Although Los Angeles is over 2000 miles away, Chicago residents have the chance to experience the time-honored Academy Awards up close and personal.

The conspicuous Oscar statuettes that are given out every year to the best in film will be displayed to the public for the first time prior to the ceremony at the Museum of Science and Industry located at 57th Street and Lake Shore Drive. The exhibit has already garnered so much attention that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences will also showcase the awards in Hollywood when they arrive in Los Angeles.

“I think it’s something to do with Oscar being such an icon not only in America but also the world,” says Dawn Newell, a publicist for the Academy. “There’s excitement in seeing a statuette that could be in the hands of an Oscar winner.”

Fifty of the sparkling statuettes are neatly lined up behind a glass case and none of them are engraved. John Beckman, a curator for the exhibit, says it’s the prominence of the item that brings patrons to the museum.

“It’s something you don’t see everyday, ” Beckman says. “You see it on TV and it has this revered iconic status and to get to actually walk right up and see it is a rare opportunity.”

Chicago is a fitting city for the Oscars to make their debut appearance to the public since they are made by local trophy outfit R.S. Owens & Co. Noreen Prohaska, a regional sales manager for the company and self-proclaimed “Oscar woman,” says she is excited about the recognition from the exhibit.

“It’s brought a lot of media attention to the company,” Prohaska says. “It generates additional business. People like to have their awards made by the company that makes the Oscars.”

Along with the awards for this year, the museum features an exhibit on how R.S. Owens manufactures the statuettes, reviewing each point in the 10 step process. Titled “Making the Oscar: Mold to Gold,” the museum exhibit displays the various steps in the making of the award — from the humble beginnings as a mold built to withstand 975-degree-Fahrenheit heat to its immersion in four different metals, the final being 24 karat gold. The final product is 13.5 inches high and 8.5 pounds.

Even before the stunning set of 50 ever arrived, one Oscar in particular caused quite a stir amongst the staff at the museum. In order to plan the logistics of the exhibit, R.S. Owens gave one of the statuettes to John Beckman in advance.

“I think the statue has an aura about it,” Beckman says. “We had gotten one early and I brought it down to an exhibit meeting. I had 15 museum professionals here and they all went gaga over it.”

There is one award in the display that actually is engraved. In 2000, Jon Johnson was presented with an award for Best Sound Effects Editing in his film, “U-571,” a movie about a World War II German submarine. Johnson recorded many of the sounds for the movie in the U-505 that the Museum of Science and Industry houses. His award is included in the display as an example of the final product.

“I wanted to make sure we had a finished (Oscar) to display in the exhibit,” Beckman says, conceding that he thought, “a little bit of that belongs to us, or at least our U-505.”

According to Beckman, the museum has treated the statuettes like any other piece of fine art. Anyone who holds them is required to be wearing white gloves and must keep both hands on the Oscar at all times.

“We treat them like they’re a Tiffany lamp or an oil painting,” Beckman says.

Judging upon the popularity of the Chicago exhibition, the Oscars might go on a tour of the nation next year, Dawn Newell says. In the Chicago area at least, the show has been quite the crowd-pleaser, for both average patrons and the press.

“(The Oscars have) gotten a really good response,” Newell says. “It’s given us some different stories instead of the typical nominee stories.”

Despite the intense media speculation over the exhibit, Noreen Prohaska says she was excited but not astonished by the popularity of the exposition.

“I’ve handled the Oscar account for 15 years,” she says. “And Oscar always draws a crowd. I’ve learned to expect a great turn out.”

Prohaska laughs a bit before further explaining, “He’s 76 years old and still looks so great.”

The Oscars will remain at the museum until Feb. 18. They are serving as a prelude to an exhibit opening in May called, “Action! Adventures in Moviemaking,” an in depth look at how movies are made, including actual sets, costumes and artifacts from blockbuster films.

Weinberg sophomore Lindsay Sakraida is a writer for PLAY. She can be reached at [email protected].