Hollywood Touch-Up Job

After a year hidden away in a storage facility in Valencia, the statues that symbolize Hollywood glitz and glamour are moved out into the sun, dusted off, painted and readied for the Academy Awards.

At left, Rick Roberts sprays gold paint on the giant fiberglass Oscars that are used for decoration during the Academy Awards ceremony, which will take place March 24. Six 24-foot Oscars decorate the stage and five 12-foot Oscars are used outside the entrance. Seventeen 8-foot Oscars also are touched up every year. Some are used to decorate the stage and a few are used at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences as a backdrop for news conferences.

“A few months before the Academy Awards, we always touch them up,” said Andrew Levy, publicist for the Academy Awards. “They get dinged up when they’re moved. It’s about a two-day job and then, a few days before the show, they’ll be trucked to the Shrine Auditorium.”