It was a great historical moment, back then in 1927; in that year, Louis B Mayer, who was head of the famous MGM studios, founded the celebrated Oscar awards. MGM is a well-known academy of motion picture arts, and sciences-consequently, the first Oscar academy awards ceremony was held in 1929. MGM was founded as a non-profit making organization- its primary goal was the progress of the international film industry's interests. On May 16, 1929, the first awards took place at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. The guests bought tickets for the largely private dinner at the cost of $5 per person. Douglas Fairbanks, a renowned actor, and the Academy's first president, hosted the presentation ceremony. Interestingly, the inaugural Oscars ceremony lasted a mere 15 minutes.
At that time, the world film industry was slowly evolving and undergoing a dramatic change. By coincidence, the introduction of sound technology was also unfolding. Some really popular talkies like the Jazz Singer (produced in 1927) had already been released to audiences in the years before 1929. They were, however, not considered for the Oscars, primarily because the organizers considered it unfair to compare these to silent movies. Eventually, Emmil Jannings received the first-ever Academy Award for Best Actor in recognition of his leading role in The Last Command (1928) and The Way of All Flesh ( 1927), both of which were silent films.
The first-ever Academy Award in the Best Picture category was awarded to the 1927 silent movie Wings. The movie unveiled the story of two pilots who fell in love with the same woman. It cost the producers $2 million to make the film Wings; thus, it became the most expensive movie of the time. For many decades ( until 2012), Wings held the record as the only silent movie to win the Oscars' Best Picture category.
In 1934, during that year's Academy Awards, there was an awkward moment when Frank Capra and Frank Lloyd were, evidently, both nominated to receive awards in the Best Director category. When he was consumed in the ceremony's excitement, Frank Capra quickly rose to receive his decoration, only to discover that Frank Lloyd was the rightful winner of the coveted award. He realized this when already standing on the stage. In his words, Capra experienced "the saddest, longest and most shattering moment in life." Happily for him, Frank Capra eventually won the Best Director award in this ceremony for the film " It Happened One Night."
Later still, in 1938, Alice Brady won the Best Supporting Actress Award. She received the decoration for her sterling role in the 1937 film, In Old Chicago. Alice Brady was, however, too ill to attend the big awards ceremony. Thus, when the announcement was made for Alice to come forward, a stranger sprang onto the stage to collect the award. Before anyone realized there was a mistake, the man quickly vanished. This mystery, involving the imposter's identity and what eventually happened to Alice's stolen award, was never conclusively solved.
Again, in 2000, other statuettes suddenly vanished when several crates carrying 55 Oscars mysteriously disappeared from a nearby loading bay. However, some of these statuettes were later recovered by Willie Fulgear while rummaging through a bin located behind a food store. Fulgear humorously exclaimed that he got more Oscars than any prominent movie star.
According to popular legend, the name Oscars first originated from Margaret Herrick, who worked as an Academy librarian. Margaret reportedly claimed that the new award statuette strikingly resembled her uncle, who was known as Oscar. The name Oscars was officially adopted in 1939; the nickname had already been in use for several years before 1939. The original statuette was designed by Cedric Gibbons. And then there are other interesting facts about the Oscars- in 1939, George Bernard Shaw won a distinction as the only individual who won both an Oscar and a Nobel Prize.
Show won the Nobel Literature Prize in 1925 and later received an Oscar Academy Award in recognition of his starring role in a film script he masterfully adapted from his stage play Pygmalion (first published in 1913). George, however, failed to attend the award ceremonies, reportedly remarking that the organizers would have to "send him some honor for being King of England."