Everybody loves Oscar.

• Author: Gehring, Wes D.
• Position: REEL WORLD

FOR MOVIE FANS, Oscar night is a special Hollywood holiday. While an old filmland axiom calls the Academy Awards "a place where everyone lets off esteem," the ceremony's most frequent host, Bob Hope, had a different take on the event: "In my house it's known as 'Passover,'" he quipped.

The first Academy Awards ceremony was a small private banquet, May 16, 1929, at Hollywood's Roosevelt Hotel. Fifteen golden statuettes were handed out in the initial ceremony, and the winners had been announced prior to the event.

The golden trophy given out by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences did not obtain its famous nickname until 1931, when a new Academy librarian, Margaret Herrick, observed, "Why, it looks like my Uncle Oscar!" The name stuck--and so did Herrick, who eventually became the Academy's executive director. (The Academy library is named for her.)

The Oscar was designed by MGM art director Cedric Gibbons, with sculptor George Stanley molding the figure. The statuette depicts a man holding a crusader's sword and standing upon a reel of film. This line fellow is 13 inches tall, and is made of tin and copper, with a 10-karat gold coaling. Like many of us, Oscar has put on weight. Originally, the golden boy hit the scales at six pounds, but currently is listed at eight pounds.

During the Academy Awards' early years, the ceremony was not based upon the just-completed calendar year. Instead, Oscar season ran from Aug. 1-July 31. Thus, the initial event in 1929, honored the best of 1927-28. The first year showcased only two acting awards: Emil Jannings won the Best Actor category, beating out Charlie Chaplin ("The Circus") and twice-nominated Richard Barthelmess ("The Noose" and "The Patent Leather Kid"). Janet Gaynor was the Best Actress, defeating Louise Dressler ("A Ship Comes In") and Gloria Swanson ("Sadie Thompson").

The awards for Jannings and Gaynor were based upon multiple films--this would be the only ceremony in which this occurred. Jannings' statuette was for "The Last Command" and "The Way of All Flesh." Gaynor was honored for "Seventh Heaven," "Street Angel," and "Sunrise." During the heyday of the studio system, stretching into the late 1940s, popular performers might appear in as many as four to six "A" features a year.

The Academy's first president, celebrated swashbuckler Douglas Fairbanks Sr., had requested that recipients keep their "thank yous" brief, but the Academy later became stricter about such matters...