Tone of This Year’s Oscar Show Less Glitzy, Maybe Even Corny

Tom Hanks brought his kids, Dan Aykroyd wore shorts and Paula Abdul couldn’t stop giggling.

Tonight’s 62nd Annual Academy Awards were a day away. Pressure was mounting. And yet the final rehearsal for the Oscar ceremony Sunday had all the gravity of a frog-jumping contest.

With overcast skies in the forecast and overanxious fans settling in the bleachers outside, Oscar presenters Hanks, Aykroyd, Abdul, Tom Selleck, Gregory Peck, Jane Fonda, Jeff Bridges and Jessica Tandy playfully practiced their corny award introductions.

About 500 family, friends and related hangers-on settled into the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion to hear the patter. Danny Glover said “Born on the Fourth of July” was about “the purgatory that was Vietnam.”

Chevy Chase joked with a rotund Aykroyd that Chase should have been nominated for his work in “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.”

And so it went. One camera operator was so bored by the proceedings, he spent the better part of an hour scanning the Sunday comics. Other technicians collapsed on a couch to watch NCAA tournament basketball.

The producer of this year’s Oscar show is Gilbert Cates. He has been asked to avenge the legacy left behind from last year’s Las Vegas-like celebration of Oscar glitz.

This year’s show will feature muted tones and conservative production numbers. In one of the most daring departures from tradition, Bugs Bunny will present the Oscar for best animated short film.

“I hope the outfits people wear are more spectacular than the sets,” said rehearsal watcher Linda Alexander.

An estimated 1 billion viewers in 90 countries will tune into the ABC-TV telecast to see if “Born on the Fourth of July” can triumph over its own hype and four other acclaimed films.

The favorites for best picture, according to critics and odds makers, are “Born on the Fourth of July” and “Driving Miss Daisy.” If Aykroyd wins for best supporting actor, it could be “Driving Miss Daisy’s” night.