Hollywood's Oldest Annual Awards Are...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is actually a Johnny-com-lately to the annual movie awards scene. It was preceded not only by The New York Times Best Pictures and also the highly touted annual Film Daily Awards, but the super-prestigious Photoplay Gold Medal Award.

The Photoplay Gold Medal Award was unique. Established in 1920, it started 8 years earlier than The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Not only was the Photoplay Gold Medal Award the oldest award in the motion picture industry, it was the only award voted by movie-goers themselves and not by industry professionals (with whom, of course, you can bracket critics).

Photoplay was America's leading fan magazine. It sold around three million copies every month! For the year 1920, the magazine’s multi-million readers voted "Humoresque" as Best Picture. Following selections were "Tol’able David" (1921), "Robin Hood" (1922), "The Covered Wagon" (1923), "Abraham Lincoln" (1924), "The Big Parade" (1925), "Beau Geste" (1926), "Seventh Heaven" (1927), "Four Sons" (1928), "Disraeli" (1929), "All Quiet on the Western Front" (1930), "Cimarron" (1931), "Smilin’ Through" (1932), "Little Women" (1933), "The Barretts of Wimpole Street" (1934), "Naughty Marietta" (1935), "San Francisco" (1936), "Captains Courageous" (1937), "Sweethearts" (1938), "Gone With The Wind" (1939).

At this point, it seemed to the magazine’s editors, that their awards were now under a significant challenge from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. As millions of ballots had to be counted by hand, it seemed the cost was no longer outweighed by publicity for the magazine. It was therefore decided to discontinue the awards.

Readers immediately protested! And protested in such volume over the next couple of years that the awards were re-instated (in a significantly revised form) in 1944.

It's interesting to compare the Photoplay awards with those presented by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, as detailed in my book, "Award-Winning Films of the 1930s". (See below).

Interestingly, the only occasions in which Photoplay’s and the Academy’s voters coincided in their Best Picture selections were in 1930 ("All Quiet on the Western Front"), 1931 ("Cimarron") and 1939 ("Gone With The Wind").
Another fascinating fact is that no less than two of these multi-million movie-goers’ Best Picture awards were directed to films that Academy voters failed to even nominate: "Four Sons" (1928), and "Sweethearts" (1938).

Award-Winning Films of the 1930s   (Rated: E)

ASIN: 1411614321
ID #109681

Product Type: Book
Reviewer: johnhowardreid
Review Rated: ASR

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