SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

Summary

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was founded in 1927 at a time when motion pictures were established as a powerful medium, and becoming recognized as an art form of the twentieth century. The silent film industry was reported to be the fourth largest industry in the United States, and was about to be revolutionized by the advent of sound. The motion picture industry was under constant public scrutiny, and the maintenance of a favorable public image was important. Harmonious internal relations in the labor-management field, and coordination in further development and standardization of equipment and techniques were important considerations in the industry.

The historical perspective of the founding period of the Academy is important in understanding the development, and achievements of the organization. America was the strongest economic and military power in the world at the end of the first World War with a tradition of unbroken Success in coping with any problem. Los Angeles, had become a prime target for unionization, and by 1926 the motion picture industry had gone through three strikes before signing the first union agreement covering stagehands, carpenters, painters, electricians, and musicians. Equity had failed to establish standard contracts for screen actors or even to interest actors in forming a strong guild. The Screen Writers' Guild had failed to obtain, a standard contract for writers. Motion picture production had become increasingly complex with the need for further development and standardization of technical developments and techniques. Public interest had declined in the silent film, and both the sound, on-film and sound-on-disc methods had made rapid progress. This was the period and the conditions which were reflected in the ideas of the founders of the Academy when they agreed to establish a professional society which might work toward the betterment of the motion picture industry.

The idea for establishing such an organization as tne Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences came from Fred Niblo and Conrad Nagel. Their idea was enthusiastically endorsed by prominent individuals in the motion picture industry, who together with Niblo and Nagel became the thirty-six founders of the Academy. Conceived by them to be an exclusive, invitational, and honorary organization it was to be composed of outstanding craftsmen from the technical, acting, directing, producing, and writing fields of the motion picture industry. They believed such individuals could work together within the framework- of the professional society in cooperative achievement of mutually important goals. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences received its charter under the laws of the State of California on May 4, 1927.

The Academy's Constitution and By-Laws, as originally written and as subsequently changed over the years, contributed largely to the success of the organization by providing a solid framework for the organizational activities. A considerable number of the changes were simply the natural result of organizational growth, but others were due to external circumstances of the moment. Early attention given to countering unwarranted public criticism of the industry was dropped almost immediately, and never became a major factor in Academy functions. The Board of Governors, known as the Board of Directors until 1933, was maintained over the years by effective rotational representation from all Academy branches. The Officers of the Academy were elected from this Board to provide continuity of understanding and purpose in management of Academy plans and programs. In 1933 election of Officers was opened to all Academy members rather than just the Board to offset criticism that management was concentrated in the hands of a few individuals. In 1946 the Academy returned to the system of election of Officers from the Board to provide the desired continuity in understanding of management problems.

The physical facilities of the Academy were planned and improved over the years in order to be more beneficial to the members in carrying out established functions. The - Academy published valuable material for the motion picture industry in the form of reference books on sound, technical bulletins, credit data bulletins, and directories for actors and actresses.

Membership began with slightly over 200 men and women growing to over 800 by 1932, and then beginning a gradual decline after the bank-crisis period in 1933. This decline, particularly among actors and writers who were concentrating on strengthening their guilds, continued through the late thirties until it reached the 1929 membership level of over 400 members. Membership then,began to increase until there were over 1,600 members by 1947. Membership, over the years, was by invitation only, and required distinctive achievement in one of the various branches of the industry as measured by persons in the Acad • emy of equal competence in the same fields. The various categories of membership changed over the years in reflection of the industry's and Academy's growth. Beginning wit:. the original five branches of actors, producers, writers, directors, and technicians the Academy grew to twelve branches by 1947. These twelve branches were Art Directors, Film Editors, Music, Cinematographers, Public Relations, Short Subjects, Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers, Sound, and Executives. The replacement of the Technicians' Branch with its separate sections as independent branches came as a natural result of the growth and importance of specialization in the motion picture industry.

