But was I correct about the Oscars first being televised in 1952 instead of 1953? '52 is what I read in Ebert’s Oscar column today, but it says '53 on the Oscar site. And I don’t think you’ve ruffled any feathers, or at least not mine. Hope you’re feeling better soon.
ok, JONSIE – gotta know what ya thought of the Oscars! Write away!
Didn’t know you cared! 
We kid because we love.
Oscar Night Wrap-up 2003
Most Worthy Successor to Bob Hope as Emcee: Steve Martin
Most Likely To Emcee a Revival of Short Attention Span Theater: ABC News’ Peter Jennings, who used his hourly newsbriefs to tell us how the three-day old “war is still grinding on.”
[hijack]The earliest Bob Hope gag—and believe me, that’s the right word—in which he eschewed facts for a payoff that never came, occurred in 1971. After telling a pro-Vietnam joke and getting booed, he had the temerity to say about Little Big Man’s Chief Dan George, “He’s all right, but why couldn’t they give that part to an American?” Reminds me of an old MAD Magazine Bumpersticker We’d Like to See: “If the Sioux don’t like it here let them go back where they came from.”[/hijack]
Far From Heaven Award For Fashion Misstep: The personally luminous Meryl Streep, whose dress appeared to be a spatterware turkey roasting pan rendered in incompatible fabrics, one of which I’ll bet was a space-age polymer.
NOW BOOKING! HELL FREEZES OVER TOUR 2003: Reuniting Adrien Brody with his Pianist director Roman Polanski, with music score by Eminem. (These 3 upsets made the night for me.)
Best Song Not To Win Best Song: Burn It Blue, Frida. If the Award for Best Makeup can go to the team—notice I said team—it took to give Salma Hayek a unibrow, it just might be easier to win one of these things than we thought.
THIS JUST IN: Sean Connery’s brogue is now thick enough to be spread on toast.
Yes, I’m A Good Sport Award: Kathy Bates for numerous ribbings taken throughout the evening.
Affordably Priced Substitute For Xanax: Montage of speeches by Past Academy Presidents.
Mark These Eligible Oscar Winners “Absent” from this year’s Class Picture: Jim Broadbent, Russell Crowe, Kevin Spacey, Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow, Dame Judi Dench, Helen Hunt, Robin Williams, Kim Basinger, Geoffrey Rush, Frances McDormand, Juliette Binoch, Jessica Lange, Dianne Wiest, Holly Hunter, Tommy Lee Jones, Anna Paquin, Al Pacino, Emma Thompson, Gene Hackman, Marisa Tomei, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Jodie Foster, Mercedes Ruehl, Jeremy Irons, Joe Pesci, Whoopi Goldberg, Kevin Kline, Olympia Dukakis, Paul Newman, William Hurt, F. Murray Abraham, Sally Field, Shirley MacLaine, Linda Hunt, Katharine Hepburn, Robert DeNiro, Timothy Hutton, Jane Fonda, Dame Maggie Smith, Richard Dreyfuss, Diane Keaton, Vanessa Redgrave, Faye Dunaway, Lee Grant, Art Carney, Ellen Burstyn, Glenda Jackson, Marlon Brando, Liza Minnelli, Goldie Hawn, Estelle Parsons, Julie Christie, Shelley Winters, Peter Ustinov, Gregory Peck, Anne Bancroft, Patty Duke, Sophia Loren, Charlton Heston , Dame Wendy Hiller, Joanne Woodward, Miyoshi Umeki, Dorothy Malone, Jon Whiteley, Mercedes McCambridge, Joan Fontaine.* (My list was obtained by consulting the World Almanac 2003, IMdB and Inside Oscar: The Unofficial History of the Academy Awards by Mason Wiley & Damien Bona. The list above + the names of those onstage last night = a (near) complete list of all living Acting Award winners, both competitive and Honorary, as of March 2003.)
Jon Whiteley received a child-size Oscar in 1954 forThe Little Kidnappers*
The Ruling Class Award: To Peter O’Toole, who proved brevity is the soul of wit. When you look up “charm” in the dictionary, I think you just might find his picture. I do hope O’Toole’s Oscar is inscribed as eloquently as that given to Edward G. Robinson’s widow in 1973. “…who achieved greatness as a player, a patron of the arts and a dedicated citizen… in short, a Renaissance man. From his friends in the industry he loves.” Yeah, well, by the time the Academy got around to remembering how much it loved him, poor Eddie was pushing up daisies. They call these twilight years awards “Deathbed Oscars” for a reason.
And finally:
While I’m Clearing Off The Desk: Bob Hope received Honorary Oscars in 1945, 1953 and 1966. He received, and deserved, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1960.
ECJones 29: Great thread, homage, and list of MIA celebs. However, you did forget (shudder) Roberto Benigni. Can’t blame you–I know we’ve all tried for the last few years…
Archive Guy, are you a proofreader by chance? I typed the list of names elsewhere and then dropped it in place, and Benigni was there before the drop-off. Thank you for the bouquet.
“Star Wars” won six Oscars in competitive categories - Best Original Score, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Sound, Best Film Editing, and Best Visual Effects, plus an honorary Oscar for technical achievement. But it didn’t win Best Picture.
“Cabaret” won EIGHT Oscars without winning Best Picture: Best Director (Bob Fosse), Best Actress (Liza Minelli), Best Supporting Actor (Joel Grey), Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Sound, Best Adaptation and Original Score, and Best Film Editing.
So this question, frankly, was not even close to being correct.
I see “Cabaret” was alreayd mentioned, but I got “Star Wars” first.
By gum, if you get SW first, then I get Raiders of the Lost Ark, A Place in the Sun, Mary Poppins and The Bad and the Beautiful first. All have 5 or more Oscars with no Picture award (heck, B&tB wasn’t even nominated–another record)
No, just another hardcore Oscar junkie. Did you participate in our Prediction Contest? If not, be sure to do so next year–Prizes for the winners! 