A relic of Hollywood’s Golden Age was found in the most unlikely of places this weekend, as a special Oscar awarded for Clark Gable’s 1935 classic “It Happened One Night” was placed in a donation box to a pantry. store in Covington, Kentucky.
cincinnati newspaper city rhythm reported that the Oscar was included in a box for Be Concerned, a community food pantry that also operates a thrift store. The organization’s executive director, Andy Brunsman, said they received the award last summer and have had it on their shelves for sale seemingly unnoticed.
“Some generous donor rang the back doorbell and gave us a box of what we like to call treasures: it could be junk, it could be something good. We didn’t really know what [the statuette] it was, so he went up with the trinkets and knickknacks on the shelf for a while,” he said.
But while the prize had long since lost its golden sheen, the Be Concerned team suspected it might not have been simply a cheap item from a tourist gift shop. So they contacted the Academy Museum in Los Angeles, which was able to verify that the award in the thrift store was awarded in 1935 for Frank Capra’s classic film “It Happened One Night.”
In what was only the sixth Academy Awards, “It Happened One Night” became the first film to sweep all five major categories: Best Picture, Director, Lead Actor, Lead Actress and Screenplay. Capra walked away with Best Picture and Director awards, with screenwriter Robert Riskin also taking honors with lead stars Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert winning for their performances as an out-of-work newspaper reporter and spoiled, hitchhiking heiress showing off her leg in the movie. to get the driver’s attention.
In the history of the Oscars, only two other films have won all five categories: “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” in 1975 and “The Silence of the Lambs” in 1991. The mini statuette found by Be Concerned was a gift special. award given to the cast and crew of “It Happened One Night” to commemorate this rare achievement, though exactly who the award belonged to is unknown.
The statuette is now headed to the Academy Museum to be displayed alongside other Oscars won over decades, and Be Concerned will receive $1,000 for returning it. The organization says it will take that money and use it to feed more needy families in the Cincinnati area.