The second Academy Award: Mary Pickford... the Star of 1930

The second Academy Award: Mary Pickford... the Star of 1930

 

Norma Jeane Baker (or Marilyn if you prefer) was 4 years old, Picasso was 49, Ernest Borgnine was 13, Audrey Hepburn was 1, Katharine Hepburn was 23 and Charlie Chaplin... and Hitler... were both 41. 

.............It was 1930 and the 2nd edition of the Academy Awards took place at the Ambassador Hotel, in the same banquet room, the Coconut Grove used for the first ceremony. We were honoring movies released from August 1, 1928 to July 31, 1929. 

It was april the 3rd and the Host this time was the well known William C. DeMille, screenwriter and director of the silent era, and also the elder brother of Cecil B. DeMille, one of the founders of The Academy.

Facts happened in 1930 remained unique: 

The local radio station KNX broadcasted from the Academy Awards.

Not just one, but two ceremony were held that year, one in april and the other in november. 

There were no official nominees, and the number of awards decreased from 12 to just 7 categories. 

The Director Frank Lloyd won for The Divine Lady, the only Director winning an Academy Award with no other nomination for the movie itself, none of the movies won more than one Award each, and again this will be the first and last time in Oscars history. 

All awards went to sound movies...and that was the beginning of the end of the silent era. 

The Big Change for Mary Pickford 

             Mary Pickford with her statuette & her signature 

1930 was also the year of Mary Pickford's first Academy Award for here performance in "Coquette". Probably it was not so easy for Mary Pickford to change from Silent to Talkie. Despite of this epical shift,  the silent movie structure influenced the movie "Coquette" . 

For example, emphasizing on facial expressions was still a key point in the art of making movies.  Maybe the Academy Award came from the fact that she was so powerful at that time, than from her outstanding performance.... but who knows the Academy criteria??? 

To answer, or better say, not answer this question I'd like to share with you few lines of a book by Eileen Withfield: "Pickford: the woman who made Hollywood". 

We need to understand who was Mary at that time, and by reading these lines our imagination could bring us back... almost a hundered years ago when a woman had power and Hollywood was pink!   

"...she was a good staunch fighter...a brilliant woman and a determined one..."

"Most people do care about film technique, though they may not think about it in such terms. Film and its cousin in the field of moving images- television -dominate our lives. They have affected how we think about ourselves, how we filter our reality, and how we dream. To fully understand them, we must look for their roots in silent films. And there, as though in a secret garden, lies the seminal career of Mary Pickford- a woman of unstoppable power and purpose, whose genius still floods the screen, fierce and sweet."

Source: Eileen Withfield: "Pickford: the woman who made Hollywood"

"Coquette" clips...

                                                 Death

                                      Norma with her father

                                        Norma saving her father

Here you can find  the complete list of winners and "non official nominations" as reported in the official Oscar website. 

http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/DisplayMain.jsp?curTime=1337641381378 

ACTOR

George Bancroft -- Thunderbolt {"Thunderbolt Jim Lang"}

*	Warner Baxter -- In Old Arizona {"The Cisco Kid"}

Chester Morris -- Alibi {"No. 1065, Chick Williams"}

Paul Muni -- The Valiant {"James Dyke"}

Lewis Stone -- The Patriot {"Count Pahlen"}

ACTRESS

Ruth Chatterton -- Madame X {"Jacqueline Floriot"}

Betty Compson -- The Barker {"Carrie"}

Jeanne Eagels -- The Letter {"Leslie Crosbie"}

Corinne Griffith -- The Divine Lady {"Emma Hart, Lady Hamilton"}

Bessie Love -- The Broadway Melody {"Hank Mahoney"}

*	Mary Pickford -- Coquette {"Norma Besant"}

ART DIRECTION

Hans Dreier -- The Patriot

*	Cedric Gibbons -- The Bridge of San Luis Rey

Mitchell Leisen -- Dynamite

William Cameron Menzies -- Alibi; and The Awakening

Harry Oliver -- Street Angel

CINEMATOGRAPHY

George Barnes -- Our Dancing Daughters

*	Clyde De Vinna -- White Shadows in the South Seas

Arthur Edeson -- In Old Arizona

Ernest Palmer -- Four Devils; and Street Angel

John Seitz -- The Divine Lady

DIRECTING

Lionel Barrymore -- Madame X

Harry Beaumont -- The Broadway Melody

Irving Cummings -- In Old Arizona

*	Frank Lloyd -- The Divine Lady

Frank Lloyd -- Drag; and Weary River

Ernst Lubitsch -- The Patriot

OUTSTANDING PICTURE

Feature Productions -- Alibi

Fox -- In Old Arizona

*	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer -- The Broadway Melody

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer -- Hollywood Revue

Paramount Famous Lasky -- The Patriot

WRITING

Tom Barry -- In Old Arizona; and The Valiant

Elliott Clawson -- The Cop; The Leatherneck; Sal of Singapore; and Skyscraper

Hans Kraly -- The Last of Mrs. Cheyney

*	Hans Kraly -- The Patriot

Josephine Lovett -- Our Dancing Daughters

Bess Meredyth -- A Woman of Affairs; and Wonder of Women A note was added to underline that those were not official nominations:  [NOTE: THIS IS NOT AN OFFICIAL NOMINATION. There were no announcements of nominations, no certificates of nomination or honorable mention, and only the winners (*) were revealed during the awards banquet on April 3, 1930. Though not official nominations, the additional names in each category, according to in-house records, were under consideration by the various boards of judges.]