SWC75
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It’s Oscar season against I resume my posting of You-Tube videos of early Oscar ceremonies I started last spring. Previous posts can be found, (presently) on Page 4:
http://syracusefan.com/forums/entertainment.37/page-4
Once again, my primary sources besides view the telecast itself are the book “Inside Oscar” by Mason Wiley and Damien Rosa as well as Wikipedia and the IMDB.
The big news was that actors and writers were striking over the right to make “residuals” off of showings of their work on television. The studios had bene cashing in on old movies and TV series by showing them over again on TV without paying the performers any more than they originally got. Bob Hope alludes to this in his opening monologue, as well as to the disastrous ending to the previous year’s ceremony, (“We’ve got a new producer, a new director and a new watch”).
One wonders what Bob really thought of the strike. He was a noted right-winger but he also would benefit from those residuals actors were seeking, so it was bottom line thing and Bob was all about the bottom line. Some fact you’ll need to understand Bob’s monologue: Anthony Armstrong Jones had just married Princess Margaret, the Queen’s sister, is a televised wedding. Ronald Reagan was the head of the Screen Actor’s Guild, and thus was “the only actor working” during the strike. Dr. Raymond Finch was a doctor who plotted with his mistress to kill his wife , resulting in a high-profile trial that in some ways paralleled the plot of “Anatomy of a Murder”, one of the “also rans”: behind Ben Hur. “On the Beach was another, which showed the end of humanity in the wake of a nuclear exchange. “Smellies” refers to a silly technological development in which various scents were piped into a theater to create the proper atmosphere for a film scene. They tried it with one film and one critic wrote “the picture stinks”. Jack Paar had just emotionally walked off his “Tonight” show in a dispute with the network.
The resulting Oscars were a coronation for the big film of the year, the epic “Ben-Hur, which won a record 11 Oscars, a record that has never been broken, although Titanic in 1997 and Lord of the Rings in 2003 both tied it.
They open with the best documentary award and a downer as the recipient for best feature tells us of the recent death of his son and co-producer, then returns to his seat, rather than walk offstage to meet the press as is normally done. Ann Blyth accepts the award for best short and, after bemoaning the fact that she’s never gotten an Oscar, tries to do the same thing but Mitzi Gaynor, the presenter, wrangles her to stage right.
Then they had what had become an annual fashion show featuring young starlets, the costume design awards. You might recognize the 18 year olds Yvette Mimieux and Diane McBain, both of whom look more mature than that, and Stella Stevens, Playboy’s Miss January, 1960. But the winner is Marilyn Monroe’s revealing dress from “Some like it Hot”, worn by the equally curvaceous Israeli actress Ziva Rodann, a former soldier in the Israeli army. Winner Orry-Kelly is the third straight recipient to try to return to the audience and the second straight to fail in that endeavor.
Bob introduces another Israeli actress, Haya Harareet, who co-starred in ben-Hur and “Ben’s Her. She announces the special effects award. The winners again make a move to return to the audience but they are beginning to get the idea of where to go. Olivia de Havilland comes “all the way from Paris France to present the supporting actor award and gets such an ovation she sets a record for blushing. William Wyler accepts for Hugh Griffith and complains that his film can’t be shown in Egypt. Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner look young and gorgeous as they introduce the sound awards.
Jacques-Yves Cousteau wins another Oscar, this time for “The Golden Fish”. Another pretty starlet, Jo Morrow was chosen to accept for Mr. Cousteau. Carl Reiner makes a bad joke and has nowhere to hide so he puts his hands over his eyes. Eric Johnson, President of the Motion picture Association of America, makes a speech lauding the role of movies in human understanding and gives the foreign language award to “Black Orpheus”, with great enthusiasm.
The Ben-Hur landslide continued, winning film editing. But then they got tied by “The Diary of Anne Frank” for art direction- or of: one won for a color picture, the other for black and white, an award they don’t have anymore. Those two films also split the awards for cinematography.
The singing of the songs nominated is not included here. Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen split the “Thank You” reaction, to Doris Day’s delight, for “High Hopes.” Jimmy is a native of Syracuse NY and was expelled from Central High in Syracuse after performing the satire song "My Canary Has Circles Under His Eyes." The student body loved the song but the teachers thought otherwise. (See the IMDB.) Porgy and Bess wins for “best score”, even though it was written by Geirge Gershwin, who had bene dead for 23 years.
