Academy of Television Arts & Sciences

Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. . , , The Oscars of Television , If Hollywood could make its mark as the movie capital, then North Hollywood could make television its own. , In 1928, one year after North Hollywood acquired its name, Philo Farnsworth demonstrated the first working TV system in San Francisco. In time, Southern California would lay claim to television, another gem in the crown of the entertainment capital of the world., By 1949, the Los Angeles-based Academy of Television Arts and Sciences was holding the first-ever Emmy Awards ceremony, at the Hollywood Athletic Club. The very first Emmy went to ventriloquist Shirley Dinsdale, for "Most Outstanding Personality.", A Statuette as Famous as Those it Honors , The coveted golden statuette, a winged woman nicknamed Emmy, holds an atom aloft. It was the last of 48 proposed designs modeled after the wife of its designer, TV engineer Louis McManus. , "Emmy" actually began life named "Immy," a nickname for television's early image orthicon camera. It understandably morphed into "Emmy." The award that the Academy hands out annually for the best achievements in television weighs nearly five pounds. It is composed of copper, nickel, silver and gold , and more than five hours of labor , and gleams with a high polish, just like that masculine "Oscar" statuette the movies present., New York soon had award envy. In 1955, TV variety host Ed Sullivan helped to found the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in New York. But by 1977, the East and West Coast Academies had split. Still, they agreed to share custody of and responsibility for the Emmy statue and trademark. , In addition to the Emmys, the Academy instituted a Hall of Fame in 1984. Every year, it inducts several people from every aspect of TV achievement: performers, newscasters, writers, hosts, executives, and the TV shows themselves. , Television’s Hall of Fame , The Hall of Fame was officially dedicated in 1991. That was the same year that the Academy moved into its new two-story North Hollywood headquarters. The piece de resistance, erected in the center of a fountain, is an 18-foot-tall Emmy stretching skyward. , The Academy chose three giants of television to honor with full, life-sized bronzes: Lucille Ball, Jack Benny, and Johnny Carson. In bas relief nearby are the faces and figures of TV pioneers and stalwarts Steve Allen, Walter Cronkite, and George Burns and Gracie Allen. Carol Burnett, Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, and Ed Sullivan are commemorated in bronze busts on pedestals. , The honorees had to be shown as their audiences remember them best, so sculptor Richard Stiles decided to depict Burnett as the charwoman character from her variety show. Artist Robert Jacobs depicted Sullivan in his vintage TV pose, his hand placed thoughtfully under his chin. , The Academy building houses a 600-seat theatre called the Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre, named for the retired chairman of ABC television who donated $1 million to help buy the site.