Oscar comes home to Jimmy Stewart Museum
Oscar has come home.
Oscar, in this case, is an Academy Award. More specifically, Jimmy Stewart's Academy Award -- the one he won for best actor in 1940.
And home is Indiana, Pa., where Stewart grew up and where a museum is dedicated to him.
Yes, movie fans, his Oscar is back in Indiana, on loan to the Jimmy Stewart Museum for the celebration of its 10th anniversary May 20-22. To help the cause, Stewart's family decided to give the museum the trophy so that it could display it from May to October.
It's the second time the museum will be displaying the trophy. The first was when the museum opened in 1995.
Before that, Stewart's father had kept it in the family's Indiana hardware store for about 20 years.
Its return is a big deal, said Carson Greene Jr., the museum's vice president.
"How many small towns like Indiana have an Oscar sitting right in downtown," he said.
The museum took delivery of the trophy the other day.
So how exactly do you send a priceless piece of memorabilia from California to Pennsylvaniaâ¢
Very carefully.
It was shipped in a pine box, cradled inside by foam and bubble wrap. The lid was screwed down.
Right now, the trophy is locked away in a bank vault. The museum will meet with Smithsonian officials and its security company to figure out a way to display it so that everyone can see it but no one can steal it or break it.
But just in case, the museum will be carrying extra insurance.
Stewart, who died in 1997, acted in more than 80 movies. He is probably most remembered for his portrayal of frustrated businessman George Bailey in the perennial Christmas favorite, "It's a Wonderful Life."
He was nominated for five Academy Awards for acting, but the only one he ever won was for his work in "The Philadelphia Story."
"It was tough competition back in those days," Greene said.
Incidentally, engravers misspelled Philadelphia on the trophy. They have it as "Philidelphia."
Greene said they ought to see about having that fixed while the trophy is here. He, of course, was joking.
