Today, February 14th, is the birthday of Jack Benny, one of my favorite personalities, which neatly segues into today’s topic about Academy Award hosts throughout the years.  The droll, hilarious and adorable Benny hosted the Oscars twice, in 1944 and again in 1947, more than some one-timers but considerably less times than the comedian who essentially dominated the ceremonies as emcee for a total of 17 times (not counting the times he was part of later huge hosting ensembles).  I’m sure most of us remember that Bob Hope has the honor of being the top Oscar host.

Hope first played Master of Ceremonies for Oscar back in 1940, but he wasn’t the first comedian to be chosen to host.  Of course, earlier ceremonies, from the first in 1929, had often called upon Academy Presidents — Douglas Fairbanks, Frank Capra, Walter Wanger — to host, or dramatic actors such as Conrad Nagel (who also was an Academy Prez).  But even from the early years, starting with the 6th ceremony in 1934, comedians were often tapped to top the Awards.  In 1934 and ’35 respectively, humorist Will Rogers and then actor/humorist Irwin S. Cobb were hosts.  Everybody knows Rogers, of course, but Cobb is a nearly forgotten name today to most people.  A rotund Kentucky-born humorist who created, among other characters, Judge Priest (who would be played by Will Rogers in a pair of films directed by John Ford), Cobb also acted in films and was an award-winning journalist and a national celebrity.

In 1937 George Jessel hosted the Awards.  Many of us of a certain age will recall Jessel mostly as a garrulous guest on talk shows, for his nickname as “The Toastmaster General of the United States” and for his reputation as an inveterate ladies man, even as a very old man.  What we may not remember is that he was a vaudeville star bigger than Jolson, the original Broadway lead in The Jazz Singer, who missed out on bigger movie stardom when his salary demands were too high and Al Jolson stepped into the role that made history.  The next year, in 1938, Bob “Bazooka” Burns, comedian, actor and radio star, was onstage as host.  Burns also is less well-known today, but in his day he was an incredibly popular entertainer who specialized in recounting tales from his Arkansas upbringing.  He made several movies with Bing Crosby and also appeared on Bing’s radio show. 

In 1940 Bob Hope got his first chance at the Oscars, but it wasn’t a straight run; his seventeen assignments were interspersed with other interesting hosts such as a Dick Powell/Agnes Moorehead tag-team, and in fact Hope was paired with John Cromwell and also James Stewart for two of his Oscar gigs.  Also picked to hosts in the early 1950s were diverse talents as actor Paul Douglas, Fred Astaire, and Danny Kaye.  In 1953 the Awards went bi-coastal for a few years and also started their TV tradition.  Both L.A. and NYC hosts were on tap, with prestigious star power in evidence with appearances by Fredric March (sigh!), Claudette Colbert, Celeste Holm, Jerry Lewis.  Multi-hosts were back for 1958 and 1959, with Bob Hope leading the pack and such personalities as Rosalind Russell, David Niven, Jack Lemmon, Tony Randall, Laurence Olivier and tart-tongued comedian/actor Mort Sahl onstage with him. 

Hope pretty much reigned over the 1960s, with the exception of 1963 which brought Frank Sinatra onboard, and the next year when Jack Lemmon returned to host solo.

I’ll continue this recounting in another post, but at least I was able to remember the beloved Jack Benny on his birthday!