“Pillow Talk won for best screen play. Two groups of writers had written it: two for the story and two for the screenplay. The two pairs had never met. One of the latter, Stanley Shapiro, sent a note reading “ I am trapped downstairs in the gentleman’s lounge. It seems I rented a faulty tuxedo. I’d like to thank you for the great honor. “
1958 Best actress winner Susan Hayward gave Chuck Heston his best actor Oscar for Ben-Hur, who gave an extremely heart-felt acceptance speech. He was years away from being the controversial political figure he became at this point and it was a very popular award at the time.
Rock Hudson gave Simone Signoret, who couldn’t keep her dress on her shoulders, the best actress Oscar. She wasn’t the first foreign –born best actress winner but the first for a film that wasn’t’ made by Hollywood.
Bob Hope finally gets an Oscar- the Jean Hersholdt humanitarian award.
In the final segment, John Wayne presents the best director award William Wyler. He’d just finished director the Alamo, his first project as a director. Bob asks him why he chose to direct the film. “I wanted a chair with my name on it”. Bob said that since he produced it and starred in it, he needed an entire couch. “With the guy to talk to….”, said John.
Then Gary Cooper came on to present best picture. He asked for Bob’s cooperation. “What do you want me to do?” Gary, with a smile: “Leave.” The award was accepted for Ben-Hur producer Sam Zimbalest by his widow, Mary. Sam had died of a heart attack at age 54 during the filming. His death was attributed to all the hard work he’d put in on the film. There’s not a dry eye in the house.
Bob has a good closing monologue, saying “it’s all over but the sniveling”….”The psychiatrist for tonight’s losers were flown here by TWA.”…”You’ve bene a wonderful audience: intelligent and enthusiastic. Where were you for “Alias Jesse James”, (Bob’s most recent film)?
The motion picture industry sponsored the commercial-free telecast, recognizing it as a giant infomercial for their product. It lacks establishing shots at the beginning ro shots of celebrities in the audience and has the look of an austerity presentation. Maybe that has something to do with the strikes. Other than what occurs on the stage, there’s little sense of the glamour and excitement of the Oscars. The program ends with a pointless shot of Robert Ryan and Wendell Corey in the press tent, where they can barely be heard but don’t have much to say anyway.
http://syracusefan.com/forums/entertainment.37/page-4
Once again, my primary sources besides view the telecast itself are the book “Inside Oscar” by Mason Wiley and Damien Rosa as well as Wikipedia and the IMDB.
The big news was that actors and writers were striking over the right to make “residuals” off of showings of their work on television. The studios had bene cashing in on old movies and TV series by showing them over again on TV without paying the performers any more than they originally got. Bob Hope alludes to this in his opening monologue, as well as to the disastrous ending to the previous year’s ceremony, (“We’ve got a new producer, a new director and a new watch”).
One wonders what Bob really thought of the strike. He was a noted right-winger but he also would benefit from those residuals actors were seeking, so it was bottom line thing and Bob was all about the bottom line. Some fact you’ll need to understand Bob’s monologue: Anthony Armstrong Jones had just married Princess Margaret, the Queen’s sister, is a televised wedding. Ronald Reagan was the head of the Screen Actor’s Guild, and thus was “the only actor working” during the strike. Dr. Raymond Finch was a doctor who plotted with his mistress to kill his wife , resulting in a high-profile trial that in some ways paralleled the plot of “Anatomy of a Murder”, one of the “also rans”: behind Ben Hur. “On the Beach was another, which showed the end of humanity in the wake of a nuclear exchange. “Smellies” refers to a silly technological development in which various scents were piped into a theater to create the proper atmosphere for a film scene. They tried it with one film and one critic wrote “the picture stinks”. Jack Paar had just emotionally walked off his “Tonight” show in a dispute with the network.
The resulting Oscars were a coronation for the big film of the year, the epic “Ben-Hur, which won a record 11 Oscars, a record that has never been broken, although Titanic in 1997 and Lord of the Rings in 2003 both tied it.
They open with the best documentary award and a downer as the recipient for best feature tells us of the recent death of his son and co-producer, then returns to his seat, rather than walk offstage to meet the press as is normally done. Ann Blyth accepts the award for best short and, after bemoaning the fact that she’s never gotten an Oscar, tries to do the same thing but Mitzi Gaynor, the presenter, wrangles her to stage right.
