The less said about this year’s Oscar show the better. It
was awful. The tribute to Bond was an embarrassment, the sleep-inducing
acceptance speeches and the genuine lack of class lay thickly over the entire
proceedings.
Several years ago, my local video rental store was getting
rid of its VHS stock, with tapes selling for $1 each or three for $2. Since I
still have a functioning VHS player, I picked up a few tapes including this
genuine oddity – a tape of the 27th Annual Academy Awards broadcast,
honoring the best in cinema in 1954.
It’s a fascinating document and interesting to compare and
contrast with the Oscar show we know today. I can’t say it was a better show,
but it was certainly a more streamlined show. Still, I must say that, for all
its faults, I’m glad some changes were introduced over the years.
The 27th Oscar show was hosted by Oldsmobile, and
the venerable car company receives several plugs throughout the show. (The tape
had all the commercials edited out, and minus those commercials, the show ran
exactly 95 minutes. The tape is of variable quality, though it is certainly
watchable).
I won’t go into a blow by blow account of the ceremony, or
announce the winners in each category. This is more of an overall look at what
an Oscar broadcast was like circa 1955, with some (for me) highlights
described..
The 27th Annual Academy Awards is remembered
primarily for several reasons: the year’s Best Actress competition between
favorites Grace Kelly for “The Country Girl” and Judy Garland for “A Star is
Born” is recalled by Hollywood watchers as one of the closest and most partisan
in Oscar history; Dimitri Tiomkin’s acceptance speech is one of the most famous
in Oscardom and made the famous composer even more of a household name, a
rarity for a screen composer at the time; and for the genuinely bizarre sight
of Bob Hope and Marlon Brando trading jokes and yukking it on the Oscar stage.
It’s like a scene from an alternate dimension.
The show begins with Robert Cummings introducing the show, being
broadcast live from the Pantages Theater in Hollywood. The show was also being broadcast
from the NBC Century Theater in New
York (because of the “On the Waterfront” connection,
perhaps?) with giant screens in the background showing what is going on at each
theater. For early television viewers, this must have been mind boggling.
As David Rose conducts the orchestra in the pit, playing a
medley of songs from great musicals, including the standards “The Trolley Song”
and “Long Ago and Far Away”, the camera pans the audience in Hollywood as all the categories and
nominations are superimposed on the screen. Cummings invites the audience to
look for familiar faces in the crowd, but the quality of the tape precludes
that, though I did spot Jeff Chandler in the audience.
Seeing all the nominations upfront seems like a good idea,
but when the awards are ready to be given out, the nominations aren’t read, so
we have to remember who is competing with who in each category..
Academy President Charles Brackett comes out to tell the
audience that there are 20 acting nominees, and rather than having them sit in
the audience and biting their nails, many of them will be acting as presenters
and handing out awards throughout the evening.
Brackett then introduces the Master of Ceremonies Bob Hope.
Now I say this as a Bob Hope fan, but I’ve always thought a lot of his Oscar hosting
duties were pretty corny and some jokes that weren’t particularly funny. Here
are a few examples from the evening’s monologue:
“Welcome to You Bet Your Career. The secret word tonight is
shucks.”
“There’s a lot of nominees sitting side by side. We’re
sitting on an ermine time bomb.”
“Losers will be presented with monogrammed do-it-yourself
suicide kits.”
“We’ll be presenting some new awards tonight to producers
going above and beyond the call of duty in making a musical in regular screen
and black and white. Also to the producer who made a movie without Grace
Kelly.”
“The studios are really fighting for storied properties. Sam
Goldwyn bought ‘Guys and Dolls’, Leland Hayward bought ‘The Old Man and the
Sea’ and Howard Hughes bought ‘The Yalta Papers.’ The only problem is which of
the three parts will Jane Russell play.”
Hope then turns around to the giant screen behind him to say
hello to the NBC Century Theater in New
York, and introduces the evening’s Mistress of
Ceremonies Thelma Ritter. The very visibly nervous Thelma looks wonderful all
gussied up. She then introduces former Academy President Conrad Nagel, who will
be assisting her throughout the evening.
The two gentlemen from Price Waterhouse are introduced, one
in Hollywood and one in New York. They remain on stage for the
entire broadcast and hand the already opened envelopes to the presenters.
There must have been an exceptionally long commercial break
because Hope says, “:Remember me” to loud and sustained applause. He then says,
“My clothes went out of style.”
