10th Annual Academy Awards Coverage (1938)
©A.M.P.A.S.®
- Date of Ceremony: Thursday, March 10, 1938
- For films released in: 1937
- Location: Biltmore Hotel, Los Angeles, California
- Host(s): Bob Burns
The 10th Annual Academy Awards, which were hosted by comedian Bob Burns, saw many changes.
The first change was the date. It was originally scheduled for March 3rd, 1938 at the Biltmore Hotel, but was postponed until the 10th due to heavy flooding in Los Angeles.
It was the final year for two categories: Best Dance Direction and Best Assistant Director. It introduced a new special award, the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award. Named after the late MGM producer, the award was to be given to creative producers whose work reflected a consistently high quality of production.
New rule changes saw all invited members of industry guilds allowed to vote, including the Screen Extras Guild, which meant that 12,000 or so people were voting for the ceremony.
Screenwriter John Lee Mahin became the first person to refuse to accept an Academy nomination for his co-writing work on Captains Courageous. Academy head Frank Capra sent him a sharply-worded letter dismissing some of his reasons and saying the nomination would stand as a matter of record.
See the nominations and the winners.
Heading into the ceremony, the following film(s) had five or more nominations:
- The Life of Emile Zola: 10
- Lost Horizon: 7
- A Star Is Born: 7
- The Awful Truth: 6
- In Old Chicago: 6
- One Hundred Men and a Girl: 5
- The Good Earth: 5