Good, bad or indifferent, Hollywood is gonna be Hollywood.  And you can’t have Hollywood without Oscar.  The statue, not the Grouch.  Something to do with recognition or validation…that’s another conversation for another time.  For our purposes here today, I present 5 interesting tidbits about Oscar and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.  Granted, you could Google all this, but that’s why you come see me.  To summarize and cut out all the fluff.

The Official Name

Tidbit #1:  The official name of the statuette is the Academy Award of Merit.  No one’s certain how it got its nickname Oscar, but they’ve been calling it that since 1939, 1934 if you go by a news reporter’s usage.  The design is supposedly a knight holding a crusader’s sword standing on a film reel.  Now that I know, I can see it.  And it isn’t modeled after anyone.

Highlight Links and Rules

Tidbit #2:  If you want to take a trip down memory lane and see some highlights from the Academy’s permanent collection of photos, posters, design drawings and film assets, here are some links in no particular order: Denzel, Richard Pryor, Lena Horne, Pulp Fiction, and Sidney Poitier.

Tidbit #3:  According to the rules of eligibility, for a feature film to be eligible, it must run in a theater in one of 6 metro areas.  Of course LA County is one.  The other 5 are: the 5 boroughs of the City of New York, the Bay Area, Chicago, Miami and Atlanta.

Tidbit #4:  For the music awards, like original score or original song, the music has to be made for the movie/film and not for any other reason.  No live performances or album sales.  It has to be made for that movie alone.  Of course afterwards, all bets are off and go get your coin.

The Academy Museum

Tidbit #5:  Saved the best for last.  When you head to Los Angeles, drop by the Academy Museum which has ALL the goods for you to see and experience for yourself.   I dropped in on their exhibit called “Regeneration: Black Cinema from 1898 – 1971” and loved it. Pics are included below.  If you’re movie curious, you’ll really enjoy this museum.  The museum store is worth a drop in too.  There was one piece in the Regeneration exhibit that I was hoping they had on sale and they did.  Of course I bought it.  

The museum is on Miracle Mile, aka, Wilshire Blvd and you can easily make a day of visiting the Academy Museum along with quite a few others within a block of one another.  The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is a 2 minute walk on the same block/same side of Wilshire and the La Brea Tar Pits are a bit further down.  These last two I’ll cover in upcoming posts.

For now, enjoy the Oscars and happy movie watching!  Until next time…

May the road rise to meet you and the wind be at your back.