The Oscar-winning Songs Countdown: 1948

Hollywood tried to shortchange the Academy at the 1948 Awards, and ended up forfeiting the Oscar.

The studios that had always funded the ceremony were looking for ways to tighten their belts in 1948, particularly the Big Five - MGM, Warners, Fox, Paramount and RKO. In May of 1948, the Supreme Court had told the Big Five they couldn't own both their movie thater chains and their studios without violating antitrust laws, so the theaters would have to go. Since the profits from the movie houses represented half a studio's income, the moguls were devastated by this blow. Making matters worse, this was the year that TV began beaming the World Series, Milton Berle and Ed Sullivan into American homes. Suddenly, theaters that had been filled to capacity during the war years were as empty as Monument Valley.

The Big Five decided they had to cut expenses and the Academy Awards show seemed to them a good place to start. The quintet issued a statement to the Academy saying that they would be no longer subsidizing the ceremonies.

Academy President Jean Hersholt was so mad he threatened to resign, but the Board of Governors pleaded with him and he acquiesced on the condition that the board find a new president immediately after this year's ceremonies - if there were ceremonies this year.

First, there was the matter of finding an inexpensive venue to hold the ceremony. After rejecting a number of alternatives, among them the still-standing castle set of Warners' The Adventures Of Don Juan, the Ambassador Hotel, (host of five ceremonies in the 30s,) New York's Madison Square Garden, and the Chicago stadium, Hersholt announced that the show would be held in the Academy's 950-seat screening theater - a far cry from last year's ceremonies at the 6,700-seat Shrine Auditorium.

Since Ingrid Bergman had been elevated to virtual sainthood by her fans since The Bells Of St. Mary's, producer Walter Wanger decided to take the next logical step and cast her in the title role of his $8.7 million epic, Joan Of Arc. Bergman had packed them in when she played the part in Maxwell Anderson's Joan Of Lorraine on Broadway in 1946, and Wanger recruited Gone With The Wind's Victor Fleming to direct. But when the 2h47min movie bowed, critics and audiences found it long-winded and overproduced. "Joan Of Arc is massive, eyefilling and pretentiously disappointing," opined the New York Herald Tribune. The best reviews went to film newcomer José Ferrer, recreating his Broadway role as the Dauphin. Bergman knew it was time to change direction, so she sent a fan letter to Italian director Roberto Rossellini, telling him how much she had enjoyed Open City and Paisan, and that she would love to work for him "for the sheer pleasure of the experience."

Maxwell Anderson came off better in the movie version of Key Largo, if only because director John Huston and writer Richard Brooks threw out most of his play and let Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Lauren Bacall, Claire Trevor and Lionel Barrymore do their stuff in the melodrama set in the Florida Keys. Jack Warner was impressed enough by the film to allow Huston to adapt a novel about three prospectors digging for gold in Mexico who destroy themselves through greed and betrayal. Expecting another hit vehicle for Humphrey Bogart, Warner was dismayed when the on-location shooting dragged on and the budget rose with no end in sight. The mogul screamed, "I know whose gold they're going after - mine!"

Treasure Of Sierra Madre, costarring Huston's father, Walter, opened to unanimous raves. In The Nation, James Agee called it "one of the most visually alive and beautiful films I have ever seen." Unfortunately, American audiences thought they were going to see a movie in which their hero Bogart struck it rich, and they were disappointed to find he was playing an immoral louse. Huston's acclaimed film was no treasure at the box office.

Jack Warner was also worried about Johnny Belinda, a melodrama designed to showcase rising name Jane Wyman. The actress had been playing second leads at the studio for years, although she fared better when she was loaned out, as she was to Paramount for The Lost Weekend, and then to MGM for her Oscar-nominated role in The Yearling. Warner decided he had an exploitable star on his payroll and cast her in a drama about a deaf mute who has to fight for the custody of her illegitimate child. (Memo to my Greek and Cypriot friends: this was the film that was shamelessly copied for the 1973 Βουγιουκλάκη (Greece's most commercial film actress, Aliki Vougiouklaki) vehicle, Η Μαρία της Σιωπής (Mary of the Silence).)

When the studio head viewed the rushes, he saw that director Jean Negulesco was avoiding the traditional tearjerking approach, so Warner proceded to fire him before filming was completed and another director finished things up. Variety said of the resulting film, "Johnny Belinda is a fine presentation of a tragedy with a happy ending." The movie became Warner's highest grosser of the year.

