• The 11th Academy Awards unfolded on February 23, 1939, hosted at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, California.
• A distinctive feature of this year’s ceremony was the lack of a formal host.
• Movies released in 1938 were eligible for these honors.

Noteworthy Moments:

• You Can’t Take It With You clinched the Best Picture award. Directed by Frank Capra, the film is a comedy about a wealthy man’s son who falls in love with a woman from a quirky family.
• Spencer Tracy received his second Best Actor Oscar for his role in Boys Town.
• You Can’t Take It With You earned 7 nominations.
• This was the first ceremony in which a foreign language film (Grand Illusion) was nominated for Best Picture.
• Bette Davis won the Best Actress award for her role in Jezebel, a drama about a wilful southern belle.
• This ceremony reflected a growing maturity in the film industry, with increasingly complex narratives and character-driven stories taking center stage. The awards also signaled a move toward greater inclusivity, with a wider range of genres and themes gaining recognition.

Trivia:

1. Frank Capra, winning for Best Director, also served as the President of the Academy at the time.
2. Jezebel was conceived as a consolation for Bette Davis after she lost the role of Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind.
3. Walt Disney’s Ferdinand the Bull won for Best Animated Short, adding to Disney’s growing collection of Oscars.
4. This year saw the introduction of the category for Best Special Effects, with the first winner being Spawn of the North.

• The 10th Academy Awards ceremony took place on March 10, 1938, at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, California.
• Comedian and musician Bob Burns played host, entertaining attendees with his signature homespun humor.
• To be in the running, films had to be released in 1937.

Noteworthy Moments:

• The 10th Academy Awards were originally scheduled for March 3, 1938, but due to the Los Angeles flood of 1938.
• The Life of Emile Zola received 10 nominations
• Lost Horizon and A Star Is Born each received 7 nominations.
• Reel: The standard length of a 35 mm film reel is 1,000 feet (305 m), which runs approximately 11 minutes for sound film (24 frames per second) and about 15 minutes for silent film at the speed of 16 frames per second.
• A Day At The Races was the only nomination for any Marx Brothers film (Art Direction)The Life of Emile Zola took home the Best Picture award, a biographical film about the French writer and journalist.
• Spencer Tracy secured the Best Actor accolade for his role in Captains Courageous.
• Luise Rainer received the Best Actress Oscar for The Good Earth, making her the first performer to win back-to-back Oscars.
• As the 10th edition of the awards, this year had an aura of celebration about it, marking a decade of the Academy Awards honoring cinematic excellence. It’s a milestone that showcased the Oscars as an institution that had come of age.

Trivia:

1. Rainer’s back-to-back wins set a precedent that wouldn’t be followed until Katharine Hepburn achieved the same feat decades later.
2. The Life of Emile Zola was the first Best Picture winner to receive ten nominations, a new high at the time.
3. Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs received an honorary award accompanied by seven miniature Oscar statuettes, acknowledging its pioneering role in the film industry.
4. Mack Gordon and Harry Revel’s song “Remember Me” from Mr. Dodd Takes the Air was the first to be performed live at an Oscars ceremony, beginning a tradition.

• The 9th Academy Awards unfolded on March 4, 1937, at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, California.
• The host for the evening was George Jessel, an actor, singer, and comedian known for his work on stage and screen.
• Films released in the calendar year of 1936 were eligible for awards.

Noteworthy Moments:

• The Great Ziegfeld won Best Picture, making it the first musical film to ever win this category.
• Luise Rainer bagged the Best Actress Oscar for her role in The Great Ziegfeld, marking her first win; she’d win again the following year.
• Anthony Adverse, Dogsworth and The Great Ziegfeld each received 7 nominations.
• The “Academy Award of Merit” is what the Oscar statue is officially called.
• The standard length of a 35 mm film reel is 1,000 feet (305 m), which runs approximately 11 minutes for sound film (24 frames per second) and about 15 minutes for silent film at the speed of 16 frames per second.
• My Man Godfrey was the first film to receive nominations in all four acting categories
• This ceremony marked the first time when the categories of Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress were included in the awards list.
• This was the first year that the Academy recognized Supporting Acting performances with official nominations, as opposed to the previous year where a write-in vote determined winners.

