The Design of a Dream: The Oscar Statuette

   The Design of a Dream: The Oscar Statuette

In 1928 a famous actor, screenwriter and director Emilio "el Indio" Fernández was about to pose (reluctant!) as a model.  A naked knight holding a crusade sword, that was what the designer Cedric Gibbons wanted. When the sketch was completed, he called the sculptor George Stanley. Under the supervision of engeneer Archibald Gardner, Stanley produced the award based on an original sketch by Gibbons, and that was the moment in which The Oscar Statuette was born. 

The Statuette itself is 13.5 in (34 cm) tall and weighs 8.5 lb (3.85 kg). It stands on a black metal base with a reel of film with five spokes. The interesting thing is that the five spokes represent the original branches of the Academy: Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers, and Technicians. The Original Oscar, in 1928 was produced at the C.W. Shumway & Sons Foundry, in Batavia, Illinois. Since 1983 more than 50 Oscars are made each year in Chicago by Illinois manufacturer R.S. Owens & Company.

^{The name Oscar is contested... But that's another story I'll tell you next time...} 

^{From 1950 neither winners, nor their heirs may sell the Statuette, before selling they have to offer it back to Academy for US1$.}

 

 The making of... The Oscar: gold-plated on a black metal base

 

                  The Design of a Dream: 

                The Oscar Statuette Video