25th Academy Awards

Infobox Academy Awards | name = 25th
poster =
date = March 19, 1953
site = RKO Pantages Theatre, (Hollywood, California) and NBC International Theatre, (New York City)
host = Bob Hope (Hollywood)
Conrad Nagel (emcee), Fredric March (New York City)cite news |first=James |last=Bacon |title=TV Will Carry Film Awards Show Tonight |work=The Fresno Bee |publisher=Associated Press |date=1953-03-19 ]
network = NBC
last = 24th
next = 26thThe 25th Academy Awards honoring the best movies of 1952, were held on March 19, 1953, from the RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, California and the NBC International Theatre, New York, New York.

It was the first Academy Awards ceremony to be televised, and the first ceremony held in Hollywood and New York City simulataneously. It was also the only year that the New York ceremonies were to be held in the International Theatre on Columbus Circle, which was shortly thereafter demolished and replaced by the New York Coliseum convention center [ [http://cinematreasures.org/theater/2936/ International Theatre] , from cinematreasures.org] [The convention center was subsequently demolished when the Time Warner Center was built.]

Awards issued

James Bacon, writing about the event for the Associated Press, reported that "most experts pick Miss Booth, Gary Cooper and the movie "High Noon" to win the top three Oscars."

*Best Motion Picture: "The Greatest Show on Earth"

*Irving Thalberg Award for Meritorious Production: Cecil B. DeMille

*Best Director: John Ford, "The Quiet Man"

*Best Actor: Gary Cooper, "High Noon"

*Best Actress: Shirley Booth, "Come Back, Little Sheba"

*Best Supporting Actor: Anthony Quinn, "Viva Zapata!"

*Best Supporting Actress: Gloria Grahame, "The Bad and the Beautiful"

*Best foreign language film: "Forbidden Games" (from France)

*Best one-reel short subject: "Light in the Window"

*Best two-reel short subject: Walt Disney's "Water Birds"

Presenters

*Anne Baxter (Presenter: Scientific & Technical Awards)
*Charles Brackett (Presenter: Honorary Awards & Irving G. Thalberg Award)
*Frank Capra (Presenter: Best Film Editing)
*Ronald Colman (Presenter: Best Actress)
*Olivia de Havilland (Presenter: Best Director)
*Katherine DeMille (accepting Best Supporting Actor Award for husband Anthony Quinn)
*Walt Disney (Presenter: Music Awards)
*Joan Fontaine (Presenter: Art Direction-Set Decoration Awards)
*Greer Garson (Presenter: Best Supporting Actor)
*Janet Gaynor (Presenter: Best Actor)
*Edmund Gwenn (Presenter: Best Supporting Actress)
*Jean Hersholt (Presenter: Documentary Awards)
*Fredric March (Presenter (New York): Best Actress)
*Ray Milland (Presenter: Short Subject Awards)
*Mary Pickford (Presenter: Best Picture)
*Luise Rainer (Presenter: Best Foreign Language Film)
*Ginger Rogers (Presenter: Best Costume Design)
*Dore Schary (Presenter: Writing Awards)
*James Stewart (Presenter: Art Direction-Set Direction Awards)
*Claire Trevor (Presenter: Best Sound)
*John Wayne (accepting Best Actor Award for Gary Cooper)
*Teresa Wright (Presenter: Best Cinematography)
*Jane Wyman (Presenter: Short Subject Awards)
*Loretta Young (Presenter: Best Special Effects)

Performers

*Billy Daniels ("Because You're Mine" from "Because You're Mine")
*Celeste Holm ("Thumbelina" from "Hans Christian Andersen")
*Bob Hope ("Am I In Love" from "Son of Paleface")
*Peggy Lee and Johnny Mercer ("Zing a Little Zong" from "Just for You")
*Tex Ritter ("High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin')" from "High Noon")

In attendance

Among the 2,800 in attendance at the Pantages Theatre were:
*Ex-Governor Earl Warren (who by the end of the year would be the Chief Justice of the United States)
*Mayor and Mrs. Fletcher Bowron

Broadcast

The 25th Academy Awards ceremony was the first to be broadcast on television::For the first time in history, a television audience estimated at 40,000,000 persons [The actual audience was 34 million, according to the March 30, 1953 issue of "Time" magazine.] will watch the movie industry's biggest show. It will mark the TV debut for scores of the biggest names in moviedom.

The telecast was prompted by the need to finance the bi-coastal ceremony. When three of the film studios refused to provide their customary financial support, the RCA Victor Division of the Radio Corporation of America agreed to pay AMPAS $100,000 (one source reported $250,000 [The March 30, 1953 issue of "Time" magazine reported the sponsorship fee to be $250,000.] ) as a sponsorship fee. NBC telecast the bicoastal ceremony over its 64-station television network and on its 174-station radio system. The Armed Forces Radio Service recorded the proceedings for later broadcast.

The technology used for television at the time meant that Bob Hope had to wear a blue dress shirt with his formal dinner jacket [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,818086,00.html The Oscars] from the March 30, 1953 issue of "Time" magazine] —the traditional white shirt would have been too bright.

Trivia

When Shirley Booth accepted the award for best actress in New York City, she was so excited that she tripped slightly on the way up to accept "one of the most unsurprising awards in Academy history." [http://www.nytimes.com/ads/monalisasmile/3-20.html Movie 'Oscar' Won by "Greatest Show"] , from the March 20, 1953 issue of "The New York Times"] She thanked "old friends for faith, new friends for hope and everyone for their charity."

The show was broadcast from 10:30 p.m. to 12:00 midnightfact|date=March 2008, switching back and forth from host Bob Hope on the West Coast to Conrad Nagel on the East Coast. The late start was made to accommodate those nominees who were performing that night on the Broadway stage.fact|date=March 2008

References and footnotes