The Oscars

In England, Bette Davis turned in early at a country hotel, with orders that she was not to be disturbed. In Hollywood, the whole show was as formalized as a high-school commencement. The main actors of Academy Award night were gathered in a smoky nightclub on Manhattan's West 52nd Street. There, Nominee Jose Ferrer was host at a party to celebrate the 52nd birthday of Nominee Gloria Swanson, his co-star in Broadway's Twentieth Century. Host Ferrer never got a chance to deliver the speech he had planned in honor of Actress Swanson's Oscar. After the news came over the radio from Hollywood that Judy Holliday had won the best-actress award (for the dumb blonde in Born Yesterday), Gloria Swanson gave an impromptu message of her own to the nightclub audience: "Naturally, I'm disappointed. The Old Grey Mare has got to get going again, that's all. Tomorrow's another day. I'll have to start trying to get the next Oscar."

But Ferrer got his chance to make a speech, after all. As winner of the best-actor award (for Cyrano de Bergerac), he telephoned to the Hollywood gathering a message, broadcast across the U.S., which pointedly raised an echo of the movie industry's hottest current issue. Under subpoena by the House Un-American Activities Committee, Ferrer, who firmly denies any Communist ties, said: "This means more to me than an honor to an actor. I consider it a vote of confidence and an act of faith, and believe me, I'll not let you down."

Among the other winners for 1950:

P: Best supporting performances: Josephine Hull (Harvey) and George Sanders (All About Eve).

P: Best picture: All About Eve (20th Century-Fox), which also won five other Oscars (including two for Writer-Director Joe Mankiewicz).

P: Best cartoon: Stephen Bosustow's Gerald McBoing-Boing.

P: Best documentary feature: The Titan.

P: Darryl F. Zanuck, his third Irving Thalberg Memorial Award, for "consistent high-quality production in the last three years" (making a total of nine 1950 awards for 20th Century-Fox); Louis B. Mayer, a special award, for 44 years of pioneer work in the industry.

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