--- title: Oscars 2015: Read How TIME Covered the First-Ever Academy Awards description: The ceremony wasn't even known as the Oscars yet canonical: https://time.com/3711978/first-oscars/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-20T12:00:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T04:28:44.176Z article:section: History og:title: Oscars 2015: Read How TIME Covered the First-Ever Academy Awards og:description: The ceremony wasn't even known as the Oscars yet og:url: https://time.com/3711978/first-oscars/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt92e4e81c7ce1484f/69877f9906f2c1497d333ff9/wings.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Wings og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Oscars 2015: Read How TIME Covered the First-Ever Academy Awards twitter:description: The ceremony wasn't even known as the Oscars yet twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt92e4e81c7ce1484f/69877f9906f2c1497d333ff9/wings.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # What Happened at the First-Ever Oscars  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Feb 20, 2015 12:00 PM UTC  Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, Clara Bow, and Richard Arlen in publicity portrait for the film 'Wings' Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, Clara Bow, and Richard Arlen in publicity portrait for the film 'Wings'Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Feb 20, 2015 12:00 PM UTC It was May of 1929 when members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences first gathered to fête their own. Decades later, the annual ceremony is the event for which the Academy is best-known — last year’s Oscars telecast was watched by tens of millions of people — but, back then, the occasion only merited a single paragraph of attention in the pages of TIME. In the May 27, 1929, issue, as part of a round-up of the week’s news, TIME [commented](http://time.com/vault/issue/1929-05-27/page/64) that: --- > “” --- Also on that printed page: John D. Rockefeller III had been voted “third most pious” by his Princeton class and a ground had been broken for a new Ford plant being built in England. Observant movie buffs may note that _Wings_, the best-picture winner, actually came out in 1927\. That’s because the first Oscars (not that they were called the Oscars back then; the nickname didn’t stick until the mid-1930s) took a while to put together, and though they took place in mid-1929 were honoring movies from the year that began in August of 1927. Though [the first Oscars ](http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1929)were a star-studded affair, the event might not even be recognizable to today’s home viewers. For one thing, there were no home viewers — obviously, since television was barely being broadcast at all — and only a couple hundred people in the actual audience. Plus, though the ceremony came in May, the winners had already been announced a few months earlier. There were 12 categories: cinematography, actor, actress, art direction, two director categories (comedy and drama), effects, two best-picture categories (“outstanding picture” and “unique and artistic picture,” which went to the film _Sunrise_) and three writing categories (adaptation, original story and silent-movie title cards). Several of the winners were victorious for multiple movies; for example, actress Janet Gaynor’s performances in three separate films were honored with one award. By[ the next year](http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1930), the number of categories had decreased, as directing, writing and best picture were each combined into a single race. And, though TIME only commented on Charlie Chaplin’s special award, another special prize went to Warner Bros. for something that ended up changing the film industry forever: _The Jazz Singer_, [the movie that showed the future was for “talkies.” ](http://time.com/3457278/the-jazz-singer/) This year’s Oscars will take place on Sunday, Feb. 22. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3711978/first-oscars/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3711978/first-oscars/"},"headline":"What Happened at the First-Ever Oscars","datePublished":"2015-02-20T12:00:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T04:28:44.176Z","description":"The ceremony wasn't even known as the Oscars yet","url":"https://time.com/3711978/first-oscars/","keywords":["movies","awards","Oscars"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt92e4e81c7ce1484f/69877f9906f2c1497d333ff9/wings.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt92e4e81c7ce1484f/69877f9906f2c1497d333ff9/wings.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Wings","caption":"Charles 'Buddy' Rogers And Richard Arlen In 'Wings'","creditText":"Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3711978/first-oscars/","name":"What Happened at the First-Ever Oscars"}}]}] ```