Founded in 1919, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences quickly became a core institution of the Hollywood establishment. While the Academy had many functions, after World War II its primary responsibility was to distribute awards of merit.1 For nearly two decades, the Academy Awards for achievement in motion pictures, which had originated in the late 1920s, were chosen by a panel of ten governors of the Academy and presented at annual ceremonies attended primarily by industry professionals. In 1946, however, participation in the selection process was greatly expanded so that nearly all guild and union members in the motion-picture industry might have some role in the nominations. Under these new rules, which remained unchanged through the 1960s, voting was by category (e.g., cinematographers voting for the awards for cinematography, editors for the awards in editing), and all of the roughly three thousand Academy members were eligible to vote on best picture for each year.2
With the spread of television during the 1950s and the 1960s, the annual telecast of the Academy Awards ceremonies increasingly became a centerpiece in the promotion of specific movies and the American cinema in general.
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