Friday, January 4, 2013

The Academy Awards: 1939


It's that time again! With the Academy Awards soon approaching, I'll be starting where I left off with our previous Oscars, 1939.  Also known as the 12th Annual Academy Awards.

Let's have a look at the winners, the losers, the snubs and a bit of trivia for that year.  The year that will forever be known as the year of the blockbuster, best films of the decade. I also wonder just how many actors, directors said to themselves, "Damn you, MGM!"

Best Picture:
Gone With the Wind (Winner), Dark Victory, Goodbye Mr. Chips, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Ninotchka, Stagecoach, Love Affair, Of Mice and Men, The Wizard of Oz, Wuthering Heights





Best Actor:
Robert Donat (Winner) for "Goodbye Mr. Chips", Clark Gable for "Gone With the Wind", Laurence Olivier for "Wuthering Heights", Mickey Rooney for "Babes in Arms", James Stewart for "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"



Best Actress:
Vivien Leigh (Winner) for "Gone With the Wind", Bette Davis for "Dark Victory",  Irene Dunne for "Love Affair", Greta Garbo for "Ninotchka", Greer Garson for "Goodbye Mr. Chips"




Supporting Actor:
Thomas Mitchell (Winner) for "Stagecoach", Brian Aherne for "Juarez", Harry Carey for "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington", Brian Donlevy for "Beau Geste", Claude Rains for "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"




Supporting Actress:
Hattie McDaniel (Winner) for "Gone With the Wind", Olivia de Havilland for "Gone With the Wind", Geraldine Fitzgerald for "Wuthering Heights", Edna May Oliver for "Drums Along the Mohawk", Maria Ouspenskaya for "Love Affair"




Best Director:
Victor Fleming (Winner) for "Gone With the Wind", Frank Capra for "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington", John Ford for "Stagecoach", Sam Wood for "Goodbye Mr. Chips", William Wyler for "Wuthering Heights"



Director, Victor Fleming with Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh on the set of "Gone With the Wind" 1938

Oscar Snubs and Omissions:

Charles Laughton and Maureen O'Hara for their performances in
The Hunchback of Notre Dame. 

William Holden for "Golden Boy" 
Ingrid Bergman and Leslie Howard for "Intermezzo" 
Leslie Howard for "Gone With the Wind"
Billy Wilder for direction, Claudette Colbert for Best Actress for "Midnight" also snubbed for Best Screenplay
Merle Oberon for "Wuthering Heights"
Ernst Lubitsch, Best Director for "Ninotchka"
Henry Fonda for "Young Mr. Lincoln" and John Ford for Director
Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce for "The Hound of the Baskervilles"
"Gunga Din"
Michael Curtiz for direction for "The Private Lives of Elizabeth of Essex"
Jean Arthur for her performance in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"
"Only Angels Have Wings"
Tyrone Power for "The Rains Came"

Billie Burke, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr, Ray Bolger and  Margaret Hamilton for their performances in "The Wizard of Oz"

My Honorable Mentions Goes To:
Lon Chaney Jr for his outstanding performance in "Of Mice and Men", "The Women" with it's amazing cast and of course, the entire cast of "The Wizard of Oz. 



Lon Chaney Jr for his performance as Lennie

The cast of "The Women".  One of the Best Comedies of the decade!


The supporting cast of "The Wizard of Oz"

Oscar Trivia:
The 12th Annual Academy Awards were held at the Ambassador Hotel (Coconut Grove) in Los Angeles and hosted by Bob Hope for the first of nineteen times.


With Frank Capra as the Academy President the television rights were sold to Warner Bros. for $30,000.  The first year that they were televised for our viewing pleasure.  (The stars were all too conscious of this fact, arriving in their finest tuxes, jewels and furs.)


Judy Garland would win a Juvenile Oscar for her performance in "The Wizard of Oz" Over the Rainbow would also win Best SongJudy would be presented her award by her frequent co-star, Mickey Rooney. After accepting her award she would give a beautiful performance of her award winning number from the film.


