The First Academy Awards: Pop Culture History for May 16

From the Academy Awards to the stages in Broadway, May 16 is a big day for the arts. On this day in pop culture history, statuettes were handed out in Hollywood for the first time during the shortest Oscars ceremoney ever.

Other pop culture events in the arts that happened on this day include the opening of Top Gun in theaters, the opening of Annie Get Your Gun on Broadway and Motown’s first hit song.

1929: And the Winner Is … Oscar and the Academy Awards

1929 Academy Awards dinner party — Awards banquet for the 1929 Academy Awards (Wikimedia Commons)

Back on this day in 1929, the very first Academy Awards presentation was held during a private dinner for 270 guests at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Unlike the award ceremonies today, 15 statuettes were awarded in about 15 minutes. Believe it or not, the media were given the list of winners about three months earlier.

1986: He Had the Need for Speed

Tom Cruise wearing sunglasses and looking off until the distance - "Top Gun" — Tom Cruise in Top Gun (Paramount Pictures)

Directed by Tony Scott and produced by both Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, Top Gun was inspired by the article “Top Guns” which appeared in California magazine in 1983. Set during the Cold War era, the movie follows Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) through the highs and lows at his training at the Top Gun Naval Fighter Weapons School. Top Gun also starred Kelly McGillis, Val Kilmer, Anthony Edwards, Tom Skerritt and Meg Ryan.

Though the movie received mixed reviews by critics, the film was hugely successful. The original song, Take My Breath Away from Berlin won an Oscar for Best Original Song. The long, long-awaited sequel, Top Gun: Maverick opened on May 27, 2022. It became Cruise’s highest-grossing film of his career.

1964: Motown Record’s First Hit Song

By 1962, Berry Gordy was already a successful businessman with his record label, Tamla Records but it was this year that he wanted to create a whole-new label, Motown Records. Gordy approached Mary Wells to be the company’s first artist. Two years later, she released the label’s first #1 hit, “My Guy” which reached the top of Billboard’s pop chart on this day in 1964. Strangely, three days before, Wells opted out of her contract at age 21. Though she still had a successful career, she never reached the height of stardom that she had in 1964.

1946: Annie Got Her Gun

Ethel Merman and Ray Middleton in "Annie Get Your Gun" — Ethel Merman and Ray Middleton in *Annie Get Your Gun (Wikimedia Commons)*

Although Annie Oakley, who starred in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show in the 1880’s was real, her story featured in the Broadway musical, Annie Get Your Gun, was fictionalized. Irving Berlin wrote the music and the lyrics for the show which opened at the Imperial Theater in New York City on this day in 1946.

Ethel Merman played the sharpshooter opposite Ray Middleton as Frank Butler. Even if you have never seen the show or the 1950 movie, you probably are aware of some of the show’s biggest hits like “There’s No Business Like Show Business” and “Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better).”

The show was a big hit performing 1,147 performances on Broadway before heading over to London. In addition to the movie (which starred Betty Hutton), the musical has appeared on NBC in 1957 (with Mary Martin and John) and again in 1967 (with Ethel Merman and Bruce Yarnell). Meanwhile, the American stage musical has had three revivals in New York in 1958, 1966 and 1999.