HISTORY OF AN AWARD
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association is known worldwide for its Golden Globe Awards at the end of January every year. However, in between those televised gala events, the HFPA members - all working journalists - spend the rest of the year interviewing just about everyone making a splash in motion pictures or on television and proceeding to tell the world about various aspects of show business.
It all began in the early 1940s, a time riddled with contradictions.
The world was in flames, Pearl Harbor had drawn America into the World War, atomic fission had succeeded, soldiers and civilians were dying by the millions and, strangely enough, in Hollywood creativity was at an all-time high. Audiences hungry for diversions hungered for films honoring heroic figures, stories offering inspiration and entertainment to those coping with pain, loss, fear and worry. Hard at work were now legendary filmmakers such as Orson Welles, Preston Sturges, Charlie Chaplin, Darryl Zanuck and Michael Curtiz.
The release of Casablanca coincided with the Allied occupation of the real Casablanca.
In the midst of this, a handful of non-American journalists tried to get reports through to their home countries and began helping each other, sharing contacts and material.
By 1928, the Hollywood Association of Foreign Correspondents (HAFCO) had been formed, and, in 1935, The Foreign Press Society appeared briefly.
Both terminated abruptly, although HAFCO had a fleeting moment of fame when celebrities such as Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford showed up at the HAFCO International Ball at Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. One thing was clear: the idea of banding together was not only healthy but necessary.
In 1943, a number of respected foreign journalists started the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, instigated by the correspondent for the British Daily Mail. Slowly, the association grew in numbers and prestige as well as in developing various ways for members to gather material for lively, informative articles relating to the entertainment field to be dispersed around the globe. The road was bumpy at times. The film industry had not yet realized the importance of foreign markets (today more than half of many a motion picture's profits come from overseas). Working journalists in the association were also concerned about it becoming a social club where the number of members was more important than the quality.
So in 1950, a group of working newspaper men and women, most of whom were founding members, withdrew, although without animosity, and formed the Foreign Press Association with strict rules for membership.
The two associations existed side by side and frequently interacted until 1955, when they united actively working reporters from both groups, now with definite guidelines and requirements for active or affiliate membership.
During those early decades of the HFPA, members had to rely on creative ideas since their association had no money for special projects.
Through polling more than nine hundred newspapers, magazines and radio stations around the world, they found the male and female World Favorites, and consequently honored stars such as Tony Curtis, Marilyn Monroe, Leslie Caron and many more.
They held special "Bon Voyage" interview luncheons with Hollywood celebrities who were going to make films in countries represented by the members, and so on. Today, as the world has grown increasingly smaller and international markets are essential to the entertainment business, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a nonprofit organization, has secured a strong place among Hollywood institutions.
Its members represent magazines and newspapers in some fifty-five countries with a combined readership exceeding 250 million.
The publications vary in size, content and readership--the present list includes leading publications in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, everything from The Daily Telegraph in England to Le Figaro in France, from L'Espresso in Italy to The China Times.
Each year the members are required to present recent by-lined articles for continued active status and participation in the association's activities, which include more than 200 annual interview opportunities with leading actors, directors and writers working in motion pictures and television.
There are also set visits, participation in press days in other cities within and occasionally outside the U.S. as well as international film festivals, at which one important duty of attending HFPA members is to scout for interesting foreign language films to screen for Golden Globes consideration; another is to establish cultural exchanges with directors, actors, jurors and fellow journalists around the world.
In order to vote on the association's annual awards, the Golden Globes, members see more than 250 domestic films released each year along with foreign language films, motion pictures made for television, and prime time television series. At monthly membership meetings, issues concerning the association are discussed and decided.
Election of officers and board of directors is held once a year, and at the yearly installation luncheon, scholarships and donations are given to other nonprofit groups and educational institutions.
During the past 10 years, the HFPA has awarded more than $4.5 million in grants.