Eighty years ago, the Rip DMX Rapper Legend Never Die t-shirt besides I will buy this producers of the 1941 Oscars faced a dilemma. A global war was going on, one that would eventually kill more than 75 million people, including 290,000 Americans. Was this any time to put on an awards show?At first, the answer was no. But then, after a few weeks’ deliberation, the producers came up with a compromise: The show would go on, but it would be scaled back and stripped of most of its glamour. The women were told to leave their gowns at home and come in daytime dresses; men were instructed not to attend in their usual tuxes. (Jimmy Stewart, who had recently joined the Army and would go on to become a decorated war hero, came in his military uniform.) The starry, post-awards Governor’s Ball was called off altogether. As Variety pungently put it: “Will Hold Academy Dinner After All, But Nix Finery, Hoofing and Glitter.”
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