By Lubna Abdel-Aziz "Why, it looks like my uncle Oscar!" cried Margaret Herrick, executive secretary of the Academy, when she first set eyes on the golden statuette. Columnist Sidney Skolsky overheard that and used it in his column, referring to Katherine Hepburn's Oscar in 1931. Although given another name "The Academy Award of Merit," everyone affectionately called the little statuette "Oscar", until finally in 1939, the Academy itself used the name officially. Now everyone in the film industry and beyond, awaits Oscar, the highest possible recognition of excellence in the realm of cinema. The Academy was created in 1927 by some Hollywood big-wigs, as a super union. Only the elite of the industry were invited to join, to give each other a pat on the back for their achievements. Although the awards were an afterthought, it soon became the tail that wags the dog. At first, winners were announced months in advance following exhausting arguments among the Board of Governors. A brief announcement in the press revealed the results of the competition. In order to attract stars and media attention, the names of the winners were withheld until the awards banquet. Since then it has gone through a long process of amendments, and now at the ripe old age of 79, it is at its glossiest and sleekest form. Until the advent of television all the public saw were pictures in the paper, and snippets on Movietone newsreels. Since its first telecast in 1952, it became a national event, and with cable and satellites, has now garnered global interest, with a viewing public of more than one billion. Few other events except for the Olympics and FIFA's World Cup draw a higher global audience. Hollywood has to be given credit for making the greatest contribution in converting the language of cinema into a world language, and Oscar himself has capably played a meaningful role to that end. Made of gold-plated britannium, standing on a black metal base, it is 34cm tall and weighs 3.85kg. Designed by Cedric Gibbons, sculptured by George Stanley, it depicts an art deco-style knight holding a crusader's sword standing on a reel of film, with five spokes signifying the original branches of the Academy -- actors, writers, directors, producers and technicians. The statue cannot be sold except to the Academy for $1. If a winner refuses this condition, the Academy keeps the statue. Membership to the Academy is still by invitation only, by the Board of Governors, and member names are not revealed to the public. They represent 14 branches of the industry with actors comprising the majority of votes. The most Academy nominations have gone to Walt Disney, who received 64 and won 27, and composer John Williams comes second with 41 nominations, the most for a living artist. Disney remains an Academy favourite long after his death, as the company carrying his name continues to thrive. Happy Feet, a Disney/Pixar production, won again this year for best animated feature, starring dozens of adorable penguins, singing and dancing, teaching and learning, loving and laughing, with poignant emotional renditions surpassing humans themselves. Judging the 79th Oscar must have been a challenge for Academy members. In this ho-hum year, no film towered over the rest in concept or execution. They nominated five pictures from a lacklustre list, resulting in a massive lack of interest. With the exception of Martin Scorsese's The Departed, the four other films, Little Miss Sunshine, Babel, Letters from Iowa Jima, and The Queen, died a gruelling death at the box- office. Re-released following their nominations, they fizzled rather than sizzled, failing to arouse much public interest. The obvious choice was The Departed, which won Best Picture and this time director Scorsese did not go home empty-handed as usual. He finally won his coveted statue, though critics believe this was not his best work, and other directors were more deserving. Academy members are known to play the game of compensation, and Scorsese may have won a sympathy vote to make up for past years of neglect. This elaborate extravaganza is Hollywood's night of a thousand stars -- "they have more stars here than they do in heaven." They came strutting down the red carpet in all their dazzling regalia, bedecked and bejewelled, by the best fashion couturiers and bijoutiers. Some have called it a "meat parade, in front of an international audience," Nonetheless this is a lavish display of heavenly bodies drawing the viewers like bees to honey. Naturally the ladies are the most sought after, and there was little doubt that Oscar would bow only to The Queen, handing the talented Brit, Helen Mirren, her first Oscar at 62. Best actor went to the highly regarded Forrest Whitaker, for his riveting and pulse-quickening rendition of one of the world's most notorious mass killers, Idi Amin, in The Last King of Scotland. The most competitive category was Best Supporting Actor, but Alan Arkin edged the competition with his stellar performance in Little Miss Sunshine. With a record showing of five black actors up for Oscars this year, the second winner was newcomer Jennifer Hudson, who sang her heart out in Dreamgirls, and gave a surprisingly strong performance to boot, sweeping away every other award in this category. Best Foreign Language Film went to Germany's The Lives of Others, and former US vice-president Al Gore won for Best Documentary, Inconvenient Truth, a rousing message on global warming. First time host comedian Ellen Degeneres was funny and dignified, refraining from offending celebrities or politicians. While the glorious and glamorous will be flaunting their gold trophies, the Academy is to be commended for giving a special award to composer/conductor Ennio Morricone for his magnificent and multi-faceted contribution to the art of film. An Italian by birth, Morricone was first hired by Sergio Leone, and began a long and distinguished career in motion pictures. His music adorned 300 films in a 45-year career, which included The Good the Bad and the Ugly, Once Upon a Time in America, Cinema Paradiso, In the Line of Fire and La Cage Aux Folles. Celine Dion herself sang a special tribute to her friend. Excellence is an elusive mercurial quality. While the measure of success may not always be an award, it is nonetheless the legitimate reason or pretext for Hollywood's grand night. There are arguments as to the justification of some of these awards, but Oscar became the lingua franca of achievement in the film world. From the great names of the past, dripping with talent and old world glamour, to the independents and the crazies of the modern era, Oscar has been the most recognised, revered, sometimes reviled, but always hungered for, trophy. The epitome of prestige and proficiency, not to mention the razzle dazzle of Hollywood's brightest, Oscar remains king. Despite the rise of alternative media, it still holds true, "There's no business like Show Business!" What I'd really like to say about stardom, is that it gave me everything I never wanted Ava Gardner (1922-1990)
