The Oscars Has Been Host-Free Before, And It Was A Trainwreck

If you’ve ever wanted to see Snow White and Rob Lowe sing an awful parody of ‘Proud Mary’, we have you covered.

This year, after much speculation and petitioning for the role to be given to Hannah Gadsby, the Oscars has elected to forgo a host for its 91st award ceremony. Instead, a veritable smorgasbord of celebrities will share the load of presenting the awards. On face value, it seems as though the Academy is taking the safe road, eliminating the possibility of controversy.

However, the last time the Oscars were held without a host, the resultant disaster ended in a lawsuit, a letter of condemnation signed by Julie Andrews, and the end of a man’s career.

On March 29, 1989, the 61st Academy Awards were held at the Shrine Auditorium in LA. The task of producing the now infamous show was given to a man named Allan Carr. Known for his opulent parties, the producer behind Grease and Grease 2 had also achieved some success in Broadway, and eagerly dove in with the aim of revitalising the stodgy awards ceremony.

Carr brought on Steve Silver, the man behind musical revue Beach Blanket Babylon, to help create the show’s opening number. The revue is still running, and their website will give you an idea of the big-wigged, over-the-top musical fare they provide. Still, Carr promised that his Oscars would be the “the antithesis of tacky”.

It turns out Carr’s definition of “tacky” greatly differed to the definition used by the rest of the human population.

On my first attempt at viewing the 12-minute opening number, I only got 20 seconds in before I had to stop and take a walk. The agony begins with a very Disney-esque Snow White chirping “Follow the Hollywood stars?” and trailing behind two people dressed as giant gold stars. It does not get better.

Merv Griffin sings ‘I’ve Got A Lovely Bunch Of Coconuts’. Rob Lowe and Snow White butcher a classic Creedence Clearwater Revival song. There’s a kickline.

It’s a dazzling whirlwind of suck, and I am morbidly curious how much alcohol Oscars attendees consumed while forced to sit through it.

The opening number wasn’t the only torturous performance of the night, either. Another widely-derided number featured 18 young actors, including a 23-year-old Patrick Dempsey, cavorting around a giant Oscar statue and singing the original song “I Wanna Be An Oscar Winner”.

By the end of the night, Rain Man had won Best Picture, Dustin Hoffman and Jodie Foster had won Best Actor and Actress, and producer Carr’s Hollywood career was over.

The Walt Disney Company sued the Academy, claiming copyright infringement and damage to their reputation due to the use of Disney’s version of Snow White, though the suit was dropped after the Academy issued an apology.

Seventeen people involved in Hollywood, including Julie Andrews, signed an open letter condemning the spectacle as “an embarrassment to both the Academy and the entire motion picture industry”.

And 22-year-old Eileen Bowman, the young aspiring actress who played Snow White, left LA and returned to her home in San Diego.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter in 2013, Bowman recounted knowing, as she was performing, what an unmitigated disaster the whole ordeal was. “[A]ll these poor people were like, ‘What the hell are you doing?’ That number was 15 minutes long from start to end, and I remember looking at Rob Lowe, going, ‘It’s finally over!'”

“I went to my dressing table and was taking my costume off, and there was Olivia Newton-John using my blush – which I still have,” said Bowman. “She was my idol, and she turned to me and said: ‘How did you ever do that? How did you ever get out there in front of that many people and do that?'”

Carr’s reputation never recovered, and he never worked in Hollywood again. Instead, he moved into theatre, where he remained for the rest of his life.

Steve Silver has also since passed, though his revue survives. And that dark day in Oscars history has been pushed into the shadows, ignored and – according to Bowman – literally buried.

“My dress was bought for $23,000 by someone involved with the production who was buried in it. It was a man. I’m leaving it at that.”