Ginger Rogers wore a metallic-cloth gown, cut very low in front. Bette Davis was there in horn-rimmed spectacles. The master of ceremonies, of course, was Bob Hope. The occasion: Hollywood's 18th annual Academy Award rites in Grauman's Chinese Theater.
To the surprise of no oneexcept perhaps a few diehard members of the W.C.T.U.The Lost Weekend, the terrifying, brilliantly handled story of a dipsomaniac, came off best. To Weekend's Ray Milland went the Oscar as 1945's best screen actor. (Cracked Hope: "I'm surprised they just handed it to him. I thought they'd hide it in the chandelier.") Weekend's other Oscars: to Billy Wilder...