L.A. TAKES OSCAR MOVE IN STRIDE

“I feel a bit of a loss,” said producer Richard Zanuck about the move of the Academy Award ceremonies next year from the Music Center to the Shrine Auditorium.

“The Music Center has been very good to us and has great class, but on the other hand, the Shrine has been a part of the city for many years.”

“I don’t see why the move should give us any problems,” said a spokesman for ABC-TV, which will broadcast the Oscar ceremonies live on April 11. “It’s not like we’ve never been to the Shrine to do anything,” he added. “We did a three-hour show, ‘Happy Birthday, Hollywood’ (celebrating Hollywood’s centennial) from the Shrine.”

The Oscar show played at the Shrine too--in 1947 and 1948--as well as at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, where it originated. The Oscars also have been held at the Biltmore, the Ambassador, at the Pantages Theater (1950-60) and at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium (1961-68).

“My reaction is that I’m sorry to see them leave” the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, said Charles Schneider, president of the Music Center Operating Co., and a group vice president at Times Mirror Co., “and I hope they come back. . . . I’m disappointed but I’m not crushed.”

Initial reaction to the move from many in the film industry was rather ho-hum, although the announcement last week did come as a bit of a surprise to many in Hollywood, since the Oscars have been telecast from the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion for nearly two decades, longer than from any other stage. “We want our 60th awards to be a special occasion even by the academy’s standards, and we’d like our entire membership to have the chance to enjoy it,” said academy president Robert Wise in announcing the change.

With TV cameras in place, the Pavilion can seat only about 3,000 people, Wise said, while the Shrine is expected to accommodate between 5,700-5,900.

The move to the Shrine may mean moving the Governors Ball following the ceremonies to the Shrine as well, and out of Beverly Hills. “We can have our Governors Ball right in the exhibition hall, connected to the shrine,” Wise said in an interview. “It will save everybody a wait for their cars.

“It’s not as beautiful down there,” Wise said of the Shrine. “But there’s a character and tone to it, and it will get a lot of dressing up, giving it a style of the late ‘20s in honor of the 60th. And they have been spending and improving, painting and carpeting.”

While declining to discuss specific rental costs for the Music Center and the Shrine, Wise said: “The (rental) fees are very comparable. But we’ve been having to pay a big fee to the Music Center to make up for (its) lost revenue. Now we’ll use (the difference) for dressing up the Shrine.”

Meanwhile, Wise left the door open for the Oscars’ return to the Pavilion. “The Music Center has served us handsomely for 19 years and may very well host the show again in the future,” he said in the academy’s press release.

Wise noted that there have been “constant cries from academy members who can’t get in” to the Oscar ceremonies. The organization’s membership numbers nearly 5,000--with 4,500 members in Los Angeles and about 400 in New York. “Every year we’d get phone calls and there was a growing consciousness (about the situation) on the board of governors. Next year,” Wise added, “is our big 60th and it will be a good gesture” to accommodate everyone.

Going to the Shrine also would allow more rehearsal time, he added, which should help keep the often-too-long show on the mark. He said the academy can have up to two weeks of rehearsal time at the Shrine, “but they don’t have that kind of time at the Music Center because they’re so booked.”

“I’m on the (academy) board of governors,” Zanuck said, “and it was quite unanimous. Not because of anything the Music Center failed to do, because they treated the awards really specially, and the Shrine just offered more seats and more rehearsal time. . . . I look forward to a new situation where all the members of the industry can attend.”

The question remained, however, whether the move will be just for 1988 and to celebrate Oscar’s 60th anniversary, or whether the Shrine will become the ceremony’s new home.

Schneider said he had the impression from Wise that the move next year was going to be “a one-time shot.”

Wise said, however, that he gave Schneider “no assurance at all. In our dealings, we’re leaving everything open. I think if the Shrine works out and keeps everybody happy, then I don’t see much of a possibility of going back.”

“I suppose,” said Schneider, “that if the Shrine turns out to be manna and they do all they’re supposed to do, they’re never going to come back.”

The two plan to discuss the matter further this week.