SWC75
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The 1958 Oscar ceremony took place in a perfect storm of tragedy. A month before the March 26th ceremony, Harry Cohn, head of Columbia Pictures, whose film “The Bridge on the River Kwai” was the film of the year, died of a heart attack. Four days before the ceremony, Mike Todd, traveling to New York for a Friar’s Club affair, died when his plane crashed in New Mexico. His wife, Elizabeth Taylor, canceled plans to attend the ceremony, keeping the $6,000 diamond tiara Mike had bought for her in its box. She was reported to be in tears when her husband’s wide-screen process, Todd A-O won one of the technical awards. Don Hartman, the former head of Paramount died of a heart attack the day after Todd.
The Best Supporting Actor Award is presented by Lana Turner, who had made a major comeback in Peyton Place. She was there with her daughter Cheryl Crane. She had specifically told her boyfriend, mobster Johnny Stompanto, to stay away after he had “amused himself by holding a revolver and warning her, “Just to remind you I have it and that it’s aimed at you.” When she got back from the Oscars, Johnny was waiting and beat her up. In her autobiography, Turner described “the incredible contrast of the evening, the exhilaration of the Awards ceremony to this degradation, this vicious beating at the hands of a madman.” Ten days later, Stompanto was stabbed to death, allegedly by Lana’s daughter Cheryl, who was acquitted in a sensational trial.
Joanne Woodward, upon hearing she had been nominated for Best Actress, famously said “If I had an infinite amount of respect for the people who think I gave the greatest performance, then it would matter.” However, when her name was announced that catty statement was forgotten as she gushed like a little girl, (while trying desperately to avoid a wardrobe malfunction from her home-made dress), saying she’d been dreaming of this moment since she was 9 years old. Talk about split personalities!
The Best Picture announcement was accompanied by a botched attempt to show images from each nominee on a wide-screen movie screen, to underscore that there were things the movies could do that television could not. One of the things television could not do is to get a shot of the entire movie screen.
The clips are not in chronological order. The telecast ended with Ronald Reagan backstage telling the audience that the “World Series” of the entertainment business was over but that “the show would continue at your neighborhood theater for the next 52 weeks”. This infuriated Bette Davis who was presenting several honorary awards. The “powers that be” had decided the show was running too long and ordered it off the air. Ms. Davis pointed out that her segment lasted 6 minutes and there had been an earlier segment involving Donald Duck that last that long. She was of the opinion that it was “Mr. Duck” who should have been dropped, not Bette Davis. “You always have to settle for less on TV”.
Bob Hope was back because The Academy had booted their obtrusive sponsor, Oldsmobile and gotten enough support from the studios to hold the ceremony without commercials, an announcement that got a standing ovation. Bob was part of a team of hosts which included Jimmy Stewart, Jack Lemmon, David Niven and Rosalind Russell. But Bob was the only to do a monologue and it was a funny one about his trip to Russia, (“There’s a TV in every room- but it’s watching you!”).
There was the usual display of Hollywood beauty, including Anita Eckberg, Joan Collins, Jean Simmons, Dana Wynter and Doris Day, (who got the biggest laugh of the evening with her unscripted reply to Hope’s monologue). But the winner by a knock-out was :
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