Vintage 50s and 60s Annual Academy Awards Oscar shows: preserved and available ? (1 Viewer)

[ChristophNestel]

I wonder, in which way the past Academy Awards ceremonies are preserved and available for viewing today. To my knowledge The 25th Annual Academy Awards in 1953 hosted by Bob Hope was the first one to be transmitted live on NBC. Are at least the shows since 1953 are archived in full by NBC and available in any form on DVD or VHS (I would guess these shows are PD today) ? Were the Oscar shows also transmitted in Britain by the BBC from 1953 onwards ?

How about the Oscar shows before 1953 - I would guess only newsreel footage of certain highlights is still existing today but who knows ? Last night e.g. we got a glimpse of Danny Kaye at the 1952 Academy Awards.

As a lover of classic cinema, I imagine it to be wonderful and very interesting to watch the old Oscar shows from the 50s and early 60s today. But I didn't find anything helpful about this subject on the whole internet. Nobody else interested ? Thanks for your help !

 

[Hank Dearborn]

I believe there was a best of the oscars set that was put out a number of years ago although I'm not sure of the format. It may have been in the VHS days. I don't think they've done anything on DVD, which is surprising. As for preserving, I would be it's the academy itself that saved them, not the networks who are notoriously bad when it comes to that sort of thing.

 

[Lord Dalek]

The earliest to survive on color VT as far as I am aware is the 1969 Oscars.

 

[Charles Ellis]

Well, based on the clips I saw last night, I think ALL of the color shows exist, starting with the first from 1966. A few years back I saw a color tape of the 1971 telecast (for 1970 films) at the Museum of TV & Radio (now the Paley Center). Also, the 1952 ceremony was filmed in color (as the clip with Karl Malden winning for A Streetcar Named Desire showed last night). The following year the Oscars were telecast for the first time. Newsreel footage exists from the mid-30s until the newsreel format ended in the late 60s, and radio coverage exists on discs and tape. Obviously the Academy has kept everything regarding its TV broadcasts as it produces and owns the show each year.

 

[Corey3rd]

You should call the Academy's Library.