This season's Oscar ceremony, the Academy's 90th annual shindig, is on March 4th, 2018. Did you know that only two Oscar ceremonies have ever happened on a March 4th? Late February, Late March, and early April have been the most frequent time frames over the decades.
the acting winners of '42: Van Heflin, Greer Garson, James Cagney, and Teresa Wright
Both of the March 4th ceremonies were very early in Oscar history:The 1936 Oscars honoring The Great Ziegfeld (March 4th, 1937 at the Biltmore Hotel) and the 1942 Oscars honoring Mrs Miniver (March 4th, 1943 at the Cocoanut Grove in the Ambassador Hotel). I was delighted to realize that we've written about a few of the winners from those years in the past: the dance direction in The Great Ziegfeld, My Gal Sal's Art Direction, Mrs Miniver as Best Picture, The Great Ziegfeld as Best Picture, and Black Swan's Cinematography. ...
the acting winners of '42: Van Heflin, Greer Garson, James Cagney, and Teresa Wright
Both of the March 4th ceremonies were very early in Oscar history:The 1936 Oscars honoring The Great Ziegfeld (March 4th, 1937 at the Biltmore Hotel) and the 1942 Oscars honoring Mrs Miniver (March 4th, 1943 at the Cocoanut Grove in the Ambassador Hotel). I was delighted to realize that we've written about a few of the winners from those years in the past: the dance direction in The Great Ziegfeld, My Gal Sal's Art Direction, Mrs Miniver as Best Picture, The Great Ziegfeld as Best Picture, and Black Swan's Cinematography. ...
- 11/10/2017
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Can we have a random break for applause for Daniel Walber's The Furniture column. It was Daniel's birthday this weekend so he has the day off. He's already 69 episodes in to this incredible series which has been filled with sharp insights, a keen eye, and rich Hollywood anecdotes. Here's everything he's covered thus far. Please show your love in the comments if you look forward to these each Monday.
The Forties and Fifties
• Hold Back the Dawn (1941) Bored at the border
• How Green Was My Valley (1941) Designing dignity
• That Hamilton Woman (1941) High ceilings
• Captain of the Clouds (1942) A Canadian air show
• The Magnificent Andersons (1942) Victorian Palace / Manifest Destiny
• My Gal Sal (1942) Nonsense Gay Nineties
• The Shanghai Gesture (1942) Appropriating Chinese design
• Black Narcissus (1947) Mad for matte paintings
• David and Bathsheba (1951) A humble palace of moral struggle
• A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) Decorative madness
• My Cousin Rachel (1952) Ghosts of property
• Lust for Life...
The Forties and Fifties
• Hold Back the Dawn (1941) Bored at the border
• How Green Was My Valley (1941) Designing dignity
• That Hamilton Woman (1941) High ceilings
• Captain of the Clouds (1942) A Canadian air show
• The Magnificent Andersons (1942) Victorian Palace / Manifest Destiny
• My Gal Sal (1942) Nonsense Gay Nineties
• The Shanghai Gesture (1942) Appropriating Chinese design
• Black Narcissus (1947) Mad for matte paintings
• David and Bathsheba (1951) A humble palace of moral struggle
• A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) Decorative madness
• My Cousin Rachel (1952) Ghosts of property
• Lust for Life...
- 7/31/2017
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
"The Furniture" is our weekly series on Production Design. You can click on the images to see them in magnified detail. Here's Daniel Walber...
My Gal Sal is a pack of lies. The 1942 musical, ostensibly a biopic of songwriter Paul Dresser, is almost entirely fabricated. Of course, that hardly matters. Accuracy is no prerequisite for the Best Production Design Oscar, which Richard Day, Joseph C. Wright and Thomas Little won for the picture. No one will be mad if some details are fudged in musical numbers like “Me and My Fella and a Big Umbrella.”
That said, My Gal Sal is interesting because it’s all nonsense. It’s a window into the way Hollywood projects itself onto the past, a compendium of historical kitsch.
Dresser (Victor Mature) begins the film in a strict, Indiana home. His minister father objects to his music, so he runs away and gets a job with a medicine show.
My Gal Sal is a pack of lies. The 1942 musical, ostensibly a biopic of songwriter Paul Dresser, is almost entirely fabricated. Of course, that hardly matters. Accuracy is no prerequisite for the Best Production Design Oscar, which Richard Day, Joseph C. Wright and Thomas Little won for the picture. No one will be mad if some details are fudged in musical numbers like “Me and My Fella and a Big Umbrella.”
That said, My Gal Sal is interesting because it’s all nonsense. It’s a window into the way Hollywood projects itself onto the past, a compendium of historical kitsch.
