Freeze Frames: The beginning of something big
The First Year
When: May 16, 1929
Where: Blossom Room of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel
Host: Academy President Douglas Fairbanks and William C. DeMille
Winners: Best picture: “Wings”; best actress: Janet Gaynor for “Sunrise,” “Seventh Heaven” and “Street Angel”; best actor: Emil Jannings for “The Way of All Flesh” and “The Last Command”; best director: Lewis Milestone for “Two Arabian Knights” (comedy) and Frank Borzage for “Seventh Heaven” (dramatic picture); best unique and artistic picture: “Sunrise”
Milestones: The winners had been announced a full three months before the black-tie dinner attended by 270 academy members and their guests. Dinner -- academy members paid $5 for their guests to attend -- included filet of sole saute au beurre and half-broiled chicken on toast. Twelve awards were given out and 20 certificates of honorable mention. Jannings did not attend -- the German actor had already been given his Academy Award before he left Hollywood for his home in Berlin, thus making him the first person to ever receive an Oscar.
