The Academy Awards are coming up near the end of the month; so, here's some Academy Award-related stuff.
1972, Price Waterhouse is dropping off the nominations lists at the AMPAS headquarters, then located in a converted old movie theater building at 9038 Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood. After a brand new, considerably larger headquarters building was built and opened in late 1975 in Beverly Hills on Wilshire Boulevard, the old headquarters building was demolished.
LIFE images
Originally a neighborhood cinema called the Marquis Theatre, it was built in 1925. In 1946, after having rented different offices in Hollywood, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences bought the old Marquis Theater and made it its headquarters building, using the theater for Academy screenings.
In early 1949, the Academy was in a crisis; after years of having the awards ceremonies subsidized by the movie studios, the studios decided to tighten their belts, being that in 1948, the Supreme Court told the major studios that they couldn't own their own movie theater chains without violating antitrust laws. Plus, this was the era of the rise of television; more people were staying home and not going to the movies, and the movie studios were taking a hit in profits; the studios, then, were not going to fund the Academy Awards ceremony. So, the Academy President at the time, Jean Hersholt, decided to hold the awards ceremonies at the Academy's own screening theater---which only seated 950. The awards ceremonies for the previous 2 years had been held at the Shrine Auditorium, which seated 6,700 at the time. So naturally, many Academy members were miffed that many could not attend the awards ceremony. This was the only time that the Academy's own screening theater would be the venue for the Oscars.
Oscar night, Academy Theater, March 24, 1949, honoring achievements in film for 1948. This was back when the Oscars was still an industry-only event (though the ceremonies were broadcast on radio), before TV and the ridiculous focus of red carpet arrivals, and before all the international press coverage. However, during WWII, the Academy did invite some members of the military to attend, and in 1947-1948, when the Oscars were held at the Shrine Auditorium, in an effort to fill all the seats, the Academy sold tickets to the general public, to the chagrin of some Academy members. The Oscars are still invitation-only, but its being a live televised show has added the dynamic of having to play to the TV viewer.
And this was back when the Oscars was a true, after-twilight, evening affair, when evening wear is supposed to be worn. There's something I find tacky about wearing evening clothes while the sun is still out at 3 in the afternoon, like today's Oscar arrivals.
LIFE images
LIFE images
The fans in the bleachers.
LIFE images
LIFE images
Agnes Moorehead being interviewed on KFWB radio (AM 980). She was up for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in "Johnny Belinda." She lost to Claire Trevor in "Key Largo."
LIFE images
Best Actress nominee (for her role in "Johnny Belinda") Jane Wyman arriving. She won.
LIFE images
LIFE images
Gregory Peck.
LIFE images
Jane Russell in the lobby. She performed one of the songs nominated for Best Original Song, "Buttons and Bows" from the film "The Paleface."
LIFE images
The stage.
oscars.org
LIFE images
The lighting crew and newsreel people up in the balcony.
LIFE images
LIFE images
Some of the winners backstage with the press.
LIFE images