Dresser (Victor Mature) begins the film in a strict, Indiana home. His minister father objects to his music, so he runs away and gets a job with a medicine show.
- 5/1/2017
- by Daniel Walber
- FilmExperience
We're less than a week from Hollywood's High Holy Night. Are you excited yet?
For today's trivia party we'll look at the only people to win exactly six Oscars. Four men. It's always men (sigh). Only 11 people have won more Oscars than these four men. I did not include confusing cases like Visual FX guru Dennis Murren -- IMDb argues exactly 6 but that depends on how you count them since his prizes are many and a confusing jumble of technical achievements, special Oscars, and regular competitive statues. (Unfortunately I couldn't find photographs of the set decorators)
Gordon HollingsheadGORDON Hollingshead (1892-1952)
This producer won more Oscars in the short film categories than anyone other than the legendary Walt Disney and Frederick Quimby (of Tom & Jerry fame) but he won them for live action films. His first Oscar, though, was in the inaguaral year (1933) of a category called "Best Assistant Director" which...
For today's trivia party we'll look at the only people to win exactly six Oscars. Four men. It's always men (sigh). Only 11 people have won more Oscars than these four men. I did not include confusing cases like Visual FX guru Dennis Murren -- IMDb argues exactly 6 but that depends on how you count them since his prizes are many and a confusing jumble of technical achievements, special Oscars, and regular competitive statues. (Unfortunately I couldn't find photographs of the set decorators)
Gordon HollingsheadGORDON Hollingshead (1892-1952)
This producer won more Oscars in the short film categories than anyone other than the legendary Walt Disney and Frederick Quimby (of Tom & Jerry fame) but he won them for live action films. His first Oscar, though, was in the inaguaral year (1933) of a category called "Best Assistant Director" which...
- 2/22/2016
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
The Academy Awards are a night of prestige and honor that Hollywood takes very seriously. How seriously, you may ask? Well, in addition to being considered the guardians of quality in film, they have some extremely strict bylaws and guidelines for the entire process. Everything from nominations to what you can do with your Oscar once you've won is governed by their ruling hand. If anyone needed a reminder of The Academy's power, they've certainly got one in a recent court ruling involving the coveted statuette itself. The Guardian reported on the legal battle between the Academy and the family of previous honoree Joseph Wright. Wright won the Oscar for best color art direction, earned through his work in "My Gal Sal" in 1942, and his nephew auctioned the statue off for a cool sum of $79,200 to buyer Nate D. Sanders. The sale was challenged by the Academy Of Motion Pictures...
- 7/25/2015
- cinemablend.com
Oscar winners must offer statuettes to the Academy for $10 before attempting to sell on the open market, rules Us judge
A California judge has upheld the legal right of Oscars organisers to ban victors or their heirs from selling priceless statuettes on the open market, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
In a blow to collectors and auctioneers, Los Angeles superior court judge Gail Ruderman Feuer handed victory to the Us Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in a legal wrangle over Joseph Wright’s 1943 Oscar for colour art direction, received for his work on the film My Gal Sal.
Continue reading...
A California judge has upheld the legal right of Oscars organisers to ban victors or their heirs from selling priceless statuettes on the open market, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
In a blow to collectors and auctioneers, Los Angeles superior court judge Gail Ruderman Feuer handed victory to the Us Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in a legal wrangle over Joseph Wright’s 1943 Oscar for colour art direction, received for his work on the film My Gal Sal.
Continue reading...
- 7/22/2015
- by Ben Child
- The Guardian - Film News
The New Yorker on Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice by Paul Mazursky. I love that movie so much
Nyt Rip the influential filmmaker Paul Mazursky (Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, An Unmarried Woman, Enemies: A Love Story)
THR The Academy sues the estate of art director Joseph Wright. His family auctioned off his Oscar for My Gal Sal (1942) for $79,200. (God, imagine how much an Oscar for a famous movie or actor would get!) But auctioning off Oscars is a big big no-no. AMPAS freaks out every time.
Bryan Singer tweets a treament of X-Men: Apocalypse
Daily Mail Johnny Depp on the set of Black Mass. Lots of old age makeup
X-Finity Matt Bomer implies that his Montgomery Clift biopic is on indefinite delay
The Wire Joe talks that Eric/Jason sex scene on True Blood and what a failure the show has been in terms of the gay. Co-sign every word.
The...
Nyt Rip the influential filmmaker Paul Mazursky (Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, An Unmarried Woman, Enemies: A Love Story)
THR The Academy sues the estate of art director Joseph Wright. His family auctioned off his Oscar for My Gal Sal (1942) for $79,200. (God, imagine how much an Oscar for a famous movie or actor would get!) But auctioning off Oscars is a big big no-no. AMPAS freaks out every time.
