The 1964 Oscars (for 1963 films) | Syracusefan.com

The 1964 Oscars (for 1963 films)

SWC75

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This was the year that one prejudice helped to end another.

Hollywood people were up in arms about both the number of “runaway” productions being made in foreign countries and also the number of films made by other countries that were getting recognition in America and, in their view, stealing jobs in the first case and awards in the second. So Hollywood executives and columnists looked to find an American film that could hold off the “foreign invasion”.

The biggest runaway production was running away in more than one: Cleopatra. Not only was it filmed in Rome, Spain and the UK, but the shooting schedule was delayed by Elizabeth Taylor’s illness and her much publicized romance with co-star Richard Burton, which, in turn, upped the budget from $2 million in the initial concept to an unheard of $44 million. Egypt initially refused to let the company film there because Elizabeth Taylor was Jewish, (from her marriage to Mike Todd). They changed their minds when they realized the film's presence would put millions of American dollars into the economy. There were threats against her and Burton’s life in Italy after the Vatican condemned their relationship. Hume Cronyn had been told that his part would be completed in ten weeks. It took 10 months. Martin Landau had enough time to learn Italian. He was supposed to play a role in Frederico Fellini’s 8 ½ but was unable to due to the length of the Cleopatra shoot. A boy hired to play Cleopatra’s son had to be replaced because he had grown too tall while the production stalled. One set was torn down and rebuilt three times. Most of them were only built twice. Millions were lost from employees stealing things from the set.

The film was costing so much money that the point was reached where it was the only film 20th Century Fox was producing. They tried to cut down the length of “The Longest Day” so they could show it more often and make more money for “Cleopatra” but Darryl Zanuck led a revolt in the board of directors and re-took control of the company to save his film. The studio sued Taylor and Burton for $50 million, claiming that that was how much their affair had cost the company. This was absurd as their affair created so much publicity that everyone wanted to see the film. But it had cost so much it turnout to be a financial failure anyway, at least until TV showings finally put it in the black years later.

The film, directed by Joseph Mankiewicz initially ran 6 hours and was to be shown in two parts: Caesar and Cleopatra and Anthony and Cleopatra. But the studio decided that people just wanted to see Taylor and Burton so they cut it down to a single 4 hour film which was then cut to 3 1`/2 and then 3 hours, focusing mostly on the two sexy stars. Taylor’s reaction to the completed film? She threw up. “They had cut the heart, the essence, the motivations, the very core, and tacked on all those battle scenes. It should have been about three large people, but it lacked reality and passion. I found it vulgar." Actually one big battle scene was missing: the final one, Actium. Fox couldn’t afford it.

A much more admired film with a much smaller budget was “Tom Jones”, an English comedy that did such a good job of making people laugh that New Yorker Magazine had a cartoon showing a patient asking a psychiatrist: “Doctor, what’s my problem? ‘Tom Jones’ depressed me.” It didn’t depress the New York film critics who named it the best film of the year and Tony Richardson the best director. The film became the Oscar favorite, something that dismayed Hollywood columnists, who didn’t like its sexy appeal or the fact that it came from abroad. Hazel Flynn: “The N.Y. critics should be slashed for choosing Tom Jones, the bawdy British film, as best picture of the year. As for the National Board of Review, which chose Tom Jones, for shame! And I’m not through with them yet! I’m going to find out who appoints them and how they had the nerve to recommend a bawdy film when their duty is to protect the American public from filth without and within….The British have their Oscar race, (the BAFTAs), why are they trying to run away with ours? ”

Then there was the work of Federico Fellini, whose new film, “8 ½”, was “beneath contempt”, according to Hedda Hooper. He was up for not only best foreign film but also for best director. He was coming from Italy not only in hopes of winning but also to try to persuade Groucho Marx and Mae West to appear in his next film, “Juliet of the Spirits”.

