On this day in 1929, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, founded in 1927, announced the winners of the first Academy Awards. The names were published on the back page of the academy’s newsletter, and Variety also published the names, on page 7, a few days later. Awards were handed out at a banquet in May, which was broadcast live on radio. Although the first awards were for films made in 1927-1928, they weren’t announced until February 1929. Wings won the Best Picture award; Janice Gaynor won Best Actress and Emil Jannings won Best Actor. Frank Borzage and Lewis Milestone both won Best Director awards.The winners received gold statuettes, designed by art director Cedric Gibbons and sculpted by George Stanley. However, the awards weren’t nicknamed “Oscars” until 1931, when a secretary at the academy noted the statue’s resemblance to her Uncle Oscar, and a journalist printed her remark.
The awards were broadcast on radio until 1953, when the first televised Academy Awards program aired. Since then, the Oscars have become one of the world’s most watched television events, drawing as many as one billion viewers worldwide. Hosts of the award show have included Will Rogers, Jack Benny, Johnny Carson, Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg, and Bob Hope, who hosted the ceremony some 20 times.
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