DID YOU KNOW?????
The 1929 Academy Awards ceremony is the shortest on record. At a total length of five minutes, the first Oscar ceremony included an award for Best Picture to the WWI picture WINGS, Gary Cooper and Clara Bow. Held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, Douglas Fairbanks (who was Academy President) hosted the event, Al Jolson sang and the price of admission. . . a mere $5.00.
For Oscar 2007, we have former Vice-President Al Gore’s documentary AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH up for two Academy Awards. 
But this isn’t the first time presidential or vice-presidential star power has made it to the awards. At the 13th Annual Academy Awards ceremony in 1941, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave a 6 minute radio address before the ceremony began during which he praised the film industry for showing “the American way of life” and “truths of our democracy.”
The longest acceptance speech in history? That honor belongs to Greer Garson in 1943 when she won Best Actress for MRS. MINIVER.
The first person to receive multiple Oscars for the same performance was Army instructor Harold Russell in 1947. The real life Army veteran lost both of his hands in WWII. Appearing in William Wyler’s classic THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES, he received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor. The Academy, however, honored by Russell’s sacrifices and his performance and believing he didn’t stand a chance at winning Oscar, elected to give him an Honorary Oscar “for bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans.” But talk about surprises. Academy members were so moved by Russell’s performance that he won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Sadly, in 1992, he was forced to sell his Oscars to pay for medical expenses for his wife.
And believe it or not, in 1959 the Oscar telecast ran 20 minutes short! Hosted by Jerry Lewis, the producers were so afraid the show would run beyond the 2 hours allotted by NBC that they began cutting musical numbers. By the time they reached the end of the program there was 20 minutes left to kill. Lewis filled 5 minutes, but NBC ended the show and ran a sports movie reel.
In one of Oscar’s more moving moments, in 1972 Charlie Chaplin was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Academy. In self-imposed exile since 1952 stemming from allegations of “un-American activities” by Senator Joe McCarthy, Chaplin returned to the United States for this ultimate honor. After a film retrospective of Chaplin’s phenomenal career, the house lights came on, revealing the legend standing alone on the stage. With thunderous applause, the audience rose to its feet giving Charlie Chaplin the longerst standing ovation in the history of the Academy Awards.
And in 1973, Charlie Chaplin finally won an Oscar outright for his 1952 film LIMELIGHT. 
As the film had never been released in Los Angeles or New York until 1972, it was eligible for Academy consideration.
And what is about awards and bathrooms? You may recall the year Christine Lahti picked up an Emmy and was in the bathroom when her name was called (which has provided fuel for fodder at all awards ceremonies since). Well, not one to be outdone, in 1980 long before Lahti’s memorable win, after winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in KRAMER VS. KRAMER, Meryl Streep actually left her little golden guy in the bathroom.
