In honor of Sunday night’s ceremony, here’s a delightful short Technicolor cartoon that Walt Disney made specifically for showing at the 1932 Oscars, back when the awards were presented at a banquet. That year, there was a grand total of six acting nominees — Wallace Beery (“The Champ”), Frederic March (“Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”) and Alfred Lunt (“The Guardsman”) for Best Actor, and Helen Hayes (“The Sin of Madelon Claudet”), Marie Dressler (“Emma”) and Lynne Fontanne (“The Guardsman”). Beery and March won in the only tie ever in the Best Actor category, and so did Hayes. The supporting actor categories had not yet been established. The youngster with Beery in the cartoon (Mickey Mouse’s unofficial debut in color) is Jackie Cooper, who had been nominated for Best Actor the year before for “Skippy,” made when he was six. He lost to Lionel Barrymore for “A Free Soul.”