Hattie McDaniel became the first African-American to win an Academy Award.  It would be another 24 years before Sidney Poitier would take home the Oscar for his performance in "Lilies of the Field"

This was the first year that an award for Visual Effects was given. Going to "The Rains Came". This would also be the year that Best Cinematography would be split up into two categories, black and white and color.

The first year that British performers would sweep the Best Actor/Actress categories.

Walt Disney would win his eighth consecutive Oscar this year for his Cartoon Short, The Ugly Duckling

Honorary Oscars would go to Douglas Fairbanks, William Cameron Menzies and to the Technicolor Company.


The Irving Thalberg G. Memorial Award would go to David O. Selznick.

"Gone With the Wind" was nominated for a record 13 Awards that year with "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" a close second with 11 nominations. "Wuthering Heights" would come in with a well deserved, 8 nods.

Robert Donat was not present to accept his Best Actor Oscar which was accepted in his honor by Spencer Tracey. Also not present, Greer Garson and Irene Dunne who were also nominated but most likely certain that the Best Actress statuette would go to Vivien Leigh. None of the winners were a surprise that year with the Los Angeles Times printing the winners before the ceremony began.  (Jerks!) They would also print how close the votes were which caused a lot of arguing, frustration post Awards, prompting the Academy to tighten security on the vote tallies, winners going forward. (James Stewart lost out to Donat by a very small margin with Bette losing to Viv by just a few votes as well.)

Clark Gable was the most visibly disappointed with his loss this year, as he felt it was his best, last chance at the golden statuette.

I hope you enjoyed this look back at the Oscars: 1939 and please leave a comment on anyone I might have missed that you feel deserved a nod or even who you feel should have won, not won.  

This is going to be another great year for the Oscars, with so many stellar films, performances this past year.  I'm really looking forward to seeing who won, if my predictions are correct.

*If you missed any of my previous Oscar posts from the 1938 ceremony back to the beginning, they can be found in the archives on the sidebar.

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31 comments:

  1. I love these Oscar posts, Page. They must take a lot of time and research, but they are worth it. I guess I didn't realize Lon Chaney Jr. wasn't even nominated for Of Mice and Men. Unbelievable! There were many good ones in the race, but he should have won. My 2nd pick for Supporting Actor would have been Brian Donlevy as the sadistic Sargeant Markoff in Beau Geste. He was wonderful.

    I never thought Robert Donat should have gotten Best Actor. He was wonderful, no doubt, and he's just a fine actor. But I would have had a tie between James Stewart and Clark Gable. I am indeed horrified that Rathbone and Bruce received no mention for The Hound -- they were so perfect! And, for supporting actress, Olivia was definitely the one, but I also just loved Edna May Oliver in Drums. Too bad they were in the same year.

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    1. Thanks so much, Becky!
      I agree on the Donat win. He only won by a very small margin to James Stewart. Davis also lost out to Viv by just a few votes. A year that I would have preferred to see a couple of ties. As much as I loved Gable in GWTW I would have to go with Stewart for Mr. Smith every time.

      I do love doing these Oscar posts as it means the award season is upon us. We've got some great films, performances that will get nods this year if the Globes noms are any indication.

      Thanks for commenting and your continued support here. I've got to get caught up on everyone's blogs.
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    2. Interesting that it was Stewart who almost won, and not Gable. I didn't know that. I also didn't know that Vivien was not a sweep of vote! As wonderful as my favorite, Bette, was, Vivien was spectacular, so I don't have a problem with that one. I'm all caught up on visiting blogs finally, so good luck to you doing the same! LOL!

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    3. Becks,
      Forgot to mention that I'm glad you brought up Bruce and Rathbone as I thought of you when I mentioned their being overlooked. (Such a shame!) You feel the way about them as I do about Reginald Denny and George Sanders. Nigel Bruce was such a great character actor. I can't think of him though without picturing him in the leopard print loin cloth get up in Rebecca.
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  2. Being as waited as Gone with the Wind was, it was certain that it would sweep the Oscars. Too bad for marvelous films like The Women and Ninotchcka. I really think that Greta deserved the Oscar if the film was released any other year. I have some films of this prolific year to watch. And how I wish I could watch a footage of Judy singing in the Oscar!
    Kisses!

