We can encourage the improvement and advancement of the arts and sciences of our profession by the interchange of constructive ideas and by awards of merit for distinctive achievements. (Invitation to the Organization Banquet of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, May11, 1927.) This particular function of the Academy membership in bestowing Awards of Merit on their peers was to achieve and retain world-wide interest. Despite the extensive publicity given to this particular function of the Academy, it is desirable to review some of the more pertinent aspects as they developed up to 1947.

In 1927 a committee to formulate an award program was established with the following members: Chairman, Cedric Gibbons, Sid Grauman, Bess Meredith, J. Stuart Black-ton, Richard Barthelmess, Henry King, and D. W. Griffith. The awards program as conceived by this group was to change in details over the years but has always adhered to the basic concept of awards given for achievement of outstanding creativity as evaluated by a 'group of proven ability in the same field.

Cedric Gibbons originated the basic idea for the trophy to be given for first place awards. George Stanley, a prominent Los Angeles sculptor, modeled the figure after it was approved by the Academy Board of Directors. (According to Academy records, this statuette was named "Oscar" by the present Executive Director of the Academy, Margaret Herrick, and is recognized the world over by that name. However, it is alleged by others that the name "Oscar" was given to the statuette by writer Sidney Skol-sky, publicity director John LeRoy Johnston, or actress Bette Davis. It is the official trophy for all Annual Awards, the Documentary Awards, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, and Class I Scientific or Technical Awards. The Honorary Juvenile Award is a miniature statuette; the Class II Scientific or Technical Awards receive a plaque, and Class III Scientific or Technical Awards receive a Certificate of Honorable Mention. The Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award is a bronze head of Mr. Thalberg. Except as specified all Honorary Awards may take the form of a statuette, a Life membership, a scroll or any other design indicated by the Board of Governors. For example, a wood statuette was awarded to Edgar Bergen at the 10th Awards in 1937.)

The figure stands 13 1/2 inches tall, weighs 6 3/4 pounds, and is made of gold plated britannium. It represents a knight holding a crusader's sword, and stands on a film reel with five spokc-s representing the five original branches of the Academy.

The first awards (1927-1928) bestowed by Academy membership were for motion pictures which had been released in Los Angeles between August 1, 1927 and July 31, 1928. These awards were determined by nominations of Academy members, reviewed by Boards of Judges representing the five branches, and finally decided by a central board of Judges consisting of one representative from each branch. This system went through four changes between 1927 and 1947. The first change, effective for the third annual awards (1929-1930), relegated both nominations and final vote to the general membership. The second change, effective for the ninth annual awards (1936), required that nominations originate from an Awards Nominating Committee appointed by the President of the Academy. This Committee had equal representation from each branch. Final voting for the awards was by Academy membership. The third change, effective for the tenth annual awards (1937), gave the members of the guilds and unions equal status with members of the Academy in the selection process. Both nominations and final vote were relegated to the general memberships of guilds, unions, and the Academy. The fourth change, effective for the nineteenth annual awards (1940), permitted nominations by Academy membership and the guilds and unions, but reserved final vote to the Academy membership only. (This system applied through the twenty-ninth Annual Awards (1956). From the thirtieth Annual Awards (1957) through to the present (1966) both nominations and final voting has been by Academy membership only.)

According to Donald Gledhill, Executive Secretary of the Academy during this period in 1937, the participation of guilds and unions in Award nominations and final voting was not considered to be a momentous event in the motion picture industry. By that date membership in the Academy, particularly in the Actors' Branch and Writers' Branch, had declined with the interest in developing guilds and unions so that it became desirable to go outside the Academy to obtain additional numbers to make the Awards truly representative of the motion picture industry. This arrangement was accomplished by an informal conversation between Donald Gledhill, the Academy Executive Secretary, and Ken Thompson, Manager of the Screen Actors' Guild. The Academy took the initiative of asking the Guild to address

Awards ballots to its own membership, and made similar requests to other union organizations simply to avoid charges of discrimination or inadequate representation. The unions and guilds watched each other closely to make sure that one did not have an advantage over another. For example, in 1938 the Academy had to correct the situation after the Screen Playwrights protested that the Screen Writers' Guild was more favored in the matter of representation on nominating committees.(News item in New York Times. January 27, 1938 ) The privilege of the final vote was taken back into the Academy (News item in Daily Variety. LIII, No. 54 (August 21, 1946) ) in 1946 when the membership had increased to over a thousand.(News item in Daily Variety. LIII, No. 9 (September 18, 1946)

By the ninth Annual Awards (1936), the preferential system of voting in nominations was introduced and has been used since that time.