Jane Wyman wasn't the year's only disabled heroine. Director Anatole Litvak was hopping around town directing Hollywood's foremost actresses in dramas about trapped, helpless women. At Paramount, he guided Barbara Stanwyck through an adaptation of Sorry, Wrong Number, a popular radio play about a bedridden heiress who discovers, over the telephone, that someone is planning to kill her. For Stanwyck, the movie offered her a chance at a tour de force, and critics called it her best role since her Oscar-nominated one in Double Indemnity.

Litvak then reported to 20th Century-Fox, where he toured Olivia De Havilland through a mental asylum in The Snake Pit. Producer Zanuck considered this his big one for the year, so Fox's publicity department fired on all cylinders. Zanuck also tried to pass the movie off as a catalyst for social reform. The publicity campaign was successful (it also helped that the film was good); the picture was even more profitable than last year's Best Picture Oscar winner for Fox, Gentleman's Agreement.

Olivia De Havilland's bid for a second Oscar was challenged by her old nemesis - kid sister Joan Fontaine. Although Fontaine's self-produced film, Letter From An Unknown Woman, had not created much of a stir at the box office, Max Ophuls' direction and Joan's performance had inspired compliments from the critics.

However, it was Olivia De Havilland who won the first round, when the New York Film Critics selected her as their Best Actress. Treasure Of Sierra Madre won their Best Picture award, as well as Best Director for John Huston. Hollywood could handle these choices, but was rankled when the critics picked as Best Actor Laurence Olivier for Hamlet, giving him momentum in the Oscar race.

The international success of Henry V had inspired Olivier to tackle the tragedy of the melancholy Dane on film, and British producer J. Arthur Rank was happy to give him the money to try. King George VI was proud of Olivier, too, and knighted him while the film was in production. Still Olivier had not forgotten what he had learned in Hollywood and told his co-screenwriter Alan Dent that this Hamlet had to sell tickets. The play was trimmed down from 4 hours to  two-and-a-half hours, Ophelia was played by rising star Jean Simmons and Olivier went blond for the title role.

Hamlet turned out to be a hot ticket, and Hollywood watched in amazement as the public descended in big numbers to see Shakespeare. Daily Variety conceded that "Olivier appears to be tops among the candidates for best actor", but Universal which distributed Hamlet in the US ran no Oscar ads for the film.

There was another major British import this year, The Red Shoes. This visual marvel about the love of dance, one of Scorsese's favorite movies (and mine), cast a real-life ballerina, Moira Shearer, second only to Margot Fonteyn at the famous Sadler's Wells Ballet, in the leading part.

The film went massively over budget and the Rank Company (which financed it and was to release it) had little faith in its commercial potential. It tried to bury the film by not giving it a premiere (backer J. Arthur Rank walked out of its first performance) and by just letting it quietly show at late screenings at a cinema in London. Rank wasn't even prepared to strike a print for the American market. Slowly, however, audiences started to pick up on the film and Rank realized that it might have a potential breakout hit after all. Indeed, when an initial print was made for the US, it played at an off-Broadway theater for an unprecedented 110 weeks.

Over at RKO, the put their money in the nostalgic family saga of a Norwegian immigrant family, circa 1910. George Stevens directed I Remember Mama, with a budget of $3 million. Greta Garbo turned down the role of Martha, which was then proposed to Irene Dunne. Dunne, who had just costarred opposite William Powell in a similarly titled film (last year's Life With Father) inhabited the part well. Bosley Crowther wrote in The New York Times, "As Mama, the wheel-horse of the family, Irene Dunne does a beautiful job, in a blonde, braided wig and in dresses which actually appear to be worn. Handling with equal facility an accent and a troubled look, Miss Dunne has the strength and vitality, yet the softness, that the role requires." He was also impressed by some of the supporting players: "As Katrin, the oldest daughter, Barbara Bel Geddes plays most often as in a trance, hypnotized by Mama and sheer Beauty, but that fits with the general atmosphere. However, Mr. Homolka, who plays the bombastic Uncle Chris, gives to it all the bluff and blunder that was in this decidedly "hammy" gent. And Ellen Corby's twittering as the simpleton Aunt Trina brings the humor within regions where it can be readily understood."

