Houston Texas Insurance Agency Blog

Academy Awards Trivia

Written by Communications Team | Sun, Feb 24, 2019

With the Academy Awards a few hours away, we thought we’d take a look at some interesting behind the scenes happenings. 

Jewelry

In 2018 the jewelry and watches on the celebrities wore total an estimate value of over $30 million.  These amazing jewels are loaned by some of the most famous jewelers in the world – Harry Winston, Bulgari, Tiffany & Co., and Montblanc to name a few.

We couldn’t leave the jewelry topic without mentioning that these high-end pieces must be insured in case of accident, theft, or damage.  The person wearing the item normally bears the insurance burden. 

Another interesting and fairly new trend is the celebrity receiving payment for wearing those jewels and gems from the jeweler. 

Oscar Swag Bags

We’ve all heard about those astounding “Swag Bags” of gifts for the Oscar nominees.  You know, the ones with an estimated value over “six figures.”  Imagine our surprise when we saw some interesting news about those swag bags written by Jessica Dickler and just published on CNBC about an hour ago. 

First, those swag bags have no direct connection with the Academy Awards.  In fact, they are created by Distinctive Assets and distributed to the 25 Oscar nominees in the acting and directing categories in during the week before the big night. 

These swag bags are an opportunity for brands and marketers to place their goods in the hands of A-listers.  This year the assortment of stuff is particularly wide with travel at the top of the list.  Trips include the Amazon, Galapagos Islands, Iceland, or Costa Rica. 

There's also hair care, beauty supplies, bottles of alcohol and "guilt-free" chocolate (it's gluten-free, dairy-free and naturally sweetened).  Cannabis-laced products including face cream and bath salts along with edibles are emphasized.

Where did Oscar get his name?

Hollywood lore has it that the Academy Award was nicknamed Oscar after Academy librarian Margaret Herrick -- who eventually became executive director -- saw the trophy for the first time and thought it looked like her uncle Oscar.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences officially adopted the nickname in 1939.

Heavy Prize

The Oscar statuette is solid bronze and plated in 24-karat gold. It stands 13.5 inches (34 centimeters) tall and weighs 8.5 pounds (3.8 kilograms). It takes three months for Polich Tallix Fine Art Foundry in New York to manufacture a batch of 50 statuettes. More than 3,140 statuettes have been handed out since 1929.

The trophy represents a knight holding a crusader's sword standing on a reel of film with five spokes that refer to the five original branches of the Academy -- actors, directors, producers, technicians and writers.

Dean and Draper

We hope you enjoy the Academy Awards this evening and find our bits of information interesting.  When you want to know more about your insurance, please call us.

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Sources: NDTV, CNBE, Hollywood Reporter