The preferential system of voting is described by the Academy as follows:

Under the preferential system of voting, each member has one vote, which may be expressed in several alternate choices, in the order of his preference. If his first choice agrees with that of a sufficient majority, that achievement becomes one of the nominations. However, should his first choice be in the minority, his vote is applied to his second choice, or his third, and so on until the voter has helped to select one of the achievements. In this way, the entire voting group has a voice in the ultimate selections. Voters are not obligated to list more choices than they really have, but if only one choice is expressed, and it is in the minority, the ballot becomes void, and cannot help in the selection of another achievement. (Unpublished papers of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.)

Ever since the ninth Annual Awards (1936), Price Waterhouse & Company, a firm of certified public accountants, has been assigned the responsibility of counting and verifying all ballots. Up through the twelfth Annual Awards (1939), the names of all winners were released to the press prior to the actual presentation ceremonies. From that time through the twentieth annual awards (1947), the names of all winners were kept secret until the actual presentations. (The names of all winners were kept secret up through the twenty-eighth Annual Awards (1955). From the twenty-ninth Annual Awards (1956) through to the present (1966) the Honorary, Scientific or Technical, and Thalberg Memorial Awards have been announced in advance, but the names of all other winners are kept secret until the moment of presentation at the annual ceremonies.)

The first awards given by the Academy were authorized by the Board of Directors on July 2,1928 "to encourage advancement in the arts and sciences of motion pictures." (Unpublished material from the files of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.) Twelve awards were to be given for the following achievements:

As it turned out the Academy gave two awards for cinematography, one to Charles Rosher for Sunrise, and the other to Karl Struss for the same film. They also gave two special awards, one to Warner Brothers' Studio for producing The Jazz Singer, as the "pioneer talking picture which revolutionized the industry," and the other to Charles

Chaplin for "versatility and genius in writing, acting, directing and producing The Circus. " (Ibid.) In addition the Academy made twenty honorable mention awards, a practice which was never continued after that first year of awards since omitting honorable mention awards would "enhance the distinction to be gained by the winners." (Ibid.)

The second annual awards are significant since they represented a more solid foundation on which the increased number of awards over the years were added. Offered for the year ending July 31, 1929, they were limited to seven categories.

The twentieth annual awards in 1947 included twenty-eight categories plus special awards. This increase over the years was a natural reflection of changes in the production of motion pictures. Only four awards for actor, actress, direction, and production were to be unchanged from the first annual awards through to the twentieth in 1947. The four awards for artistic quality of production, comedy direction, engineering effects, and title were never given after the first annual awards in 1927. The awards for supporting actor and actress were first given in 1936 at the ninth annual awards and continued through 1947. The award for art direction was divided into two awards, one for Black & White and the other for Color, in 1940 at the

Actor — Best performance or performances, talking or silent, with special reference to character portrayal, comedy or dramatic rendition and speech and diction, if employed.

Actress — Best performance or performances, talking or silent, with special reference to character portrayal, comedy or dramatic rendition and speech and diction,if employed.

Director — Best achievement or achievements in the art of direction, talking or silent, comedy or drama, with special reference to character developments, originality of treatment, coordination of sound or audible speech, if employed, and excellence of craftsmanship in directing as a whole.

Writer — Best achievement or achievements in writing for the screen, silent or talking, original or adaptation, with special reference to construction, originality of treatment, character development, theme, consistency, dialogue, and general excellence of the whole.

Cinematoqrapher — Best achievement or achievements in cinematography with special reference to photographic art and quality.

Art Director — Best achievement or achievements in set designing with special reference to art quality, correct detail, story application, and originality.

production — Best motion picture production, silent or talking, drama, comedy, or musical production, with special reference to quality, public appeal, general excellence and all elements that contrib-

ute to a motion picture's greatness.

( Annual Report, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, 1929.)