The Search, The first US movie to be shot in a ravaged Germany after the end of WWII, had much more modest budget: $250,000. Fred Zinnemann's movie about a silent nine-year-old Czech boy, a survivor of Auschwitz, who flees a refugee center in postwar Germany and is found by an American G.I., was the film debut of a charismatic young actor called Montgomery Clift. (It was actually his second film after Red River, but because the Western had such a long post-production period, The Search (1948) was released first.) Such was the naturalness of Montgomery Clift's portrayal, Fred Zinnemann was asked how he managed to coax such a realistic performance from a soldier. Also, Clint Eastwood has singled out Montgomery Clift's performance in this film as one of the biggest influences on him as an actor.

The Nominations

The popularity of the British films was painfully brought home to Hollywood in the nominations:

Hamlet had seven good ones: (Best Picture, Director (Olivier), Actor (Olivier), Supporting Actress (Simmons), Scoring of a Drama or Comedy (Walton), Art Direction, Costumes.) This was the first year that the costume designers had their own competitive category at the Oscars.

Here's part of William Walton's nominated score for Hamlet:

Here's the fanfare from Hamlet, performed at the Memorial Service for Sir Laurence Olivier, October 1989:

The Red Shoes had five: (Best Picture, Story, Scoring of a Drama or Comedy (Easdale), Art Direction, Editing.)

Here's The Red Shoes ballet by nominated Brian Easdale:

One movie not competing for Best Picture was Joan Of Arc. Walter Wanger was livid when the Academy turned its back on his epic and nominated it for a "measly" seven nominations: (Best Actress (Bergman), Supporting Actor (Ferrer), Scoring of a Drama or Comedy (Friedhofer), Cinematography, Art Direction, Costumes, Editing.) The producer felt personally insulted that neither the movie nor director Victor Fleming were tapped for honors. It was all the former Academy president could talk about.

To pacify him, the Academy decided to give him an honorary award "for distinguished service to the industry in adding to its moral stature in the world community by his production of the picture Joan of Arc." That's a mouthful!

Here's the opening scene of the movie, where Hugo Friedhofer's nominated score is heard:

Johnny Belinda had the most nominations, twelve: (Best Picture, Director (Negulesco), Actor (veteran Lew Ayres), Actress (Wyman), Supporting Actor & Supporting Actress for solid and respected character actors Charles Bickford & Agnes Moorehead, Screenplay, Scoring of a Drama or Comedy (Steiner), Cinematography, Art Direction, Editing, Sound.) Jack Warner sent a telegram to Jean Negulesco, the director he had fired from Johnny Belinda: "Well, kid, we did it again!"

Here's part of Max Steiner's nominated score:

The Snake Pit had six nominations: (Best Picture, Director (Litvak), Actress (De Havilland), Screenplay, Scoring of a Drama or Comedy (Newman), Sound.)

Here's part of Alfred Newman's nominated score:

There was a major upset in the Best Actor race: while expected nominees Laurence Olivier, Lew Ayres, Montgomery Clift (for The Search, also nominated for Best Director (Zinnemann), Story, Screenplay, plus a special Juvenile Award for young Ivan Jandl), and Cliffton Webb (for the comedy hit Sitting Pretty) were named, Humphrey Bogart, who had two major movies in the running, wasn't. In his place was Dan Dailey for When My Baby Smiles At Me, a Betty Grable musical. Everybody was talking about it, but nobody had an explanation.

When My Baby Smiles At Me, was also nominated for Alfred Newman's Scoring of a Musical Picture:

The two Humphrey Bogart movies had a number of nominations between them: for Key Largo, there was only a Supporting Actress nod for Claire Trevor. Treasure Of Sierra Madre had four nominations, all major and all in the family: Best Picture, Director, as well as Screenplay for Huston, son, and Supporting Actor, for Huston, father.

The other Montgomery Clift movie, Red River, was nominated for Story and Editing, while the successful New York City film noir about two detectives investigating the death of an attractive young woman, Naked City, directed by Jules Dassin, had three nominations (Story, Cinematography, Editing.)

De Havilland didn't have to worry about her sister; Fontaine wasn't nominated. Olivia's rivals were mainly Wyman and Stanwyck, while Bergman was also nominated for Best Actress. Dunne was the fifth nominee for I Remember Mama, which also received nominations for Supporting Actor (Homolka), two Supporting Actress nominations (Bel Geddes, Corby) and Cinematography.

The Supporting Actor race, except for the aforementioned Huston, Homolka, Ferrer and Bickford also included Cecil Kellaway for the Tyrone Power starring fantasy The Luck of the Irish.

