At the 16th Academy Awards ceremony, when
Casablanca (1942) was named Best
Picture,
Hal B. Wallis, the film's producer, was on his way to the stage to
accept the Oscar when Warner cut him off and accepted on behalf of the
studio. At the time the Oscar for Best Picture customarily went to the
studio, but Warner's public rudeness had two consequences: first, Wallis
resigned from Warner Brothers in protest; second, producers began
exerting more power with the Academy. Within eight years, starting with
An American in Paris (1951), the Oscar for Best Picture would go to the film's producer(s)
instead of the studio.
