George Fisher’s Hollywood – Oscar Nomination Predictions for 1953 – January 21, 1953 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
The Oscars for 1953 – a year of firsts and upsets. 1953 was the first year the Academy Awards were televised. The first year The Academy Awards were presented in Hollywood and New York simultaneously.
It was also the year of the biggest upset. The heavily favored High Noon lost out to The Greatest Show On Earth, a film considered to be one of the worst ever to win best picture.
As is always the case, playing the guessing game as to what Academy Members are going to do with their votes is good for hours worth of air-time on the parts of the Gossip columnists and “insiders”.
Not the least was George Fisher, whose Hollywood Today program from KNX/CBS Radio was a staple in the diets of many and certainly a staple in the diets of people living in Los Angeles in the 1940s and ’50s.
On this broadcast, Fisher is discussing among other things, the lack of support the studios have given during the current Oscar season – how some, including Republic Pictures, have pulled out their support entirely, only to reinstate it a few days later. The other big issue was which venues, if any, were going to be hosting the traditional Oscar parties. Fisher laments the current state, calling it a far cry from how Hollywood used to act on one of its biggest nights. How the Academy was having such financial hardships, while individual stars were spending thousands on their own ads.
As for predictions, Fisher correctly predicts Shirley Booth for her performance in Come Back Little Sheba, but his prediction of Ray Milland as best Actor for The Thief, was for a film that ultimately wasn’t nominated in any category.
And there is the usual helping of gossip about the goings-on in Hollywood, during a time when the Motion Picture was still one of the most popular forms of entertainment and theaters were still attracting large crowds. That would change dramatically, and the first telecast of the Oscar Ceremonies in 1953 should have been a hint.
But alas, hindsight.
Here is that broadcast of Hollywood Today as it was heard on January 21, 1953 from CBS Radio.
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