Leslie Caron, announcing that she was tired of playing “adolescents of one form or another” in Hollywood films, played an unwed mother in a ‘kitchen sink’ British drama, “The L-Shaped Room”. Natalie Wood had done the same in the American film “Love With the Proper Stranger”. Hopper: “Ever since Judy Holiday lived in a sinful state with Paul Douglas in “Born Yesterday”, our heroines have been sliding downhill to fame. Bad girls finish first!”

The search was on for a Made-in-America film to compete with the foreign and runaway productions. One was the unsavory Hud, ”a drama of moral corruption” according to the New York Times. At least it had good acting- Paul Newman, Patricia Neal and Melvyn Douglas were all nominated for Oscars. Then there was Elia Kazan’s story of a young man emigrating from Greece, “America, America”. The Christian Science Monitor said, “The American’s feeling for his country can solid as fact, yet hopelessly beyond words. Such a document as Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address surmounts the difficulties with rare eloquence. Such a film as Elia Kazan’s’s manages through cinema techniques to give a similar impression of heartfelt patriotism.” But the L. A. Times didn’t like the hero. “If Elia Kazan had made his Greek hero less scheming and ruthless, the kid’s arrival on our soil could have been a much more moving thing than it was.” They didn’t like a British film, “This Sporting Life”, for the same reason: “Richard Harris makes Hud look like a Mama’s Boy.”

But the columnists found what they were looking for in “Lilies of the Field”, a picture filmed in America, directed by an American, (Ralph Nelson who had been directing TV shows), and starring an American. The fact that it was a ‘negro’ American, (Sydney Poitier), didn’t prevent them from promoting the film for an Oscar. Hazel Flynn announced that “The National Audience Board’s West Coast Opinion leader Survey gave “Lillies of the Field” the highest rating EVER GVIEN A MOTION PICTURE”. (She was the one who capitalized it.)”This is a film that will bring great credit to Hollywood if it gets the Oscar and it will also bring us great credit abroad for it builds a constructive image of our country, not a destructive one.” Newsweek had a different view: “The screen overflows with enough brotherhood, piety and honest labor to make even the kindest spectator retch.”

Hollywood was supportive of the Civil Rights movement. Charlton Heston had led a contingent of Hollywood people to attend Martin Luther King’s March on Washington, including George Jessel, Judy Garland, Gregory Peck, Martin Ritt and Blake Edwards. Columnist Sidney Stolsky: “If ever there was a year when the negro should be honored it is this year for obvious reasons. It would pour cooking oil on the troubled racial waters and, besides IT IS DESERVED. It would also telegraph to the globe that WE do not discriminate and thus give the lie to our so-called Communist friends who themselves really DO discriminate.” (Again the capitals are his.) This put Sydney Poitier in a nervous situation. “What if eight million Negroes decide to kick in their TV screens at the moment someone else’s name is called? Besides, I want to win because I’m a good actor.”

Hollywood also loves a comeback and Patricia Neal was the favorite to win Best Actress after a rough ride off screen over the previous decade. After having an affair with Gary Cooper, she got blamed for trying to break up his marriage and her promising career nose-dived, (his, of course, was unaffected), and she had a nervous breakdown. She recovered and married the author Roald Dahl and started a family. But in 1960 a car hit her four month old son’s baby carriage was hit by a car and he was severely injured. In 1962 her seven year old daughter died of measles. She was pregnant again and decided not to fly to LA for the ceremoney7 so as not to “push her lucky”.

