Bette Davis' Oscar for Jezebel (right, with Fay Bainter) and the 2010 Best Actor statuette will be on display at “Meet the Oscars, Chicago,” presented by Kodak, at The Shops at North Bridge on Michigan Avenue. The exhibition opens Thursday, February 25, and runs through Sunday, March 7. Hours are Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission is free.
Its New York counterpart, “Meet the Oscars, New York,” will feature Judy Garland's 1939 miniature Oscar and the 2010 Best Actress Oscar statuette.
“Meet the Oscars, Chicago” will also feature a display of Oscar statuettes in various stages of completion, as manufactured by Chicago’s own R.S. Owens & Company, in addition to the Oscar awarded to the DuPont Film Manufacturing Corporation and Eastman Kodak Company in 1930/31 for super-sensitive panchromatic film.
On Friday, March 5, the statuette designated for this year’s Best Actor will be shipped to Hollywood where it will be reunited with the rest of the Oscars to be presented on Sunday, March 7.
Davis’s Oscar for Jezebel has an interesting history: In 2001, it was purchased at auction by an anonymous buyer — later revealed to be Steven Spielberg — and returned to the Academy. (The statuette is one of three Spielberg has bought and returned to the Academy.)
The 2010 Academy Awards ceremony will take place on Sunday, March 7 at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center. In the United States, it'll be televised live by ABC.
Photo: Warner Bros.