The title says it all really doesn’t it? The first Oscar award ceremony was in 1929. So how does a prestigious ceremony with a history longer than Ryan Gosling’s face last night make a mistake so enormous it makes Mick Fleetwood and Sam Fox presenting the Brits in 1989 look like true professionalism?
There I am, curled up on the sofa in my mermaid blanket, glass of chilled chablis in hand, texting B while I watched the velvet wrapped, red carpeted, blingy, bosomy, dinner jacketed, diamond encrusted, sweet and sickly media love-fest that is OSCAR NIGHT, when suddenly, Warren Beatty turns to Faye Dunaway and she reads out… the wrong film!
Yes, as we probably all know now the wrong name was read out when it came to the winner of the Best Feature Film category with La La Land being given, for about five seconds, the award which actually belonged to Moonlight. Don’t get me wrong. I really enjoyed La La Land and expected it to win. Maybe that’s what happened to Faye and Warren too, but there was more egg on that stage for a few minutes than a whole breakfast sitting at MacDonalds.
And how did Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway not work out that something was wrong until it was too late? No-one seems to know but it’s certainly true that, if it hadn’t been for the grace and calm of one of the producers of La La Land, Jordan Horowitz, who finally announced the winner, perhaps we might never have known who actually won. However, justice was done and the only thing harmed really was the OSCAR administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers name. Whoever sent out that wrong envelope will no doubt be hauled over the red carpet at some point this week, if they still have their job that is.
So, in a slightly red herringesque tribute to all things La La Land, I am offering my top five list of La La Lawns from American movies… well something like that. It’s a slow news day.
1/ Central Park. The setting for, literally, hundreds of film moments, from the dark and scary (The Warriors… “Warriors, come out to plaaa…aaay” ) to the sweet and funny (When Harry Met Sally, You Got Mail, Friends with Benefits) Central Park is a big green icon in Manhattan. Loved and populated by characters from movies by Woody Allen, (Bullets Over Broadway, Manhattan, Manhattan Murder Mystery, Hannah and Her Sisters) to big box office behemoths like Wall Street, Ghostbusters, Highlander, Splash, Home Alone and, of course, The Muppets Take Manhatten. it covers over 800 acres (approximately 3 and a half square miles) and was completely landscaped, originally by two designers, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, in 1858. You can find out more about this iconic park by visiting its website.
DO SAY: “You can get the true essence of New Yorkers by just hanging out in Central Park” Andy Roddick
DON’T SAY: Oh. Is it named after that café in friends?
LAWN FACT: The lawn area in the centre of the park is possibly one of the most famous in the world and covers 55 acres. That’s a lot of scarifying!
2/ The North Lawn at the Whitehouse. Known affectionately as ‘the president’s front yard’, and often seen in political thrillers, comedies and, notably, destroyed in Independence Day, the Whitehouse and its beautiful lush lawns are worth a look. Featuring the famous circular pool and surrounded by lush foliage including White oak, American Elm and Magnolia Trees. Movies featuring the Whitehouse and its lawns include ‘White House Down’, ‘Dave’, the unlikely ‘Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter’, ‘The American President’ and many more, the list of screen credits including of course offerings from the small screen like TV’s The West Wing.
DO SAY: “There is no Whitewash at the White House”
DON’T SAY: “I think President Trump is going to build a mini-golf course on the north lawn”
Where are all the sheep?
LAWN FACT: 28th President Woodrow Wilson, in his time, had nearly 50 sheep grazing on the lawn.
3/ Forest Lawn Glendale. Not strictly speaking a lawn, rather a huge collection of lawns and the centrepiece of part of a six-piece franchise of glamorous cemeteries, Forest Lawn Glendale is home to the final resting places of scores of Hollywood stars, especially from the ‘Golden Age of Hollywood’. Covering over 300 acres of real estate it is also home to amazing marbles, artwork, mosaics and a number of other attractions. Seriously huge stars whose graves are situated here include… Clark Gable, Humfrey Bogart, Jean Harlow, Humphrey Bogart, Errol Flynn, Spencer Tracy, W.C.Fields, Mary Pickford, Walt Disney, Sammy Davis Jr, Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton, Lon Chaney, Nat King Cole… and more.
DO SAY: “On the whole, I’d rather be in Philadelphia” (W.C. Fields)
DON’T SAY” It’s the dead centre of Glendale”
LAWN FACT: Forest lawn Glendale might be the only cemetery to house a museum.
So that’s your lot. The biggest boo-boo in the history of the Oscars but a great, non-Hollywood type film with people that are not just white superstars in it finally wins a top award. Eventually! Fab! See ya. Holly.