Trivia:

1. Paul Muni lost the Best Actor award to himself. Confused? Muni was nominated twice for Best Actor, once as a write-in and once as an official nominee, both for his role in The Story of Louis Pasteur. He won.
2. Luise Rainer’s win started her on a path that would make her the first actor to win back-to-back Oscars, a feat she achieved for The Good Earth the following year.
3. This was the first year the Best Supporting Actor and Actress awards were given as official categories, but the miniature “Oscar” statuettes for supporting categories weren’t introduced until 1943.
4. The Best Dance Direction category made its debut and was awarded to Seymour Felix for his work on The Great Ziegfeld.
5. This year’s ceremony saw the Oscars grow in scale, reflecting the industry’s evolution and the increasing significance of film in American culture.

• The 8th Academy Awards were held on March 5, 1936, at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, California.
• Frank Capra, who had won the Best Director Oscar for It Happened One Night at the previous ceremony, served as the host.
• Films that graced the big screen during the calendar year 1935 were in the competition for awards.

Noteworthy Moments:

• The ceremony made history as Mutiny on the Bounty became the last film to win Best Picture and nothing else, a rare feat in Oscar history.
• Bette Davis won her second Best Actress Oscar for her role in Dangerous, becoming the first performer to win more than one acting Oscar.
• The first Oscars for Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress were awarded, won by Walter Brennan for Come and Get It and Gale Sondergaard for Anthony Adverse, respectively.
• A Midsummer Night’s Dream became the only film to win a write-in Oscar, taking Best Cinematography.

Trivia:

1. This was the first year the Oscars were referred to as “Oscar” in the telecast, although the nickname had been popular for years.
2. This was the first and only time that write-in candidates were allowed, and Hal Mohr won Best Cinematography for A Midsummer Night’s Dream through a write-in.
3. Walter Brennan’s win set him on a path to becoming one of the most decorated male actors in Oscar history; he would go on to win two more Best Supporting Actor awards.
4. Frank Capra, as host, was also a Best Director nominee for Mr. Deeds Goes to Town but did not win.

• The 7th Academy Awards took place on February 27, 1935, at the Biltmore Hotel, specifically in the Biltmore Bowl, in Los Angeles, California.
• Irvin S. Cobb, a renowned American author, humorist, and actor, commanded the stage as the host.
• Films released in the calendar year of 1934 were eligible for awards.

Noteworthy Moments:

• It Happened One Night became the first film to win the “Big Five” Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director (Frank Capra), Best Actor (Clark Gable), Best Actress (Claudette Colbert), and Best Screenplay (Robert Riskin).
• Shirley Temple received the first Juvenile Award at age 6, making her the youngest Oscar honoree.
• One Night of Love earned 6 nominations

Trivia:

1. It Happened One Night‘s sweep of the major categories wouldn’t be matched again until 1975 by One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and in 1991 by The Silence of the Lambs.
2. This was the first year that Best Original Song was introduced as a category, won by “The Continental” from The Gay Divorcee.
3. The 7th Oscars were the first to be broadcast on tnationwide radio.
4. Best Film Editing became a permanent category this year after being introduced in the previous ceremony.

• The 6th Academy Awards occurred on March 16, 1934, and broke with tradition by being held at The Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California.
• Will Rogers, the American stage and film actor, took on the role of host for the evening.
• The eligibility period stretched from August 1, 1932, to December 31, 1933.

Noteworthy Moments:

• Katharine Hepburn won her first Oscar for Best Actress in Morning Glory, beginning a legendary Academy Awards career.
• Cavalcade, a drama based on a Noel Coward play, won Best Picture.
• The ceremony was the first to be held in March, breaking away from the early ceremonies which were usually held in November or April.
• Cavalcade, A Farewell to Arms, and Lady for a Day each earned 6 nominations.
• First Oscar “oops!”: Will Rogers presented the Academy Award for Best Director, and when he opened the envelope, he announced, “Come up and get it, Frank!”
  Frank Capra, certain he was the winner, ran to the podium to collect the Oscar, only to discover Rogers had meant Frank Lloyd, who won for Cavalcade, instead. Will then called the third nominee, George Cukor, to join the two Franks on stage. #oops

Trivia:

1. This year marked the first time that the Academy standardized its “calendar year” eligibility period.
2. Frank Lloyd won Best Director for Cavalcade but was not nominated for Best Picture.
3. This was the first ceremony where child actors were acknowledged; Jackie Cooper was 14 years old when he was nominated for Best Actor.
4. A new category was introduced for Best Film Editing.
5. This ceremony was the first to divide short subjects into two categories: comedy and Novelty, providing more opportunities for recognition.
6. Take the PCM Hollywood Sign Quiz!

• The 5th Academy Awards ceremony took place on November 18, 1932.
• Host Conrad Nagel returned to MC the event, which was located in the Fiesta Room at the Ambassador Hotel.
• Films released between August 1, 1931, and July 31, 1932, were eligible for awards.

