Photo: VALERIE MACON/AFP/Getty Images
The name of the Oscars is a mystery that many people constantly ask themselves and here we bring you the different hypotheses.
First, we have the actress theory Bette Davis who claims that the name was derived from the fact that the back of the statuette resembled that of her husband, Harmon Oscar Nelson.
While columnist Sidney Skolsky noted that the Academy Award is due to his nickname in a 1934 New York Daily News article, noting that he was doing so in reference to a classic vaudeville joke: “It was my first Academy Awards night when I gave the gold statuette a name.. She wasn’t trying to make it legit. The snobbery of that particular Academy Award bothered me. I wanted to make the gold statuette human,” she assured.
Finally, this name has been attributed to the academy librarian Margaret Herrichwho He assured that the statuette resembled his uncle Oscarbeing this the most popular explanation.
In 1931, Herrick became Director of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) and made the comment that The golden figures had an expressionless face and a stern eyebrow that reminded him of his relative named Oscar, which caused the employees to “affectionately” start using this nickname.
The figurine has changed over time
Over time, the Oscar statuette has changed markedly after its first time as the Academy Award of Merit in 1929. The first version was a figure standing on a film reel with five spokes representing the five branches of the Academy: actors, directors, producers, technicians and writers. Then George Stanley, a sculptor from Los Angeles, redesigned the model and removed the spool.
These first prizes were solid bronze plated with gold., then they were exchanged for gold-plated metal. During World War II and a metal shortage, the statuette was made of plaster for three years.
Since 1982, the Oscar mold has been cast by RS Owens & Company, who flange a 24-carat gold finish on the figures. Over 3,000 Oscars have been made to date, but far more have been made to avoid a shortage.
It was in the news in 2000 that prior to that year’s ceremony, a large number of statuettes were stolen, so now the Academy keeps a reserve of them in case of emergency.
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