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 ...

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

(''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 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

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Academy Awards, 01 1928 film awards 1929 in Los Angeles 1929 in American cinema Academy Awards ceremonies May 1929 events