Aldersly

Gary Cooper and Jona Fontaine in 1942

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was founded in January of 1927. The first Academy Awards ceremony took place in May of 1929 with two hundred people attending a banquet at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.

Unlike the globally televised event today, the first Academy President Douglas Fairbanks made quick work of handing out the statuettes. There was little suspense since the recipients had been announced three months earlier. It was the following year that it was decided to keep the results secret until the ceremony but give the list to newspapers for publication at 11PM. In 1940 the Los Angeles Times published the names of the winners earlier so starting in 1941 the Academy adopted the sealed envelope system.

Who will “the Oscar go to” this year?

Marc Chagall 1921

Marlene Aaron will lecture on Wednesday about the lives and works of three Jewish-French  artists of the 20th Century who lived a worked in France during the same time as Picasso, Matisse, Monet and Gauguin.

Amedeo Modigilani was an Italian painter and sculptor who is best known for works characterized by mask-life faces and elongation of form. Plagued by illness and substance abuse he died at the age of 35 much younger than Chagall and Delauney who lived and produced work into their 90s.

Marc Chagall was born in Russia (Birth Name: Moishe Shagal). He created works in a multitude of medium, painting, illustration, stain glass ( including windows for the UN), set design, ceramics, tapestries and fine art prints. Two books, My Life by Marc Chagall and Burning Lights by his wife and muse Bella Chagall both with illustrations by the artist highlight their early years in Russia.

Sonia Delaunay ( Birth Name: Sarah Ilinitchna  Stern) was also born in Russia. She and her husband Robert Delaunay,  co-founded the Orphism art movement, noted for its use of strong colors and geometric shapes. Her works included painting, textile design,  stage sets, and even a car, a Matra 530 which she painted. She was the first living female artist to have a retrospective exhibition at the Louvre.

In 1955 Virginia and Basil Cherniak and other members of a community choir needed to raise funds for material to make new choir robes.  They decided to stage a play and contacted Josephine Camp, a theater teacher and director.

They named themselves The Masquers and charged 75 cents per ticket using the stage at the Hillside Community Church in El Cerrito. They were so successful they not only raised money for new choir robes they also raised money for a school serving children with developmental disabilities.

With Josephine “Jo” Camp as director and Dorth Hadley as stage manager they became a full-fleged amateur theater. In the fall of 1959 they secured a long term lease at 105 Park Place in Point Richmond and by the summer of 1961 with a redecorated theater it officially became Masquers Playhouse, joining a tradition of community playhouses all over the country.

Super Bowl Sunday will be held outdoors on the home field of the Indianapolis Colts. This is the first Super Bowl to take place in the Midwest city better know for the Indianapolis 500.  For last year ‘s Super Bowl over 111 million viewers tuned in. This is a rematch for the New England Patriots and the New York Giants. In Super Bowl XLIII ( 2007 season) the NY Giants beat them by 17-14 in part due to a play that would become known at the Helmet Catch, in which Giants receiver David Tyree caught and Eli Manning pass by securing it against the side of his helmet. That pass would set up the eventual game- winning touchdown.