December 17th 2008
Oscar Sale For Charity Blocked By Academy
Filed under: donations, film-tv, movies — Michael Andre d'Estries @ 1:11 pm
An Oscar statuette that could raise as much as $800,000 on the auction block for charity, is instead being blocked for sale by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The award, presented in 1930 to silent-movie star Mary Pickford, was bequeathed to her heirs after her passing in 2007. They intended to use the proceeds from the sale to directly benefit the Buddy Rogers Youth Symphony in the Coachella Valley.
Since 1951, the Academy has required recipients to sign an agreement giving the group the right of first refusal to buy back any unwanted Oscar for the small price of $10 (though that amount was later reduced to $1). Oscars received before this agreement was in place have been sold without legal barriers for as much as $1.54 million. Hence, the excitement that such an available statue could generate incredible money for charity. The Academy argues, however, that because Pickford received a honorary Oscar in 1976 — and signed the agreement — her original award is “grandfathered” into the clause. On Monday, a Los Angeles Superior Court jury agreed with that reasoning.
“It’s a shame money intended to help children has been squandered,” said Eric Frankson, a La Quinta musician involved with violin lessons for 332 students through the Buddy Rogers Youth Symphony.
Apparently, there still some hope that the statue can be sold — with lawyers for the heirs continuing to argue that the agreement is “unenforceable”. For their part, the Academy did offer to make a direct charitable donation of $200k before the trial for the rights to the statues. Should be interesting to see where this leads.
Amazing how much value these little Oscars have, isn’t it? On one hand, I can understand the Academy wanting to protect its movie history, but on the other — especially with regards to charity — such wonderful good can be done with the sale of these items. Who would you side with?
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