Awards of Merit were designed to reward and stimulate creativity by giving public credit to outstanding achievements in the motion picture industry as determined by persons directly involved in the same field. The methods of selection and kinds of awards changed continually to reflect the growth and interplay of the various elements of the art and science of motion pictures. With the membership decline in the late thirties the Academy asked the guilds and unions in 1937 to participate in the nominations and final voting to provide a more representative selection process. By 1946 the Academy membership had grown to over a thousand and the final vote was reserved for Academy members.

The Academy made many contributions to education over the years, assisting or working with formalized schools and colleges, Academy members, personnel of the motion picture industry, and the armed forces. The Academy established extensive cooperative efforts with the University of Southern California; out of this background the University of Southern California, through its Cinema Department, became the foremost university in the country in training and education in the field of motion picture photography. Academy contacts influenced the creation of a Theatre Arts Department within the University of California at Los Angeles, offering a motion picture curriculum. Over the years the Academy furnished a great deal of material and assistance to educational, institutions and to individuals on a world-wide basis. The early schools in sound for members of the motion picture industry were a major contribution in education to an industry faced with such a major technical change and having little or no knowledge of the subject. Academy members were provided with special presentations and facilities for self-improvement through mutual exchange of ideas and concepts. The special training provided to selected members of the Army Signal Corps was largely responsible for the ultimate success of the Army training film program.

The Academy's contributions to the motion picture industry itself were both direct and indirect. The assistance given to the public and special groups outside the profession created good-will for the motion picture industry. Academy support enhanced the success of projects and beneficial movements both for the public and the industry. The Academy enjoyed a degree of success and failure in the labor-management area until 1937 when it withdrew officially from such matters. This involvement in labor-management problems was to leave a record of criticism against the Academy. However, the Academy did make many valuable contributions in this area. A standard contract for freelance actors was developed and modified. A Conciliation Committee was created which successfully settled more than 400 disputes for both Academy and non-Academy members. The Academy was successful in having a salary reduction withdrawn by the producers in June of 1927. A code of practice for writers was developed; however, the Academy was never to be as successful in behalf of the writers as with the actors. The nation-wide bank moratorium in 1933 was to be a major turning point in the Academy's efforts in labor-management matters. Lacking any enforcement mechanism the Academy was unable to be completely effective during this period of crisis. The Academy was also ineffective in attempts to remove undesirable features from the NRA code, and to encourage membership support of the Academy through reorganization. During this period the actors and writers concentrated on strengthening their guilds rather than attempting to cooperate with the Academy. The Screen Actors Guild achieved producer recognition and a guild shop in May of 1937 by threatening to strike. Dissidents from the Screen Writers' Guild, who had formed the Screen Playwrights, managed to negotiate a contract in April of 1937 with producers. The development of these more effective mechanisms for dealing with labor problems resulted in the Academy's official withdrawal from the labor-management arena. Criticism of the Academy by the guilds and unions then turned to praise for its efforts in matters concerning merit awards and technical developments. Despite the accumulated criticism against the Academy it is a matter of record that the talent groups first secured standardized contracts and codes of practice, and experienced the benefits of collective negotiation through the Academy. During this period of involvement in labor-management affairs the Academy was a unique example of an honorary professional organization in which executives and employees met as individuals to discuss and take cooperative action on mutual problems in their industry.

The Academy sponsored corrective action when the motion picture industry faced a loss of revenue as sound created problems for the foreign market. Sponsorship of a still photographic contest, and subsequent world-wide exhibits of the contest stills, was to benefit the industry in the form of institutional publicity. Academy Awards of Merit have been a special contribution to the motion picture industry. The resulting publicity has increased public attention to the entertainment films, and provided recognition within the industry to outstanding achievements by individuals. The scientific or technical awards reflect milestones in the historical development of the industry. Barely known outside the industry, they have served as a stimulus to competitive creative effort. Even less known has been the Academy contribution to technical advancements through the successive mechanism of the Producers-Technicians Joint Committee, the Technical Bureau, and the Research Council. The manifold problems posed by the advent of sound were to be the primary targets of these activities. Solutions to the problems of camera silencing, acoustics of set materials, silencing of arc lights, standardization of release prints, coordination of laboratory and projection equipment and techniques to improve the final print appearing before the public were provided the entire industry as the result of Academy efforts. Nearly every facet of motion picture production was given consideration in the technical activities of the Academy.

