While the question of whether The Academy will revoke Will Smith’s Oscar win after his controversy with Chris Rock was all the buzz last year. Many predicted that it’s very unlikely that they would ask for the award back since even the blacklisted/banned people are allowed to be nominated & even win some rare cases.
However, there has been only one rare incident where the Academy took the prestigious award back from the winner. And the reason is not because of any scandalous controversy or misdemeanour by the winner but a technical fault but the organisation itself, which could have prevented the backlash & heartbreak if only they were attentive enough about their own policies.
In the year 1969, at the 41st Academy Awards ceremony Diahann Carroll and Tony Curtis presented the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature and awarded it to Robert Cohn and Alex Grasshoff for Young Americans. However, the happiness was very short-lived since they were soon asked to return the award.
Young Americans Win Best Documentary Oscar
Why Did the Academy Take the Oscar Back?
The reason for taking back was revealed that the documentary actually premiered in the year 1967, making it ineligible to run for the 1968 Award. Therefore, Young Americans is the only film to have its award revoked on technical grounds. On the other hand, it looks like a mistake on the giver’s part, since they should have confirmed the details before even putting it up for nominations.
The documentary is written and directed by Alexander Grasshoff, produced by Robert Cohn and the cinematography is done by Richard Moore. It follows the choir group consisting of young singers on their cross-country tour with a runtime of about 1 hour and 44 minutes.
The cast of the film includes The Young Americans, Milton Anderson, Diane Adams, Rod Alemania, Charlie Armstrong, Phil Aubrey, Kathy Austin, Mike Berger, Patricia Barker, Janet Bingaman, Jan Bunch, Rich Chalet, Rick Clark, Ken Collins, Steve Flanagan.
The choir group was founded in 1962 by music teacher Milton C. Anderson, it was the first show choir in America, mixing choreography with choral singing. The documentary showed how 36 tour members were auditioned and selected from hundreds of participants.
Once the group was finalised, they were shown on the tour, which would include stops in Boston, New York City, a state fair and the Illinois State Penitentiary. But like many modern documentaries nowadays, it not only showed the amazing musical performances but also the personal conflict among the vast number of members and the crew which totalled almost 50 people.
Since almost all the choir members were teenagers we could see them acting differently in social situations despite the strict instructions given by the tour authorities. Among the members, actress and singer Vicki Lawrence, later known for The Carol Burnett Show, can also be seen in musical numbers.
The group remained active throughout the 80s & 90s and later took the approach of teaching in-depth art performances. It is helmed by one of the alumni now and many other members have participated in many broadway musicals and been part of films & TV shows.
Who Did the Award Go To?
The Academy gave the award to the runner-up in the best documentary category – Journey into Self. Directed by Bill McGaw and narrated by Stanley Kramer, the film showed a 16-hour group-therapy session led by psychologists Carl Rogers and Richard Farson – for eight ordinary people who had never met before.
Although Young Americans is not widely available to watch, you can stream it on YouTube.
Also Read: Oscars 2023: Here’s What you Can Expect From Hollywood’s Biggest Night