In today's Love Letters to... we celebrate a Hollywood first, and then the Hollywood firsts that followed. On May 16, 1929, a couple of hundred industry types gathered for the very first Academy Awards. Hosted by silent film legend Douglas Fairbanks, the event lasted about 15 minutes. It would be a decade before the statues themselves came be known as Oscars, and since then, the Oscars have heralded all kinds of firsts.

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