Where does the name “Oscars” come from?

Note: I drone on for longer than usual before getting to etymology in this one; jump to the paragraph beginning with “When you google” to skip the preamble

You probably read this title and thought “Oh, the Oscars! I forgot about that fun occasion. Certainly a welcome change of news from the anxiety-provoking bombardment I’m used to.” Well, not so fast. See, normally at around this time, pop culture sites would be buzzing with news about Oscar nominees, and a glitzy award ceremony to reveal the final results would be around the corner. But as with most large events, the Oscars have experienced an unprecedented delay due to C-19. The people that run it must really value all the glitz and glamor of the ceremony, because rather than just transitioning to a virtual format and sticking to the regular timeline, they delayed the event by about 2 months (from February 28 to April 25); oh, the only other time the Oscars were delayed was 40 years ago, and only by a day, and because of an assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan. So we’re truly in “uncharted territory” here people, as an important dude in the entertainment world remarked.

Okay okay, where’s the “So what?” Do I just have to sit here waiting for a while?

Yeah! See, because of the delayed event, they even extended the eligibility window by 2 months, meaning the regular December 31 submission deadline got pushed to February 28. And now nominations won’t be announced until March 15! If you ask me (and no one has), they should have just gone ahead with voting and announcements as scheduled; only ~3.5 thousand people can fit inside the event’s customary venue, and the number of live TV viewers has been falling as on-demand TV becomes the norm. All we really want to do is google “Best Picture” and specific category winners to see where they’re streaming. And maybe someday, to catch a couple in theatres.

Also, the cost to run the event is $44 million; nauseatingly, this is 3/4th the amount of Covid relief effort donations raised in 2020 by a nonprofit called The Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles. Throw in the cost for a couple dresses top actresses will sport (averaging $10 million each), and the Oscar outlay comfortably exceeds that of the relief assistance mentioned above. Given the Oscars’ home, L.A., is “one of the worst hit hotspots” in the U.S., could the entertainment industry have not donated some of the funds earmarked for its lavish event to pandemic relief and settled for a more modest fete this year?

Anyway, while we wait longer than usual to begin studying the nominees and eventually hear the winners, let’s use the time to learn about why we call this annual event the “Oscars.”

When you google “The Oscars,” sites about “The Academy Awards” come up; the Wikipedia page begins with “The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars…” So what’s with this cold, blasé name? No one has ever said “let’s watch the Academy Awards.” Well, since the awards are given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the “official” name is the Academy Awards.

So there was probably a legendary industry figure called Oscar in whose honor the event was named, right? Simple as that?

Nope! This is Hollywood. Things are a lot more colorful. In fact, “when the Oscar nickname first became popular, there were many who were eager to take credit for coining it.” As far as most sources go, there still isn’t conclusive information regarding its origin.

For starters, let’s remember that “Oscar” is the “name” of the shiny, gold statuette that’s officially called “The Academy Award of Merit” (the thing actors pretend to hold up in front of a mirror when they perfect their unrehearsed speeches). Since the night is all about people getting these coveted trophies, the event as a whole is referred to as “The Oscars.” And no, the statue was not made in honor of anyone named Oscar; it was modeled after a Mexican model and actor Emilio “El Indio” Fernández.

There are a handful of competing theories about the nickname’s origin, but two seem to have garnered the most support. The first is that endorsed by the Academy itself, and stated on its official website:

“While the origins of the moniker aren’t clear, a popular story has it that upon seeing the trophy for the first time, Academy librarian (and eventual executive director) Margaret Herrick remarked that it resembled her Uncle Oscar.”

Anticlimactic? Yes.

The website adds that “The Academy didn’t adopt the nickname officially until 1939, but it was widely known enough by 1934 that Hollywood columnist Sidney Skolsky used it in a piece referring to Katharine Hepburn’s first Best Actress win.”

Now this Skolsky guy — a Hollywood gossip columnist in the 30s — was like “Wait a minute. I didn’t just use it, I coined it!” (or so it seems).

Skolsky’s claim is the other prevalent story. According to his version, he mockingly (and originally) referred to Oscar Hammerstein, a theater impresario and cigar manufacturer, when he wrote “Katharine Hepburn wasn’t present to receive her Oscar” in a column following the first Academy Awards.

What was the joke with this Hammerstein guy? Honestly, it’s quite random and like the competing theory, offers an anticlimactic ending at best. But the main point seems to be that Hammerstein was often mocked for snobbery, and his name had become synonymous with hoity-toity snob. As Skolsky explained in his memoir, “It was my first Academy Awards night when I gave the gold statuette a name. I wasn’t trying to make it legitimate. The snobbery of that particular Academy Award annoyed me. I wanted to make the gold statuette human” and “The word was a crowd of people. I’d show them, acting so high and mighty about their prize. I’d give it a name. A name that would erase their phony dignity.”

There has been a fair amount of drama in getting to the bottom of his claim, with librarians at Yale Law School jumping into the investigation as late as 2018; things remain suspenseful till date, with facts to support and refute both narratives still alive.

Personally — despite its relative lack of evidence -, I like the explanation afforded by one irate columnist in 2006: “The film-makers who founded the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1927 hoped their clumsy moniker would bestow gravitas on their disreputable profession. Their awards ceremony, however, soon cried out for something warmer and more showbiz. Oscar fitted the bill and, in keeping with the myth-making of the movie business, is now the object of a number of heartwarming stories of origin.”

Fun fact: The origin of the name “Hollywood” itself is also a riddle.