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Video: How did the Patsy film award come about, and which four-legged actors won it?
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
It is time to admit that the rights of a large category of actors are indeed violated at the Oscars - despite the outstanding talents and work invested in the shooting, these movie stars are not honored with the golden statuette. Whether the day will come when four-legged, pinniped or even feathered artists will fight for this award on a par with actors in human form is a moot point. Still, people have already begun to celebrate the contribution of animals to the creation of films - and for a long time.
How from protecting animals came to honoring them
If you go back to the origins of the animal awards, then you need to remember the emergence of an organization created to fight against cruelty to animals. This did not happen in the current or even in the previous century - the Association for the Protection of Animal Rights (ANA - American Humane Association) first united animal rights activists in 1877. The first forum was attended by enthusiasts from 27 American states.
True, then nothing connected this organization with the cinema - the first decisions concerned the rules for the transportation of livestock. But time passed, films were shot, cinemas were built, and Hollywood was not only a large film set, but also a platform for a profitable business. Not only humans, but also animals earned fame and profit for films. True, anything happened. In 1907, while working on the film, the leopard involved in it had to be shot - the predator attacked the members of the film crew. In 1939, a horse died on the set of Jesse James. Already from the next year, ANA took over the functions of observing the humane treatment of animals during the creation of films - first film, and then television.
The phrase "Not a single animal was harmed during the filming", which is easy to notice in the credits of American films, and the very fact of humane treatment of this category of actors is the merit of this very organization. And it was her initiative to start presenting awards to those artists who could not read the text, but did an excellent job of attracting the attention of moviegoers - animals. This award is called PATSY, which stands for Picture Animal Top Star of the Year, and was first presented in 1951.
Patsy Award Winners
That evening, the first Patsy Award winner, the "talking" mule Francis, "received" his prize from the hands of actor Ronald Reagan. Subsequently, Francis will be among the winners more than once. The next year, 1952, Orange's cat won his bestial "Oscar" for his role in the film "Rubarb" - the first role in his long artistic career. Dogs received the coveted prize more often than other animals.
For a long time the Patsy Prize was awarded only to animals, and then to the two-legged people involved in their film success: trainers, directors, screenwriters, even make-up artists. About forty "Patsy" awards went to Frank Inn, the famous Hollywood trainer who "brought up" many animal actors: Orange the cat, Arnold Ziffel the pig, Higgins the dog.
As befits any film award, there were several categories-nominations to determine the winner. In the first of them only a dog could get a statuette, in the second - a horse, the third category included wild animals, and the fourth - a lot of those who were not included in the first three: along with goats and pigs, cats also got here. “Monkeys, elephants, lions, raccoons, rats, goose, and even a dove became its winners. Among the winners was the dolphin Flipper - he was awarded the 1965 prize for his role in the film of the same name. In 1957, the prize was awarded to Samantha the goose, in 1968 - to Arnold the piglet, and two years later - to the raccoon Raskal.
Not without losers - despite shooting in the popular television series of the fifties "The Adventures of Rin-Tin-Tin", the leading role, a shepherd dog named Flame Jr., did not manage to receive the main award. True, unlike his two-legged colleagues, the dog was hardly upset by such bad luck.
Walk of fame and new awards
Since the 1970s, the Patsy Awards have been televised, further increasing its popularity. Voting for the participants in the competition was open - it took place through the ballots in the newspaper, every caring spectator could take part in determining the winner. But in 1986, the Patsy was discontinued due to financial difficulties.
This did not mean, of course, that the animal actors lost the love and attention of the public. On the contrary, some of these movie stars had real fan clubs. Fox Terrier Uggs from the 2011 Oscar-winning film "The Artist" even had a chance to become the owner of the "human" gold statuette of the American Film Academy: moviegoers, impressed by his performance, collected signatures for nominating Uggs for the Oscar. However, the film academy did not find it possible to change the format of the ceremony.
And the Patsy Awards were replaced by others. For example, four days before the Oscar ceremony, the Pawscars were presented in 2011 - the initiator was the same association responsible for the humane treatment of animals. During its existence, cinema has changed a lot - sound and color appeared, new technical possibilities arose, including the replacement of real actors with computer programs and effects. There have been no fewer changes in the approach to training animals, including those that appear in front of the camera. Both the history of cinema and the history of filming four-legged actors in it have already celebrated their centenary for a long time.
You can look back and remember these already departed Hollywood stars by walking along the Walk of Fame - the one dedicated to animal actors. Their prints are preserved on the tiles - traces of paws, feet and hooves. Nearby is a shelter in Burbank: many four-legged actors came to the set from there. Among those who left a mark on the Walk of Fame and a mark in world cinema is an unusually charming and talented cat named Orange, or Rubarb, who became a partner on the set for many Hollywood stars. By the way, the cat from the movie "Breakfast at Tiffany's" also helped rescue stray animals.
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