Behind the Oscar: The Secret History of the Academy Awards - Hardcover

Anthony Holden

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670836702 ISBN 13: 9780670836703

Publisher: Viking, 1993

Synopsis

Tracing the awards from their founding by Louis B. Mayer in 1928 to the present, Holden shows the evolution of the ceremony from a five-minute pat on the back to a six-week orgy of self-congratulation.

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews

Although Holden (Big Deal, 1990, etc.) in his subtitle promises some lip-smacking gossip, few readers will be shocked, while most will find consuming this overrich table of Oscar-lore like trying to swallow the dessert board on the QE II. Steadily entertaining, Holden's narrative history bulks itself out with the usual Oscar facts and figures, but differs from the leader in its field, Mason Wiley and Damien Bona's voluminous Inside Oscar (1987), by hewing to anecdote. Part of the wacky suspense that the author keeps up hangs from the temper of the country and of the Academy each year (say, toward British nominees), and from studying the predictables and past winning percentages in whatever voting category he talks about, although many readers already will have recalled the winners. Holden begins with the making of the statuette itself, taking us through every step of its casting and burnishing and laminating, with other choice information offered about its brass inscriptions, delivery anywhere in the world, etc. Regarding awards for artistic merit, one of the big thoughts that arises from this study of the 5,000- plus Oscar electorate is, as one (unnamed) director puts it: ``Institutions aren't the best judges of a work of art, just like the Acad‚mie des Beaux Arts rejected the Impressionists.'' Even better are Peter Bogdanovich's words after losing as Best Director to William Friedkin in 1971: ``The way I see it, there's only one place that does it right. Every year in Barcelona they give awards for poetry. The third prize is a silver rose. The second prize is a gold one. The first prize, the one for best poem of all, is a real rose.'' Brain-sogging, so bring digestif. (Over 100 b&w photographs- -not seen.) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Publishers Weekly

Holden ( Prince Charles ) covers each of the award ceremonies in rich detail, from the first Oscar dinner in 1929 to the orgy of self-congratulation in 1991. Devotees of Oscar trivia will be interested to learn how the statuettes are made, the security measures that insure the secrecy of winners' names--and a plethora of other tidbits. The book is marvelously entertaining, but it is also a serious and comprehensive inquiry into what the Academy Awards have represented to the movie industry and the public for more than six decades. Holden explains how the winners are chosen and how the "sympathy vote" evolved, and he gives examples of studios' and actors' attempts to influence the voting--such as John Wayne's "all-time shameless Oscar campaign" on behalf of The Alamo . He discusses the correlation between the awards and box-office receipts, and reviews the controversies, scandals and hallowed moments that have helped make Oscar Night a night to remember. Photos.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Viking
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0670836702
• ISBN 13: 9780670836703
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1