The LOST YEARS

BRUCE FEIRSTEIN

Although the magazine went on hiatus between 1936 and 1983, it's long been rumored that the fabled V.F. Oscar party continued through the decades. Herewith, some of the alleged highlights:

VANITIES

/THE VANITY FAIR OSCAR PARTY/

1937

Attending the party at the Brown Derby restaurant, Spencer Tracy shares a banquette with Howard Hughes and Amelia Earhart, while F. Scott Fitzgerald decries the state of the movie business, telling Frank Capra and Norma Shearer that Shearer's late husband, Irving Thalberg, was "truly, the last tycoon." Later in the evening, Fitzgerald is overheard confiding to Carole Lombard and Clark Gable his hopes that "someday, someone will make a decent movie adaptation" of his novel The Great Gatsby.

1941

Nine months before America enters World War II, the German consul general of Los Angeles attempts to crash the V.F. Oscar party at Ciro's. Joining forces to dispatch him, best-actor honoree Jimmy Stewart (The Philadelphia Story) teams with fellow nominees Charlie Chaplin (The Great Dictator) and Henry Fonda (The Grapes of Wrath) to carry him out into the street—but not before best-actress winner Ginger Rogers (Kitty Foyle) and nominee Kate Hepburn (The Philadelphia Story) instruct Cab Calloway's orchestra to play "La

Marseillaise," m honor of the French Resistance. Observing from the bar, producer Hal Wallis tells screenwriters Julius and Philip Epstein to "take notes," as the scene may be useful for their upcoming him adaptation of the play Everybody Comes to Rick's.

1944

The theme is "Camouflage" as the party is held at a private home in Malibu ringed with anti-aircraft guns. Servicemen are invited to attend, in uniform, after 11 P.M. Notable guests include former ambassador to England Joseph P. Kennedy, Joe DiMaggio, Oscars host Jack Benny, Ingrid Bergman, and the Marx Brothers. Canoodling with a navy seaman on a porch overlooking the Pacific, Bette Davis jokes, "Fasten your seat belts, folks. It's a full-service bar."

1968

At the height of the anti-Vietnam War movement, a chill sets over the festivities—held at Chasen's—as John Wayne, Charlton Heston, and California governor Ronald Reagan sit on one side of the room, while Bonnie and Clyde nominees Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway sit opposite, celebrating with The Graduate gold-statue winner Mike Nichols as his fellow nominee Dustin Hoffman listens to Jack Nicholson and Peter Fonda discuss the picture they're shooting, Easy Rider. Later, Cary Grant and his ex-wife Dyan Cannon will deny rumors that they attempted to broker a peace by spiking everyone's champagne with LSD.

1974

Nominated for writing and directing American Graffiti, George Lucas shares a table at Le Dome with fellow nominees Barbra Streisand (The Way We Were),Robert Redford (The Sting), and A1 Pacino (Serpico). Glancing at the bar, he spots Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein talking with Linda Lovelace as Oscar presenters James Caan, Liza Minnelli, Ernest Borgnine, Cher, and Yul Brynner mingle nearby, chatting

with George Harrison, Muhammad Ali, and Henry Kissinger. Years later, Lucas will tell Harrison Ford that it was at this party—at this moment—that he got the inspiration for the famous Star Wars cantina scene.

1980 Nominated five times for best director but never taking home the gold statue in that category, Alfred Hitchcock entered the party wearing a midnight-black tuxedo and a look of profound concern on his face. "Pardon me," he said to a young editor, "but...

how tall is a penguin?" Flummoxed, the editor stammered out a reply: "I don't know. Three or four feet. Why?" "My God!" Hitchcock exclaimed. "I must have run over an agent."