11th Academy Awards

Award ceremony for films of 1938

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The 11th Academy Awards were held on February 23, 1939, at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, California,^[1] and hosted by Frank Capra.^[2]

Frank Capra became the first person to win three Best Director awards, to be followed by John Ford (who would go on to win four) and William Wyler. La Grande Illusion was the first non-English language film to be nominated for Best Picture.

This was the first of only two times in Oscar history in which three of the four acting winners had won before; only Fay Bainter was a first-time award winner. The only other time that this happened was at the 67th Academy Awards in 1994. Fay Bainter was the first performer in the Oscars history to receive two acting nominations in the same year, while Spencer Tracy became the first of two actors to win Best Actor two years in a row; the other, Tom Hanks, also did so in 1994.

George Bernard Shaw's screenplay win for Pygmalion made him the first—and, for over 60 years, only—person to win both a Nobel Prize and an Academy Award until Bob Dylan received Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016 after having won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2001. Shaw protested his win, roaring, from London:

It's an insult! It's perfect nonsense. My position as playwright is known throughout the world. To offer me an award of this sort is an insult, as if they have never heard of me before—and it's very likely they never have.^[3]^[4]^{[n 1]}

Radio coverage was banned at the ceremony. A reporter, George Fischer from Los Angeles' Mutual Radio Network station, KHJ, which had been reporting from the Academy Awards since 1930, locked himself in a booth and was able to broadcast for about 12 minutes before security guards broke down the door. Partial radio coverage was permitted again beginning with the 1942 ceremony.^[7]

Winners and nominees

Frank Capra; Best Picture and Best Director winner

Spencer Tracy; Best Actor winner

Bette Davis; Best Actress winner

Walter Brennan; Best Supporting Actor winner

Fay Bainter; Best Supporting Actress winner

George Bernard Shaw; Best Screenplay co-winner

Erich Wolfgang Korngold; Best Original Score winner

Walt Disney; Honorary Academy Award recipient

Harry Warner; Honorary Academy Award recipient

Deanna Durbin; Juvenile Academy Award recipient

Mickey Rooney; Juvenile Academy Award recipient

Awards

Nominees were announced on February 5, 1939. Winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface.

