Getting Ready for Oscar!

These are pictures we took this morning along Hollywood Blvd. in front of the Kodak Theater showing all the chaos and prep for the Oscar's. We wanted to share…

What can we say… can't get enough of the Oscar's!

These fabulous vintage prints are from a collection created by Nicholas Volpe, a distinguished artist who had a lifetime contract to do portraits each year of those awarded the Oscar for best actor and the best actress by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.

Released in 1962 as a collectors' set, this series includes portraits of winners for every year from 1928 through 1961.

Oscar, Oscar, Oscar…

Although this year is the Academy's 83rd year, we thought we'd share this 75th Anniversary Commemorative Poster from our movie poster archives.

Oscar Night is Almost Here.

We're just eleven days away from Oscar Night. This is its 83rd year! We decided to look back at some of the winners of the past. In our Attic we have dozens of programs that were printed for The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The event these were printed for was the Academy's movie screening series titled, "Facets of the Diamond: 75 Years of Best Picture Winners", shown at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater. This very cool series began showing in May 2002, starting with the very first Oscar winner, Wings from 1927-28. Then in chronological order, a different Oscar winning movie was screened each Monday night, following up to the 75th Academy Awards held on March 23, 2003. Here are a few of those programs from our archives.

The Apartment. 1960 Best Picture Winner.

Tome Jones. 1963 Best Picture Winner.

A Man For All Seasons. 1966 Best Picture Winner.

The Sting. 1973 Best Picture Winner.

Amadeus. 1984 Best Picture Winner.

The Last Emperor. 1987 Best Picture Winner.

The Silence of the Lambs. 1991 Best Picture Winner.

American Beauty. 1999 Best Picture Winner.

This is what the other side of each program looks like. Each is printed with some really interesting descriptions and details about that Oscar winning movie.

American Beauty. Back-side.

What is your favorite Oscar winning movie?

Happy Valentine's Day!

We found this charming, vintage Valentine's Day Card dated 1926. Brings back memories of handmade cards with doilies and construction paper. We love the inside, too! How sweet.

May your Valentine's Day be especially Happy!

A little bit of romance?

We've been wanting to share this. And with Valentine's Day almost here,
it's the perfect moment.

Found in our archive of high school and college yearbooks dating from the 30's
through the 50's, this letter and newspaper clipping caught our eye, our imaginations... and our hearts! It seems this young woman, a Norma Fink, had quite the admirer.

You gotta' love his devilish candor. He was smitten!

And he sent this poem along, too. 

Well, in spite of that poem, she appears to have been quite accomplished in her field of law. She became the first female prosecutor in Texas. Later she became an entertainment attorney in Los Angeles. Among her clients were Sam Peckinpah, Christopher Lee and Slim Pickens, to name few. 

And no, she never did marry the man who wrote her the letter. 

You think it was the poem?

A Bit of Super Bowl History.

Our intrepid collector of memorabilia, and avid sports fan Andy, heard this on the Mike & Mike Show on ESPN Radio this past Monday, January 31st.

Pat Summerall, legendary NFL player and announcer, told a great story about his part in broadcasting the very first Super Bowl in 1967 at The Los Angeles Coliseum. According to Summerall, the game which was then known as the First AFL-NFL World Championship Game, was considered little more than "an afterthought". It was  broadcast by both NBC and CBS. The only time two networks have done so simultaneously.

Summerall and former Giants teammate Frank Gifford, (later married to Kathy Lee Gifford), were sharing broadcasting duties for CBS, Summerall announcing the first half while Gifford worked the sideline. At halftime they switched places with Summerall going to the sideline. As soon as he reached the sideline, he was was told to go ask Vince Lombardi, head coach of the Green Bay Packers, to please redo the kickoff because the TV cameras had missed it while interviewing Bob Hope! He refused, but someone else spoke to Lombardi and they had an official "do-over" for the second half kickoff, of the game that later became known as Super Bowl I.

You can hear Pat Summerall discuss the 1967 Super Bowl I, his part in the 1958 NFL Championship game known as "The Greatest Game Ever Played", and more in the complete interview here.

We want to pass the word along...

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