That Honor, That Cash

The dress rehearsal was scarcely finished last week when Songwriter Sammy Cahn shouted to Producer Jerry Wald that the award-giving ceremony of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was not going to fill its allotted time. "You know more than NBC?" growled Wald. "Yes," shot back Cahn. But no one was listening. Next day, when the show went on for TV audiences across the U.S., it was short indeed. It was also pretty bad. Even the early part of the show was poorly organized, unimpressively staged, and sometimes blatantly vulgar. At the end, M.C. Jerry Lewis was left to mug his way through an unplanned 20-minute melee that had the somewhat sweaty aroma of a combination Arthur Murray, Lawrence Welk, Dick Clark free-for-all.

Yet for all the pratfalls, it was still Hollywood, pure Hollywood, more enduring than brass. Onto U.S. TV screens flashed a high-style gloss of lovely women and handsome men. bright-eyed before the topmost awards: the "Oscars" that signify which of them, in the opinion of their peers, have talent, too. There were so many stars in view that nothing anybody could do--neither an uncivil singing satire by Angela Lansbury, Dana Wynter and Joan Collins, nor some oddly tasteless quips by Bob Hope--could keep the movies from running off with television's highest rating of the season, and some 85 million viewers.

"We Figure." The winners could not have cared less about their Trendex. The real payoff was at the box office, and the scramble for the little statuettes was long and rough. Since most of the Academy's 2,087 voters are in Hollywood, the trade papers were barraged with publicity as carefully aimed as that in any congressional race. Actor David Niven, clearly a red-hot contender, paid for some $1,500 worth of personal ads for himself. His producers, Hecht-Hill-Lancaster. shelled out even more. "We evaluate the opposition," explained one film flack, "and figure how we go from there."

For all the hoopla, the awards themselves brought few surprises. There were so many Oscars available (23 in all) that Gigi, winner of the Best Movie award, was able to dance off with eight subsidiary awards without really hogging the show. Best Actress Susan Hayward (7 Want To Live!) and Best Actor David Niven (Separate Tables) were popular favorites. Nobody disapproved of Burl Ives's Best Supporting Actor award either. Nor was the crowd too upset that Britain's Wendy Hiller was named Best Supporting Actress for her relatively small role in Separate Tables.

"We're Proud." Wendy herself was in England, far from the excitement. She took the news with the objectivity that came to Hollywood only on the morning after. "I hope this award means cash, hard cash." said she. "Never mind the honor." Her hopes, as all Hollywood knew, were sure to be justified, and the affair was hardly over before the whole town was trying to ride the winners' publicity.

Telephone operators at M-G-M were ordered to answer all calls. "M-Gigi-M." Winner Niven's business partner. Actor-Producer Dick Powell, placed a trade-paper ad: "Dear David, we're proud of vou. chum . . . You proved that Charles Boyer and I were either good businessmen or psychic when you became a partner in Four Star Films . . ." Lest anyone forget that the Oscars were yesterday, and that today was business as usual, Powell added: "Tomorrow night I know you'll be great on Zane Grey Theater."

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