Ticky-Tack

She didn't get an Oscar for her performance, but Mrs. Mamie Washington of Santa Monica is real showfolks. At 4:30 in the morning on the day of the Academy Awards, Mrs. Washington arrived at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium with her two babies--21 months and 9 months--and grabbed a front-row seat in the grandstands outside the door. Her vigil was relieved by her mother, who turned up periodically with nourishment and fresh diapers.

Such loyalty, such dedication, is bound to be properly awarded. It was as if all Hollywood had gathered to pay Mrs. Washington solemn tribute. It must have dazzled her beyond description to watch the long ranks of limousines disgorge the great celebrities. There, with Actor George Hamilton, was Lynda Bird Johnson in an orange brocade thing with a mink hem, and a hair and makeup job courtesy of Hollywood's George Masters. And there was Lana Turner in a $2,000 number described as beaded chiffon, and Shelley Winters in a black sheath with organza Quaker collar and a rented diamond necklace--which somehow got misplaced for a while backstage, provoking from Shelley yet another hysterical Academy Award performance.

Julie Christie, who stepped from her Cadillac with a bored-looking, beatle-mopped chap named Don Bessant, was dressed, prophetically, like an Oscarette in a gold lame pajama suit. Kim Novak slinked by in something that looked like a sequined American flag, while Julie Andrews wore a red-orange wool broadcloth with a deep-V "wrapped front" and a 30-karat topaz pendant.

Tattered Memories. But that was all the show. Inside, as color-TV cameras recorded the event for 60 million viewers, the Oscar derby seemed more ticky-tack than ever. Even Bob Hope seemed off his feed ("I can't drink like Lee Marvin, grunt like Rod Steiger or enunciate like Sir Laurence Olivier. And when it comes to Richard Burton, I'm really in trouble"). What was billed as entertainment made The Beverly Hillbillies look good. The choreography was out of Busby Berkley; the filmed interviews with former winners seemed like tattered memories from a discarded album.

When it came to awards, the night belonged to The Sound of Music, which won five, including the prizes for the best picture and best director (Robert Wise). Veteran Lee Marvin, 42, the hilarious mugger in Cat Ballon, was best actor. The best-actress award amounted to a battle of Julies: Andrews (for Sound of Music) and Christie (for Darling) --and Christie won it. For their performances in supporting roles, Martin Balsam got an Oscar for A Thousand Clowns, and Shelley Winters got her second (her first, in 1959: The Diary of Anne Frank) for A Patch of Blue. The only other notable awards went to Czechoslovakia's The Shop on Main Street (best foreign-language film) and To Be Alive, the Johnson's Wax film first shown at the New York World's Fair (best short documentary). Bob Hope, rewarded with a gold medal for his long years as an outstanding entertainer, then declared: "This meeting of the Great Society stands adjourned."

Many of the folks then buzzed off to the Beverly Hilton Hotel for the big Academy ball. Two Secret Service men had to propel Lynda and George past squads of photographers so that the young couple could have a few whirls on the dance floor. Mrs. Mamie Washington couldn't make it. The kids were tired, and, well, there was so much to savor from the day's events. She'll be back next year, though. You won't catch her quitting show business.

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