Another comeback story got less publicity. Lilia Scala, who had played the Mother Superior in “Lillies of the Field”, had been a stage star in Vienna during the 30’s but fled to America when Hitler took over. She had a great deal of trouble getting work and wound up in factory jobs and was even a busboy(girl?) in a restaurant. Even after she made the film she was working for $1.50 an hour in the lost and found section of a New York City Department store when she was informed she’s been nominated for the “Best Supporting Actress” award. United Artists paid for her trip to Los Angeles because she couldn’t afford it herself. She told reporters “Of course, I am thrilled. I did not expect it. I have known too many disappointments in my life to count on anything. “

One person who was certain of winning was Nick Adams, who had been nominated for Best Supporting Actor in “Twilight of Honor”, a courtroom drama that actually was a vehicle for TV star Richard Chamberlain. Nick had it all figured out. “A nomination for me means that Twilight of Honor will bring in another million dollars and supply funds for more Hollywood pictures. Next, it means that, as a Hollywood star, can make more films in Hollywood and stop this runaway production which is killing Hollywood. I will never make a picture abroad.” Who wouldn’t want to vote for Nick?

They couldn’t vote for Roddy McDowall, who played Octavian in “Cleopatra”. In those days the studios determined which category the actors in their films could be nominated in. 20th Century Fox mistakenly listed the entire cast as “lead actors”. Roddy didn’t get nominated in the lead category and couldn’t be nominated as a supporting actor. Later they changed the rules to allow the Academy voters to determine in what category performers should be placed but it was too late for Roddy. Fox put a public apology in the trade papers.

Nick Adams and his wife arrived for the ceremony an hour and half before it was scheduled to begin. An usher told columnist Sidney Stolsky that Nick “went into empty auditorium and practiced walking, skipping, trotting down the aisle to the stage”.

Most of the stars were late due to highway construction that held up the limos, bumper to bumper. “The last minute stampede arrivals of most guests created a stampede for the bars in the lobby….The telecast began with Rock Hudson, standing in the lobby, - which was still filled with noisy people at the bar – inviting viewers to ‘take the family helicopter to Hollywood. ” (That quote is from the book: it doesn’t appear in the You-Tube clip, which has Hudson giving a mini-tour of the event with some jokes about what it’s like to be there.)

Lilia Scala showed up in an elegant new dress, courtesy of United Artists. Jody McCrea, Joel’s son, who was beginning his acting career, had no date for the Oscars and chose a young female fan from the crowd to be his date for the evening. Shirley MacLaine, nominated for Best Actress for Irma La Douce, had her standards. She told reporters “I hope I don’t win, it wasn’t my best performance.”

Jack Lemmon was the master of ceremonies and began by saying “It’s magic time”, a mantra he used before every scene he ever acted in. The surgeon general had just released his report on the effects of smoking and Jack speculated on the impact of this on the movies. He joked “Our British cousins have found out that just plain eating can be very sexy. We’ve revised the Production Code to say that a couple can’t eat together unless they are married.” (Dig the fancy podium which appears out of the floor and then disappears back into it. I’m glad it worked the whole evening.)

Steve McQueen, introduced as “Lyndon Johnson’s driving instructor”, presented the award for sound recording. (I didn’t know there was one.) This seems to be a reference to some accident involving LBJ driving a vehicle. I’ve been unable to track it down.

All the women were wearing bouffant hairdos, some better than others. Tuesday Weld’s collapsed like soufflé ad fell over her eyes as she read off the nominations for sound effects. Angie Dickinson’s held up as she announced the special effects awards. The winner, Emil Kosa, (for Cleopatra), said he’s rather take Angie home than the Oscar. Shirley MacLaine then presents the short subject awards. One of the winners, (for Live Action Short) is “Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”, which Rod Serling bought the rights to and used as the last episode of “The Twilight Zone”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHqnSX4SJ_A

The cartoon short winner is well-known, too. It’s “The Critic”, which used Mel brook’s voice to show an old man reacting to a series of surreal images. I remember my teacher showing us this in high school. We thought it was a parody of surrealism. She thought it was a parody of old men. Make up your own mind:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PramR5oxn50

Patty Duke presented Melvyn Douglas with the best supporting actor award for “Hud”. Douglas had been a leading man in the Hollywood’s Golden Age who was not an aged character actor. His career slumped after the war, perhaps due to age and perhaps because he was married to Helen Gahagen, who opposed Richard Nixon in his campaign for Senate. Nixon smeared her as a “red” because of her opposition to HUAC, saying she was “pink down to her underwear”. At one point Douglas was hosting a game show on the impoverished DuMont TV network. Now he back in the forefront as an Oscar winner, (and would win another for “Being There” 16 years later.)

