Designed
with the Academy Awards broadcast in mind, Dolby® Theatre℠ has hosted the annual ceremony since
2001. Dolby Theatre is proud to be home
to the highest honor in filmmaking through the
year 2021.
When
the first Academy Awards were handed
out on May 16, 1929, movies had just begun to
talk. That first ceremony took place during
a
banquet held in the Blossom Room of the Hollywood
Roosevelt Hotel. The attendance was 250 and
tickets cost $10.
Unlike today's ceremony, suspense was in short
supply. Back then, the winners were known prior
to the banquet. Results were given in advance
to the newspapers for publication at 11 p.m.
on the night of the Awards. In 1940, guests
arriving for the affair could actually buy
the 8:45 p.m. edition of the Los Angeles Times
and read the winners. As a result, the sealed-envelope
system was adopted the next year and remains
in use today.
Interest in the Academy Awards has always
run high, though not at today's fever pitch.
While the first presentation escaped the media,
an enthusiastic Los Angeles radio station covered
the second banquet during a live one-hour broadcast.
Every presentation since then has had broadcast
coverage.
The first 15 Award presentations were banquet
affairs held first in the Blossom Room, then
at the Ambassador and Biltmore hotels. After
1942, increased attendance and World War II
made banquets impractical, and the Awards moved
to theaters, where they've been held since.
The 16th Awards ceremony was held at Grauman's
Chinese Theater and was covered by network
radio for the first time and broadcast overseas
to American GI's. After three years at Grauman's,
the Awards moved to the Los Angeles Shrine
Auditorium.
In March 1949, the 21st Awards were held in
the Academy's own Melrose Avenue theater. For
the next 11 years the Awards were held at the
RKO Pantages Theater in Hollywood. It was there,
on March 19, 1953, that the presentation was
first televised. The NBC-TV and radio network
carried the 25th Academy Awards ceremonies
live from Hollywood with Bob Hope emceeing
and from the NBC International Theater in New
York with Fredric March making the presentations.
In 1961, the Awards moved to the Santa Monica
Civic Auditorium and for the next 10 years
the ABC-TV and radio network handled the broadcasting
duties.
The Oscars were first broadcast in color in
1966. From 1971 through 1975 NBC carried the
Awards. ABC has televised the show since 1976
and is under contract through 2008.
On April 14, 1969, the 41st Academy Awards
ceremonies moved to the brand new Dorothy Chandler
Pavilion of the Music Center of Los Angeles
County. It was the first major event for this
world-renowned cultural center.
The Awards remained at the Music Center
until 1987, when they returned to the Shrine
Auditorium for the 60th and 61st Awards. Subsequently
the Awards moved back and forth between the
Shrine and the Music Center. The Shrine Auditorium,
with seating for 6,000, was used mainly to accommodate
as many Academy members as possible; the Music
Center seats only about 2,500. The Awards returned
to Hollywood for the 2001 (74th) Awards Presentation
at the state-of-the-art 3,300-seat Dolby Theatre.
www.oscars.org
"Academy
Awards," "Oscar," and the Oscar statuette design
are the registered trademarks, and the Oscar
statuette the copyrighted property of the Academy
of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and are
used under permission.
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