Oscar Panel to Review Show Assailed by Stars

Reuters

April 29, 1989

Credit...The New York Times Archives

See the article in its original context from
April 29, 1989, Section 1, Page 16Buy Reprints

TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers.

About the Archive

This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them.

Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions.

The producers of the Academy Awards said today they had appointed a committee to review last month's Oscar show after such Hollywood stars as Julie Andrews and Paul Newman called it an embarrassment.

The show, produced by Allan Carr, was also assailed by critics but received the highest Oscar television ratings in five years.

Roger Kahn, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, said the committee would determine why the show had attracted such stinging criticism and see ''what we should do in the future.''

In a letter to the Academy signed by 17 Hollywood luminaries, including Miss Andrews, Mr. Newman, Gregory Peck, Billy Wilder and Sidney Lumet, the 61st Oscar show was called ''an embarrassment to both the Academy and the entire motion picture industry.''

''It is neither fitting nor acceptable that the best work in motion pictures be acknowledged in such a demeaning fashion,'' the letter, made public Thursday, said.

A version of this article appears in print on , Section 1, Page 16 of the National edition with the headline: Oscar Panel to Review Show Assailed by Stars. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT