From the Pit

After this year's Academy Awards had been proclaimed, the major studios in Hollywood announced their withdrawal of support from the annual meeting of Hollywood's Mutual Admiration Society. Since the machinery that goes into the awarding of "Oscars" is complicated and expensive (all nominated films must be privately shown for the Academy's 5,000 members who then vote by mail) this could mean the death of the Great Gelded Gewgaw. And a good thing that would be.

I don't know what were the original motives of the founders of the Academy Awards back in 1928, but even the most casual observer of Hollywood can see that it is today nothing more than a crass publicity device which even a solemn-toned, pipe-smoking, God-fearing President like lovable, old Jean Hersholt can not conceal. (And I want it understood that I am not saying one unkind word against the man who brought the darling Dionne Quintuplets into this world. I've got cockles like the next guy.) Nevertheless, President Hersholt has stated that the Academy subsidy has been withdrawn because the Awards have been given consistently on artistic rather than commercial merit, which is what he says the studies want.

Now who are we kidding? The awards themselves have been made by a majority-vote of all the writers, electricians, actors, photographers, etc., who had five-dollars for dues. These men and women are employed by a studio which makes movies. In order to assure the continuation of his paycheck, the employee would logically vote at least one film award to his studio, and perhaps the straight ticket if he's a good man. Even if he's only allowed by his union to spray cob-webs in studio haunted houses, he's wise enough to know the immense exploitation value in an Academy Award. I'm not sure which came first in each case, but the Best Film of the Year has always been a terrific money-maker.

Beginning shortly after Christmas this year, the Hollywood press agents have been billing an incredible number of films with a huge picture of the "Oscar" statue beside the title, and underneath the faint admission that the film or one of its stars has been only nominated for an Award. We have all seen how early, and frequently inferior, films in which one of this year's winners has appeared, have been brought back for re-showing with a conspicuous "Oscar" in all the advertisements. I would not mind this retroactivity in the publicity men except for the yellow taint of dishonest advertising which I can clearly see.

(It is customary for Hollywood to take itself seriously in every instance, the Awards being no exception. However, the ad-man for a recent motion-picture, "Chicken Every Sunday," recently bilied Celeste Holm as "that Academy Award winnin' gal!" Miss Holm was given her Award for appearing intelligibly in anti-anti-Semitic film.)

As to the individual awards themselves--a quick glance over the past 20 years will show some selections which should even embarrass some of the moguls. However, that can be said of any group which insists on awarding prizes to its contemporaries. Of Hollywood's handful of geniuses--Garbo, Chaplin, Disney, Welles, The Marx Brothers, and W.C. Fields--only Disney has been recognized by the Academy. And the real joke about that is that Disney's awards have always been "Special Awards." This puts him in the same weird position as was Olivier in 1946 when he was given a "Special Award" for "Henry V" and looked around to find himself in the same company with Claude Jarman, Jr., Margaret O'Brien, and Charlie McCarthy, to mention some other recipients of the "Special Awards."

Certain Protestant groups in this country have a good case when they argue that Hollywood seems to recognize only one religion, and that one is the Roman Catholic. "The Song of Bernadette,' and "Goig My Way" both won many awards and, because of their "religious" nature, were of great prestige value to the Academy and ammunition in their eternal war with moralist groups. This past year, the Academy in its first recognition of foreign-language films, gave its "Oscar" to "Monsieur Vincent," a film dealing with the struggles of a Roman Catholic saint, by-passing one of the finest films of our times "Symphonie Pastorale," which is about a Calvlnist pastor.

President Hersholt is now in the East conferring with the Columbia University officials who annually award the Pulitzer prizes, with the idea of having the cinema included. This would possibly be an improvement, but it should be remembered that the Pulitzer prizes are awarded to works that "best present the wholesome atmosphere of American Life, (the capitals are Mr. Pulitzer's), and the highest standards of American manners and mankind."