12th Academy Awards

The 12th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best in film for 1939. The ceremony was held on February 29, 1940, at a banquet in the Coconut Grove at The Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.^[1] It was hosted by Bob Hope (in his first of nineteen turns as host).

David O. Selznick's production Gone with the Wind received the most nominations of the year with thirteen. Other films receiving multiple nominations included: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington; Wuthering Heights; Goodbye, Mr. Chips; Stagecoach; Love Affair; The Wizard of Oz; The Rains Came; The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex; Ninotchka; Of Mice and Men; and Dark Victory.

This was the first year in which an Academy Award (also known as an Oscar) was awarded in the category of special effects. (Previously, however, "special achievement" awards for effects had occasionally been conferred.) This was also the first time that two awards for cinematography were presented (one for a color film and another for a black-and-white film).

Hattie McDaniel became the first African-American to receive an Academy Award, winning in the Best Supporting Actress category for Gone with the Wind.

Sidney Howard became the first posthumous winner for his screenplay for Gone with the Wind.

Academy Awards of Merit

AMPAS presented Academy Awards of Merit in twenty categories. Nominees for each award are listed below; award winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface.

Outstanding Production	Best Director
Gone With the Wind Dark Victory Goodbye, Mr. Chips Love Affair Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Ninotchka Of Mice and Men Stagecoach The Wizard of Oz Wuthering Heights	Victor Fleming – Gone With the Wind Frank Capra – Mr. Smith Goes to Washington John Ford – Stagecoach Sam Wood – Goodbye, Mr. Chips William Wyler – Wuthering Heights
Best Actor	Best Actress
Robert Donat – Goodbye, Mr. Chips Clark Gable – Gone With the Wind Laurence Olivier – Wuthering Heights Mickey Rooney – Babes in Arms James Stewart – Mr. Smith Goes to Washington	Vivien Leigh – Gone With the Wind Bette Davis – Dark Victory Irene Dunne – Love Affair Greta Garbo – Ninotchka Greer Garson – Goodbye, Mr. Chips
Best Supporting Actor	Best Supporting Actress
Thomas Mitchell – Stagecoach Brian Aherne – Juarez Harry Carey – Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Brian Donlevy – Beau Geste Claude Rains – Mr. Smith Goes to Washington	Hattie McDaniel – Gone With the Wind Olivia de Havilland – Gone With the Wind Geraldine Fitzgerald – Wuthering Heights Edna May Oliver – Drums Along the Mohawk Maria Ouspenskaya – Love Affair
Best Story	Best Screenplay
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington – Lewis R. Foster Love Affair – Mildred Cram and Leo McCarey Bachelor Mother – Felix Jackson Ninotchka – Melchior Lengyel Young Mr. Lincoln – Lamar Trotti	Gone With the Wind – Sidney Howard Ninotchka – Charles Brackett, Walter Reisch, and Billy Wilder Mr. Smith Goes to Washington – Sidney Buchman Wuthering Heights – Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur Goodbye, Mr. Chips – Eric Maschwitz, R. C. Sherriff and Claudine West
Best Live Action Short Film, One-Reel	Best Live Action Short Film, Two-Reel
Busy Little Bears – Paramount Pictures Information Please – RKO Radio Prophet Without Honor – MGM Sword Fishing – Warner Bros.	Sons of Liberty – Warner Bros. Drunk Driving – MGM Five Times Five – RKO Radio
Best Animated Short Film	Best Score
The Ugly Duckling – Walt Disney Productions and RKO Radio Detouring America – Warner Bros. Peace on Earth – MGM The Pointer – Walt Disney Productions and RKO Radio	Stagecoach – Richard Hageman, Frank Harling, John Leipold, and Leo Shuken The Great Victor Herbert – Phil Boutelje and Arthur Lange Of Mice and Men – Aaron Copland Babes in Arms – Roger Edens and George E. Stoll She Married a Cop – Cy Feuer Intermezzo – Lou Forbes The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex – Erich Wolfgang Korngold The Hunchback of Notre Dame – Alfred Newman They Shall Have Music – Alfred Newman First Love – Charles Previn Swanee River – Louis Silvers Mr. Smith Goes to Washington – Dimitri Tiomkin Way Down South – Victor Young
Best Original Score	Best Song
The Wizard of Oz – Herbert Stothart Nurse Edith Cavell – Anthony Collins Of Mice and Men – Aaron Copland The Man in the Iron Mask – Lud Gluskin and Lucien Moraweck Eternally Yours – Werner Janssen The Rains Came – Alfred Newman Wuthering Heights – Alfred Newman Dark Victory – Max Steiner Gone With the Wind – Max Steiner Golden Boy – Victor Young Gulliver's Travels – Victor Young Man of Conquest – Victor Young	"Over the Rainbow" from The Wizard of Oz – Music by Harold Arlen; Lyric by E. Y. Harburg "Faithful Forever" from Gulliver's Travels – Music by Ralph Rainger; Lyric by Leo Robin "I Poured My Heart Into a Song" from Second Fiddle – Music and Lyric by Irving Berlin "Wishing" from Love Affair – Music and Lyric by Buddy de Sylva
