Not a Single Exposure for Kodak

Call it one of those Kodak moments ... or, to be accurate, one of those Kodak un-moments.

The Kodak Theatre in Hollywood will play host on Sunday to the entertainment world’s biggest awards show: the Academy Awards. But when cameras zoom in on the stars making their way up the red carpet into the theater along Hollywood Boulevard, the name “Kodak” won’t be in evidence.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences plans to cover up the name and instead unfurl its own banner announcing the 74th annual Academy Awards. The academy is making the move even though it regularly mentions the Kodak Theatre in its press releases.

So, why the cover-up?

Academy spokesman John Pavlik explains that the decision actually predates Kodak’s arrival at the venue. When the academy was negotiating with developers to stage its glitzy Oscar show in the heart of Hollywood, it stipulated that it be allowed to string up its own banner, just as it has done over the years at previous Oscar venues such as the Los Angeles Music Center and the Shrine Auditorium.

“At the Shrine, as you walked up to the front door, all across the front of the building last year it said ‘73rd Annual Academy Awards,’” Pavlik said. “Kodak came into the picture long after it had been determined that we would put our banner up [at the new site].”

Pavlik explained that the academy has nothing against Kodak, but was concerned that the theater might be named after a corporation with which the academy wants no association.

Like the Enron Theater?, Pavlik is asked.

“Yes,” he said, laughing at the mention of the scandal-plagued Texas energy company. “We wouldn’t want the Oscar show coming from the Enron Theater.”

Compiled by Times staff writers