This Day in History:
First Academy Awards Ceremony May 16, 1929 The first awards ceremony
was thought up by MGM mogul, Louis B. Mayer. Styled more as a dinner party
than how we know the Oscars today,
the event included about 250 people. Before this first ceremony
was conducted, the winners
had already been announced. The purpose of the ceremony was
to honor the awardees and to present
them with their Oscar statuettes. 'Wings' and 'Sunrise' were the
first films to be awarded as
the best films of the year. Emil Jannings won the Best Actor
award and Janet Gaynor won
in the Best Actress category.