The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was an invention of Louis B. Mayer. Mayer wasn’t an “artist.” Mayer was a businessman and the co-founder of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) Studios. In the late 1920s, he recognized that unions would soon cut into his bottom line. To stave off the rise of unions in filmmaking, Mayer brought top producers, actors, and “Arts and Sciences” guys together and sweet-talked them into patting themselves on the back. It likely wasn’t a hard sell. Actors love actors – particularly the one in the mirror.
Douglas Fairbanks Sr. was elected president. What was next? Actors needed a vehicle to publicly pat themselves on the back – so the Academy Awards was invented. The first back-patting event took place in 1929 in the Blossom Room of the Roosevelt Hotel. It was a bit of an afterthought, but really a natural…
