film of that year. The other major film that year was The Wizard of Oz. Both films were immensely popular and remain so to this day. Danny Peary in Alternate Oscars contends that Gone with the Wind has many more detractors than The Wizard of Oz, and so it should not have been the winner that year. Peary explains that Academy Awards are too often influenced by politics, sentiment, guilt, spite and an obsession with prestige. Take a look at some of his alternate choices and you might agree.
What politically motivated film won seven Academy Awards in 1990?
Dances with Wolves has the distinction that it is the only Western to win more than four awards, and the first picture to win Best Picture since Cimarron at the fourth Academy Awards banquet sixty years earlier. In Behind the Oscar: The Secret History of the Academy Awards, Anthony Holden describes the win as the most “politically correct” film of the year. The triumph over the more brutal Goodfellas, should have improved conditions for the Sioux Reservation at Pine Ridge. Alas, their fight for land claims continued, diabetes and suicide remained major problems, and unemployment exceeded eight-five percent after the film aired.
From what Oscar winning movie does the quote “ The truth, Helen, is always the right answer” come from?
The film is Schindler's List the winner for Best Picture in 1993. While you are in the mood for guessing, which film will win best picture this year? Will it be Babel, The Departed, Little Miss Sunshine, Letters from Iwo Jima or The Queen? Fill out a ballot at any branch of Thunder Bay Public Library, or send us your name, phone number and vote to adults@tbpl.ca Out contest closes on February 25th.
For more information on this years Academy Awards visit their official web site at http://www.oscar.com
This week’s Library Detective was written by Roberta Casella, Adult Services Librarian
The "@ Your Library" Column appears in the Sunday edition of the Chronicle Journal newspaper. The Column is written by staff at the Thunder Bay Public Library. Library staff also write for other publications, and those columns will occasionally be posted here as well. This blog helps us share our writing with a broader audience, and provides our readers with a forum for feedback. We welcome your comments!
No comments:
Post a Comment