BEING THE "FIRST" OSCAR 1929

BEING THE "FIRST" OSCAR 1929 

                           Douglas Fairbanks & Janet Gaynor

Just went through my last post... and wondering what?!?! I was asking myself: do we really know NOW who was Douglas, Emil or Janet? Well guys actually not... so I promise you, or better I'll try to fully describe the most important and significant men, women, personalities, facts and places that will allow you (and me) to have a complete, romantic and real story of The Academy Awards.

Being "the First" is amazing!!! But almost 85 years have passed and we want to know, to meet those amazing men that truly build our beloved show-biz ;)

Let me introduce you Douglas Fairbanks.

He was born in 1883 ( a hundered years before the lady who's writing that post), in Denver and died very young in 1939 in Santa Monica.

Douglas was a great actor, director, screenwriter, producer and businessman. 

In 1919 the Big Four Group formed by Fairbanks himself, Mary Pickford (his wife), Charlie Chaplin and D. W. Griffith founded the United Artists, that independly produced five films per year facing in 1921 a big crisis due to low budget. Fairbamks was also one of the 36 founders and members of the AMPAS and the FIRST Host of the Academy Awards!!!

Known as "The King of Hollywood", Fairbanks is well-known for his heroic characters in silent movies such as Robin Hood, The Mask of Zorro, The Three Musketeers and The Thief of Bagdad.

Fairbanks was the main inspiration for Jean Dujardin, the man who brought silent movie back on the screen in 2012 and thanks to his great performance won an Academy award and a Golden Globe mentioning Fairbanks in his acceptance speech.

Emil Jannings was the FIRST actor winning an Oscar.

Born in Switzerland and being half german and half american, Emil grew up in Germany and worked with Murnau in 1924. His career was not so long and ended up with the advent of talkies. He won his one and only Oscar thanks to his performance for the movies "The way of all Flesh" and "The Last Command". With his career coming to an end and before starting to join Nazi Propaganda Films, he went back to Europe to act with Marlene Dietrich in "Der Blaue Engel" (banned in 1933 in Nazi Germany). The movie was filmed both in english and german, and was the first sound picture for Jannings, who asked the Director of "The Last Command" Sternberg to direct him again.

Hilmar Eichhorn character in Tarantino's "Inglorious Basterds" is based on Jennings. He never went back to USA, he died in Austria in 1950.

Women are coming ;)

Janet Gaynor at the age of 22 was the FIRST woman winning an Oscar for "Seventh Heaven", "Street Angel" and "Sunrise"; She was directed by Murnau exactly like Jannings few years later. She had success also in sound movies and she worked a lot during the 30's having always leading roles. Anyway we like to remember Janet for her outstanding performance in Sunrise..and with that I WISH YOU ALL GOOD NIGHT ;) 

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