“Sidney Stolsky kept his eye on Nick Adams: “I was fascinated by the face on Nick Adams. Nick looked like Instant Murder. I never believed I would want to give Nick a prize but, really, he should be given an Oscar for his Portrait of a Loser.” I’ll say this for him: his face and his emotions were honest.” Nick Adams wound up making monster movies in Japan. He died of a drug overdose in 1968.

Jack Lemmon introduced Sidney Poitier as “the actor I would most like to work with”. The orchestra played, “I’m in love with a wonderful guy”, from South Pacific Sidney’s job was to present the editing award. The winner, Harold Kress for How the West Was Won, lauded Sidney” “To take this from such a fine, fine actor is a great privilege and a great honor. “ it only served to amp up the pressure on Sidney, who was becoming a black version of Atlas, holding up the hopes of his fellow African Americans. He wrote in his autobiography: “I can understand that this is an important moment and I have to be here for what it means to use as a people. But I’m never going to put myself through this no more.- never again am I goi9ng to come here again and put myself thought this. “

Ed Begley presented Margaret Rutherford an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for playing a somewhat addled Duchess in “The VIPs”. Pere Ustinov accepted for her. I don’t know if Lilia Skala got to keep the dress. Probably not. She was able to revive her career and appeared in several well-known films the next few years, including “Ship of Fools” and Ralph Nelson’s “Charly”

Debbie Reynolds does the documentary awards in perhaps the tallest bouffant of the evening, which manages to hold together. Maybe they could have done a documentary on how the weaved it together. Donna Reed in, perhaps a more sensible bouffant, introduces the costume awards, which again are represented only by drawings. 8 ½ has an easy winner for black and white and the designer Piero Gheradi simply said “Thank You America”.

But the most practical haircut belonged to Julie Andrews, who proved you don’t need a lot of hair if what is under it looks good. Julie, then filming what would be her motion picture debut, “Mary Poppins” for Disney, presented the Best Foreign Film Award to Federico Fellini for “8 ½”. The great director said “I am particularly happy to receive this fabulous award because it comes to me on the eve of my next picture. I don’t think a director about to start a job could wish for anything more stimulating and auspicious as this. Arrivederci!” Maybe Mary Poppins could have showed up in “Juliet of the Spirits”.

Shirley Jones, in another bouffant, presented the best song award to Jimmy Van Heusen for “Call Me Irresponsible”, for which Jimmy, (born Edward Chester Babcock in Syracuse, New York and a graduate of Cazenovia Seminary and Syracuse University), had written the music. His long-time collaborator, Sammy Cahn , shared the award but could not make it to the ceremony as he’d just been divorced that day and “Sammy just didn’t feel like showing up.”

James Stewart, introduced as “a responsible American”, gave the black and white cinematography awards. Four foot eleven inch James Wong Howe won it but could barely be seen behind the podium. Leon Shamroy won the color cinematography award for Cleopatra. Stewart explained “Gee that’s five years out of a man’s life right there.” Shamroy, a busy man who won four Oscars in his career and had also been nominated for “The Cardinal”, later said he couldn’t remember which won he won this one for. Ten people shared the color art direction award for “Cleopatra”, underscoring the complexity of the production.

The highlight of the evening was the appearance of Sammy Davis Jr., who opened with impressions of Stewart, Edward G. Robinson and Jerry Lewis. Lewis had a show on a rival network and was on the outs with the Academy so Jack Lemmon came out and comically halted that last one. Sammy was announcing the Best Adapted Score but was given the wrong envelope, causing a second interruption: this time from Price-Waterhouse. (He had announced the winner of the original score ahead of time.) “Wait’ll the NAACP hears about this!” got another laugh. As did “I ain’t goona make no mistake about this.!”.

