During World War II the Oscars were made of plaster.
A metal shortage meant three years of painted plaster statuettes; after the war, the Academy let winners swap them for gold-plated metal ones.
More amazing facts
- 1942 · 1951 Superglue was discovered by accident and promptly rejected.
- 1942 Casablanca was not filmed in Casablanca.
- 1942 · 1944 A brown bear served in the Polish army in World War II. Wojtek was enlisted as a private so he could board a ship in Egypt, and his company’s badge became a bear carrying an artillery shell.
- 1943 · 1945 The Slinky was invented when a spring fell off a shelf.
- 1943 In World War II the American psychologist B. F. Skinner trained pigeons to guide bombs.
- 1943 The famous 'world market for maybe five computers' was probably never said.