The 1st Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motio ...
(AMPAS) and hosted by AMPAS president
Douglas Fairbanks
Douglas Elton Fairbanks Sr. (born Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman; May 23, 1883 – December 12, 1939) was an American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. He was best known for his swashbuckling roles in silent films including '' The Thi ...
, honored the best
films from 1 August 1927 to
31 July 1928 and took place on May 16, 1929, at a private dinner held at
the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel
The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel is a historic hotel located at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California. It opened on May 15, 1927, and is the oldest continually operating hotel in Los Angeles.
History
The hote ...
in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...
, California. Tickets cost $5 ($ in , considering inflation); 270 people attended the event, which lasted 15 minutes. It is the only Academy Awards ceremony not broadcast on either radio or television; a radio broadcast was introduced for the
2nd Academy Awards.
During the ceremony, AMPAS presented
Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
later to be colloquially known as "Oscars" in 12 categories. The winners had been announced three months ahead of the ceremony. Some nominations did not reference a specific film, such as
Ralph Hammeras
Ralph Hammeras (March 24, 1894 – February 3, 1970) was an American special effects designer, cinematographer and art director. He was nominated for three Academy Awards. He created a large-scale miniature of the city of London for the film ...
and
Nugent Slaughter
Nugent Slaughter (March 17, 1888 – December 27, 1968) provided the special effects and sound mixing for the 1927 film, ''The Jazz Singer
''The Jazz Singer'' is a 1927 American musical drama film directed by Alan Crosland. It is the fi ...
, who were nominated for Engineering Effects, a category that was dropped the following year (along with those for Unique and Artistic Production, Best Director (Comedy), and Best Title Writing).
Unlike later ceremonies, an actor could be awarded for multiple films:
Emil Jannings
Emil Jannings (born Theodor Friedrich Emil Janenz, 23 July 1884 – 2 January 1950) was a Swiss born German actor, popular in the 1920s in Hollywood. He was the first recipient of the Academy Award for Best Actor for his roles in '' The La ...
won
Best Actor for his work in both ''
The Way of All Flesh
''The Way of All Flesh'' (sometimes called ''Ernest Pontifex, or the Way of All Flesh'') is a semi-autobiographical novel by Samuel Butler that attacks Victorian-era hypocrisy. Written between 1873 and 1884, it traces four generations of the ...
'' and ''
The Last Command'', while
Best Actress
Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress aw ...
winner
Janet Gaynor was honored for three films.
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is consider ...
and
Warner Brothers
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...
each received an Honorary Award.
Major winners at the ceremony included ''
7th Heaven'' and ''
Sunrise
Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon and its accompanying atmospheric effects.
Terminology
A ...
'', with three awards apiece (the latter winning for Unique and Artistic Picture), and ''
Wings
A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expre ...
'' receiving two awards, including
Outstanding Picture. The following year, the Academy dropped Unique and Artistic Picture and decided retroactively that the award won by ''Wings'' was its highest honor.
[ Reader must select "1927/28" in the "Award Year(s):" drop-down menu and press "Search".]
Background
In 1927, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) was established by Louis B. Mayer, the founder of the Louis B. Mayer Pictures Corporation, which then would be joined into Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Mayer's purpose in creating the award was to unite the five branches of the film industry, actors, directors, producers, technicians, and writers.
Mayer commented on the creation of the awards "I found that the best way to handle
ilmmakerswas to hang medals all over them ... If I got them cups and awards, they'd kill them to produce what I wanted. That's why the Academy Award was created". Mayer asked
Cedric Gibbons
Austin Cedric Gibbons (March 23, 1890 – July 26, 1960) was an Irish-American art director for the film industry. He also made a significant contribution to motion picture theater architecture from the 1930s to 1950s. Gibbons designed the ...
,
art director
Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games.
It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...
of MGM, to design an
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
trophy.
Nominees were notified through a
telegram
Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...
in February 1928.
In August 1928, Mayer contacted the Academy Central Board of Judges to decide winners.
However, according to the American director
King Vidor
King Wallis Vidor (; February 8, 1894 – November 1, 1982) was an American film director, film producer, and screenwriter whose 67-year film-making career successfully spanned the silent and sound eras. His works are distinguished by a vivid, ...
, the voting for the Academy Award for Best Picture was in the hands of the AMPAS founders: Mayer, Douglas Fairbanks,
Sid Grauman
Sidney Patrick Grauman (March 17, 1879 – March 5, 1950) was an American showman who created two of Hollywood's most recognizable and visited landmarks, the Chinese Theatre and the Egyptian Theatre.
Biography
Early years
Grauman was the s ...
,
Mary Pickford
Gladys Marie Smith (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979), known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American stage and screen actress and producer with a career that spanned five decades. A pioneer in the US film industry, she co-founde ...
, and
Joseph Schenck
Joseph Michael Schenck (; December 25, 1876 – October 22, 1961) was a Russian-born American film studio executive.
Life and career
Schenck was born to a Jewish family in Rybinsk, Yaroslavl Oblast, Russian Empire. He emigrated to New York City ...
