{"id":18057,"date":"2015-02-22T07:17:43","date_gmt":"2015-02-22T15:17:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qgp.ykq.mybluehost.me\/cinephiled\/?p=18057"},"modified":"2015-03-07T21:08:56","modified_gmt":"2015-03-08T05:08:56","slug":"oscar-pre-show-1965-rule-britannia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinephiled.com\/oscar-pre-show-1965-rule-britannia\/","title":{"rendered":"Oscar Pre-Show: 1965"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"bobhope\"<\/a>Every year just before the Academy Awards I like to travel 50 years back in time and get a feel for the hoopla leading into that year\u2019s Oscars broadcast. Last year, I was surprised to learn that the host of the 1964 show, Jack Lemmon, someone I assumed was beloved by all, got mostly bad reviews for his performance on the show. Who knew? Everyone was praying that Bob Hope would return to his gig (he\u2019d already hosted 13 of the previous Oscar ceremonies) and he did just that for the April 5, 1965 broadcast which was held at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium for the fourth year in a row. I also found the reason Hope had taken a three-year break from his duties:<\/span><\/p>\n

The movie industry\u2019s big Oscar awards show tonight could be subtitled \u201cThe Return of Bob Hope.\u201d The ABC network managed to come up with three sponsors (toothpaste, watches, and motorcycles) whose products don\u2019t conflict with the cars Hope sells on his own TV series this year, so he was okayed to emcee the Oscars.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So that was it \u2014 advertisers! The locale of nearly every Academy Awards presentation during the 1960s was the decidedly unglamorous and recently closed Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. I much prefer the locations that came before: fancy hotels such as the Hollywood Roosevelt, the Ambassador, and the Biltmore, and elegant movie palaces such as the Pantages and Grauman\u2019s Chinese. Beginning in 1969, the event would take place either at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion or the huge Shrine Auditorium (made famous for its many scenes, including an Oscar broadcast, in the Judy Garland version of A Star Is Born<\/em>). That switch-off would continue until the Academy\u2019s permanent home, the Dolby Theater (formerly the Kodak) opened in 2002.<\/p>\n

If you have a few minutes, watch the opening of the 1965 Academy Awards. It’s so much fun to see the arrivals (so many stars from different eras \u2014 but oy, was there ever a worse year for women’s hairstyles?), the overture which was surprisingly geared towards My Fair Lady<\/em>, an opening speech from Academy president Arthur Freed (famous MGM musical producer), and a hilarious monologue from Bob Hope which included many jabs at the fact that the Brits were taking over the festivities (“Welcome to Santa Monica on the Thames”).<\/p>\n