© A.M.P.A.S.® ANNUAL REPORT I 9 8 6 1 9 8 7 On May 4, 1927, the articles of incorporation for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences were filed with the California Secretary of State and the Academy came into formal existence. Though planning meetings had been taking place for several months before that, the first official meeting of the Academy was held on May 6, and by May I I the first roster of 230 members was printed. As forefathers run, this was a pretty impressive group. It included Wallace Beery, Francis X. Bushman, Lon Chaney, Ronald Colman, Michael Curtiz, C.B. and William DeMille, Douglas Fairbanks, Cedric Gibbons, John Gilbert, D.W. Griffith, Jean Hersholt, Carl Laemmle, Jesse Lasky, Harold Lloyd, Louis B. Mayer, Colleen Moore, Ramon Novarro, Mary Pickford, Norma Shearer, Gloria Swanson, Norma Talmadge, Irving Thalberg, Eric Von Stroheim, Raoul Walsh, Darryl Zanuck and a good many other legendary names. Their motives-or the motives of some among them at any rate-have been questioned. If you read the minutes of the early meetings though, or look over the transcriptions of speeches from the Academy's earliest public occasions, it's hard not to be impressed with the high ideals of our founders. They wanted an organization that would keep its members abreast of new technical develop­ ments affecting their art. They wanted a voice that could speak for the industry when the industry was maligned or misunderstood. And they wanted an organization that would help educate the wide pu blic about motion pictures, partly by endorsing the most distinguished achievements in the field each year. The Academy they formed is 60 years old now. For those of us who have inherited the organiza­ tion and the aims it set down for itself, a little reflection seems in order. I'd like to think that if those 230 original members could look over our shoulders as we go about our various activities this anniversary year, they'd be agreeably surprised at how closely the Academy that exists today resem bles the one they set out to create. It's not all that common after all for an organization to live up to its idealistic early hopes for itself. That we in the Academy have pretty much accomplished that strikes me as cause, not for smugness or complacency certainly, but perhaps for a pause and a small warm wave of good feel­ ing ... before we hitch up our belts, take a hard look ahead and set off into the seventh decade of Academy history. Robert E. Wise Acc;d;;m~' of ~-~:;:io n p;c~::. ~ (,it:; u~d Selene::::; li: r:::.ry. e S~~-: :· i ; : ~;:i3, C:::f. --.- --'-"'-'-=1 Ten years after the formation of the Academy Many things have changed about the itself the organization began publishing, as a Directory over its half-century of existence, distinctly non-profit service to the commu­ but two things have not: its role as the indus­ nity, a roster of the film industry's acting tal­ try's casting bible and its camera operator, Ted ent. This year the Players Directory celebrated Fairfield. Mr. Fairfield stripped in the April, its 50th anniversary while it printed its 16 5th, 1937 edition, the May, 1987 edition and every 166th and 167th issues in history. edition in between. Though he's not a staff 1,200 performers were listed in the original member, he's been a formidably dedicated volume, compared to an average 17,000 in the part of the family and it seems appropriate to 50th year editions. The publication now pays salute him, as well as the Directory itself, on for itself. Each edition consists of four vol­ their 50th anniversaries. umes instead of one. Ted Fairfield and first-year PO editor Patricia Citrano, ready to launch the second half-century. 2 Early in the 1986-87 year the Nicholl Fellowship Committee selected three recent graduates of California schools as the first recipients of a prize that will soon be estab­ lished as one of the most sought-after awards in American arts_ The Academy's Nicholl Fellowships provide living expenses to enable promising new screenwriters to spend a year focusing exclusively on their writing. Funded by Mrs. Gee Nicholl in memory of her husband Don, fellowships were awarded in the pilot year to Allison Anders of UCLA, Jeffrey Eugenides of Stanford and Dennis Clontz of UCLA. The three received the first installment of the prize at a ceremony at the 1986 Nicholl Fellows Dennis Clontz, Allison Anders and Academy on October I, 1986, and sp(mt the Jeffrey Eugenides; Nicholl Committee Chairman Julian remainder of the year working on new feature­ Blaustein Mrs. Gee Nicholl with 1986 Fellow length scripts. Jeff Eugenides The Nicholl program was expanded into eleven states for the 1987-88 year, and is expected to be available nationally by its third year. The Nicholl Committee is chaired by