.
Ceremony
The ceremony was held on May 16, 1929,
at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, located in Los Angeles.
It consisted of a private dinner with 36 banquet tables,
where 270 people attended and tickets cost $5 ().
Actors and actresses arrived at the hotel in luxury vehicles, where many fans attended to encourage celebrities.
The ceremony was not broadcast on radio or television,
and was hosted by AMPAS director Fairbanks
during a event.
Overview
Winners were announced three months before the ceremony.
The recipients included: Emil Jannings, the inaugural first award recipient
for
Best Actor (''The Way of All Flesh)'' and ''(The Last Command)'';
Janet Gaynor for
Best Actress
Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress aw ...
(''7th Heaven'', ''
Street Angel'', and ''Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans'');
Frank Borzage
Frank Borzage (; April 23, 1894 – June 19, 1962) was an Academy Award-winning American film director and actor, known for directing '' 7th Heaven'' (1927), '' Street Angel'' (1928), '' Bad Girl'' (1931), '' A Farewell to Arms'' (1932), ''Man's ...
for
Best Director, Drama (''7th Heaven'');
Lewis Milestone
Lewis Milestone (born Leib Milstein (Russian: Лейб Мильштейн); September 30, 1895 – September 25, 1980) was a Moldovan-American film director. He is known for directing ''Two Arabian Knights'' (1927) and '' All Quiet on the Weste ...
for Best Director, Comedy (''
Two Arabian Knights
''Two Arabian Knights'' (1927) is an American comedy film, directed by Lewis Milestone and starring William Boyd, Mary Astor, and Louis Wolheim. A silent film, ''Two Arabian Knights'' was produced by Howard Hughes and was distributed by United ...
''); and ''Wings'' for Best Picture (
the most expensive film of its time).
Two presentations were made of a
Special Award
Special or specials may refer to:
Policing
* Specials, Ulster Special Constabulary, the Northern Ireland police force
* Specials, Special Constable, an auxiliary, volunteer, or temporary; police worker or police officer
Literature
* ''Specia ...
:
Honorary awards
Charlie Chaplin, a multiple nominee for one movie (Best Actor, Best Writer and Best Director, Comedy; all for ''
The Circus'') (1928) having been removed from the list so as to recognize his total contribution to the industry;
and Warner Bros., an award for pioneering
talking pictures
A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed before ...
(''
The Jazz Singer
''The Jazz Singer'' is a 1927 American musical drama film directed by Alan Crosland. It is the first feature-length motion picture with both synchronized recorded music score as well as lip-synchronous singing and speech (in several isolated ...
''). Three categories were eliminated for subsequent presentations: Best Engineering Effects, Best Title Writing, and Best Unique and Artistic Quality of Production.
The larger film producers received the preponderance of awards:
Fox Film Corporation
The Fox Film Corporation (also known as Fox Studios) was an American Independent film production studio formed by William Fox (1879–1952) in 1915, by combining his earlier Greater New York Film Rental Company and Box Office Attractions Film C ...
, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer,
Paramount Pictures,
Radio-Keith-Orpheum
RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheu ...
, and Warner Bros.
Academy Awards of Merit
At the 1st Academy Awards (19271928), the nomination process allowed candidates to be nominated and to be awarded for either, a single film, multiple films, or without reference to any specific film.
Nominees were announced on February 2, 1929. Winners are listed first, in boldface, and indicated with an asterisk ().
; Notes
Honorary Awards
The following
Honorary Awards then called Special Awards were conferred:
*
Charles Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is consid ...
"To Charles Chaplin, for acting, writing, directing and producing ''
The Circus''".
*
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
"To Warner Bros., for producing ''
The Jazz Singer
''The Jazz Singer'' is a 1927 American musical drama film directed by Alan Crosland. It is the first feature-length motion picture with both synchronized recorded music score as well as lip-synchronous singing and speech (in several isolated ...
'', the pioneer outstanding talking picture, which has revolutionized the industry".
Multiple nominations and awards
The following six films received multiple nominations:
The following three films received multiple awards:
Changes to Academy Awards
After the 1st Academy Awards (19271928), the following changes were made by the AMPAS.
* Award categories were reduced from twelve to seven:
[
** The awards for Best Directing (Comedy Picture) and Best Directing (Dramatic Picture) were merged into a single Best Directing award.]
** The award for Best Engineering Effects was discontinued.
** The award for Best Unique and Artistic Picture was discontinued.[
** The awards for Best Writing (Adaptation) and Best Writing (Original Story) were merged into a single Best Writing award.]
** The award for Best Writing (Title Writing) was discontinued.[
]
Gallery
See also
* 1927 in film
* 1928 in film
The following is an overview of 1928 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.
Top-grossing films (U.S.)
The top ten 1928 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:
...
References
Bibliography
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Academy Awards, 01
1928 film awards
1929 in Los Angeles
1929 in American cinema
Academy Awards ceremonies
May 1929 events