http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kplu/local-kplu-953939.mp3
And the winner is…
Music and movies have pretty much always gone together. What would Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid be without “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head”? Try to imagine The Wizard of Oz without “Over the Rainbow”. Or Blue Velvet without “Blue Moon”. Okay stop imagining now.
It doesn’t take a good movie to produce an Oscar winning song. For example, The Poseidon Adventure produced the Oscar winner “The Morning After”, and Towering Inferno gave us “We May Never Love Like This Again.”
No one knows exactly why the Academy Award is called “an Oscar”, though some interesting theories abound. Bette Davis claims she named it after her husband Oscar Nelson. Another story goes that the statue resembled the King of Sweden and Norway, King Oscar.
People who can vote for Academy Awards must be members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and there are not many. In 2007 only about 6,000 people could vote for the awards.
The 83rd Annual Academy Awards ceremony is Sunday Feb. 27, and some of the films up for awards are Black Swan, The King's Speech, The Social Network, and True Grit.
POP QUIZ
1. Which cartoon character won an Oscar for best original song?
a. Bugs Bunny
b. Foghorn Leghorn
c. Pinocchio
d. Fritz the Cat
2. What Oscar winning score must be whistled?
a. The Godfather
b. Shaft
c. Purple Rain
d. Bridge Over the River Kwai
3. Who was the first rock band to win an Oscar?
a. The Fugs
b. The Beatles
c. Herman’s Hermits
d. Spinal Tap
4. Name 4 people named Oscar, and your relationship with them
See Answers below
Answers:
- Pinocchio, for “When You Wish Upon a Star” in 1940, although he did not attend the award ceremony.
- Bridge Over The River Kwai. Whistling is a universal language.
- The Beatles won in 1970 for “Let it Be”
- Let’s see, there’s Oscar Mayer, I’ve eaten some hotdogs…Oscar De La Renta, but as far as I know I’ve never worn any of his designs…my Uncle Oscar lives in a retirement home in Florida…I’ll get back to you…