Academy Treasures

Tag: Academy Treasures
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) has been a mainstay of the Hollywood scene since its founding in 1943, when a group of journalists gathered together to efficiently and accurately cover all aspects of the entertainment industry. During the HFPA’s early years, members initially held informal gatherings in their homes, but as they saw their organization grow over the years, their meetings and awards ceremonies became more formal.Headquartered in West Hollywood, California, the approximately 90 Southern California-based members of the HFPA consist of international journalists who...
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Nothing says Spring Break like a trip to the beach, and these photographs from the Academy's Margaret Herrick Library showcase one of Hollywood's most famous stars, Marilyn Monroe, enjoying the sand and surf at two different points in her career.First, here are some photos taken by Andre De Dienes on Tobay Beach (Tobay being an acronym for Town of Oyster Bay) in Long Island, NY in 1949. The same year she had a role opposite the Marx Brothers in Love Happy, and the following year would begin her ascent to stardom with All about Eve and The Asphalt Jungle. [[{"fid":"56396","view_mode":"...
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In the golden era of Hollywood, legendary restaurants such as the Brown Derby, Romanoff’s, La Rue, Perino’s, and Scandia attracted celebrity clientele and high society with some of the finest culinary delights, impeccable service, and the chance to see and be seen.Among these notable restaurants in Los Angeles that flourished from the1930s through the 1960s were the Brown Derby Restaurants. The most famous of the four Derbies, the Hollywood Brown Derby opened in 1929, located at the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street. It was the hub of Hollywood - surrounded by broadcasting...
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This rarely seen footage of adventure filmmaker Aloha Wanderwell Baker, the first woman to travel around the world by car, was recently preserved by the Academy Film Archive. The Aloha Wanderwell Film Collection at the Archive is a unique assortment of 16mm and 35mm films, revealing the story of Aloha’s around-the-globe adventures that captured the people, cultures and historical landmarks of five continents from the 1920s and 1930s.[[{"fid":"55656","view_mode":"full","fields":{"format":"full","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false...
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To celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and to pay tribute to Mabel Normand during Women’s History Month, we feature this shamrock-bearing sheet music cover for “Molly O (I Love You).”The song was written for the 1921 film Molly O’, based on Mack Sennett’s tender love story of an Irish girl’s struggle to overcome her lowly beginnings. Mabel Normand plays Molly O'Dair, the penniless daughter of an Irish washerwoman and a ditchdigger who falls in love with a millionaire bachelor.[[{"fid":"55216","view_mode":"default","fields":{"format":"default","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"","...
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This extraordinary silent footage housed at the Blackhawk Films Collection housed at the Academy Film Archive provides a look at the spectacular 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition. An almost year-long celebration staged in San Francisco, California, the Expo celebrated the completion of the decade-long construction of the Panama Canal.The City by the Bay embraced the opportunity to rebuild its community following a devastating and destructive earthquake that fell on its citizens’ shoulders in 1906. The Expo took three years to construct and opened to great fanfare on February 20,...
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In the introduction to her book, Dressed: A Century of Hollywood Costume Design, Deborah Nadoolman Landis sums up the job of the costume designer: “Ultimately, a costume must perfectly describe the individual for whom it was designed—not the superficial shell of a character but the outward expression of inner experience, the concrete manifestation of the character’s self-image.” Costume design extends beyond the realm of fashion and personal style. Unconcerned with setting trends, the costume designer aims to add depth and believability to the identities of the characters in the film. A...
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In homage to the upcoming Academy Awards, we look back to earlier Academy Awards ceremonies. Here we highlight the historic role of radio in one of Hollywood’s most anticipated events of the year.When the first Academy Awards were handed out in May 1929 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, the winners had already been announced three months earlier. The following year, due to increased public interest, the ceremony was partially covered in a live radio broadcast.In anticipation of the highly celebrated event for the 5th Academy Awards, radio station KECA presented a half-hour program called “...
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Currently the fifth most nominated person ever with 35 nominations for Costume Design, Edith Head was nominated 19 years in a row, from the establishment of the Costume Design category in 1948 through 1966. She holds the record for awards in the category with eight.In the 1950s during Edith Head’s impressive run at the Oscars, she began serving as a fashion consultant for the ceremony. The position’s duties were wide-ranging, from advising Oscar attendees on makeup and clothing for television, taking into account the set design and what looks might complement it, to emergency wardrobe repairs...
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Special effects pioneer Linwood G. Dunn was drawn to the moving image from an early age, as is evident from the meticulous list he compiled at age 14 while growing up in New York City (below). Frequenting a variety of theaters, he took in everything from offbeat Westerns such as Branding Broadway (1918) to comedies such as String Beans (1918) and classics such as Little Women (1919). Rating them from fair to great, only The Greatest Thing in Life (1918) starring Lillian Gish received a rating of “great” with an exclamation point.[[{"fid":"48366","view_mode":"default","fields":{"format":"...
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