Academy Sues to Halt Oscar Sell-Out

Golden pair won by silent film legend to be sold at auction
By Jonas Oransky,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 2, 2007 9:34 AM CDT
Academy Sues to Halt Oscar Sell-Out
Sciences is suing to stop the public sale of two Academy Awards given to silent film star Mary Pickford. In the lawsuit filed Wednesday Aug.29, 2007, the academy claims it has the right to buy the historic statuettes and one owned by her late husband for $10 each.(AP Photo/HO)   (Associated Press)

Two Oscars won by silent film legend Mary Pickford are on their way to the open market, and the Motion Picture Academy of America is suing to stop the sale. The academy claims that 1950 bylaws give them the right to buy each statue for the nominal sum of $10, the BBC reports. Organization officials fret that the awards would be “cheapened” by a public sale.

Pickford won the Best Actress Oscar in 1930 and an honorary award in 1975. The icons have changed hands via inheritance several times, and the current owner recently tried to sell one for $500,000. The disconsolate MPAA has cited Pickford’s involvement in the industry—including a founding role at the academy—as evidence that she’d be mortified by a public sale. (More Oscars stories.)

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