50 years of Oscar flubs

The Academy Awards will celebrate two birthdays this year: the 75th anniversary of the ceremony itself and the 50th anniversary of its first television broadcast. Thanks to the magic of live TV, we can look back fondly at 50 years of Oscar gaffes (with a little help from Mason Wiley and Damien Bona's very entertaining book "Inside Oscar"). ...

1958: The ceremony ended with the evening's winners and presenters singing a hearty chorus of "There's No Business Like Show Business" — until producer Jerry Wald frantically signaled to the stage that 20 minutes of airtime remained. "Another 20 times!" yelled Jerry Lewis, attempting to lead the chorus. Couples paired up on stage in an impromptu dance; Dean Martin waltzed over to the podium and grabbed a spare Oscar. Lewis grabbed a microphone and extemporized, then seized conductor Lionel Newman's baton and led the orchestra. Audience members left in droves, and as Lewis began to play the trumpet — badly — NBC cut the show off, filling in the remaining time with a short film about pistols.

1961: If you think Oscar post-shows are boring now, consider this version. Mitzi Gaynor and Wendell Corey cheerfully announced, live from the press room, that they'd be interviewing brand-new Oscar winners Elizabeth Taylor and Burt Lancaster. "I'm so glad they all won," said Corey, stalling for time as he looked around the room. "Do you see any winners?" Gaynor asked. "I don't see any." So much for the post-show — ABC cut them off right there.

1972: Clint Eastwood gamely walked onstage to replace absent host Charlton Heston (who was delayed by a flat tire on his way to the show), and fumbled his way through an ad-lib: "This was supposed to be Charlton Heston's part of the show, but for some reason he's not here ... so who do they get? A guy who hasn't said three lines in 12 movies." He read some scripted banter about Moses and "The Ten Commandments" until Heston strolled on, to Eastwood's all-too-obvious relief.

1973: As David Niven began to introduce presenter Elizabeth Taylor, a skinny, naked man streaked behind him, flashing a peace sign to the camera. He was Robert Opal, who had gotten backstage through use of a phony press pass. Niven displayed aplomb at the unexpected interruption, noting, "Just think, the only laugh that man will probably ever get is for stripping and showing off his shortcomings."

1976: Elizabeth Taylor, in honor of the U.S. bicentennial, concluded the show by inviting the audience and orchestra to sing "America the Beautiful" along with her and Gene Kelly. The orchestra struck up, the USC marching band emerged from the pit, and the winners and presenters surged onto the stage, but only Kelly sang — apparently Taylor didn't know the words. Oscar winner Jack Nicholson and his "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" cohorts, from the stage, laughed hysterically.

1978: During a production number accompanying a nominated song, the waltz from "The Slipper and the Rose," a loud noise was heard — a satin drop fell on a dancer, who was consequently engulfed in fabric but kept on dancing like a trooper. Host Bob Hope later commented, "For a minute there, I thought my girdle snapped."

1987: Seventy-eight-year-old Bette Davis, presenting the best-actor award to an absent Paul Newman, was reluctant to relinquish the microphone to Robert Wise, who was accepting on Newman's behalf. The two of them awkwardly bantered, interrupting each other, until the show director decided to turn off the mike, cutting to Chevy Chase and Goldie Hawn on the other side of the stage. Hawn began, "To present the award for best picture," but was distracted by Wise and Davis and asked, "Are you guys done yet?" She then dissolved in laughter and couldn't compose herself; Chase had to step in with the intro.

1989: Yes, this was the Snow White year. Played by aspiring actress Eileen Bowman (heard anything from her lately?), the Disney character opened the show by singing "I Only Have Eyes for You," forcing hapless front-row occupants (among them Michelle Pfeiffer, Martin Landau, Tom Hanks and Sigourney Weaver) to hold her hand, and boogying with Rob Lowe to "Proud Mary." Within days the Walt Disney Co. sued the academy for copyright infringement, and show producer Allan Carr never worked for the academy again.

1992: Jack Palance, in a moment of misguided virility after winning the best-supporting-actor award, dropped to the floor and started doing push-ups during his acceptance speech. This led to a string of witticisms from host Billy Crystal throughout the evening (the best, at the conclusion of a kid-filled production number, "Jack Palance is the father of all of these children.")

1999: Tap dancing to "Saving Private Ryan"? Calisthenics to "The Thin Red Line"? Flamenco for "Life Is Beautiful"? It was all in Debbie Allen's much-maligned dance medley honoring the best-picture nominees — and across the country as one, Oscar watchers headed for the refrigerator. Later, they may have wished to crawl under it, as Roberto Benigni, accepting his best-actor award, shrieked, "My body is in tumult ... I would like to be Jupiter and kidnap everybody and lie down in the firmament making love to everybody."

You can come out from under that refrigerator now. It's Oscar time.

Moira Macdonald:206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com