Tonight’s telecast marks the 70th anniversary of the boozy soiree, at which television and movie awards are bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), an organization of international freelance Hollywood reporters. The event marks the true start of awards season and is widely seen as a historically reliable predictor of the Oscars.
But the real beauty of the Globes is that they are generally lighthearted and spontaneous. The awards were handed out by journalists in the association until 1958, when Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr. stormed the stage with whiskey and cigarettes in hand and took over the show. The audience was delighted, and they repeated their performance the next year (this time at the request of the HFPA). Ever since, the stars have reigned supreme at the Globes. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler didn’t have to rush the stage to nab this year’s emcee duties, but all signs point to a delightfully irreverent hosting duo.
(MORE: This Woman Claims She’s Seen Les Misérables 957 Times)
The Rat Pack’s entertaining legacy has generated a variety of surprising statistics. Here is a sampling of Golden Globe trivia:
Getting Ready
$78,000: typical cost for female attendees to get “Golden Globes ready” (not including the cost of borrowed jewelry)
93: number of voting members of the HFPA as of December 2012
$17,500: price per person of the 2011 Globes package at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, including two-night accommodations, breakfast, lunch, seats at the gala itself, and one A-list after-party of the buyer’s choice
$5 million: value of the most expensive jewelry ever worn at the event (a record shared by J. Lo and Sofia Vergara)
At the Event
$1,800: cost of the dessert served at last year’s ceremony
39: number of consecutive years the event has been held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel
1: number of onstage moonings (by Jack Nicholson, in 1990)
1: number of times the ceremony was cancelled, due to the 2007-08 writers’ strike
9,000: glasses of Moët & Chandon Grand Vintage Brut 2002 served throughout the night last year (at a typical retail price of $84.95 a bottle, that’s about $84,950 worth of champagne)
Those Golden Men
$800: cost of manufacturing a Golden Globe statue
5.5: weight, in lb., of the iconic statuettes, which were first introduced in 1946
25: number of awards bestowed each year
Hey, Champ
3: most nominations for a single person in a single year, received by Jamie Foxx in 2005, when he was up for Best Actor in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy for Ray; Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture — Drama for Collateral; and Best Actor in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television for Redemption.
8: number of awards bestowed over the years on Meryl Streep, winner of the most individual performance-based Globes
9: age of the youngest Globe recipient, Ricky Schroder, when he took the 1980 Best New Star of the Year Award for his role in The Champ
80: age of the oldest award winner, Jessica Tandy, when she took Best Actress for Driving Miss Daisy in 1990