On This Day: 1st Academy Awards Ceremony

On this day in May, 1929 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, LA, California - the very first Oscars Ceremony was underway. A private dinner held by the then president of AMPAS, Douglas Fairbanks and ticket costs were $5 (which is around $74-75 in today's money considering inflation). Around 270 people took their seats to watch and the ceremony itself lasted just 15 minutes. The ceremony was neither broadcast on radio of TV with the idea of the radio broadcast coming in by the following year's awards show. There were 12 awards and the winners were announced some months before the event of the dinner itself. There were only 36 banquet tables required on the night.

With AMPAS being established in 1927 by Louis B Mayer, Douglas Fairbanks was back then, the president chosen to head the organisation. Mayer's want was to unite all the major branches of filmmaking: acting, directorship, production, technicalities and writing. It was the job of Cedric Gibbons - the then art director for Louis B Mayer's MGM Studios - to design a statue fit for purpose as a prize.

Let's take a look at the winners of that particular year and what they meant for film and this new, budding evolution of Hollywood:

Outstanding Picture - "Wings" (1928)

Wings (1928) was a war film which was also a love story and an epic drama. Starring the then "it" girl Clara Bow, it was award the "Outstanding Picture" (now called "Best Picture") award for its category. Let's face it, the amount that "Wings" (1928) did for the industry is a lot because here we have Hollywood trying to make a celebrity out of the subjects of a movie, something that hadn't really been done much in the past. Clara Bow was the original celebrity woman with possibilities like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton as the male equivalents in the celebrity field. We also have the nature of the film, it isn't just one genre - it's many. It transcends the genres and offers itself up to be all of them at once. Another thing that Hollywood wasn't used to in that time.

Best Actor: Emil Jennings in The Last Command (1928)

Entered into the Library of Congress National Film Registry in 2006, this is one of those films that if you're a classic movie buff - then you have to see it. The film is set in 1928 and takes a flashback of ten years in order to set itself in another time - the Russian Revolution. Within this film of revolution, war, death and anger there is a beautiful love story. There is also a mass tragedy which brings out so much emotion, I think I cried during the train scene at least twice. It's a beautiful film that needs to be seen and I can see why Emil Jennings won that Oscar.

Best Actress: Janet Gaynor in 7th Heaven (1927)

A silent romantic drama starring the then best actress Janet Gaynor was one of the best selling films in the USA at the time. It had a synchronised soundtrack and was based upon a 1922 play of the same name. Its success helped Fox Film secure its place amongst the Hollywood big production companies alongside Paramount and Columbia Pictures and yes, even alongside MGM Studios. It also won for Best Screenplay (Adapted). In 1995, it was entered into the Library of Congress National Film Registry as being culturally significant.

This film also ended up winning the Best Director Academy Award for Frank Borzage. Borzage went on to become a bigger director and directed films such as Street Angel (1928), Bad Girl (1931) and Mortal Storm (1940).

There were a number of other awards and mostly they went to the same or similar films with 7th Heaven (1927) winning a large number of the awards. There were, as there is today, honorary awards in the industry and these were awarded to Charlie Chaplin and it said:

"To Charles Chaplin, for acting, writing, directing and producing The Circus"

And the next one was to Warner Bros studios for moving the cinema industry on with their production of the first ever 'talkie' - The Jazz Singer (1928). Here's what was stated:

"To Warner Bros., for producing The Jazz Singer, the pioneer outstanding talking picture, which has revolutionised the industry."[

7th Heaven (1927) ended up being nominated for five of the awards at these awards which was the most nominations of the year, with Sunrise (1927) following close behind with four nominations. Even though Wings (1928) was only nominated for two awards, it still ended up winning the Best Picture Award.