I was chagrined to read this week that the Oscars producers only deem 15-20 of the over 400 recently deceased Academy members to be important enough to remembered during their upcoming broadcast.
Army Archerd mentions in his Variety column that the family of Penny Singleton(After the Thin Man, Boy Meets Girl,numerous Blondie movies, and more)was saddened to learn that she would be left out of their planned tribute, along with numerous others. After all, she only worked in the motion picture arts for 60 years.
I realize that there are enormous commercial pressures associated with an international broadcast of these proportions, and that an exceptional number of megastars passed away this last year, but couldn't they read the less prominent names during the non-broadcast part of the Academy presentations just as a public acknowledgement of their contributions and loss? Perhaps this jettisoning of the very mention of many veterans' names is part of an overall trend since even in 2002, Dorothy McGuire's name was omitted from the memorial tribute--while the relatively insignificant contribution of pop star Aaliyah was remembered.
Since the Academy for practical, (and commercial) reasons, chooses to forget some veteran craftsmen, how about if TCM considers a longer version of their annual In Memoriam spot? TCM always produces a graceful and touching appreciation of those who have died at year's end. Any chance that they might do a longer one at the end of this year or possibly as part of next year's 31 Days of Oscar?
