Oscar’s elegant past
Cinematic history unfolds on grand tour of current and former event venues
On May 16, 1929 fewer than 300 people gathered in the Hollywood Roosevelt Blossom Ballroom for a banquet held “for the bestowal of merit awards” from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Tickets were $5. Guests nibbled on olives and celery as hors d’oeuvres, “half broiled chicken on toast” as the main dish, and vanilla and chocolate ice cream for dessert.
Al Jolson and Douglas Fairbanks gave out the 13 statuettes, which were not yet known as Oscars. It must have seemed a little anticlimactic, since the winners had already been announced months earlier. It was all over in 15 minutes — or maybe even five.
“That first show was less than an hour and it cost like $4,000,” says Oscar expert and tour guide David Hunter Jr., holding court over a group of journalists across the street from the Roosevelt at the Dolby Theatre. “Our show is almost four hours and it’s about $35 million.
“The Oscars have changed.” The backstage tour offers some intriguing tidbits. The most surprising of which may be that when the Dolby is not hosting Hollywood elite it is surrounded by some rather run-of-the-mill stores. Yep, it’s a mall.
While the $94-million Dolby Theatre — formerly the Kodak Theatre — was custom-built to host the Oscars, preparations are still a monumental ordeal.
This Oscar tour of Los Angeles for international journalists was held more than a month before the big night, but the theatre was just days away from closing to the public for preparations.
Drinks at the bar near the entrance of the theatre are free before the show starts, but after Jimmy Kimmel starts his opening monologue, guests pay full price. “The bar is here to get everyone inside the theatre pretty quickly,” says Hunter. “... Nobody wants to pay. Even the celebrities. For the duration of the red carpet, everything is free, so you see them doing interviews, answering questions, they are trying to get inside to get the drinks for free.”
Which also becomes relevant when it comes to bathroom breaks.
During the duration of the Oscars, there will be more than 100 nattily dressed seat fillers lined up against the walls on the ramps leading into the theatre.
“For two or three minutes you may see Meryl Streep or Denzel, they’ll go to the restroom,” Hunter says. “But if they’re not back in three minutes, yes, we will have to tell Meryl Streep or Denzel ‘Hey, you can’t go in.’ The stars know. They ’re running. They ’re like ‘How much time do I have?’”
Having an elegant space for the celebs to prepare themselves is also important. The Hollywood Roosevelt is still a busy place that night. Rooms are booked months in advance because of its convenient location across from the Dolby Theatre.
The Blossom Ballroom is still in use throughout the year and doesn’t look all that different from when Charlie Chaplin ate broiled chicken nearly nine decades earlier. The hotel serves special cocktails honouring best picture nominees. Among the new ones is the Lady Bird, which consists of Tanqueray Ten, Chartreuse, Maraschino and fresh lime.
Other venues visited by the tour have their own claims to Oscars fame.
Hollywood Roosevelt may have held the first, but the Pantages Theatre down the street on Hollywood Boulevard was the venue when the Oscars were first televised in 1950. Under the watchful eye of eccentric mogul Howard Hughes, the awards were held there until 1959. The 69-year-old theatre underwent numerous renovations over the years, although some of the details from those golden years have been lovingly preserved. That includes the elaborate and elegant ladies lounge, which is still features rows of mirrors where starlets would have prepared for the big night.
“We like to think about the people that might have been here,” says John Sala, our tour guide at the Pantages. “I like to think of Bette Davis asking Lana Turner for some lipstick.”
Oscar certainly makes his presence known at another beautiful venue, the Millennium Biltmore in downtown Los Angeles. It might not have held the first Academy Awards, but it did hold a founding banquet for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences back in 1927 in the Crystal Room, which is where it was decided the Academy Awards needed its own ceremony.
From 1937 to 1943, the awards alternated between the Biltmore Ballroom at the historic hotel and the Ambassador Hotel, which was demolished in 2006. As with most venues that have a history with the Academy Awards, the Biltmore proudly displays its ties to the Oscars. That includes what the hotel calls its “historic hallway,” which is a gold mine for buffs of cinema’s golden years.
There are pictures of Shirley Temple and Walt Disney circa 1939, Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyman from 1941, and Mary Astor and Ginger Rogers from 1942. One of the most popular is a long shot of the Biltmore Ballroom taken during the ninth Academy Awards in 1937.
The picture is so popular the hotel has put up a legend to identify the who’s who of Hollywood’s elite of the day looking toward the camera at the Biltmore Bowl: Spencer Tracy, Frank Capra, Cecil B. deMille, Henry Fonda, Spike Jones, Tyrone Power and Ira Gershwin.