Hollywood and the motion picture industry

Ø 1) What first comes to your mind when you hear the word “Hollywood”? Where is it located? What internationally famous award does Hollywood present? Who is awarded with it?

Ø 2) Skim the text and say what the article is about.

(1) In the early 1900s, motion picture production companies from New York and New Jersey started moving to sunny California because of the good weather and longer days. Although electric lights existed at that time, none were powerful enough to adequately expose film; the best source of illumination for movie production was natural sunlight. Besides the moderate, dry climate, they were also drawn to the state because of its open spaces and wide variety of natural scenery.

(2) Another reason was the distance of Southern California from New Jersey, which made it more difficult for Thomas Edison to enforce his motion picture patents. At the time, Edison owned almost all the patents relevant to motion picture production and, in the East, movie producers acting independently of Edison’s Motion Picture Patents Company were often sued or enjoined by Edison and his agents. Thus, movie makers working on the West Coast could work independently of Edison’s control. If he sent agents to California, word would usually reach Los Angeles before the agents did and the movie makers could escape to nearby Mexico.

(3) The first movie studio in the Hollywood area, Nestor Studios, was founded in 1911 by Al Christie for David Horsley in an old building on the southeast corner of Sunset Boulevard and Gower Street. In the same year, another fifteen Independents settled in Hollywood. Creators of dreams began arriving by the thousands; cameras cranked away, capturing images of custard pies, bathing beauties, comedy and tragedy, villains leering, heroines with long curls and heroes to save the day; and they built a new world to replace the lemon groves.

(4) Thus, the fame of Hollywood came from its identity with the movies and movie stars; and the word “Hollywood, ” a word that, when spoken in any country on Earth, evokes worlds, even galaxies of memories, came to be colloquially used to refer to the motion picture industry.

(5) The Charlie Chaplin Studio was built in 1917. It has had many owners after 1953, including Kling Studios, who produced the Superman TV series with George Reeves; Red Skelton, who used the sound stages for his CBS TV variety show; and CBS, who filmed the TV series Perry Mason with Raymond Burr there. It is currently The Jim Henson Company, home of the Muppets.

(6) The famous Hollywood sign originally read “Hollywood land.” It was erected in 1923 to advertise a new housing development in the hills above Hollywood. For several years the sign was left to deteriorate. In 1949, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce stepped in and offered to remove the last four letters and repair the rest. The sign, located at the top of Mount Lee, is now a registered trademark and cannot be used without the permission of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, which also manages the venerable Walk of Fame.

(7) In the 1920s, Hollywood’s image had been badly damaged by a series of scandals involving famous film stars, and the leaders of the industry wanted to make film-making respectable again. The Academy’s aims were “to raise the cultural, educational and scientific standards” of the movies.

(8) The biggest show in Hollywood is the Academy “Oscars” awards. The Awards bring in part of the funds the Academy needs for the tasks of research and preservation. The first Academy Awards presentation ceremony took place on May 16, 1929 during a banquet held in the Blossom Room of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel on Hollywood Boulevard. Tickets cost USD $10.00 and there were 250 people in attendance.

(9) There are 5, 000 Academy members who vote each year on the awards. They are all people involved in the film industry and the Academy has different branches for actors, directors, producers, and writers. It also includes studio executives. Each branch puts forward five names as possible award winners (for best actors, best directors, and so on) but the whole Academy decides the best picture candidates. All the Academy members are then asked to vote in each category. Some special award winners are chosen by the Academy’s Board of Governors alone.

(10) It is said that only forty per cent of Academy members actually vote, and there are rumors that many give their voting cards away - to their secretaries, gardeners, friends, lovers and psychiatrists.

(11) Traditionally winners say a few words of thanks when they accept an Award. In 1942, the Irish actress Greer Garson made the longest acceptance speech in the Academy’s history. It lasted over one and a half hours. Actress Joan Fontaine, who had presented her with the award, gradually backed away to find a seat. Since then the speeches have been limited to three minutes, after which a light begins to flash.

(12) Made of gold-plated britannium on a black metal base, the statuette is 34 cm tall, weighs 3.85 kg and depicts a knight rendered in Art Deco style holding a crusader’s sword standing on a reel of film with five spokes. The five spokes each represent the original branches of the Academy: Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers, and Technicians. Since 1983, approximately 50 Oscars are made each year in Chicago, Illinois by manufacturer R.S. Owens & Company. In support of the American effort in World War II, the statuettes were made of plaster and were traded in for gold ones after the war had ended.

(13) The root of the name Oscar is contested. One biography claims origin is that of the Academy’s Executive Secretary, Margaret Herrick, who first saw the award in 1931 and made reference to the statuette reminding her of her “Uncle Oscar” (a nickname for her cousin Oscar Pierce).

Ø 3) Point out the ideas expressed in each paragraph.

Ø 4) Make up a brief outline of the text.