Buildup begins as Oscars arrive
2006-02-03 08:46
Los Angeles - The Oscars swept into Hollywood on Thursday - literally, with 50 of the famed golden statuettes swooping into town on a special flight ahead of cinema's biggest night.
This year's crop of 50 gold-plated statuettes, which are 34.29cm tall and steeped in movie lore, will be handed out at a glittering ceremony in just over one month's time, on March 5.
The "golden guys" arrived at Los Angeles' airport on a special flight from New York, where they have been on exhibition, escorted by a bodyguard of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences bosses.
The gongs, which arrived in Los Angeles just two days after the nominations for this year's awards were unveiled, will be kept under lock and key until February 10, when they will go on display for three weeks.
When the exhibit, held near the Kodak Theatre where the Oscars take place, ends on March 3, the statuettes will go back into hiding until they are polished up for the 78th annual Academy Awards ceremony.
Oscars seeped in history, tradition
Since the first Oscar ceremony on May 16 1929, a total of 2 578 Oscar statuettes have been handed out. Since 1982, the Oscars have been cast, moulded and polished every year by RS Owens and Co in Chicago.
The Oscar statuette was designed by Cedric Gibbons, chief art director at MGM studios in the 1920s and 30s and sculpted by Los Angeles artist George Stanley.
It depicts a knight holding a sword and standing on top of a film reel with five spokes - signifying the original branches of the Academy: actors, directors, producers, technicians and writers.
The statuette is made of Britannium and plated in copper, nickel, silver and 24-carat gold.
The diminutive statuettes, which will be awarded to winners in 24 categories, have the power to transform the careers of those who win them.
Each bares an empty nameplate onto which the name of the winner will be engraved after the winners' envelopes are opened at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre early next month.
The annual "flight of the Oscars" has become an Academy Awards tradition, one of the milestones of the final days of the race for cinema's top awards.