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    1. Hi Le! : )
      I watched a short on TCM recently which showed the Oscars for this year. There was a highlight of Judy singing Over the Rainbow and of course, Viv getting her statuette. It might be on Youtube somewhere as well.

      I'm sure a lot of stars, studios were just thrilled that David O. thrust the behemoth out there to scoop up so many awards. Hard to compete with it.
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    2. Le, I didn't know how to get hold of you any other way, so I didn't think Page would mind if I do it here. I tried to get on your blog and it stopped me with a Malware warning page. I know Page just had this same problem, and it turned out to be a particular blog that was causing it. Page, thought you might want to tell Le what to do, in case she doesn't know.

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    3. Thanks, Becky! : )
      Le, if you happen to follow a Portuguese blog, I believe it's Ol Mates Cinema or something, the Malware I was getting stemmed from having it on my blogroll.

      Sorry, you're having that problem. It took me a bit to locate it here. Luckily we have such thoughtful blogger friends like Becky and Dawn.
      Let me know if you need any help in finding it. It can be such a headache.
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  3. I agree that one of the biggest snubs was overlooking Laughton for "The Hunchback of Notre Dame".

    In the supporting actor category it is a shame that Donald Meek was overlooked for either "Stagecoach" or "Jesse James".

    John Ford won 4 of his 5 nominations for Best Director, but the one he lost was in this year for "Stagecoach". In Hollywood the "little" movie usually has trouble competing with the "big" one.

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    1. CW,
      I can't argue with your mention here. Laughton in any other year would have taken the gold for his brilliant performance as Quasimodo. Dang that GWTW for AND Donat but especially for not giving Laughton his deserved nod. It's been done before where we have 10 nominees and 1939 was certainly a year where it could have easily been done again.

      I guess the upside was the movie going public had some amazing films to see during that year. Kind of the way I felt in 2012. : )

      I agree about the 'little movies' but luckily Indie films have a better chance these days even when up against blockbusters upon occasion.

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  4. I'm flabbergasted that you didn't mention You-Know-Who's snub for The Little Princess :-)

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    1. Ivies,
      It was only out of my love for you and concern for your health. : )
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  5. Not being a big fan of GWTW, 1939 isn't my favorite Oscar year (much prefer "Ninotchka," "Stagecoach," "The Wizard of Oz," "The Rains Came," etc., to GWTW). My opinion of Gable as Rhett is that since the character was originally written with him in mind, he simply had to bring his ultimate "Gable persona" to the screen and he would be perfect. My own favorite of his performances - and it is sensational - is in "The Misfits" (1961), but no posthumous nomination was forthcoming for him.

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    1. LE,
      I much prefer Gable in The Misfits too. He looked comfortable in the role although he was in failing health, all while working to get healthy for the film. Perhaps it's just me but he looked miserable in GWTW.

      So glad you're back! : )
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  6. Yay! Spotlighting my favorite year. 1939 Oscars is one of those years when you think "Man, why didn't Jimmy Stewart win?" And you look up the other nominees and think "Oh....that's why." I wish they all could have won because they are so perfect!
    Love the Oscar Trivia. Particularly interesting is that they printed the winners before hand! What on Earth?! lol

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    1. Hi, Jessica!
      This was such an interesting year for so many reasons. Reminds me of this years upcoming Oscars with so many great films and actors in lead roles. I'm truly torn between Daniel Day Lewis and Anthony Hopkins. Then there's the great films.

      Thanks so much for stopping by.
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  7. I also love the Oscar Trivia, because.. I have not really researched it.

    I'm very surprised that you and Lady Eve are not GWTW fans...

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    1. Dawn,
      I do like GWTW very much and it's such a great part of cinema history, showcases early MGM blockbusters. The only thing I didn't agree with was Donat winning over Jimmy Stewart.