Outstanding Production You Can't Take It with You – Frank Capra for Columbia‡ The Adventures of Robin Hood – Hal B. Wallis and Henry Blanke for Warner Bros. Alexander's Ragtime Band – Darryl F. Zanuck and Harry Joe Brown for 20th Century Fox Boys Town – John W. Considine Jr. for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer The Citadel – Victor Saville for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Four Daughters – Hal B. Wallis and Henry Blanke for Warner Bros. and First National Grand Illusion – Frank Rollmer and Albert Pinkovitch for R. A. C. and World Pictures Jezebel – Hal B. Wallis and Henry Blanke for Warner Bros. Pygmalion – Gabriel Pascal for Pascal Film Productions Test Pilot – Louis D. Lighton for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer	Best Director Frank Capra – You Can't Take It with You‡ Michael Curtiz – Angels with Dirty Faces Norman Taurog – Boys Town King Vidor – The Citadel Michael Curtiz – Four Daughters
Best Actor *Spencer Tracy – Boys Town* as Father Edward J. Flanagan*‡ Charles Boyer – Algiers* as Pepe le Moko James Cagney – Angels with Dirty Faces as William "Rocky" Sullivan Robert Donat – The Citadel as Dr Andrew Manson Leslie Howard – Pygmalion as Professor Henry Higgins	Best Actress *Bette Davis – Jezebel* as Julie Marsden*‡ Fay Bainter – White Banners* as Hannah Parmalee Wendy Hiller – Pygmalion as Eliza Doolittle Norma Shearer – Marie Antoinette as Marie Antoinette Margaret Sullavan – Three Comrades as Patricia Hollmann
Best Supporting Actor *Walter Brennan – Kentucky* as Peter Goodwin*‡ John Garfield – Four Daughters* as Mickey Borden Gene Lockhart – Algiers as Regis Robert Morley – Marie Antoinette as King Louis XVI Basil Rathbone – If I Were King as King Louis XI	Best Supporting Actress *Fay Bainter – Jezebel* as Aunt Belle Massey*‡ Beulah Bondi – Of Human Hearts* as Mary Wilkins Billie Burke – Merrily We Live as Emily Kilbourne Spring Byington – You Can't Take It with You as Penelope "Penny" Sycamore Miliza Korjus – The Great Waltz as Carla Donner
Best Original Story Boys Town – Eleanore Griffin and Dore Schary‡ Alexander's Ragtime Band – Irving Berlin Angels with Dirty Faces – Rowland Brown Blockade – John Howard Lawson Mad About Music – Marcella Burke and Frederick Kohner Test Pilot – Frank Wead	Best Screenplay Pygmalion – George Bernard Shaw, Ian Dalrymple, Cecil Lewis, and W. P. Lipscomb, based on the play by Shaw‡ Boys Town – John Meehan and Dore Schary, based on a story by Schary and Eleanore Griffin The Citadel – Ian Dalrymple, Elizabeth Hill and Frank Wead, based on the novel by A. J. Cronin Four Daughters – Lenore Coffee and Julius J. Epstein, based on the short story "Sister Act" by Fannie Hurst You Can't Take It with You – Robert Riskin, based on the play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart
Best Live Action Short Subject, One-Reel That Mothers Might Live – MGM‡ The Great Heart – MGM Timber Toppers – 20th Century Fox	Best Live Action Short Subject, Two-Reel Declaration of Independence – Warner Bros.‡ Swingtime in the Movies – Warner Bros. They're Always Caught – MGM
Best Short Subject, Cartoon Ferdinand the Bull – Walt Disney Productions and RKO Radio‡ Brave Little Tailor – Walt Disney Productions and RKO Radio Good Scouts – Walt Disney Productions and RKO Radio Hunky and Spunky – Paramount Mother Goose Goes Hollywood – Walt Disney Productions and RKO Radio	Best Original Score The Adventures of Robin Hood – Erich Wolfgang Korngold‡ Army Girl – Victor Young Block-Heads – Marvin Hatley Blockade – Werner Janssen Breaking the Ice – Victor Young The Cowboy and the Lady – Alfred Newman If I Were King – Richard Hageman Marie Antoinette – Herbert Stothart Pacific Liner – Russell Bennett Suez – Louis Silvers The Young in Heart – Franz Waxman
Best Scoring Alexander's Ragtime Band – Alfred Newman‡ Carefree – Victor Baravalle Girls' School – Morris Stoloff and Gregory Stone The Goldwyn Follies – Alfred Newman Jezebel – Max Steiner Mad About Music – Charles Previn and Frank Skinner Storm Over Bengal – Cy Feuer Sweethearts – Herbert Stothart There Goes My Heart – Marvin Hatley Tropic Holiday – Boris Morros The Young in Heart – Franz Waxman	Best Song *"Thanks for the Memory" from The Big Broadcast of 1938* – Music by Ralph Rainger; Lyrics by Leo Robin*‡ "Always and Always" from Mannequin* – Music by Edward Ward; Lyrics by Chet Forrest and Bob Wright "Change Partners" from Carefree – Music and Lyrics by Irving Berlin "The Cowboy and the Lady" from The Cowboy and the Lady – Music by Lionel Newman; Lyrics by Arthur Quenzer "Dust" from Under Western Stars – Music and Lyrics by Johnny Marvin "Jeepers Creepers" from Going Places – Music by Harry Warren; Lyrics by Johnny Mercer "Merrily We Live" from Merrily We Live – Music by Phil Charig; Lyrics by Arthur Quenzer "A Mist Over the Moon" from The Lady Objects – Music by Ben Oakland; Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II "My Own" from That Certain Age – Music by Jimmy McHugh; Lyrics by Harold Adamson "Now It Can Be Told" from Alexander's Ragtime Band – Music and Lyrics by Irving Berlin
Best Sound Recording The Cowboy and the Lady – Thomas T. Moulton‡ Army Girl – Charles L. Lootens Four Daughters – Nathan Levinson If I Were King – Loren L. Ryder Merrily We Live – Elmer Raguse Suez – Edmund H. Hansen Sweethearts – Douglas Shearer That Certain Age – Bernard B. Brown Vivacious Lady – John O. Aalberg You Can't Take It with You – John P. Livadary	Best Art Direction The Adventures of Robin Hood – Carl Jules Weyl‡ The Adventures of Tom Sawyer – Lyle R. Wheeler Alexander's Ragtime Band – Bernard Herzbrun and Boris Leven Algiers – Alexander Toluboff Carefree – Van Nest Polglase The Goldwyn Follies – Richard Day Holiday – Stephen Goosson and Lionel Banks If I Were King – Hans Dreier and John B. Goodman Mad About Music – Jack Otterson Marie Antoinette – Cedric Gibbons Merrily We Live – Charles D. Hall
Best Cinematography The Great Waltz – Joseph Ruttenberg‡ Algiers – James Wong Howe Army Girl – Ernest Miller and Harry J. Wild The Buccaneer – Victor Milner Jezebel – Ernest Haller Mad About Music – Joseph Valentine Merrily We Live – Norbert Brodine Suez – Peverell Marley Vivacious Lady – Robert De Grasse You Can't Take It with You – Joseph Walker The Young in Heart – Leon Shamroy	Best Film Editing The Adventures of Robin Hood – Ralph Dawson‡ Alexander's Ragtime Band – Barbara McLean The Great Waltz – Tom Held Test Pilot – Tom Held You Can't Take It with You – Gene Havlick

