What a Complete Waste of Time!
If you decide to sit down and watch an awards show today, you should be prepared for it to take a while. It’s possible that the majority of them will last three hours or longer! The Academy Awards, on the other hand, were held to a time limit of two hours and fifteen minutes in 1959.
Jerry Wald, the year’s producer, had to keep slashing acts in order to keep the show on schedule. The final 20 minutes of the show were transformed into an improvised performance in order to keep the audience entertained and involved.