But Davis wasn’t done after giving out the award. He launched into a medley Best Song losers, ending in a legendary rendition of “Blues in the Night” that brought the house down, causing the audience to demand an encore. It was one of the great moments in the history of the Oscar ceremonies. Most regrettably, it’s not in the You-Tube clip and I can’t find it elsewhere, either. I saw a clip of it on TV years ago and it blew me away. You’ll have to take my word for it. The closest I could come to it is Cab Calloway:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90qMNhWsCHs
But Sammy pounded it out way better than that, believe me.

Sidney Poitier was even more nervous. “And then the thought hits me. What if some miracle is about to take place? I was not going up there and look dumb. The first thing they were going to say was: “Here comes the first black actor to win the Academy Award and he can’t even say nothing.” Dumb! Dumb! Think, Sidney, time is of the essence!”

Edward G. Robinson himself arrived to introduce the writing awards. He needed help from lemon with the names for the Italian films, (hadn’t he played Rico Bandello?). Rita Hayworth, teetering under another bouffant, nervously announced the best Director winner as “Tony Richards” rather than Tony Richardson. Edith Evans, who had lost the supporting actress award to fellow Dame Margaret Rutherford, accepted this one for Tony.

Lemon returned to announced “We’re in the adrenaline section”. He introduced Anne Bancroft to announced the Best Actor award. Poitier: I remember distinctly that my smile froze after a while and I could neither unsmile or widen it. I was just stuck there with my teeth exposed- just stuck.” Per Inside Oscar, “There was applause for the nominations of Rex Harrison and Paul Newman. There were cheers of Sidney Poitier’s.” Bancroft opened the envelope and revealed the winner. The Orchestra played “Amen” and a dazed but smiling Poitier got up and walked to the stage. “Bancroft jumped up and down and threw her arms around him and kissed him.” Poitier: “I looked out there at those thousands of faces and suddenly forgot my speech. Fortunately for me, they were still applauding” it gave Poitier time to remember what he wanted to say. “It has been a long journey to this moment.”

As they left the stage together, Bancroft told Poitier: “Live it up chum. It doesn’t last long”. Sic transit gloria mundi. Backstage, Sidney Poitier received congratulations from everyone and told the New York Times “I’d like to think it will help someone but I don’t believe the Oscar will be a sort of magic wand that will wipe away restrictions on job opportunities for Negro actors.” Jack Gould of the Times noted “Probably little noticed in the drama of the awards was Mr. Poitier’s human response to his moment of happiness. He received his Oscar from Anne Bancroft and, as anyone would in the circumstances, gave her an impulsive hug. In fictional television such a touchingly sincere and realistic scene would have been written out lest Southern sensibilities be disturbed.”

Gregory Peck, “a man who lends great dignity to every occasion” announced Patricia Neal as the Best actress winner. Annabella, Tyrone Power’s ex-wife, accepted for her, (Joan Crawford was unavailable, I guess.) Within a year, Neal had still another personal tragedy: a massive stroke that nearly killed her, (her death was actually reported). It took years of rehabilitation to get her life and career going again. ("I think I'm just stubborn, that's all".

“Frank Sinatra materialized to give the Best Picture Oscar”, which went to that “bawdy film”, Tom Jones. Jack Lemmon closed the show by saying “When in Hollywood, do as the British and the Romans do.”

Federico Fellini, was unable to persuade Mae West or Groucho Marx to return to Rome with him to appear in “Juliet of the Spirits” but still felt his trip to Los Angeles was not in vain. “That colored fellow is wonderful.” Poitier? “No, the one who sang, Sammy Davis Jr. He is a diamond. If only he could speak Italian!” He must have felt at home. What could be more surreal than the Oscars?


Corbis-U1460500.jpg



With that I’ll give this series a rest until next year. It’s time to see who wins the Oscars for this year, (none of whom are Sidney’s color, 52 years later.)
 

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