Noteworthy Moments:

• Walt Disney won his first ever Oscar for the animated short Flowers and Trees, under a new category called Best Animated Short Film.
• Grand Hotel won Best Picture without winning any other Oscars, a feat unmatched to this day.
• Helen Hayes won Best Actress for her role in The Sin of Madelon Claudet, a film that was initially a commercial failure.
• Flowers and Trees was the first color Academy Award winner and first animated short winner.
• Arrowsmith and The Champ each earned 4 nominations.
• Grand Hotel was the only Best Picture winner to be nominated for Best Picture and nothing else.

Trivia:

1. This was the first ceremony where the winners were kept a secret until the event.
2. This is the only year that the Academy did not award a Best Director.
3. The Best Actor category included three nominees who were non-American: Alfred Lunt, Lawrence Tibbett, and Wallace Beery.
4. This was the last year that write-in votes were allowed, enabling Hal Mohr to win Best Cinematography for A Midsummer Night’s Dream in a later ceremony.
5. The ceremony was broadcast by Los Angeles radio station KNX.

• The 4th Academy Awards took place on November 10, 1931.
• The ceremony was hosted in the Sala D’Oro at the Biltmore Hotel.
• Lawrence Grant, a British character actor, took on hosting duties.
• Eligibility for awards was for films released between August 1, 1930, and July 31, 1931.

Noteworthy Moments:

• Cimarron became the first Western to win Best Picture.
• Marie Dressler won Best Actress for her role in Min and Bill, making her the oldest actress to win this category.
• Wesley Ruggles won Best Director for Cimarron.
• Cimarron earned 7 nominations, winning 3. It was the first Western to win Best Picture. The second was Dances With Wolves in 1990.
• Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights received no nominations.
• Also Snubbed: Dracula, Frankenstein, Little Caesar, Public Enemy, Applause

Trivia:

1. This was the first year where the awards started acknowledging sound in a separate category: Best Sound Recording.
2. The film The Front Page was nominated for three major awards but won none. It would later be remade as His Girl Friday in 1940.
3. Skippy, based on a comic strip, is the earliest film to receive a Best Director nomination that is still copyrighted.
4. This year was the first and only time the Academy handed out an award for Best Assistant Director.
5. This ceremony was among the shortest, lasting only about an hour.

• The 3rd Academy Awards were held on November 5, 1930.
• The venue for the ceremony was the Fiesta Room at the Ambassador Hotel.
• Conrad Nagel, a popular actor of the time, served as the host.
• Films released between August 1, 1929, and July 31, 1930, were eligible for awards.

Noteworthy Moments:

• All Quiet on the Western Front won Best Picture and Best Director, a film based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque.
• Norma Shearer won Best Actress for her role in The Divorcee, a pre-Code drama.
• Lewis Milestone, who directed All Quiet on the Western Front, was the first to win the Directing Award twice.
• The Love Parade earned six nominations but didn’t win any awards.
• Greta Garbo was eventually nominated four times but never received the Academy Award.

Trivia:

1. There were two ceremonies in 1930; the 2nd Academy Awards took place earlier in the same year.
2. This was the first ceremony where the awards were officially dubbed “Oscars.”
3. All Quiet on the Western Front was one of the first films to win both Best Picture and Best Director.
4. Conrad Nagel was also one of the 36 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences co-founders.
5. This was the last ceremony to include two-year spans in the eligibility period for nominations.
6. Take our 1930 Quiz!

• The 2nd Academy Awards took place on April 30, 1930.
• The ceremony was hosted at the Cocoanut Grove of the Ambassador Hotel.
• William C. DeMille, older brother of the famous Cecil B. DeMille, was the host.
• The eligibility year for the awards was from August 1, 1928, to July 31, 1929.

Noteworthy Moments:

• The Broadway Melody won Best Picture, notable for being the first sound film to win this category.
• The award categories were simplified compared to the first ceremony. For instance, there was only one acting category each for men and women.
• Warner Baxter won Best Actor for his role in In Old Arizona, playing the Cisco Kid.

Trivia:

1. This was the first time the Academy used sealed envelopes to announce winners.
2. The ceremony was broadcast on radio, a significant technological advancement for the time.
3. The awards recognized both sound and silent films, reflecting the industry’s transition.
4. Mary Pickford won Best Actress for her talkie debut in Coquette, making her one of the first Hollywood “talkie” stars to win an Oscar.
5. Despite being a talkie, The Broadway Melody actually had no spoken dialogue, only music and sound effects.