Academy Awards Televised for 1st Time (March 19, 1953)
The bane of Hollywood's existence, television, was embraced tonight as the Academy Awards was televised for the first time - on the occasion of Oscar's 25th anniversary. With Bob Hope serving as master of ceremonies, it aired on March 19, 1953 on NBC at 9:30PM on a Thursday evening. Some awards were presented in Hollywood, others in New York.
Gary Cooper won his second Best Actor Oscar, this time for High Noon (John Wayne accepted for him), Shirley Booth won Best Actress for Come Back, Little Sheba and Cecil B. DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth won for Best Picture (many film buffs consider it one of most undeserving movies to get an Oscar).
Today, the Academy Awards is jokingly referred to as the Gay Super Bowl, but it's doubtful a playful moniker such as that was attached to the Oscar telecast back in the 1950s, a time when homosexuals were hardly a topic of everyday conversation.
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