JOE MANKIEWICZ WINS AN OSCAR

As mentioned in yesterday's post, Joseph L. Mankiewicz was a premiere member of the 'writer-directors club', proving to the studio heads (and perhaps the critics as well) that writers could actually function outside of their cubicles (or out from under their table at Chasen's) and make excellent directors. But despite that surge in prestige, apparently writer-directors weren't allowed to speak at the Oscar ceremony.

Dig the above one minute and thirty second clip of Mankiewicz winning the best director Oscar for 'All About Eve'. It begins with Fred Astaire--the MC of the event I imagine--introducing Leo McCarey, the director who will present the best director award. The orchestra brings McCarey onto the stage with a few bars of 'Swinging On A Star', the hit from McCarey's own best director Oscar-winning film 'Going My Way'. (Nice touch, don't you think?) McCarey, in a gently jocular way, announces the nominees: George Cukor for 'Born Yesterday', John Huston for 'The Asphalt Jungle', Carol Reed for 'The Third Man', Billy Wilder for 'Sunset Blvd.' and Mankiewicz. (By the way, note that three of the five nominees were writer-directors that I named yesterday as the original four that paved the way for the hyphenate). The answer isn't the surprise here. It's the speech that follows the win that's the real story...

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