The Oscar statue

It is Oscar's night on Sunday, so I thought it would be interesting to know a little more about this trophy.  For those of you who have followed my blog, I wrote about the beautiful trophy awarded after the Breeders Cup, which I knew was based on an early renaissance sculpture, but never bothered to find out which one: to my surprise it was based on the Torrie Horse in the University of Edinburgh Collection, Scotland, made by Giambologna.   Its really beautiful, so next time I'm in Edinburgh, I'll go take a look.

So here is a little bit of knowledge I'd like to share on the Oscar Trophy!  It is officially called the Academy Award of Merit.  Its nickname the Oscar became official in 1939, but there are various stories as to how this came about: perhaps Bette Davies referred affectionately to Oscar as a reminder of her first husband Harmon Oscar Nelson, or an Academy Librarian said it looked like her Uncle Oscar, or some reference by Louis B Mayer's Norwegian/American secretary that upon seeing it she thought it resembled to Norways King Oscar III.

It stands 13 1/2 inches high and weighs about 8 1/2 pounds.  The original statues were made of bronze gilded with 24 carat gold, however today they are made of a pewter alloy (britannia metal)and gilded with 24 carat gold. 

The image is of a knight holding a crusader's sword standing on a reel of film in art deco style (the first Oscar ceremony was in 1929).  The base film reel has five spokes that symbolises the original five branches of the Academy - actors, directors, producers, technicians and writers.  Today there are 9 branches.

The original design was drawn from a napkin sketch by the chief art director of Metro-Golwyn-Mayer Cedric Gibbons (who was one of the original academy members) and given to the Los Angeles sculptor George Stanley (1903-1973) who created this iconic award.  The model was based on a mexican director/actor named Emilio "El Indio" Fernandez who was a friend of Gibbons wife, and he was persuaded to pose for the sculptor.

George Stanley often joked he became a sculptor by accident.  He was actually born in Louisiana, but studied art at the Otis Art Institute to become a commercial artist.  He had a part time job as a school monitor whse duty was to keep the modelling clay wet for the sculpture department.  Playing around he discovered he had a knack for molding images.

He then received many comissions from Beverley Hills residents and commercial businesses.
The Hollywood Bowl Amphitheatre Muse Fountain is one of them also shown above.

 Each January for about three or four weeks a company in Chicago produces the Oscars that are handed out each year. Interestingly since 1950 they can never be resold, except by an agreement back to the Academy for  $1.  If any come up for auction they fetch six figures!