Key Highlights
- New Additions: The Academy Collection has recently added over 52 million items, including significant film artifacts.
- Notable Items: Acquisitions feature Paul Reubens’ bicycle from Pee-wee’s Big Adventure and Ray Gilbert’s Oscar for “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah.”
- Access Points: The public can explore the collection through exhibitions, libraries, and online platforms.
- Historical Significance: The Academy has preserved film materials since 1927, showcasing the entire moviemaking process.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Tuesday (Jan. 13) the newest acquisitions to its expansive Academy Collection, the largest film-related collection in the world, comprising more than 52 million items.
Recent acquisitions include Paul Reubens’ screen-used hero bicycle from Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985); Ray Gilbert’s Oscar for best original song for “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” from Song of the South (1946); and handwritten music score and sheet music for the Oscar-winning title song from High Noon (1952), “High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin’).” Both songs became hits on pre-Hot 100 Billboard charts circa their release. “Zip-a-Dee Doo-Dah” was also a top 10 Hot 100 hit in 1963 for Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans, produced by Phil Spector.
The Academy has been collecting and preserving film and film-related materials since 1927. Its collection contains items reflecting all aspects of the moviemaking process – including costumes, photographs, scripts, posters, production art, sound recordings, books, film and video assets, props, cameras, projectors, clippings, makeup and hairstyling tools, visual effects technologies, and promotional materials.
The public can access components of the Academy Collection through:
- Exhibitions, public programming, and film screenings at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
- The Academy’s Margaret Herrick Library reading room
- The Academy Film Archive public access center
- Online at academycollection.org
A selected list of new collection items includes:
- Couture gown worn by acting legend Cicely Tyson during the 2018 Oscars and illustration by celebrated Black American fashion designer B Michael. Tyson had received a Governors Award from the Academy the previous November.; Gift of B Michael and Mark-Anthony Edwards
- Costume designed by Mark Bridges, worn by Heather Graham as Rollergirl in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights (1997), and screen-used roller skates; Gift of Heather Graham
- Tap shoes worn by James Cagney in his Oscar-winning performance as composer George M. Cohan in Michael Curtiz’s best picture nominee Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
- Bicycle from Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, directed by Tim Burton (1985); Gift of Paul Reubens, who died in July 2023.
- Animatronic Freddy Krueger television and control box from A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)
- Life cast and registration mask for Tom Hanks used to create motion capture effects for Robert Zemeckis’ The Polar Express (2004); Gift of Kevin Hudson
- Ray Gilbert’s Oscar for best original song for “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” for the live action/animated hybrid film Song of the South (1946); Gift of Janis Paige Trust
- Collection of rare scripts and correspondence belonging to screen legend Orson Welles; Gift of James Pepper
- More than 70 never-before-seen Kodachrome slides taken on the set of Steven Spielberg’s best picture nominee Jaws (1975) from sound boom operator Frank Meadows; Gift of William Meadows
- Scripts, photographs, and production material from set decorator Marvin March for John Huston’s Annie (1982) and Barry Sonnenfeld’s Addams Family Values (1993); Gift of Marvin March
- Costume design drawings by Edith Head for Kim Novak in Alfred Hitchcock’s classic Vertigo (1958)
- Makeup continuity production notebook and cast Polaroids for John G. Avildsen’s best picture winner, Rocky (1976); Gift of Michael Westmore
- Handwritten music score and sheet music for the Oscar-winning title song from Fred Zinnemann’s best picture nominee High Noon (1952), “High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin’)” which was co-written by Dimitri Tiomkin and Ned Washington; Gift of Anne Kabler Robichaux
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