2011 Academy Awards: Will the real Oscar please stand up?



Harmon Oscar Nelson and Bette Davis


Meet Harmon Oscar Nelson. Superstar? No. Married to one, yes. 

Hollywood grande dame Bette Davis accepted her 1936 Oscar -- the 8th Academy Awards -- and in press reports boasted that the coveted statuette was named after her first husband of several husbands.  He was a bandleader.

Another version of the Oscar story claims that the Academy's Executive Secretary claimed that the award reminded her of her Uncle Oscar, referring to her cousin Oscar Pierce and might have led to the statuette's naming, while another famous secretary, this time the Norwegian-born executive assistant to Louis B. Mayer is rumored to have told her boss that it looked like King Oscar II, and she coined the nickname.

King Oscar II

Uncle Oscar

Origin notwithstanding, the award became known as an Oscar in 1939 by the Academy and the name has stuck since then.

Although the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Science has the right to buy back the coveted statuettes at $1 a pop, Huffpo's Damien Hoffman values an Oscar on eBay at $60,000 to $100,000, although with the current price of gold, he values the actual cost-to-produce north of $500.

I'm sticking with the Bette Davis version. Why? A renowned Hollywood psychic on Sunset Strip told me so and a good journalist always relies on her best source(s).

Please take the poll.  I want to know what you think.