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With the hoopla surrounding the Academy Awards these days, it's hard to believe that 50 years ago the Oscars were given out at a theater on Melrose Avenue. Betty Freeman was on hand that night when her husband won an Oscar for special effects.
Since its inception in 1929, the Academy Awards presentation has drawn increasing attention and attendance. By 1947 the event had outgrown the Grauman's Chinese Theater and was moved to the massive Shrine Auditorium. For the next two years the 6,500 Shrine seats were filled. But, in 1949, an amazing thing happened.
The 21st Academy Awards show was held March 24, 1949, in a former movie house on Melrose near San Vicente Boulevard in West Hollywood right around the corner from Carl's all-night market. It seemed strange even then. After all, 1948 was an important film year. For the first time, England dominated the awards with six Oscars. "Hamlet" won for best picture. Star Laurence Olivier was acclaimed best actor for his intense portrayal of the brooding Danish prince. Other notable films that year included "The Red Shoes" with Moira Shearer and the John Huston classic "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre."
So why the shrunken seating? The "Little Academy Theater," after all, had only 980 seats, enough room for nominees, presenters and the press. And that's it.
The Academy Awards were reduced to limited seating because of a rumor that the Oscars were given to major Hollywood studios who financially backed the ceremony, according to the academy and film historians. Suddenly MGM, 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., Paramount and RKO withdrew their support, and the academy was left with no time to raise funds.
Their only choice was to schedule the awards in its own Little Academy, an old building that held academy business offices and a screening room. It was never meant to be used for the Academy Awards. But it happened.
I knew none of this.
In that year all I could think about was, 'We're going to the 21st Academy Awards!' The invitation came to my husband, Charles L. Freeman, who was nominated for his special-effects work on "Portrait of Jennie," a David O. Selznick production starring Ethel Barrymore, Joseph Cotten and Jennifer Jones. He rented a tuxedo,...