May 16, 1929 – The 1st Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) took place at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, in Los Angeles, California honoring the best films of 1927 and 1928. It was a private dinner held hosted by AMPAS president Douglas Fairbanks. Tickets cost five dollars, 270 people attended the event and the ceremony lasted fifteen minutes.
The most interesting point is that the Academy Awards was created by Louis B. Mayer, founder of Louis B. Mayer Pictures Corporation that merged into Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1924. Mayer was quoted in his biography as saying ”I found that the best way to handle [filmmakers] was to hang medals all over them … If I got them cups and awards they’d kill them to produce what I wanted. That’s why the Academy Award was created.” The story goes that Mayer was feeling the pressure from unions like the WGA and SAG and came up with the Academy and the awards to prevent his actors, writers and directors and others from unionizing. This worked only for a few years but eventually the unions were successful and remain to this day as one of the most powerful unions in the U.S.
I struggled with this comic to hopefully make something funny without being bitter or cynical towards Mayer, Hollywood and big business. I think comics are much more successful when they present their view point through satire and humor rather than blunt anger or cynicism. Anger is easy portray. It is much more difficult and rewarding to the reader show your point in a interesting, unique humorous way. Hopefully I pulled this off a little. I know it ain’t perfect.
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Which unfortunately only worked in year one. The next year they wanted a raise.
You pulled this off way better than I could have! Definitely gave me a laugh. I had read (or seen on TV maybe?) about Mr. Mayer setting up the Academy Awards as a ploy to keep the unions out of Hollywood.
Unions have done a lot of good. Especially when they were really coming into their own in the ’20′s and 30′s. Of course, back then, abuses by big employers like mines, the steel industry, textile industry and others were legion. Unfortunately I often wonder if some unions haven’t outlived their usefulness … or worse, have themselves become the corrupt seats of power that they were actually trying to fight in the first place.
Don’t get me wrong … like I said, the unions did a lot of good. Many still do (the F.O.P. leaps to my mind). But others have driven wages beyond what was needed in many cases, raising the costs of manufacturing and contributing, not only to inflation, but also driving our manufacturing over seas. In many respects, some unions have really shot themselves in the foot because they’ve driven the very people they were supposed to protect out of work.
Just a slightly dissenting opinion … I still loved todays comic. You’ve got a talent for making these historical comics not only fun, but informative and thought provoking.
Thank you for the compliment. I like doing the history cartoons but I’d like to do some other styles. Just need to find the time.
Regarding unions I agree with you 100%. They did a lot of good and they were born out of an honest need and serve a purpose where abuses were taking place. Unfortunately I think they have out lived their usefulness in most cases these days. There are so many more safe guards against the type of abuses that spurred their cause in the beginning. This is not to say some big business (or even small business) will not jump at the chance to exploit workers even today where loop holes exist. This happens all the time on a much smaller scale and it is wrong and disheartening, but I do not feel unions are the answer.
I think we should focus our energy more on the injustices of big business when it comes to tax loop holes, lobbyist, political contributions and secret deals more than to wages and safety. Most of those issues have covered by states which may be thanks to the unions, but in my opinion these other issues are hurting us all a lot more.
Things like this are always difficult because. What is “fair” to one person may not be to another and once you through money” and “greed” into the mix all bets are off.
Thanks again for reading and the comment.
Great stuff, love the expressions! Wow the event lasted 15 minutes, quite different from today!
Love those gestures and expressions. I’d say Mr. Mayer here should be up for an acting award himself!
D.H. stole my thunder. I was going to say what a great job you did on all the facial expressions. Makes my characters look a little plain & boring
Hahahahahaha! good one, so now I know how awards ceremony came about
Envelope please? And winner for “Best Comic Strip Skewering Organized Labor Class Struggle in Golden Age Hollywood” goes to….. Frank Hansen!
I’m repeating others here, but the expressions are just that great.