thirteenth annual awards and continued through 1947. The award for assistant direction was first given at the sixth annual awards in 1932-33 and discontinued after the tenth annual awards in 1937. Cinematography was divided into two awards for Color and Black & White in 1939 at the twelfth annual awards and continued through 1947. An award for , dance direction was given only for the eighth, ninth, and tenth annual awards in 1935, 1936, and 1937. An award for film editing was given beginning with the seventh annual awards in 1934 and continuing through 1947. Awards related to music scoring demonstrated a recognition of the differences in film types. An award for music scoring was given from the seventh annual awards in 1934 through the tenth annual awards in 1937. This was changed to two awards for best score and original score for the eleventh annual awards in 1938 through the thirteenth annual awards in 1940. This was changed for the fourteenth annual awards in 1941 to two awards for scoring a dramatic picture and scoring a musical picture. These two awards were continued through 1947, except that the scoring of a dramatic picture was changed for the fifteenth annual awards in 1943 to scoring a dramatic or comedy picture. An award for song was first given at the seventh annual awards in 1934 and continued through 1947. Two awards, one for Black & White and the other for Color, were given for interior decoration from the fourteenth annual awards in 1941 through 1947; however the name of interior decoration was changed to set decoration for the twentieth annual awards in 1947. Awards under the general category of short subjects included cartoons, comedy, novelty, color, 1-reel, and 2-reel. The award for cartoons was first given at the fifth annual awards in 1931-32 and continued through 1947. The award for comedy was given only for the fifth annual awards through the eighth annual awards in 1935, and the same was true for the award for novelty. The award for color was given only for the ninth and tenth annual awards in 1936 and 1937. Awards for 1-reel and 2-reel were first given at the ninth annual awards in 1936 and continued through 1947. The first award for sound recording was given at the third annual awards in 1928-1929 and continued through 1947. An award for special effects was first given at the thirteenth annual awards in 1940 and continued through 1947. Awards under the general category of writing included achievement, adaptation, original screenplay, original story, screenplay, and title. The award for achievement was given only twice for the second and third annual awards in 1928-29 and 1929-30. The award for adaptation was given at the first annual awards in 1927-28, the fourth annual awards through the seventh annual awards in 1930-31 through 1934, and finally at the eleventh annual awards in 1938. The original screenplay award was first given for the thirteenth annual awards in 1940 and continued through 1947. The original story award was given from the first annual awards in 1927-28 through 1947 except for two years on the occasions of the second and third annual awards in 1928-29 and 1929-30. The screenplay award was first given at the eighth annual awards in 1935 and continued through 1947. As mentioned previously the award for title was only given at the first annual awards. The documentary awards were for short subject and feature, and were given from the fifteenth annual awards in 1942 through 1947 except that the feature award was not given one year at the time of the nineteenth annual awards in 1946. The scientific or technical awards were divided into Class I, Class II and Class ill. The Class III award was given every year from the fourth annual awards in 1930-31 through 1947. The Class II award was given every year from the fourth annual awards in 1930-31 through 1947 except for the eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth annual awards. The Class I award was given only at the time of the fourth, ninth, tenth and thirteenth annual awards. The Thalberg memorial award, for consistent high quality of production, was given on the tenth, eleventh, twelfth, fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth, and nineteenth annual awards. The special awards, for an outstanding achievement during the year not covered by any standard category, were given every year from the first through the twentieth annual awards in 1947 except on the occasions of the second, third, fourth, and sixth annual awards. (Unpublished material from the files of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. )

Because of the nature of the medium, the Annual Awards have always received wide public attention. This attention, though certainly motivated to some extent by idol worship, has also resulted from a sincere respect for recognized achievement, as evidenced by participation of leaders in society. For example, in 1931 the Vice President of the United States, Charles Curtis, attended the fourth banquet for presentation of Annual Awards to bring personal greetings from President Hoover. Ten years later President Franklin D. Roosevelt made a special nation-wide radio address to the Academy for the Award ceremony.

Every award system has been attacked by someone for some reason. The Academy's system has been no exception, particularly with the high degree of press attention given to various aspects; of the motion picture industry. A reviev of the press and trade publications for the period covered by this study reveals that the Academy Awards have been criticized or speculated about in every possible way that would make a paragraph or a headline. These range from criticisms as to the manner in which the Awards are presented to the validity of the Award presentation itself. Statements have been made that studio pressures were behind certain awards. This is difficult to substantiate in view of the following facts: no single studio has ever controlled a majority block of voters; awards have been given to films involving studios with practically no permanent number of voters under contract; and, voting cannot be controlled vhs.i it is accomplished by secret and unsigned ballots from individuals' homes with the results tabulated by an auditing firm. In the final analysis, awards are the reflection of majority judgments of personnel in the motion picture industry in a comparative evaluation of a given year's production efforts. There is evidence that these judgments have had a definite effect on box office receipts. For example, a news item in Film Daily on March 18, 1947 reported an increase in the receipts for Best Years of Our Lives after having won the Best Picture award for 1946.

In any event it is apparent that the growth of the Award of Merit system has exceeded the founders' expectations who had not included this facet of Academy work in the original Constitution and By-Laws. Academy Awards have now developed into a single aspect of Academy endeavor that focuses world-wide attention on the motion picture industry.