The Academy Awards

When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was formed in 1927 one of the goals of the founders was to recognize achievements in the industry. That recognition quickly took the form of annual awards banquets, with the first one hosted in 1929. Over time the format shifted from banquet to the Oscars telecast we all know today, as the categories and even membership of the Academy adapted to the shifts in filmmaking. Joining me in this episode is Dr. Monica Sandler, a film and media historian at Ball State University, whose forthcoming book is The Oscar Industry: Creative Labor, Cultural Production, and the Awards System in Media Industry.

Our theme song is “Frogs Legs Rag,” composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “He’s working in the movies now,” composed by Henry Lodge, with lyrics by Harry Williams and Vincent Bryan; the song was performed by Billy Murray on February 27, 1914, in Camden, New Jersey; it’s in the public domain and is available via the Library of Congress National Jukebox. The episode image is of Grace Kelly and Marlon Brando at the Academy Awards on March 30, 1955, published in the Los Angeles Times on March 31, 1955; the copyright is held by the UCLA Charles E. Young Research Library Department of Special Collections, and this work is licensed under a "Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 International" .

Sources:

“Experience over nine decades of the Oscars from 1927 to 2026,” Oscars.org.
“Why Are the Academy Awards Called ‘Oscars’?” by Elizabeth Nix, History.com, January 22, 2026.
“The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences [Pamphlet],” June 20, 1927, Available via the Margaret Herrick Library Digital Collections.
“The Academy Awards Scandal That First Got PwC Its Job Counting Oscars Votes,” by Olivia B. Waxman, Time Magazine, March 2, 2018.
“How Television Changed the Oscars,” by Lily Rothman, Time Magazine, February 22, 2015.
““TV – That’s Where Movies Go When They Die”: Rewatching the First Televised Oscars,” by Thomas Doherty, The Hollywood Reporter, March 26, 2022.
“What Determines Whether a Performance Is Lead or Supporting? Oscar Rules Explained,” by Eliza Thompson, US Weekly, March 7, 2024.

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