I’ve read that Bette Davis nicknamed the award “Oscar” because its backside reminded her of that of Ham Oscar Nelson, who was her husband at the time. Where did I obtain this wacky info? Why, James Spada’s book, “More Than a Woman”, that’s where. Was he completely wrong here?
A link to the Mailbag item is appreciated. Why is the Oscar called the Oscar?
From the web site Oscar.com:
So, I guess from this we can divine that the statuette received the nickname among those ‘in the know’ sometime before it got usage widespread enough to get into print in 1934 through a gossip columnist. When this happens, you end up with everyone under the sun making the claim they thought of the name first, much as many people will try to claim the creation of popular jokes, cultural icons, etc.
Oops. Thank ye, Bibliophage.