Bryan Singer tweets a treament of X-Men: Apocalypse
Daily Mail Johnny Depp on the set of Black Mass. Lots of old age makeup
X-Finity Matt Bomer implies that his Montgomery Clift biopic is on indefinite delay
The Wire Joe talks that Eric/Jason sex scene on True Blood and what a failure the show has been in terms of the gay. Co-sign every word.
The...
- 7/2/2014
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Note to actors desperate to own an Oscar: You can’t just buy one.
This week, people discovered that the Academy is quite serious about this rule. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is suing Briarbrook Auction Services for auctioning off Joseph Wright’s 1942 Oscar he was awarded for color and art direction on My Gal Sal. (Wright died in 1985.) The Academy’s by-laws state neither the recipients of the awards nor their successors can sell the statuettes without first offering them to the Academy, according to Deadline, which first reported news of the lawsuit.
Despite this rule,...
This week, people discovered that the Academy is quite serious about this rule. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is suing Briarbrook Auction Services for auctioning off Joseph Wright’s 1942 Oscar he was awarded for color and art direction on My Gal Sal. (Wright died in 1985.) The Academy’s by-laws state neither the recipients of the awards nor their successors can sell the statuettes without first offering them to the Academy, according to Deadline, which first reported news of the lawsuit.
Despite this rule,...
- 7/2/2014
- by Erin Strecker
- EW - Inside Movies
As it has dozens of times before, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has sued in response to someone trying to make a buck hawking an Oscar. This time the case involves a statuette sold to an unknown buyer for nearly $80,000 just one week ago. In a suit filed today in Los Angeles Superior Court (read it here), the Academy takes umbrage to Briarbrook Auction Services auctioning off the Oscar awarded to Joseph Wright in 1942 for his color and art direction on My Gal Sal. The Academy’s bylaws strictly spell out that neither the recipients of […]...
- 7/2/2014
- Deadline
The Goose Woman (1925), directed by Clarence Brown, just screened at the Hippodrome Festival of Silent Cinema, accompanied by one of the finest and most remarkable live scores it's ever been my privilege to experience. Jane Gardner's soundtrack, incorporating piano, violin and drums, but also baby cries and a musical saw, was so good I wondered if it might be causing me to overrate the movie, in essence a moderately soapy melodrama, but the fact that no less a figure than Kevin Brownlow, who rediscovered and restored the lost film and supplied the print for the screening, considers it one of his very favorites, reassures me that I haven't taken leave of my critical faculties in a musical rapture.
The plot derives from a true-life murder case, still unsolved, but such open-ended stories have never been Hollywood's bag so this Universal production wraps things up neatly by the end. Part...
The plot derives from a true-life murder case, still unsolved, but such open-ended stories have never been Hollywood's bag so this Universal production wraps things up neatly by the end. Part...
- 3/21/2013
- by David Cairns
- MUBI
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment is letting you decide what classic films they will release on Blu-ray for the first time.
That’s right, your vote counts. Fans vote for their favorite classic titles through the “Voice Your Choice” campaign.
Click Here To Vote
Here is an portion the news release:
Los Angeles (January 15, 2013) – Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment announced today its partnership with the ultimate film discussion website, Home Theater Forum, for a one-of-a-kind campaign, Voice Your Choice, allowing film enthusiasts to decide which classic films they would like to see digitally restored and transferred to Blu-ray for the very first time. The program celebrates Fox’s most notable films from the 1930’s thru the 1960’s featuring performances by famous actors such as Henry Fonda, Shirley Temple, Paul Newman, Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, John Wayne and more. Throughout the campaign, fans will also have the opportunity to write in and submit additional titles.
That’s right, your vote counts. Fans vote for their favorite classic titles through the “Voice Your Choice” campaign.
Click Here To Vote
Here is an portion the news release:
Los Angeles (January 15, 2013) – Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment announced today its partnership with the ultimate film discussion website, Home Theater Forum, for a one-of-a-kind campaign, Voice Your Choice, allowing film enthusiasts to decide which classic films they would like to see digitally restored and transferred to Blu-ray for the very first time. The program celebrates Fox’s most notable films from the 1930’s thru the 1960’s featuring performances by famous actors such as Henry Fonda, Shirley Temple, Paul Newman, Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, John Wayne and more. Throughout the campaign, fans will also have the opportunity to write in and submit additional titles.
- 1/15/2013
- by Jeff Bayer
- The Scorecard Review
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