Julian Blaustein and includes Ben Benjamin, John Gay, Arthur Hiller, Fay Kanin, Jack Lemmon, Daniel Taradash and Robert Wise. The 1987 Student Film Daughter;' and Loyola Awards were presented Marymount's William on June 7 at ceremonies Mitchell took the Exper­ hosted by Directors imental prize with a branch Governor Gilbert remarkable 70mm time­ Cates. It was a year lapse study. marked by exceptional James M. Spione .of strength in the Docu­ SUNY Purchase was one mentary category: Stan­ of two 1987 winners in ford's Lynn Mueller and the Narrative category, Tina DeFeliciantonio with CBN University's won separate major British student filmmaker Mark Herman was hon­ Antonio Zarro taking ored for his beautifully-crafted comedy "See You at awards in that category, Wembley, Frankie Walsh:' Herman, right, shared the first prize with his 56- and USC's Izak Ben-Meir stage with Student Film Awards host Gil Cates and minute "Bird in a Cage:' took a third one. the director of the U.K:s National Film and Television Debra Winger and The Rhode Island School, Colin Young, center. Timothy Hutton served The Hutton family kept the 14th pre­ School of Design captured its second as presenters for the evening, and saw to it that sentation ceremonies loose and lively. straight Animation award with Karen the Class of '87 avoided the sins of solemnity McCoy Fremuth's "Husband of the Rat's and self-importance. Academy Governor William Littlejohn at the exhibition The John Harkrider Exhibition occupied the Grand Lobby honoring Paramount Pictures on its 75th year. Other in February and March . The sketch for SHOWTlME major shows at the Academy this year included a display above was one of I 2 0 Harkrider production and costume on film preservation and a photographic and poster exhibit design sketches in a collection donated to the Margaret accompanying the Academy's Tribute to Carlos Saura. Herrick Library by Robert Parucha. An extraordinary collection of original Amsel illustrations were exhibited at the Academy prior to being sold at auction in New York. The year's special programming began with the July 28 Tribute to Carlos Saura, presented in cooperation with the UCLA Film, Television and Radio Archives. Saura, above, was present together with collaborators Ana Torrent and The Bowery Boys Meet the Woolf Man. Huntz Hall Fernando Rey. and Gabriel Dell joined Edward Albee at the Academy's Lincoln Center celebration of the 50th anniversary of the classic motion picture DEAD END. Sidney Kingsley, Sidney Lumet, Betty Comden and Brendan Gill also par­ titipated in the February event, attended by a large con­ tingent of the Academy's New York membership. Ana Torrent The Museum of Modern Art's film department marked the Academy's 60th year with a 14-picture series of prints from the AMPAS Film Archive. Back at home, the Academy celebrated its own birthday with four evenings of champagne receptions and screenings of mint-condition prints of Best Picture winners. Fernando Rey Robert Wise, Lauren Bacall, Roddy McDowell and Fay Kanin were among the notables at December's Tribute to Nunnally Johnson. The evening included a selection of clips from Johnson's remarkable body of work, as well as reminiscences by Bacall, David Brown, Jerome Hellman and George Roy Hill. Alistair Cooke, above, provided a witty, affectionate keynote for the tribute. Film editor Eric Sears with Academy sound branch Gover­ nor Tex Rudloff, right, at the Academy Seminar in Post­ Other 19 86-87 Visiting Artists Critic Leonard Maltin hosted Academy Governor Karl production. Hosted by Rudloff, the three-evening series included writer-director Tim Hunter to Malden in an unusual6-part version of the Visiting Artists also drew on the contributions of editors Carol Littleton Portland's Northwest Film and Video program at La Jolla's Visual Arts Foundation in which and Michael Economou, sound editors Cecilia Hall and Center, composer-songwriter Paul Oscar winners discussed the pictures they had been hon­ George Watters II, music editor Dan Carlin and composer Williams to Moorpark College, writer ored for. The series also included Robert Wise, Charlton Patrick Williams. Edward Anhalt to Arizona State Uni­ Heston, Linda Hunt, Louise Fletcher and Walter Murch. versity, film editor Rudi Fehr to both Hillsdale College (M ichigan) and Hofstra University, and cinematog­ The Academy's four Annual Lectures continued to provide raphers Andrew Laszlo to the University entertaining, illuminating evenings. Film historian Rudy of Richmond and Vi/mos Zsigmond to Behlmer, left, met with Robert Wise, George Stevens, Jr. the University of Arizona. and Academy Governor Robert Rehme at a reception pre­ ceding the George Stevens Lecture on Directing. Behlmer provided remarks prior to a screening of GUNGA DIN.