ROLE REVERSALS
· Paramount overruled Billy Wilder's choice for The Lost Weekend, José Ferrer.
· Bette Davis or Barbara Stanwyck as Mildred Pierce? They were director Michael Curtiz's first and second choices.

SINS OF OMISSION
Picture: To Have and Have Not, Leave Her to Heaven, They Were Expendable
Actor: Humphrey Bogart - To Have and Have Not
Actress: Ingrid Bergman - Spellbound
Supporting Actor: Edward G. Robinson - To Have and Have Not
Supporting Actress: Lauren Bacall - To Have and Have Not
Song: "How Little We Know," "It's a Grand Night for Singing," "The More I See You"

ALWAYS A BRIDESMAID...
· Aside from his unsuccessful nomination for The Story of G.I. Joe, Robert Mitchum never got another shot at Oscar®.
· Perennial wisecracking favorite Eve Arden received her only Oscar® nomination for Mildred Pierce.

UNMENTIONABLES
· Writer-director Billy Wilder was supposed to be on vacation when he bought 4 novels to read on the long train trip from Hollywood to New York -- one of them a bestseller about a NY alcoholic, entitled The Lost Weekend. After Wilder read it, he started it all over again, taking notes on how he was going to adapt it as his next movie. By the time the train pulled into Grand Central Station, Wilder had an outline and he called his erstwhile collaborator, Charles Brackett, in LA -- it was 6 a.m. there -- and asked him if he'd like to write with him again. Brackett consented immediately and was particularly drawn to the material -- Mrs. Brackett was an alcoholic who rarely left the house.
· Joan Crawford's ex-husband #3, Phillip Terry, played Ray Milland's brother in The Lost Weekend.
· Michael Curtiz, Warner Bros.' star director, didn't want to work with Crawford on Mildred Pierce. "She comes over here with her high-hat airs and her goddamn shoulder pads," the director complained. "Why should I waste my time directing a has-been?"
· Crawford got rid of the shoulder pads and condescended to make a screen test for Curtiz. She got the part.
· At the wrap party, Curtiz silenced the revelers and said, "When I agreed to direct Miss Crawford, I felt she was going to be stubborn as a mule and I made up my mind to be plenty hard on her. Now that I have learned how sweet she is and how professional and talented she is, I take back even thinking those things about her." After the applause, Crawford gave Curtiz a gift -- a specially designed pair of Adrian shoulder pads.
· Humorist Fred Allen wrote to Best Director nominee Alfred Hitchcock that he thought Academy Award winners should be given statuettes in their own likenesses, adding, "Should you win, think how much more distinctive it would be for you to receive a balloon-shaped statuette rather than the skinny model."
· Conspicuously absent from the Awards ceremony was Best Actress nominee Joan Crawford. She had run up a temperature of 104°, and her physician pronounced her too ill to attend. However, the studio sent photographers to her home to wait, just in case she won. Also standing by were her hairdresser and makeup man.
· Ann Blyth showed up at Grauman's in a body cast; she'd recently broken her spine. The other Mildred Pierce nominee, Eve Arden, managed to make it one piece.
· The Awards ceremony was broken into two parts: Before the broadcast portion, Jimmy Stewart hosted the presentation of the first Awards. Then Bob Hope hosted the major Awards, which was broadcast on the radio.
· Daily Variety reported, "There was an explosion of applause in the house," when Charles Boyer announced Joan Crawford's name as Best Actress. According to Crawford's daughter Christina, Joan's "health seemed to improve dramatically," and she got out of bed and prettied herself for the expected onslaught of well-wishers. Her director, Michael Curtiz, accepted her Award at Grauman's Chinese. "Miss Crawford is very, very ill," he explained. As Curtiz walked backstage, Ingrid Bergman ran to him, saying, "Oh, I'm so glad! I'm so glad!"
· Upon arriving at the Writers' Building on the Paramount lot the following day, The Lost Weekend's Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett found that the other occupants of the building had prepared a congratulatory greeting -- dozens of liquor bottles were hanging from every window.
· Riding with his wife in a limousine en route to the post-ceremony celebration, Ray Milland directed the chauffeur to drive to the bridle path on Sunset Blvd. overlooking Hollywood. An MGM talent scout had brought the actor to this spot when he first arrived in Hollywood in 1930 and told him, "It all belongs to Ramon Novarro. He is the reigning romantic star at the moment, so tonight it belongs to him." Milland stood there with his Oscar®, taking in the view of twinkling lights, and finally said, "Mr. Novarro, tonight they belong to me!"