There's always a certain retrospective zeal to the Oscars. It's part of what will make the 90th Academy Awards this Sunday so interesting: Past meets Present, Present winks and tips its hat.
Every year the entertainers, and the Academy, marvel at how far they've come ... or have not come, in some cases, such as diversity. That is part of the narrative crafted by veteran NPR journalist Susan Stamberg in her story this week, "How Movie Darling Mary Pickford Became the Most Powerful Woman in Hollywood."
Pickford, who later went on to become a studio head, won an Oscar in 1930 for her performance in "Coquette." It was her first "talkie."
Other performances were celebrated, of course. And, a few, lost to time. One such production was "Their First Misunderstanding." The 1911 short film was thought lost. But, as Brady Carlson reported for NHPR in 2013, some gems have a way of turning up. A copy of that film was discovered in a barn in Nelson, N.H., and it was fully appreciated a few years ago at Keene State College.
An appreciation of the moving pictures, whether now or then, stretches far beyond Hollywood. With or without the Red Carpet.