Reflections...

Facts of OSCAR

Facts of OSCAR

The first awards were presented on May 16, 1929 at a private dinner in Hollywood, with an audience of less than 250 people. Since the first year the awards have been publicly broadcast, at first by radio then by TV after 1953. During the first decade the results were given to newspapers for publication at 11 p.m. on the night of the awards. This method was ruined when the Los Angeles Times announced the winners before the ceremony began; as a result the Academy has since used a sealed envelope to reveal the name of the winners. Since 2002, the awards have been broadcast from the Kodak Theatre.

The official name of the Oscar statuette is the Academy Award of Merit. It takes about a week-and-a-half to create each Academy Award, made of gold-plated britannium on a black metal base, it is 13.5 in (34 cm) tall, weighs 8.5 lb (3.85 kg) and depicts a knight rendered in Art Deco style holding a crusader's sword standing on a reel of film with five spokes. The five spokes each represent the original branches of the Academy: Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers, and Technicians. The figurines cost an estimated $18,000, but are "worth millions to the recipients," says Scott Siegel, president of R.S. Owens.

Each statuette takes 40 hours of work to make. Once the plating is completed, the Oscar figure is screwed onto its metal base. Each statuette also is numbered. The academy began numbering statuettes in 1949, starting with No. 501. About 50 to 60 trophies are made every year in Chicago under tight security by manufacturer R.S. Owens & Company. The Oscar statuette presented to each winner is made in Chicago of gold-plated britannium, a metal alloy. The origins of the nickname "Oscar" are not clear, according to the Academy's website More than 6,000 members of the Academy - including actors, directors, producers, studio executives, composers and behind-the-cameras crew - cast secret ballots to determine the Oscar winners. Representatives from accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers count the votes and place the winners' names in sealed envelopes. They are not opened until Oscar night.