The Origins Of 6 Features Common In Films

6. The Oscars Were Started To Prevent Unionisation In Hollywood

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The name sounds grand, timeless, and reeks of unrivalled prestige. That was the exact effect Louis B. Mayer was going for when he started the organisation in 1927. The Academy awards the Oscars to outstanding works in film every February.

The Academy’s founding history is a lot murkier though. Mayer was concerned by the rise of construction unions in Hollywood. He was a co-founder of MGM and the movie boom that accompanied the roaring ‘20s had made him an incredibly wealthy man. Then his stage hands started unionising. Mayer worried that “the talent” (writers, actors and directors) might also get bitten by the union bug. As far as he was concerned, this would only lead to insurmountable labour problems.

So Mayer and a few studio-owner buddies started the Academy in 1927 to pre-empt any further unionisation attempts in Tinsel town. Two years later, they started issuing awards as a way of cleaning up the industry’s image in the public eye. Stars were just as wild in the 1920s as they are today. Their only disadvantage was living in a society that was a lot more prudish than we are.

The awards were good twist and they gave the industry some severely absent prestige. Mayer lost the unionisation fight with the onset of the Great Depression but he tried. Hard.