And the Oscars go to ... Brandeis

Special collections houses not one but two of the golden statuettes

Photo/Mike Lovett

The Oscars of Victor Young and George Froeschel in The Robert D. Farber University Archives and Special Collections

If you want know what it’s like to hold an Oscar and join the ranks of Meryl Streep, Daniel Day Lewis and Jennifer Lawrence, take a trip to The Robert D. Farber University Archives and Special Collections. There you will find not one, but two Academy Awards. 

The awards belonged to composer Victor Young and screenwriter George Froeschel, and were donated to Brandeis after their deaths.

Young ranks among the Academy’s most nominated artists, receiving 22 nods before finally winning in 1956 for the score to "Around the World in 80 Days." Unfortunately, he didn’t live to hold the award — he died Nov. 1956. His famous works include the scores for “Shane,” “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and the song “When I Fall in Love.”

Young’s Oscar is part of the Victor Young Collection, which includes more than 100 musical scores, LP recordings, clippings, photographs, and memorabilia.

Froeschel received his Oscar in 1942, for the screenplay "Mrs. Miniver." Originally, Froeschel received an Oscar of painted plaster due to metal shortages during World War II. When the war ended, Froeschel’s plaster Oscar was replaced with a metal one, made mostly of tin and plated in gold. 

On Sunday, when winners hold their statues for the first time, know that these little golden men are actually pretty hefty: Young and Froeschel’s awards each weigh eight and a half pounds.