Academy Honorary Awards

J. Arthur Ball "for his outstanding contributions to the advancement of color in Motion Picture Photography". (Scroll)
Walt Disney "for creating Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs [1937], recognized as a significant screen innovation which has charmed millions and pioneered a great new entertainment field for the motion picture cartoon". (One statuette and seven miniature statuettes, representing the Seven Dwarfs, on a stepped base.) This is a rare case of a film being recognized in two succeeding ceremonies, as the film was also nominated for Best Score the previous year at the 10th Academy Awards.
Gordon Jennings, Jan Domela, Dev Jennings, Irmin Roberts, Art Smith, Farciot Edouart, Loyal Griggs, Loren L. Ryder, Harry D. Mills, Louis H. Mesenkop, and Walter Oberst "for outstanding achievement in creating Special Photographic and Sound Effects in the Paramount production, Spawn of the North". (Plaque)
Oliver Marsh and Allen Davey "for the color cinematography of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer production, Sweethearts". (Plaque)
Harry M. Warner "in recognition of patriotic service in the production of historical short subjects presenting significant episodes in the early struggle of the American people for liberty". (Scroll)

Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award

Hal B. Wallis

Academy Juvenile Awards

Academy Juvenile Awards were presented to:

Deanna Durbin and Mickey Rooney – "for their significant contribution in bringing to the screen the spirit and personification of youth, and as juvenile players setting a high standard of ability and achievement". (Shared; miniature statuette)

Multiple nominations and awards

Films with multiple nominations
Nominations	Film
7	You Can't Take It with You
6	Alexander's Ragtime Band
5	Boys Town
	Four Daughters
	Jezebel
	Merrily We Live
4	The Adventures of Robin Hood
	Algiers
	The Citadel
	If I Were King
	Mad About Music
	Marie Antoinette
	Pygmalion
3	Angels with Dirty Faces, Army Girl
	Carefree
	The Cowboy and the Lady
	The Great Waltz
	Suez
	Test Pilot
	The Young in Heart
2	Blockade
	The Goldwyn Follies
	Sweethearts
	That Certain Age
	Vivacious Lady

Films with multiple awards
Awards	Film
3	The Adventures of Robin Hood
2	Boys Town
Jezebel
You Can't Take It with You

References

^ "The 11th Academy Awards (1939) Nominees and Winners". Oscars.org (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences). Archived from the original on July 6, 2011. Retrieved August 10, 2011.
^ "Every Oscar Host in History: See the Full List From Douglas Fairbanks to Jimmy Kimmel". Oscars.org (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences).
^ Wallechinsky, David; Wallace, Irving (1975). The People's Almanac. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc. p. 834. ISBN 0-385-04060-1.
^ Holroyd, Michael (1997). Bernard Shaw: The One-Volume Definitive Edition. London: Chatto & Windus. ISBN 978-0-7011-6279-5.
^ Pascal, Valerie (1971). The Disciple and his Devil: Gabriel Pascal and Bernard Shaw. London: Michael Joseph. OCLC 740749440.
^ Burton, Alan; Chibnall, Steve (July 11, 2013). Historical Dictionary of British Cinema. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. p. 715. ISBN 978-0-81-088026-9.
^ Dunning, John (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio (Revised ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. pp. 4–5. ISBN 978-0-19-507678-3. Retrieved September 10, 2019.

Notes

^ This did not prevent him from putting the award—a golden figurine—on his mantelpiece.^[5] Shaw was one of four to receive the award, along with Ian Dalrymple, Cecil Lewis and W. P. Lipscomb, who had also worked on adapting Shaw's text.^[6]

External links

Official Website of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Academy Awards

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS)

Awards of Merit

Proposed awards	Popular Film

Special awards

Governors Awards	Academy Honorary Award Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award Special Achievement Academy Award
Academy Scientific and Technical Awards	Academy Award of Merit (non-competitive) Scientific and Engineering Award Technical Achievement Award John A. Bonner Medal of Commendation Gordon E. Sawyer Award
Student Awards	Student Academy Award