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On this special night, the Film Capital of the World dresses up and turns out to pay proud tribute to its own
High among the biggest international news stories of any year is the annual Awards Presentation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences-the Oscar Awards.
On his big night, Oscar reaches more than 30,000,000 homes in the United States and Canada on combined television networks in the United States, Mexico and Canada, and news of the Awards is carried to every corner of the world by a corps of more than 500 press representatives of all media.
Those 500 newsmen and women outnumber by twice the total attendance at the first Academy Awards ceremony, held May 16, 1929, at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Only 250 people attended that first ceremony. It was slighted by the press and totally ignored by radio.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences came into being on May 4, 1927, when 36 leaders of the burgeoning film industry met and organized the Academy as a non-profit corporation, dedicated to the ideal of enhancing the cultural, educational, and technical progress of motion pictures.
A week later, on May 11, more than 300 gathered at an industry banquet at the Biltmore Hotel. Douglas Fairbanks, the Academy's first president, was moderator. Talks were presented by such industry leaders as Louis B. Mayer, Joseph M. Schenck, Will Hays, Mary Pickford, Cecil B. DeMille, Frank Lloyd, and Conrad Nagel.
Mayer suggested that the Academy could focus attention on cinematic achievements by presenting awards of merit. Conrad Nagel agreed, saying "Whatever we give, it should be a symbol of continuing progress-militant, dynamic."
One man was inspired: art director Cedric Gibbons began sketching a figure on the tablecloth. It was that of a stalwart man, standing on a reel of film and holding a crusader's sword. He later put his idea on paper and a sculptor, George Stanley, molded the figure.
Oscar has remained unchanged to this day though the base on which he stands has been raised to give better proportion to the design.
In that first formative year, it took time for events to move; it was January, 1929, before voting was conducted for achievements during the year which...