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Comebacks Galore at the Golden Globes
DOCUMENT
(Acrobat file)
From The Times: Feb. 1, 1982
Hollywood loves nothing so much as a comeback. On Saturday at the Beverly Hilton, it got one: The 39th Golden Globe Awards annually one of Hollywood's tackiest evenings returned to respectability. The event conceived by the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. and telecast on CBS was back-to-basics and down to business. David Carradine, who once appeared barefoot, this year sat at Table No. 1: He was the well-behaved dinner partner of Mrs. Robert Stack. "Welcome to the '80s," cracked an onlooker. "We may all die of politeness."
It's unlikely. There was local color to be found, if one looked carefully. The affair lasted six hours and it took a crowbar to get through the crowd. The paparazzi managed to turn the Hilton lobby into a "B" movie set. Tabloid photographers even followed "Dynasty's" Pamela Sue Martin to the powder room and waited for her to exit.
Inside the packed ballroom (the crowd numbered 1,300-plus, at $150 apiece) it was an evening of return appearances. Cliff Robertson was welcomed home; Connie Francis performed locally for the first time in years; Jane Wyman got a genuine hometown ovation, as did Robert Wagner, with his daughter, Kate.
Another comeback was made by the Hollywood Foreign Press organization itself, which for years has been clouded with rumors of improprieties. Privately, publicists admitted that winners were sometimes notified in advance. In 1969, the FCC took the awards off the air (the program was then syndicated), after claims of illicit voting practices. The group hired accountants Arthur Young & Co.; last year, CBS began live telecasting.
In actuality, the members' votes are not bought but wooed. Private screenings, with catered dinners, are the norm. "The Globes," explained a member on Saturday, "are a prelude to Oscar. So our votes matter. Can you buy a vote with a free meal? I don't know."
The larger question: Do Golden Globes affect Academy Awards? "I see absolutely no correlation with Oscar," said producer (and former Globe winner) Edgar Scherick. "Academy voters are not swayed by Golden Globes." If anything, the Globes are a case of subliminal seduction. The telecast's film clips are effective ads for Oscar.
The industry enthusiasm for a film doesn't hurt, either. This year, two films "On Golden Pond" and "Arthur" got the lion's share of the applause. Between them, they took seven of 11 possible wins. Two TV favorites were also obvious: "MASH" and "Hill Street Blues" took four of six possible awards. (For complete list of winners, see below.)
Among the evening's other highlights:
Best Team Spirit: the cast of "Dynasty," arriving en masse. No other program was so well-represented. When co-star Linda Evans won best TV actress, drama in a tie with "Dallas'" Barbara Bel Geddes the "Dynasty" table stood up. (Evans had been Miss Golden Globes in 1963. The Hollywood Foreign Press remembers its own.)
Hollywood loves nothing so much as a comeback. On Saturday at the Beverly Hilton, it got one: The 39th Golden Globe Awards annually one of Hollywood's tackiest evenings returned to respectability. The event conceived by the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. and telecast on CBS was back-to-basics and down to business. David Carradine, who once appeared barefoot, this year sat at Table No. 1: He was the well-behaved dinner partner of Mrs. Robert Stack. "Welcome to the '80s," cracked an onlooker. "We may all die of politeness."
It's unlikely. There was local color to be found, if one looked carefully. The affair lasted six hours and it took a crowbar to get through the crowd. The paparazzi managed to turn the Hilton lobby into a "B" movie set. Tabloid photographers even followed "Dynasty's" Pamela Sue Martin to the powder room and waited for her to exit.
Inside the packed ballroom (the crowd numbered 1,300-plus, at $150 apiece) it was an evening of return appearances. Cliff Robertson was welcomed home; Connie Francis performed locally for the first time in years; Jane Wyman got a genuine hometown ovation, as did Robert Wagner, with his daughter, Kate.
Another comeback was made by the Hollywood Foreign Press organization itself, which for years has been clouded with rumors of improprieties. Privately, publicists admitted that winners were sometimes notified in advance. In 1969, the FCC took the awards off the air (the program was then syndicated), after claims of illicit voting practices. The group hired accountants Arthur Young & Co.; last year, CBS began live telecasting.
In actuality, the members' votes are not bought but wooed. Private screenings, with catered dinners, are the norm. "The Globes," explained a member on Saturday, "are a prelude to Oscar. So our votes matter. Can you buy a vote with a free meal? I don't know."
The larger question: Do Golden Globes affect Academy Awards? "I see absolutely no correlation with Oscar," said producer (and former Globe winner) Edgar Scherick. "Academy voters are not swayed by Golden Globes." If anything, the Globes are a case of subliminal seduction. The telecast's film clips are effective ads for Oscar.
The industry enthusiasm for a film doesn't hurt, either. This year, two films "On Golden Pond" and "Arthur" got the lion's share of the applause. Between them, they took seven of 11 possible wins. Two TV favorites were also obvious: "MASH" and "Hill Street Blues" took four of six possible awards. (For complete list of winners, see below.)
Among the evening's other highlights:
Best Team Spirit: the cast of "Dynasty," arriving en masse. No other program was so well-represented. When co-star Linda Evans won best TV actress, drama in a tie with "Dallas'" Barbara Bel Geddes the "Dynasty" table stood up. (Evans had been Miss Golden Globes in 1963. The Hollywood Foreign Press remembers its own.)