Lot 154: This Above All, 1942/Richard Day (1896-1972)

An Academy Award for Best Black-And-White Art Direction presented to Richard Day for his work in the 1942 20th Century Fox film This Above All, the gold-plated bronze figure standing on a reel of film mounted on a stepped black lacquered plinth with two gold-plated bronze plaques, one at the front inscribed ACADEMY OF MOTION PICTURES ARTS AND SCIENCES FIRST AWARD 1942, the other on the reverse inscribed ACADEMY FIRST AWARD TO RICHARD DAY FOR BLACK-AND-WHITE ART DIRECTION OF "THIS ABOVE ALL" -- 13 1/4 in. (33.6cm.) high; accompanied by a black and white still of Tyrone Power and Joan Fontaine as Clive Briggs and Prudence Cathaway in This Above All (printed later) -- 8x10in. (20.3x25.4cm.) (2)

Richard Day began his career working with Erich Von Stroheim in costume and set decoration on Blind Husbands in 1919. Under Stroheim's wing, he worked his way up to the position of Art Director, and is associated with many of Stroheim's silent screen masterpieces such as Foolish Wives, 1922; Merry-Go-Round, 1923; Greed, 1924; and The Wedding March, 1928. In his book, Goldwyn: A Biography, A. Scott Berg recounts how, whilst working on Foolish Wives, Day established a reputation for his extravagant sets - after Day and his associate, Elmer Sheeley, had erected a particularly lavish set, the expenditure for the film was well over budget so Universal Studios decided they might as well bill the film as the first Million Dollar picture in the history of cinema and erected a billboard in Times Square to show the budget increasing week by week.

Following his tenure with Stroheim, Richard Day worked independently and was responsible for the art direction of over 250 movies, with his career spanning six decades. He was one of the most prolific and honoured art directors in history, winning the third highest number of Academy Awards in his category, after Cedric Gibbons, who won 11 in total, and Edwin B. Willis, who won eight. Day himself was nominated for 13 Academy Awards and, in addition to the one in this lot, he won six others for: The Dark Angel, 1935; Dodsworth, 1936; How Green Was My Valley, 1941; My Gal Sal, 1942; A Streetcar Named Desire, 1951; and On The Waterfront, 1954.