A surprising piece of movie history was found at a Covington thrift shop. Now the shop is trying to solve the mystery of who in the Cincinnati area could have possibly owned this mini Oscar from 1935.
Be Concerned food pantry's executive director Andy Brunsman told CityBeat that the statuette, standing small but mighty at 5.75 inches, came from one of their donation boxes at the pantry's thrift shop two to three months ago.
"This came in our thrift store like any other donation: Some generous donor rang the back doorbell, gave us a box of what we like to call treasures – could be junk, could be good stuff. We didn’t really know what [the statuette] was, so it went up with the trinkets and knick-knacks on the shelf for a bit.”
Brunsman said at first, they believed the statuette came from a gift shop, but they eventually started to suspect the little golden man held a secret. Be Concerned's business and development director reached out to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, which verified the authenticity of the statuette.
To commemorate the huge win, the studio gave out mini Oscars to the film's actors and actresses as well as to the production team. Now, almost 90 years later, one of those statuettes has resurfaced in Northern Kentucky.
But questions remain: Who did this belong to? And how did it end up here?
“That’s the one piece of the story we don’t know,” Brunsman said, adding that he hopes the media's interest in this statuette can help uncover some answers.
The little golden man now is heading back to Hollywood. Brunsman said the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is paying Be Concerned $1,000 for the statuette – money that then will be poured back into the community to help feed those in need. That money can feed about a week's worth of families the pantry serves, he said.
“It goes back to that story of, a person brought that in, took the time to package that donation and bring it here to help someone. Then our people took the time to sort it out, and then [the statuette] is going to go to [the museum] so that people can continue to enjoy it. Then we’re going to take that revenue to our people. So at the end of the day, it’s all people-based, which is a strong part of the mission [at Be Concerned,]" Brunsman said.
As for the statuette, its new home will be in the Academy Museum's Clark Gable exhibit.
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