Then they had what had become an annual fashion show featuring young starlets, the costume design awards. You might recognize the 18 year olds Yvette Mimieux and Diane McBain, both of whom look more mature than that, and Stella Stevens, Playboy’s Miss January, 1960. But the winner is Marilyn Monroe’s revealing dress from “Some like it Hot”, worn by the equally curvaceous Israeli actress Ziva Rodann, a former soldier in the Israeli army. Winner Orry-Kelly is the third straight recipient to try to return to the audience and the second straight to fail in that endeavor.
Bob introduces another Israeli actress, Haya Harareet, who co-starred in ben-Hur and “Ben’s Her. She announces the special effects award. The winners again make a move to return to the audience but they are beginning to get the idea of where to go. Olivia de Havilland comes “all the way from Paris France to present the supporting actor award and gets such an ovation she sets a record for blushing. William Wyler accepts for Hugh Griffith and complains that his film can’t be shown in Egypt. Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner look young and gorgeous as they introduce the sound awards.
Jacques-Yves Cousteau wins another Oscar, this time for “The Golden Fish”. Another pretty starlet, Jo Morrow was chosen to accept for Mr. Cousteau. Carl Reiner makes a bad joke and has nowhere to hide so he puts his hands over his eyes. Eric Johnson, President of the Motion picture Association of America, makes a speech lauding the role of movies in human understanding and gives the foreign language award to “Black Orpheus”, with great enthusiasm.
The Ben-Hur landslide continued, winning film editing. But then they got tied by “The Diary of Anne Frank” for art direction- or of: one won for a color picture, the other for black and white, an award they don’t have anymore. Those two films also split the awards for cinematography.
The singing of the songs nominated is not included here. Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen split the “Thank You” reaction, to Doris Day’s delight, for “High Hopes.” Jimmy is a native of Syracuse NY and was expelled from Central High in Syracuse after performing the satire song "My Canary Has Circles Under His Eyes." The student body loved the song but the teachers thought otherwise. (See the IMDB.) Porgy and Bess wins for “best score”, even though it was written by Geirge Gershwin, who had bene dead for 23 years.
“Pillow Talk won for best screen play. Two groups of writers had written it: two for the story and two for the screenplay. The two pairs had never met. One of the latter, Stanley Shapiro, sent a note reading “ I am trapped downstairs in the gentleman’s lounge. It seems I rented a faulty tuxedo. I’d like to thank you for the great honor. “
1958 Best actress winner Susan Hayward gave Chuck Heston his best actor Oscar for Ben-Hur, who gave an extremely heart-felt acceptance speech. He was years away from being the controversial political figure he became at this point and it was a very popular award at the time.
Rock Hudson gave Simone Signoret, who couldn’t keep her dress on her shoulders, the best actress Oscar. She wasn’t the first foreign –born best actress winner but the first for a film that wasn’t’ made by Hollywood.
Bob Hope finally gets an Oscar- the Jean Hersholdt humanitarian award.
In the final segment, John Wayne presents the best director award William Wyler. He’d just finished director the Alamo, his first project as a director. Bob asks him why he chose to direct the film. “I wanted a chair with my name on it”. Bob said that since he produced it and starred in it, he needed an entire couch. “With the guy to talk to….”, said John.
Then Gary Cooper came on to present best picture. He asked for Bob’s cooperation. “What do you want me to do?” Gary, with a smile: “Leave.” The award was accepted for Ben-Hur producer Sam Zimbalest by his widow, Mary. Sam had died of a heart attack at age 54 during the filming. His death was attributed to all the hard work he’d put in on the film. There’s not a dry eye in the house.
Bob has a good closing monologue, saying “it’s all over but the sniveling”….”The psychiatrist for tonight’s losers were flown here by TWA.”…”You’ve bene a wonderful audience: intelligent and enthusiastic. Where were you for “Alias Jesse James”, (Bob’s most recent film)?
The motion picture industry sponsored the commercial-free telecast, recognizing it as a giant infomercial for their product. It lacks establishing shots at the beginning ro shots of celebrities in the audience and has the look of an austerity presentation. Maybe that has something to do with the strikes. Other than what occurs on the stage, there’s little sense of the glamour and excitement of the Oscars. The program ends with a pointless shot of Robert Ryan and Wendell Corey in the press tent, where they can barely be heard but don’t have much to say anyway.