      As much as I do enjoy seeing GWTW every couple of years my favorite period piece is Jezebel. : )

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  8. Always fun to read the trivia you come up with. And I am a proud GWTW fan ... taught a class on 1939 last spring and it was fun to see the impact of watching five of the nominees on the big screen and how people responded.

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    1. CFB,
      I do like GWTW. : ) We were just debating the Best Actor choice that year and Gable's performance.

      Stay tuned for 1940 and a couple more Award seasons before our 2013 Oscars.
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  9. I was hoping you were going to mention Lon Chaney Jr.'s performance in "Of Mice and Men" in the Oscar snub category, and there it was. Well done.

    It's interesting that pre-war, M-G-M often dominated Oscar nominations and wins, but post-war was a real struggle for them come Oscar time. Maybe Louie B. Mayer had more clout than we realize?

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    1. Hiya Kev!
      Interesting point about pre-war MGM vs post war and Mayer. My wheels are turning. lol

      I just bought two books which take a look at the early studio system, how each studio operated, built up their stars and pictures. I can't wait to dive into both. One is called "Glamour Factory: Inside Hollywood's Studio System" by Ronald Davis then "The Hollywood Studios" by Ethan Mordden.

      So many books, so little time.
      See ya later!
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  10. I love these Oscar Salutes! What a great idea! Personally, I never did like GWTW at all. In fact, I was offended by the racism that was in it. Plus, it's boring with only Hattie McDaniel to save the day. If I was picking the winner for 1939's Best Picture, I'd go with my all-time favorite, The Wizard of Oz. What an amazing work of art it is with everything being almost perfect. :)

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    1. Hi Matt!
      Thanks for joining in on the 1939 Oscars discussion.

      Oh, Hattie! She certainly was the stand out and so deserving of her win. I can only imagine how absolutely over the moon she was. (I'll be doing a post on the cast of GWTW and their Hollywood homes so stay tuned for that one.)

      It's good to see honest opinions about these films and have friendly discussions on how we feel about them today.
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  11. Thanks, Becky and Page! You are sweetheats.
    I saw the malware alert, and took off a link that was responsible for it. Unfortunately, these alerts may be freaky and they don't appear in other computers, such as my laptop. It's been a couple of days since the alert disappared and my blog has been visited by other people who didn't see any alert. But be sure that, if it comes back, I'll ask you for help.
    Becky, we follow each other's blog, so that's how we can keep in touch, unless you have a Twitter, so we'll follow each other there, too!

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    1. Oh that's fine with following each other on our blogs or Twitter, Le. I was just concerned about getting the word to you as quickly as possible, and since you were talking on here, I figure using Page as a mailbox was the best thing -- LOLOL!

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    2. Thanks Le and Becks!
      So glad you found the cause of the Malware, Le. That can be quite annoying.

      We don't want your wonderful blog having any setbacks.
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  12. Page - a super entertaining post. What a year it was, but frankly my dear I think Leslie Howard was miscast as Ashley. It makes it hard to see why Scarlet was so stuck on him. No general dissing of Howard though as he was great in several other films.

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    1. Hi Christian!
      Perhaps Scarlet was drawn to Howard's, Ashley for selfish reasons. He did look like he could stitch up a fine dress which a lady of that stature requires, even during hard times. Ha Ha

      Maybe they cast Leslie to offset the roughness, hard edges of the roguish Gable. They certainly accomplished that.

      Thanks for stopping by for a bit of Oscar discussion.
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  13. Very fun post, Page! I was always amazed that THE RAINS CAME won for SFX over THE WIZARD OF OZ. The twister, the flying monkeys, the witch on a broom, etc. weren't enough to overcome a little rain?

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    1. Rick,
      So glad you mentioned the SX Award since I completely overlooked it. That was the most shocking win of all. Not that constant rain on celluloid isn't a feat but that it beat out OZ.

      Thanks for adding to the Oscar trivia for 1939. Hope you'll be back when we discuss 1940.
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