World War II provided the Academy with the occasion to assist both industry and the armed forces. The war film library and connections with appropriate governmental agencies maintained by the Academy for members of the motion picture industry were of great importance. In addition, the Academy pioneered in the field of industrial research in support of the armed forces; a classic example was the design and development of a compact sound recorder of smaller size and lesser weight to meet Signal Corps requirements.

In the postwar years, the Academy sponsored the production of a ti.-ries of documentaries on tho motion picture industry which were designed to improve the public Image of the industry. This was undertaken at a time when the public attention was focused on the industry in light of the forthcoming investigations by the House Un-American Activities Committee. This year also saw the beginning of a two-year sponsorship by the Academy of the reclamation of the paper print collection of early motion pictures stored in the Library of Congress. This project was of real significance in preserving and making available on 16mm film to historians the earliest American motion pictures from the 1894-1912 period.

Conclusions

This study has revealed that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, little known except for its Awards of Merit, parallelled, reflected, and contributed to the advancement of the American motion picture industry ever since the end of the silent film era. Before the Academy was founded there had been no mechanism for personnel of the motion picture production elements to engage in harmonious and cooperative action for the benefit of the industry. In an era when heedless economic competition was the hallmark of American progress, it is no small tribute to the original founders that their vision and early efforts should have resulted in the creation of a professional society which accomplished so much for the motion picture industry.

As a result of this historical study of the Academy, the questions proposed initially can be answered as follows:

1. Why did the founders conceive of the need for a professional society composed of members of the motion picture industry?

As products of the times in America the founders recognized that their industry needed an organization which could bring about harmonious and concerted action toward self-improvement and that such an organization was better self-generated than imposed from the outside.

2. Who were the founders, and were they truly representative of the entire motion picture industry?

The founders were all pioneers in the motion picture industry, leaders in their particular field, and from all main elements of production. These elements were writing, production, acting, editing, directing, cinematography,and executive. Out of these elements the original five branches were designated as representing actors, writers, directors, producers, and technicians.

3. What were the purposes, aims, and goals of the Academy, and how did they develop over the years?

The purposes, aims, and goals were stated by the founders at the time of organization. The Academy record of accomplishments and contributions has been remarkably faithful to the intentions of the founders. It should be noted that the Academy never failed to step aside in favor of any organization more appropriate to carry out a particular aim once action had indeed been initiated. The Academy's withdrawal from economic matters in favor of the unions and guilds is a good example of this Academy policy.

4. What were the contributions of the Academy to education and to the motion picture industry?

As outlined in Chapter IV, the Academy sponsored a program of higher education to promote its own profession, and contributed techniques and resources to all phases of education. This sponsorship, and the working relations arising therefrom, were significant factors in the development of the Cinema Department at the University of Southern California and the Theatre Arts Department at the University of California at Los Angeles. Although this particular contribution did not achieve the public notice accorded Awards for Merit it may well prove to be its most important contribution. As outlined in Chapter V the contributions to the motion picture industry also varied in scope, and were most significant in stimulating morale, establishing a sense of professional identity, and promoting cooperative effort in solution of technical problems.

5. What factors have led to the continued existence of the Academy as a non-profit organization which is not an official spokesman for the industry?

The basic organizational concepts and cooperative achievements, particularly those related to technical activities and Awards of Merit, have resulted in its continuance and final acceptance by outstanding personnel in the motion picture industry as being an important and worthwhile honorary professional organization.