And the Oscar Goes to... (1939) Quiz

Answer: There was no official host.

The 1939 Academy Awards was the first time that the event was run without an official host. The ceremony was held at the Biltmore Hotel (in the Biltmore Bowl) in Los Angeles, California.

Frank Capra hosted in 1936, George Jessel in 1937, and Bob Burns in 1938.

Answer: Boys Town

In "Boys Town" (1938), Spencer Tracy plays the part of Father Edward J. Flanagan, a man of the cloth who is convicted with a passion to help delinquent boys after taking the confession of a death row inmate. Hearing of the man's terrible childhood, Father Flanagan returns to his home in Omaha, where he establishes a home dedicated to boys like that, calling it Boys Town. The truly troublesome boy who challenges Father Flanagan's efforts is delinquent Whitey Marsh, played by Mickey Rooney.

Spencer Tracy began acting in college, and professionally cut his teeth on the stage before moving over to film. His first credited screen appearance was in a short film called "The Strong Arm", with his first feature length film called "Up the River". Both were released in 1930. In all, Tracy had 78 acting credits over his 37-year career.

Answer: Kentucky

"Kentucky" is essentially a Romeo and Juliet story, with two families that have been feuding since the Civil War, when a young Peter Goodwin watched Union Captain John Dillon kill his father and confiscate their family's prize horses. Seventy-five years later, Dillon's grandson meets Goodwin's niece Sally, beginning a romantic relationship. Surrounding it all is the setting of horse breeding, and preparation for the Kentucky derby.

This was Brennan's second acting Oscar, after receiving his first Best Supporting Actor award for 1936's "Come and Get It". Over his nearly 50-year acting career, Brennan accrued 243 acting credits.

Answer: Bette Davis

"Jezebel" (1938) was adapted from the 1933 play of the same name by Owen Davis, Sr. Davis' character, Julie Marsden, is a spoiled southern belle in New Orleans in 1852, and when she doesn't get her way she makes a shameful scene, embarrassing her fiancé (played by Henry Fonda), who ultimately breaks off the engagement. She tries to win him back, but to no avail.

Bette Davis won her second Oscar for Best Actress for this role in "Jezebel"; her first was for "Dangerous" (1935). This was also her third nomination for Best Actress. In all, Davis would go on to have 123 acting credits, over 60 years of acting.

Answer: False

It was actually for the movie "Jezebel", which also claimed the Best Actress Oscar (as mentioned in the previous question). Fay Bainter's character, Aunt Belle Massey, is the lady who takes Julie Marsden in for a time while a Yellow Fever epidemic is being fought in the region. She tries hard to keep Julie on the straight and narrow, even going so far as to plead to Julie's fiancé, Pres Dillard, that he should beat some sense into her.

Fay Bainter began her acting career as a traveling stage actress, appearing on stage for the first time at age 14 in 1908. She did not move into film until 1934 with her first movie being "This Side of Heaven". Over her 51-year film career she garnered 65 acting credits.

Answer: Boys Town

"Boys Town" starred Spencer Tracy as Father Flanagan, with a supporting cast that included Mickey Rooney, Henry Hull, Leslie Fenton, Gene Reynolds, Edward Norris, Addison Richards, and Minor Watson, just to name a few. The story centers around the home for underprivileged youth that Flanagan sets up, along with the difficulties that are faced with certain youth who get involved with crime. Even when faced with opposition by others, Flanagan fights for Boys Town, rather than see it closed down.

Isadore "Dore" Schary, one of the writers, eventually became president of MGM Studios.

Answer: Pygmalion

"Pygmalion" (1938) was based on Shaw's play of the same name from 1912. In the story, Henry Higgins, a professor of phonetics, makes a wager that he can train a Cockney girl (Eliza Doolittle) to pass for a duchess in high society circles. The name of the play (and film) comes from the character in Greek mythology who fell in love with a statue he had created, which then came to life.

"Pygmalion" the play was adapted for the screen by George Bernard Shaw himself, along with Ian Dalrymple, Cecil Lewis and W. P. Lipscomb, all of them accepting the Oscar.

In the film, Professor Higgins was played by Leslie Howard, while Eliza Doolittle was played by Wendy Hiller.

Answer: Walt Disney

Walt Disney nearly bankrupted his fledgling company to produce "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", actually running out of money and needing to borrow money to complete it. The idea of a feature-length animated film was scoffed at by his peers, and the project was called 'Disney's Folly'.

In the end, the film was premiered on December 21st to a delighted audience. It received a wider screen release in February of 1938, earning more than $8 million, a veritable fortune in 1938.

Answer: Frank Capra

Frank Capra came to the United States from Italy with his family in 1903. He was five years old at the time. He did not get into the film industry until the age of 25, when he essentially bluffed his way into a directing job. After a few years doing various film industry-related jobs, he was leaning towards writing.

Capra began to achieve success with Columbia Pictures over a number of years, and then in the 1930s his directing began to dominate the field. His 1934 film "It Happened One Night" was the first film to win the Big Five of the Oscars (Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Story, Best Director, and Best Picture).

Over Frank Capra's 41-year, he directed 54 films, produced 43, and had 44 writing credits.

Answer: You Can't Take It With You

"You Can't Take It With You" starred James Stewart (as Tony Kirby) and Jean Arthur (as Alice), as well as Lionel Barrymore (Alice's grandfather) and Edward Arnold (Tony's father Anthony). The film was the highest-grossing movie of the year.

As alluded to in the question, the relationship between Tony and Alice causes complications in the movie between the two families. Anthony P. Kirby, the owner of a munitions company with a government-granted monopoly, wants to develop a 12-block area with the view to putting a competitor out of business. The snag is that one house owner refuses to sell. That owner happens to be Martin Vanderhof (Alice's grandfather). When Tony asks Alice to marry him, he is not aware of the relationship between Alice and Mr. Vanderhof.