Best Sound Recording	Best Art Direction
When Tomorrow Comes – Bernard B. Brown, Universal Studio Sound Department Mr. Smith Goes to Washington – John Livadary, Columbia Studio Sound Department Goodbye, Mr. Chips – A. W. Watkins, Denham Studio Sound Department Of Mice and Men – Elmer A. Raguse, Hal Roach Studio Sound Department Balalaika – Douglas Shearer, MGM Studio Sound Department The Great Victor Herbert – Loren L. Ryder, Paramount Studio Sound Department Man of Conquest – Charles L. Lootens, Republic Studio Sound Department The Hunchback of Notre Dame – John Aalberg, RKO Radio Studio Sound Department Gone With the Wind – Thomas T. Moulton, Samuel Goldwyn Studio Sound Department The Rains Came – E. H. Hansen, Fox Studio Sound Department The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex – Nathan Levinson, Warner Bros. Studio Sound Department	Gone With the Wind – Lyle Wheeler Mr. Smith Goes to Washington – Lionel Banks Wuthering Heights – James Basevi The Rains Came – William S. Darling and George Dudley Beau Geste – Hans Dreier and Robert Odell The Wizard of Oz – Cedric Gibbons and William A. Horning The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex – Anton Grot Captain Fury – Charles D. Hall Man of Conquest – John Victor Mackay First Love – Jack Otterson and Martin Obzina Love Affair – Van Nest Polglase and Alfred Herman Stagecoach – Alexander Toluboff
Best Cinematography, Black and White	Best Cinematography, Color
Wuthering Heights – Gregg Toland Gunga Din – Joseph H. August Lady of the Tropics – Norbert Brodine Juarez – Tony Gaudio Stagecoach – Bert Glennon The Rains Came – Arthur Charles Miller The Great Victor Herbert – Victor Milner Intermezzo – Gregg Toland First Love – Joseph Valentine Of Mice and Men – George Folsey Only Angels Have Wings – Joseph Walker	Gone With the Wind – Ernest Haller and Ray Rennahan The Four Feathers – Georges Périnal and Osmond Borradaile The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex – Sol Polito and W. Howard Greene Drums Along the Mohawk – Ray Rennahan and Bert Glennon The Wizard of Oz – Hal Rosson The Mikado – William V. Skall and Bernard Knowles
Best Film Editing	Best Special Effects
Gone With the Wind – Hal C. Kern and James E. Newcom Goodbye, Mr. Chips – Charles Frend Mr. Smith Goes to Washington – Gene Havlick and Al Clark Stagecoach – Otho Lovering and Dorothy Spencer The Rains Came – Barbara McLean	The Rains Came – E. H. Hansen and Fred Sersen Gone With the Wind – John R. Cosgrove, Fred Albin and Arthur Johns Only Angels Have Wings – Roy Davidson and Edwin C. Hahn Union Pacific – Farciot Edouart, Gordon Jennings and Loren Ryder The Wizard of Oz – A. Arnold Gillespie and Douglas Shearer The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex – Byron Haskin and Nathan Levinson Topper Takes a Trip – Roy Seawright

Academy Honorary Awards

Academy Honorary Awards were presented to:

• Douglas Fairbanks
• Motion Picture Relief Fund
• William Cameron Menzies
• The Technicolor Company

Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award

The Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award was presented to:

• David O. Selznick

Academy Juvenile Award

The Academy Juvenile Award was presented to:

• Judy Garland for The Wizard of Oz

Films receiving multiple nominations and awards

The lead-up to the awards ceremony

Prior to the announcement of nominations, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and Gone with the Wind were the two films most widely tipped to receive a significant number of nominations. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington premiered in Washington with a premier party hosted by the National Press Club who found themselves portrayed unfavourably in the film; the film's theme of political corruption was condemned and the film was denounced in the U.S. Senate. Joseph P. Kennedy, the U.S. Ambassador to Britain urged President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the studio head Harry Cohn to cease showing the film overseas because "it will cause our allies to view us in an unfavourable light". Among those who campaigned in favour of the film were Hedda Hopper who declared it "as great as Lincoln's Gettysburg speech", while Sheilah Graham called it the "best talking picture ever made". Screen Book magazine stated that it "should win every Academy Award". Frank Capra, the director, and James Stewart, the film's star were considered front runners to win awards.