The Supporting Actress category was a hotbed for future famous TV mothers and grandmothers: Agnes Moorehead would find TV fame as Samantha's mother, Endora, in Bewitched. Barbara Bel Geddes was the Ewing matriarch, Miss Ellie, in the original Dallas. Jean Simmons was Patrick Swayze's mother Clarissa Main in North And South, while Ellen Corby was the grandmother in The Waltons. Only Claire Trevor out of the five, even though she made several TV appearances, wasn't ever a TV series regular.

We've presented all the Best Scoring of a Drama or Comedy nominations, as well as When My Baby Smiles At Me from Scoring of a Musical Picture. Here are the other nominees from the latter category:

From Easter Parade, Johnny Green and Roger Edens:

From The Emperor Waltz, Victor Young:

From The Pirate, Lennie Hayton:

... And from Romance on the High Seas, Ray Heindorf:

What about the Best Song nominees?

Buttons and Bows from The Paleface • Music: Jay Livingston • Lyrics: Ray Evans. Sung by Bob Hope:

The song became a huge hit by Dinah Shore. Since our friend Alan is a big fan, I couldn't not present this version:

For Every Man There's a Woman from Casbah • Music: Harold Arlen • Lyrics: Leo Robin. Sung by Yvonne De Carlo:

From the same film, here is the male version, sung by Tony Martin:

It's Magic from Romance on the High Seas • Music: Jule Styne • Lyrics: Sammy Cahn. Sung by Doris Day:

The Woody Woodpecker Song from Wet Blanket Policy, the only theatrical cartoon short to feature a Academy Award Nominated song • Music & Lyrics: Ramey Idriss & George Tibbles. Sung by Gloria Wood and Harry Babbitt:

This Is the Moment from That Lady in Ermine • Music: Friedrich Hollaender • Lyrics: Leo Robin. Sung by Betty Grable:

Not a bad bunch, I must admit. I still haven't decided which one I like more. For the moment, its a 3-way tie between The Woody Woodpecker Song, Buttons and Bows and This Is the Moment.

There were also a few eligible songs that failed to be nominated:

Two original Irving Berlin songs for Easter Parade. First, A Couple Of Swells. Sung by Judy Garland & Fred Astaire:

From the same film, Stepping Out With My Baby, sung by Fred Astaire:

From A Date With Judy, It's A Most Unusual Day, sung by Jane Powell & ensemble:

Melody Time from Disney's Melody Time:

The Winners

There was no suspense for the Juvenile Award or for Best Foreign Film, as they were non-competitive categories and the results were known beforehand: they were; for the former, young Ivan Jandl for The Search, who spoke no English at the time this film was made and his English dialogue was phonetically memorized; for the latter award, French film, Monsieur Vincent, the austere biography of St. Vincent de Paul.

Jack Warner was a happy man: Johnny Belinda won Best Actress for Jane Wyman (and nothing else, despite its twelve nominations.) The Supporting Actress award went to Claire Trevor for Key Largo. Treasure Of Sierra Madre proved to be a celebration for the Huston family: father Walter won for Best Supporting Actor, while Walter's son, John won two, one for Best Director and one for Best Screenplay. All Warner's productions.

The other writing award, for Best Story, went to The Search.

But it was the British who came out victorious: Hamlet was the night's big victor, with four wins that included, Art Direction (Black & White), Costume Design (Black & White), Best Actor for Olivier, and finally, to the chagrin of the Hollywood studios, the big one, Best Picture.

The Red Shoes managed two very just wins: Art Direction (Color) and Best Scoring of a Drama or Comedy.

The Best Scoring of a Musical Picture Oscar rightly went to Easter Parade. Joan Of Arc had to be content with two Oscars, for Cinematography (Color) and Costume Design (Color).

The Jules Dassin film, Naked City, enjoyed a minor triumph, winning two out of three nominations, for Best Cinematography (Black & White), and Best Editing. The Snake Pit had to be content with just one award: the one for Best Sound. The Best Special Effects, as they were then called, went to the William Dieterle fantasy drama starring Jennifer Jones, Portrait Of Jenny.

The Best Song award went to the greatest hit, Buttons and Bows from The Paleface. Was it worth it? Probably yes. I don't have strong feelings about it either way.

There were many angry voices within the American press that the Academy was wrong to bestow its highest honor to an English film. The best reply came from Academy Governor Emmet Lavery. He concluded with, "At the ripe old age of twenty-one (Oscar) has shown that he is free to vote as he pleases."