Why are Oscars called "Oscars"? The nickname has a complicated story

There is a lot of mystery behind the most coveted trophy in the film.


Each year since 1929, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) has distributed trophies in honor of what members determine to be the best of the film industry of the past year. The categories have changed over time, but for 95 years, the Academy presented its winners with golden-shaped gold statuettes holding a sword standing above a film. These prices are known as Oscars, and this name is part of this celebration of cinema almost as long as the ceremony itself existed.

For decades now, the terms "Oscars" and "Academy Awards" have been used interchangeably. But where does the nickname come from? If you look at the story of Hollywood, you will find that there are a few contradictory accounts on how the "Award Award of Merit" has become "Oscar", as well as several different people who take credit for change. Read the rest to find out more about the history of the prize show, Oscar's name, and more about this emblematic trophy.

In relation: 7 Oscar -winning films that are offensive according to today's standards .

How did the Oscars started?

Hanns Kraly, William C. DeMille, Mary Pickford, and Warner Baxter at the 1930 Academy Awards
FPG / Getty images

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was trained in May 1927 as a non -profit organization, according to the Academy's website. It was the origin of 36 members working in the film industry. According to the organization, his mission "It is to recognize and maintain excellence in the arts and sciences of cinema, to inspire imagination and link the world through films."

During a first meeting of the group, They decided to give prices Each year, "honor the exceptional achievements of the creation of movements and thus encourage excellence in all facets of the production of cinematographic films".

The first Oscars took place two years later on May 16, 1929 at the Hollywood Roosevelt hotel. Prices have been awarded in 12 categories. Some of them remain today (e.g. best film, best actor, best actress, best cinematography) while other prizes have changed or have been retired (eg best unique and artistic image, best title writing) .

The first award ceremony of the Academy has been broadcast in any way, but the second was broadcast on the radio. The first television Oscars came in 1953. Today, there are more than 10,000 members of the Academy.

Academy VS Oscars Prize

Ke Huy Quan, Michelle Yeoh, Brendan Fraser, and Jamie Lee Curtis holding their Oscars in March 2023
Images Rodin Eckerroth / Getty

Although there are various stories about how the name Oscar was born, all the tales generally refer to the statue named Oscar and the title later becoming a way to refer to the ceremony as a whole (e.g.. "Oscars"). "The Oscars and" The Oscars "are used interchangeably and means the same thing, just like" an Oscars "and" an Oscar "both refer to the statuette.

The name Oscar came for the first time in the 1930s, according to Ampas, and the organization began to use it officially in 1939. The words "Oscars" and "Oscars" were deposited in 1979 , according to Los Angeles Times , while the statue itself was deposited four years earlier in 1975.

If you look at the history of Google research terms for "Oscars" and "Oscars" - which returns to 2004 - "Oscars" is used more often by Google Searchers than "Academy Awards". This could speak of the word Oscars used more often by the general public, but it also takes less time to type on a computer or a phone. Naturally, the two terms culminate at the same time each year, around the moment when the awards show takes place.

In relation: 6 old Hollywood movies that you can't watch anywhere now .

What is the myth behind the name Oscar?

There are several stories behind the way in which the name Oscar was born and which is the name of the price. In A video from the academy , Oscar historian Robert Osborne said: "There are three people who always claim that they have named it Oscar. The only thing we are sure is that it happened around 1935." These three people are journalists Sidney Skolsky , Executive Director of the Academy Margaret Herrick and actor Bette Davis .

According to Ampas, Skolsky was responsible for Use of the word oscar on paper For the first time in his gossip column in March 1934. According to Osborne, Skolsky "was very tired of writing on" The Gold Statue of the Academy "" and said that he had come with the nickname based on A vaudeville joke in which the punchline includes someone called Oscar.

According to The independent ,, Skolsky wrote in his 1975 book Don't get me wrong - I like Hollywood "It was my first evening of awards ceremony of the Academy when I gave a name to The Gold Statuette. I was not trying to make it legitimate. The snobbery of this Ocademy Private Prix bored me. I wanted to make the human gold statuette. " He said he wanted a nickname "which would erase the dignity of bogus [of the academy]". Variety reports, however, this researcher Waldemar Dalenogare Neto I found that the word Oscar had been used In the press before the Skolsky column.

Herrick was a first executive director for Ampas. She said she had appointed the price after her uncle Oscar. According to the biography, The parent was appointed Oscar Pierce And was actually Herrick's cousin, but she called her uncle. Other ampas staff would have heard what Herrick called the Oscar Award and the name has widely used.

As for Bette - which won two Oscars herself - Osborne says that she "said she named Oscar because Oscar's back reminded her when he got out of the shower" . It would have been Bette's first husband, Harmon Oscar Nelson , to whom she married 1932 to 1938. But, as the biography reports, the name was used before Bette called the "Oscar" trophy after her first victory in 1936, so it does not seem to be the real inventor.

Bruce Davis , the author of the book 2022 The Academy and the Prize: The maturity of the Oscar Age and the Academy of Arts and Cinematographic Sciences , attributes to someone else completely. According to the former executive director of the AMPAS, the credit for the name of Oscar "should almost certainly belong" to " Eleanore Lilleberg , who was an office assistant to the academy, as indicated by Variety . The author wrote that "Oscar" began to "infiltrate the Hollywood community between 1930 and 1933", and that even if the name was considered degrading at the beginning ", in 1939, the organization had decided that the Nickname was an asset rather than an irregularity. "

Deadline reports that, according to Bruce, Lilleberg obtained the name From a Norwegian military veteran she knew, who was still "right and high" like the statue of the Oscars.

What is an Oscar Award worth?

Viola Davis holding her Oscar at the 2017 Academy Awards
Tinseltown / Shutterstock

An Oscar is a fairly heavy trophy. The statuettes measure 13½ inches high, weigh 8½ pounds and are made of solid bronze plated with 24 carat gold. And although you can think that they are worth a lot according to these materials and the fact that they are part of the history of cinema - and could be particularly precious if they belong to a large movie star - A rule established by the Academy means that this is not the case. AE0FCC31AE342FD3A1346EBB1F342FCB

The rules of the academy indicate that "the winners will not be sold or will not have the Oscar statuette, nor allow it to be sold or eliminated by law operation, without first selling it at the Academy For the sum of $ 1.00 ". The rule also applies to "heirs and the attributions of prices winners who can acquire a statuette by gift or legacies".

Thus, essentially, an Oscar is only worth $ 1. It is much less than what it costs to make one of the prices. According to Wallethub, They are actually worth around $ 400 - Historical impression not included.

And although the winners are not allowed to sell their Oscars today, the old prices of the academy have been sold and sold at auction. As indicated by Parade ,, Steven Spielberg I bought several auctions - including the two of Bette Davis, one of which cost more than $ 500,000 - and presented them to the academy for conservation. The delay Michael Jackson also bought an Oscar: the only producer David O. Selznick won for the best film for Wind , for a huge $ 1.5 million.

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