An Oscar Winner As soon as Had Its Award Revoked

Over the previous couple of years, the Oscars have had their fair proportion of notable, eye-catching moments, from Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway’s little oopsie after they inadvertently introduced the flawed winner for Greatest Image to “Parasite” dominating to Will Smith and the notorious slap. However whereas moments like “La La Land” briefly taking the Greatest Image Oscar from “Moonlight” are as unforgettable as they’re awkward, they solely tiptoe so near the precipice of absolute, wild madness. It isn’t as if “La La Land” really did steal an Oscar away, for instance. And it is not as if a movie or particular person has received an Oscar solely to lose it. 

As unprecedented as that sounds, although, you solely should solid your gaze way back to the 1969 Oscars ceremony to glimpse some really jaw-dropping one-time occasions. As an illustration, that is the yr when the Greatest Actress Oscar went to 2 individuals: Katharine Hepburn and Barbra Streisand, within the solely performing tie in Oscar historical past. Oh, and it is also the yr {that a} movie received an Oscar … after which had it rescinded. That doubtful honor goes to the documentary “Younger People,” which might be why you nearly definitely have not heard of this example. It might be one factor if a extra main launch got here so near Oscar glory and had it wrested away from them; it is one thing else for a movie with a much less recognizable background to have its victory revoked.

Should you take note of the ins and outs of the Oscars annually, you already know that eligibility is a really tough factor. For instance, a movie like “Toy Story” is nominated for Greatest Authentic Screenplay as a result of it is not primarily based on pre-existing materials (even when it does reference real-life toys). However its 2010 threequel “Toy Story 3” was nominated for Greatest Tailored Screenplay, regardless of not being primarily based on a guide or different materials except for its predecessors. However one of many best definitions of annual eligibility is easy sufficient: a movie has to play in a movie show in america for no less than one week within the yr by which it is nominated. If, for example, the Sean Baker movie “Anora” had been proven at a movie show for every week in 2022, it could not be eligible for the 2024 Oscars. That appears fairly easy, and but, it wasn’t the case for “Younger People.” The upbeat documentary from the late director Alex Grasshoff targeted on a youth present choir of the identical title as they put together to tour america by bus. Little doubt the healthful subject and tone of the documentary made for a bracing counterargument to the upheaval in america within the late Nineteen Sixties surrounding protests towards the Vietnam Struggle and the battle for civil rights. As an alternative of younger individuals concerned in these protests, right here was a movie about chipper and happy-seeming children that may be straightforward to swallow for the Academy.

That might be why “Younger People” received the Oscar for Greatest Documentary Characteristic, however there was only one drawback: the movie had performed at a small theater in North Carolina in 1967, a yr earlier than the movie’s eligibility for the following Oscars ceremony. Now, we are able to surprise about why the Academy did not understand the movie ought to have been disqualified from the beginning, however such was the case. Though Grasshoff and his spouse have been capable of take pleasure in an instantaneous honeymoon with the Oscar statue, they have been quickly contacted by none aside from Atticus Finch himself, Gregory Peck (who was then the President of the Academy), and knowledgeable that they wanted to return the statue with the dignity revoked. When Grasshoff handed away in 2008, his widow spoke with the Los Angeles Instances in regards to the distinctive circumstances of profitable after which shedding the Oscar, saying that “it was a significant disappointment” that stemmed from the truth that “Younger People” had, in October 1967, had “a trial sneak preview in some little city.” It was sufficient for the Academy to take the award again, as excessive because it sounds.

It is easy to roll our eyes on the Oscars and their guidelines generally, however they do stick with their weapons irrespective of who’s affected. A couple of years after the “Younger People” debacle, they needed to institute a second vote for the Greatest Authentic Dramatic Rating Oscar as a result of one among that yr’s candidates was discovered to have re-used a theme from a late-Nineteen Fifties launch. The offending movie and rating? Why, that may be “The Godfather,” with a rating composed by the incomparable Nino Rota. If the Academy was prepared to refuse to award the rating from one among that yr’s most large and beloved movies (and a rating that, let’s not neglect, is without doubt one of the biggest of all time), then it is no shock that they’d uphold the identical type of toughness for a movie that wasn’t almost as well-known. And people guidelines lengthen to high-ranking members of the Academy, too. In 2014, the composer Bruce Broughton was discovered to have used his affect as a former Academy governor to persuade voters to appoint him for his track from the movie “Alone But Not Alone;” as soon as his vote-whipping was revealed, his nomination was rescinded. (Granted, this was the identical yr that “Let It Go” received the Greatest Authentic Tune Oscar, so it is not as if this different track had a combating likelihood. However nonetheless.)

Regardless of the doubtful honor of profitable after which shedding an Oscar, Alex Grasshoff continued to have a fruitful profession within the business. He would go on to direct episodes of a handful of ’70s-era TV collection reminiscent of “Kolchak: The Night time Stalker” and “CHiPs,” in addition to helm a number of extra documentaries such because the 1973 movie “Journey to the Outer Limits.” (That movie netted a Greatest Documentary Characteristic nomination, although it didn’t win.) He additionally received an Emmy and a Peabody for his 1981 movie “The Wave” a few real-life experiment by a schoolteacher to point out simply how disturbingly straightforward it might be for individuals to simply accept the rule of the Nazi regime. Although Grasshoff’s title will all the time be synonymous with this odd little Oscars quirk, it did not sink his profession in any respect. Many years later, we are able to solely remind ourselves that as memorable because the Oscars could be, and as many slip-ups as they might make (generally within the largest public setting), they all the time stick by their guidelines, expectations be damned.