The first Academy Awards ceremony, honoring films from 1927 and 1928, was held on May 16, 1929, at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles, California. The event was a private dinner with about 270 guests, and tickets cost $10. The ceremony lasted 15 minutes and was hosted by Academy president Douglas Fairbanks.
Winners had been announced three months earlier, on February 18, 1929, to reduce pressure. The first Best Picture award went to the silent film 'Wings,' while Emil Jannings won Best Actor for 'The Last Command' and 'The Way of All Flesh,' and Janet Gaynor won Best Actress for 'Seventh Heaven,' 'Street Angel,' and 'Sunrise.'
The statuette, designed by Cedric Gibbons and sculpted by George Stanley, is officially named the Academy Award of Merit. The nickname 'Oscar' is said to have originated when Academy librarian Margaret Herrick remarked it resembled her Uncle Oscar.
