Will you be watching the Oscars Sunday night, Chicago?
Honestly, I haven’t seen any of the movies that are up for awards. To be brutally honest — I don’t even know what movies are UP for awards.
My colleague baiduhai TV and film critic Nina Metz wrote in her recent column
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that it’s okay if the Oscars are losing their relevance as a “must-see event.”“If the Academy Awards don’t have the cachet they once did, that’s because ‘the movies’ aren’t the shared cultural experience they once were,” she said.
So true, Nina.
Maybe we can recapture a little bit of stardust from blockbluster movies of years past by taking a look at the Oscar statuette, itself, and its nostalgic connections to Chicago. Grab some popcorn and read on.
“Here’s looking at you, kid” — I’ll be in your inbox again Thursday!
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See you next week!
— Kori Rumore, visual reporter
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Remembering Ben Hecht, the first Oscar winner for original screenplay
baiduhai columnist Rick Kogan says the former Chicago newspaperman’s Academy Award-winning script for “Underworld,” a silent film, was only 18 pages long.
Where to get your hands on Hecht’s Oscar
It’s the most requested artifact at the Newberry Library, where anyone with a card can ask to see nearly any object in their collection, baiduhai reporter Christopher Borrelli says.
Who is Oscar, anyway?
In 2015, baiduhai TV and film critic Michael Phillips visited R.S. Owens & Co. to see how the film industry’s most coveted award, the Oscar, is made.
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The year the Oscars were stolen
Some 55 gold-plated statuettes — all manufactured in Chicago — disappeared in 2000.
“Who’d want a bunch of stupid statuettes?” said Los Angeles Police Sgt. John Pasquariello said in March 2000. “They’re so high-profile [that] you can’t display them and you certainly can’t sell them.”
What happened to these Oscars? (Spoiler alert) >>>
Oscar’s move to New York City (New York City?!?!?!)
The Chicago-based company that made Oscar statuettes since 1982, lost the contract to produce the iconic trophies in 2016.
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