Hollywood Spectator (Apr-May 1939)

Screen Academy and the Jield jft CcCerA By Donald Gledhill Executive Secretary. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for publication in the Spectator and the Journal of Educational Sociology. New York ENT ION the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in almost any part of the civilized world and you will hear the statement: "Oh, yes, that’s the organization which presents gold Statuettes, called 'Oscars,’ for the outstanding achievements in motion pictures each year." The annual Awards selection, however, is only one of the Academy’s activities, the others being of specialized importance within the industry and not brought to general public attention. The major functions of the Academy since its inception in 1927 have been to uphold the cooperative idea in a highly competitive and temperamental milieu, to maintain authoritative informational facilites, and to serve as the social tree from which have sprung (sometimes explosively) most of the other important organized talent groups within the motion picture production industry. I he word production is emphasized as the Academy has at no time been involved with either distribution or exhibition. Prior to Its Founding •I Before the founding of the Academy there had been little attempt to organize groups among the picture people either for exchange of creative ideas, social activities or economic protection. Hollywood was a town of individualists, surging from the boom years following the war. If a studio and an artist had a contractual difference it was publicly aired in the courts. In the technical field each studio jealousy guarded whatever mechanical experiments were being made. Science was hardly aspired to and the mention of art was still very self-conscious. No one conferred with anyone except his immediate employer. Each actor, director and writer stood alone and fought his own battles, although it should be pointed out that a good deal of camaraderie had carried over from the pioneering and bonanza periods. If the individuals were not organized as we think of organization now, neither were the studios. It was only toward the end of the era before sound that motion pictures became an integrated industry. Originally Five Branches Then in May, 1927, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts was organized. and Hollywood began to be group conscious. The Academy was originally set up with five branches — Actors, Directors, Producers, Technicians and Writers. Each group had equal representation on the controlling Board of Governors and a semi-autonomous branch organization of its own. T he late Douglas Fairbanks was elected first president. The decision to honor distinguished achievements was reached and the Annual Awards came into being. Subsequent presidents have included Conrad Nagel, William C. de Mille, J. T. Reed, M. C Levee, Frank Lloyd and Frank Capra (current) , each serving more than one term. The late Irving G. Thalberg was active in the leadership for many years. The present membership is about 800. Stimulates Community Morale <f While the Academy from the beginning has been an exclusive, invitational organization, with professional achievement as a requisite, the idea of all branches of creative talent meeting around a common table has stimulated the morale of the entire community. The Academy was unique at its founding and still remains the only example in a major industry of a professional organization in which the responsible executives of competitive companies and a wide diversity of employees meet as individuals, discussing and taking action on industry problems. The singular nature of picture production, in which a star or director may receive more salary than a ranking executive and in which the same individual may be employed as a writer a director and a producer in the same year, contributed to the practicality of this idea until the rising tide of strictly labor union orgnaization, following the NRA, provided more forceful machinery for dealing with economic problems and the Academy withdrew entirely from the economic field. Takes Over Relief Fund <J The theory of individual personal participation on the basis of general industry good citizenship, without regard to economic status, continues to characterize the Academy and provides effective machinery for cooperative activities. One of the first responsibilities early recognized by the new Academy was that of caring for the needy veterans of even so young an industry. In 1929, one of the most important steps ever taken in Hollywood was that of remov ing the Motion Picture Relief Fund from the Community Chest and establishing it within the industry, the means of assessing employed actors a percentage of their salaries for support of the fund being worked out by the Academy. With technicians from all studios drawn together for the first time came the realization that Hollywood should have a central group of engineers working for the common advancement. The result was the setting up of the Academy Research Council. The best technical brains of all major studios here work together with the result that their research, coordination and standardization have been worth untold thousands of dollars to the studios. The abrupt change to sound pictures in 1929-30 brought increasing importance and complexity to this department. Given Individual Importance •J Returning to the matter of group consciousness, the fact that the Academy was organized by branches made each one more conscious of its individual importance. Together with the stresses set up by the NRA, the result was that in the spring of 1933 the Screen Writers Guild came into active life with much the same leadership as had been elected in the Academy writers branch, but with a definitely labor union organization and theory. Similarly and shortly thereafter the Screen Acttors Guild, the Society of Motion Picture Film Editors and the Screen Publicists Guild. In 1 928 the cameramen organized under the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and Moving Picture Machine Operators, better known as the IATSE. By 1930 the sound technicians and laboratory workers were organized under the IATSE and group consciousnes in motion pictures since then has so kept pace with the general trend of all industry that practically every unit group has its own organization, including even office workers. Hollywood has been in almost constant internal strife for the past five years, a condition now gradually coming to balance as the various groups recognized labor unions. Awards Become Important Throughout these years, while bitterness and strife among various groups and the producing companies have been endemic, while group fought group as well as the studios, the Academy has continued as one organization in Hollywood with a cooperative viewpoint and consistent purpose. Each year the Annual Awards of Merit have become of more importance to the Industry and PAGE TWELVE HOLLYWOOD SPECTATOR