The recent Oscars ceremony has come and gone and passed without the same incident as it had done the year before. It’s always been the highlight of the film year being the most prestigious of all the awards ceremonies that there is. Even in this day and age of social media overload, the glamour and glitz of the nearly 4 hour ceremony still seems to hold sway over us and people still eagerly reach for their phones to see who has won best picture or best actor/actress. It may inspire you to get a Luxury Home Cinema Bath based installer digitalinteriors.co.uk/services/home-cinema-system/bath/ can provide.
What was the very first Oscars ceremony like? Did it set the tone for the many years that were to come? Were there stars, dresses, sharp suits and tearful acceptance speeches? The simple answer to that is actually yes and no. The first Academy Awards were held in 1929 and they lasted about 15 minutes long.
There was some polite clapping and a few “well done” and then everyone attending sat down to a rather nice dinner and party at a nearby hotel. There were 270 of them. The results were announced in Variety magazine about three months before the event, rather spoiling the element of surprise. The academy then chose to release the winners to the press at 11pm that night so they could work the news of the winners into their morning additions. It wasn’t until 1941 they introduced the sealed envelope result announcement that created the tension.
Summary
This article looks back at the very first Academy Awards ceremony in 1929, which lasted only about 15 minutes and was followed by dinner for 270 attendees at a nearby hotel. It notes the winners were announced in Variety magazine months beforehand, removing any surprise, and that the now-familiar sealed envelope format wasn’t introduced until 1941, decades after the ceremony’s low-key beginnings.
Questions this article raises
- Why did it take until 1941 to introduce the sealed envelope format?
- How did the ceremony grow from 15 minutes to nearly four hours?
- What prompted Variety magazine to stop publishing winners in advance?