Gone with the Wind premiered in December 1939 with a Gallup poll taken shortly before its release concluding that 56.5 million people intended to see the film. The New York Film Critics Award was given to Wuthering Heights after thirteen rounds of balloting had left the voters deadlocked between Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and Gone with the Wind. The press were divided in their support for the nominated actors. Time magazine favoured Vivien Leigh and used her portrait for their Christmas 1939 edition, and the Hollywood Reporter predicted a possible win by Leigh and Laurence Olivier with the comment that they "are, for the moment, just about the most sacred of all Hollywood's sacred cows". West Coast newspapers, particularly in Los Angeles, predicted Bette Davis would win for Dark Victory. Observing that Davis had achieved four box office successes during the year, one paper wrote, "Hollywood will stick by its favourite home-town girl, Bette Davis".

The ceremony

Capra was the incumbent President of the Academy, and in a first for Academy Awards ceremonies, sold the rights for the event to be filmed. Warner Bros. obtained the rights, for $30,000 to film the banquet and the presentation of the awards, to use as a short, and it was shot by the cinematographer Charles Rosher. Variety Magazine noted the stars in attendance were conscious of being filmed at the event for the first time and the event was marked by glamour with fashion-conscious actresses wearing the best of gowns, furs and jewellery.

The Los Angeles Times printed a substantially accurate list of winners, despite a promise to withhold the results of the voting, so many of the nominees learned before arriving at the ceremony who had won. Among these were Clark Gable and Bette Davis.

Following the banquet, Capra opened proceedings at 11pm with a short speech before introducing Bob Hope who made his first appearance as host of the awards. Looking at a table laden with awards awaiting presentation, he quipped, "I feel like I'm in Bette Davis' living room". Mickey Rooney presented an Academy Juvenile Award to Judy Garland, who then performed Over the Rainbow, a "Best Song" nominee from The Wizard of Oz.

As the evening progressed, Gone with the Wind won the majority of awards, and Bob Hope remarked to David O. Selznick, "David, you should have brought roller skates". Making a speech, Selznick paused to extend praise and gratitude to Olivia de Havilland, a "Best Supporting Actress" nominee, and made it clear in his speech he knew she had not won. Fay Bainter presented the awards for Best Supporting Actor and Actress, prefacing her presentation of the latter award with the knowing comment, "It is a tribute to a country where people are free to honor noteworthy achievements regardless of creed, race or color". Hattie McDaniel became the first black performer to win an Academy Award and in expressing her gratitude promised to be "a credit to my race" before bursting into tears. De Havilland was among those to make their way to McDaniel's table to offer congratulations, though it was reported de Havilland then fled to the kitchen, where she burst into tears. The press reported an irritated Irene Mayer Selznick followed her, and told her to return to their table and stop making a fool of herself.

Robert Donat, the winner for "Best Actor", was one of three nominated actors not present (the others were Irene Dunne and Greta Garbo). Accepting the award for Donat, Spencer Tracy said he was sure Donat's win was welcomed by "the entire motion-picture industry" before presenting the "Best Actress" award to Vivien Leigh. The press noted Bette Davis was among those waiting to congratulate Leigh as she returned to her table.

Post-awards discussion

Further controversy erupted following the ceremony, with the Los Angeles Times reporting that Leigh had won over Davis by the smallest of margins and that Donat had likewise won over James Stewart by a small number of votes. This led Academy officials to examine ways that the voting process, and more importantly, the results, would remain secret in future years.^[2] They considered the Los Angeles Times publication of such details as a breach of faith.

Hattie McDaniel received considerable attention from the press with Daily Variety writing, "Not only was she the first of her race to receive an Award, but she was also the first Negro ever to sit at an Academy banquet".

Carole Lombard was quoted as comforting Gable after his loss, with the comment "Don't worry, Pappy. We'll bring one home next year". Gable replied that he felt this had been his last chance to which Lombard was said to have replied, "Not you, you self-centered bastard. I meant me."

Academy Award ceremony presenters

The ceremony presenters are listed below in the sequence of awards presented.

See also

• 1939 in film

References