The first award is for Documentary Short and it sets the
tone for the rest of the evening. No nominations are read, the opened envelope
is handed to the presenter, the winner in the category is announced and the
winner comes on stage to accept the award. Often there is no speech, or if
there is one, it’s a modest thank you and no laundry list of names unknown to
the viewing audience. Even the famous Edith Head, who wins for Best Costume
Design Black and White for “Sabina”, doesn’t make a speech, but merely nods her
head to acknowledge the applauding audience.
When there is a speech, it’s typically short and gracious. For
instance, Grace Kelly announces the next award, for Documentary Feature, to “The
Vanishing Prairie.” Walt Disney accepts the award and merely says, “On behalf
of all the people who brought this to the screen, I thank you.”
Most of the speeches are in that fashion and are about as
long. What’s also interesting about this
show is often the banter between Bob Hope and the presenter takes place after
the award has been presented.
After Walt Disney exits the stage, Kelly stays behind. Hope
says there’s some concern about Judy Garland not being present at the ceremony,
and wants to know how she is dong. Kelly says, “She’s fine and regrets not
being here tonight.”
Hope says, “We don’t expect her to act out ‘A Star is Born’
here on the stage.”
Hope then introduces the first nominated song, “The High and
the Mighty.” Hope says, “I know why they couldn’t land that plane. John Wayne
couldn’t find the stirrups.”
Again, not the wittiest of repartee.
Some of the best repartee of the evening comes after
Humphrey Bogart presents the Best Black and White Cinematography award. He and
Hope are standing at the lectern and Bogart exclaims, almost like a
Shakespearean actor, “There isn’t much they can with a face like mine, but
yours presents vistas of opportunity. They must gaze on you with all the glee
of a child contemplating his first new puppy.”
Hope says they are the two guys in town most grateful to the
cameramen and then the two of them begin patting each other on the cheeks and
stroking each other’s chins. It’s quite silly and very funny.
Another highlight is when a game Marlon Brando comes on to
present the Best Director award. The winner is Elia Kazan, who accepts in New York. And then
Brando and Hope go at it, and Brando is surprisingly relaxed trading quips with
Hope.
Hope: How do you feel about Elia Kazan winning?
Brando: I’m thrilled to death Bob. He looked pretty nervous.
Hope: First time at the Oscars?
Brando: Yes.
Hope: Everybody got nominated for that movie but the pigeon?
Why?
Brando: He’s well-adjusted.
Brando then tells Hope if he wants to get nominated to get a
good director and a good script. “Have Tennessee Williams write your next
movie.”
Hope: I get Tennessee Ernie.
Brando: Well, it’s a step in the right direction.
If simultaneous broadcasting from both New
York and Los Angeles isn’t enough,
the broadcast then turns to London,
where Audrey Hepburn reads all the nominations- a first and only time for the
evening – in the Best Screenplay Adaptation category. She opens the envelope to
read the winner, and then we hear Bob Hope announce the winner, George Seaton
for “The Country Girl.” Audrey seems surprised that Hope beat her to the punch.
Don’t know what happened there.
The next highlight comes courtesy one of the greatest teams
in show business history, Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, and one of the most famous
speeches in Oscar history. Bing, nominated that year for playing a recovering
alcoholic in “The Country Girl”, is on to present the music awards and while
their repartee is scripted, they are both so relaxed and in sync with each
other that it looks spontaneous and fresh.
The winner for Best Dramatic Score is Dimitri Tiomkin for
“The High and the Mighty.” Poor Dimitri is seated way in the back and it takes
him a while to get to the stage, but that’s OK, because we get to hear a lot of
the famous theme music as he makes his way to accept the award. Onstage, both
Hope and Crosby salaam and bow to Tiomkin as he accepts his award, who then
goes into his famous fractured speech:
“Ladies and gentlemen, because I working in this town for 25
years, I like to make some kind of appreciation to very important factor what
make me successful to lots of my colleagues in this town. I’d like to thank
Johannes Brahms, Johann Strauss, Richard Strauss, Beethoven, Mozart, George
Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Wagner, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov. Thank you.”
By the time he gets to the second Strauss, the audience is
roaring with laughter and clapping. For many years, many felt that Hollywood’s screen
composers were openly copying their classical masters, and here’s Tiomkin
pretty much admitting that. He later said he didn’t mean it to sound the way it
came out, but the damage was done. (Many of his contemporaries like Franz
Waxman and Alfred Newman were furious with him).
