In 1928, a statuette was designed to be a prestigious award for cinematography. Upon seeing the trophy for the first time, Academy Librarian (and eventual Executive Director) Margaret Herrick was turning around it with amazement, right and left biting her lower lip and shaking her head. The Supervising Committee asked what was wrong with her and the statuette. She said, “This statuette resembles my uncle Oscar and as if this statuette was created to immortalize my uncle”.
Then the Committee shouted, “Let the name of the award and the statuette be named Oscar!”
The second story says that when the late Actress, Bette Davis, finished filming one of her movies and before she left the studio, she entered the office of the Director and saw him with a group of people surrounding the statuette. She approached them and looked at the statuette shocked screaming, “What is my first husband doing and why did you make him a statuette?”
The crowd shouted, “Let the name of the award and the statuette be named Oscar!”
The Oscar stands 13½ inches tall and weighs 8½ pounds, a statuette of a knight standing on a reel of film gripping a crusader’s sword. The statuette is made of Britannia metal plated in copper, nickel silver, and finally in gold. The Oscar is known in English as “Academy Award” and it is a common award presented once a year by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It is the highest and greatest film award achievement in the United States honoring people involved in film in the world.
The Academy has more than 6,000 members of cinematic arts specialists in which 1,311 are actors and actresses. The Oscars ceremony is usually hosted annually in February or March in the city of Los Angeles, California. It is an international event and a competition between the world press to be covered around the world, as global companies try to promote their products from clothing to decoration.
Sometimes the ceremony expresses controversial political views by Oscar winners like the famous actor Marlon Brando who refused to receive the Best Actor award due to the issue that the Government of the United States had against American Indians. Also, during the awards ceremony in 2003, many winners criticized the war on Iraq, especially Michael Moore who won the award for the Best Documentary.
Jubilee
As we discussed and explained where the name Oscar came from and how it became the statue representing the biggest film award ceremony in the world, let us move on and explore where the word Jubilee, that we hear so much about, came from. We often hear people celebrating the Golden Jubilee and the Silver Jubilee. What is Jubilee and what is the meaning?
Jubilee is a Hebrew name meaning trumpet or sheep’s horn. Its original meaning is: blowing the horn. Jubilee is divided in terms of the number of years to several names and labels such as:
Lumbar Jubilee: the celebration of a 1 year anniversary of an event
Skin Jubilee: celebrating 4 years of a specific event
Wooden Jubilee: celebrating 5 years of a certain event
Bronze Jubilee: celebrating 10 years of a specific event
Copper Jubilee: celebrating 15 years of a particular event
Silver Jubilee: a 25-year celebration of a certain event
Pearl Jubilee: celebrating over 30 years of a specific event
Golden Jubilee: celebrating 50 years of a specific event
Diamond Jubilee: a celebration of the 60thanniversary of a specific event
Platinum Jubilee: celebrating 75 years of a specific event