1st Academy Awards

Infobox Academy AwardsB | name = 1st
date = Thursday, May 16, 1929
site = Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel
Hollywood, California
host = Douglas Fairbanks
William C. DeMille
duration = 15 minutes
next = 2ndThe 1st Academy Awards were presented on May 16, 1929 at a private dinner held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Tickets cost $5 and fewer than 250 people attended. The whole ceremony lasted only 15 minutes. Unlike later events, the winners had been announced months prior to the ceremony. This was also the only Academy Award ceremony not to be broadcast in some way.

Unlike later ceremonies, awards could be granted to an actor or director for multiple works within a year. Emil Jannings, for example, was given the Best Actor award for his work in both "The Way of All Flesh" and "The Last Command".

Awards

For a complete list of nominees and winners, see: "1st Academy Awards nominees and winners"

Best Production/Picture

Winner: "Wings"

Nominations: "The Racket", "Seventh Heaven", "The Way of All Flesh", "The Last Command".

Artistic Quality of Production

Winner: "Sunrise"

Nominations: "Chang", "The Crowd"

Best Actor

Winner: Emil Jannings in "The Way of All Flesh" and "The Last Command"

Nominations: Richard Barthelmess in "The Noose" and "The Patent Leather Kid"

Best Actress

Winner: Janet Gaynor in "Seventh Heaven", "Street Angel", and "Sunrise"

Nominations: Louise Dresser in "A Ship Comes In" and Gloria Swanson in "Sadie Thompson"

Best Director of a Drama

Winner: Frank Borzage for "Seventh Heaven"

Nominations: Herbert Brenon for "Sorrell and Son", King Vidor for "The Crowd"

Best Director of a Comedy

Winner: Lewis Milestone for "Two Arabian Knights"

Nominations: Ted Wilde for "Speedy" and Charles Chaplin for "The Circus"

Best Writing (original)

Winner: Ben Hecht for "Underworld"

Nominations: Lajos Biró for "The Last Command"

Best Writing (adaptation)

Winner: Benjamin Glazer for "Seventh Heaven"

Nominations: Alfred Cohn for "The Jazz Singer", Anthony Coldeway for "Glorious Betsy"

Best Cinematography

Winner: Charles Rosher and Karl Struss for "Sunrise"

Nominations: George Barnes for "The Devil Dancer", "The Magic Flame", and "Sadie Thompson"

Best Engineering Effects

Winner: Roy Pomeroy for "Wings"

Nominations: Ralph Hammeras for "(various)" and Nugent Slaughter for "(various)"

Art Direction

Winner: William Cameron Menzies for "The Dove" and "Tempest"

Nominations: Rochus Gliese for "Sunrise", Harry Oliver for "Seventh Heaven"

pecial Awards

Charles Chaplin won an honorary award for "The Circus".

Warner Brothers won an honorary award for "The Jazz Singer".

References

* [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,927950,00.html Note about the first Academy Awards] in the "People" section of TIME Magazine, May 27, 1929
*cite web | title=Academy Awards Winners (1927/8 - 1939) | work=The Greatest Films | url=http://www.filmsite.org/oscars30.html | accessmonthday=30 April | accessyear=2005
*cite web | title=The Story of the First Academy Awards | work=The MediaDrome | url=http://www.themediadrome.com/content/articles/film_articles/first_academy_awards.shtml | accessmonthday=1 May | accessyear=2005
*cite web | title=1927/28 (1st) | work=The Academy Awards Database | url=http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/DisplayMain.jsp?curTime=1114966058616 | accessmonthday=1 May | accessyear=2005
*cite web | title=OSCAR.com - 79th Annual Academy Awards - History | work=OSCAR.com | url=http://www.oscars.com/legacy/?pn=ceremony | accessmonthday=09 October | accessyear=2007