Regardless, he leaves the stage and Hope and Crosby stand
there stunned, like they can’t believe what they just heard. Hope looks to the
wings and says, “You’ll never get on this show again” and Crosby
just about loses it.
Other music awards are given and Crosby
is about to leave. Hope grabs him by the arm and says, “Look dad, just because
you’re nominated you can still talk to old friends, right?”
Crosby says, “I understand
you have some very dramatic scenes in (yet-to-be-released) “Seven Little Foys.”
Hope notes, “Yes, and I did it without a drink.”
Crosby quips, “That might
be your problem” and walks off stage, twirling once as he enters the wings to a
very delighted Hope.
When Grace Kelly’s name is announced as the Best Actress,
there’s a loud roar of approval. It’s as if all of Hollywood is breathing a huge sigh of relief
that the hotly contested race has finally come to an end.
Bette Davis, wearing a bizarre Dutch cap, but basking in the
audience applause for her, announces the Best Actor winner, Marlon Brando, who
runs on stage with a huge grin on his face to accept the award. Davis gives him a kiss on
the cheek and tells him, “You were just great.”
Brando is very gracious in his speech, saying the statue is
heavier than it looks and he forgot what he was going to stay, but does manage,
“So many people have been responsible for making me so very glad, and I’m very
indebted. It’s a wonderful moment.”
“On the Waterfront”
producer Sam Spiegel accepts the Best Picture award, merely saying, “I’m very
grateful to all of you. All of us who worked on ‘On the Waterfront’ are
grateful for your acknowledgement.”
The last award has been handed out and Hope says the
receptions will continue at Romanoffs and Chasens. He then gives a plug to the
evening’s sponsors, bidding the audiences good night and telling them to get an
Oldsmobile and drive to the movies.
And the show still isn’t over. Hope introduces Academy
President Charles Brackett, who takes over hosting duties for the last 15
minutes, where the Scientific and Technical Awards are presented by Lauren
Bacall; the Best Foreign Film; a special Oscar to Bausch & Lomb; the award
for Best Juvenile Performance (a now defunct category); the Humanitarian Award
to Danny Kaye for his work with UNICEF; and a special Honorary Academy Award to
Greta Garbo. Garbo obviously didn’t attend the ceremony, but Nancy Kelly, in New York, accepted the
award on her behalf.
But the show isn’t over yet. Hope brings on stage Robert
Cummings to take a bow, as well as the show’s producer and general director,
Jean Negulesco, show, who says a few words of thanks. Hope than asks show
coordinator Johnny Green to take a bow from the audience.
With that, the show is now officially over. Hope walks off
the stage to the strains of “That’s Entertainment” and “Three Coins in the
Fountain.”
The good points about the show is how fast it moved. Part of
that is due to the brevity or non-existence of acceptance speeches. While I
like how everyone gets to say something during contemporary Oscar broadcasts, I
wish winners would heed the advice of the Academy and say something besides an
endless list of people to thank. Hearing a succession of names does not make a
good acceptance speech.
One of my favorite Oscar speeches of recent years was when
director Steven Soderbergh won Best Director for “Traffic” (2000). He said there
were lots of people to thank and he would be doing so to those people in the
next couple of weeks. But he really wanted to talk about art and why they make
art and to encourage those who make art to continue to do so. That was a great
speech.
I also prefer having the nominees be read for each category
to remind us of who is competing with each other. And the opening of the
envelope on stage adds to the evening’s drama.
I look forward to the Oscars every year and then about an
hour into the show I wonder why I anticipate it so much. That happens every
year and I have no doubt the same thing will happen next year.
I hope the Oscars returns to a real celebration of film,
both past and present. Return the Honorary Oscar to the broadcast itself, so we
can hear something resembling a real speech instead of a thank you speech.
And please hire someone who puts real thought into Oscar
tributes. As I said earlier, the Bond tribute was atrocious. There’s more to
007 than chases and explosions. How about showing each actor who played the
role, some of the famous quips, fabulous scenery, the gadgets, M, Q, Miss Moneypenny,
etc. What a wasted opportunity that was.
No doubt next year I’ll be looking forward to the Oscars and
then bemoaning the broadcast the next day. It’s the way of the world, I guess.
