George Christy Gives Exclusive Look Inside the Oscars Ceremony

Famed Beverly Hills Courier columnist George Christy gives you an insider's peek into Hollywood's A-list parties and personalities.

Every Oscar season, the curious wonder how the statuette got its name.

“He looks like my Uncle Oscar,” was the reaction from Margaret Herrick who in 193l was the librarian for the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, and our Hollywood cognoscenti believe this is the most dependable of the random stories.

For his 16th consecutive year, Wolfgang Puck is creating the menu for the 82nd annual Governors Ball dinner for 1,500 guests after the Oscarcast in Hollywood and Highland’s Grand Ballroom that’s being designed with a “Streamline Moderne” theme for the evening. Wolfgang and his chefs Lee Hefter and Matt Bencivenga have corralled a culinary crew of 250 to prepare slews of hors d’oeuvres, with the first course being house-smoked salmon, potato galette, crème fraiche accompanied by warm brioche, followed by chicken pot pie with Yukon Gold potatoes. Spago’s pastry chef Sherry Yard promises a dessert of baked Alaska with espresso glace and chocolate sorbet – plus her by-now-infamous gold-dusted chocolate Oscar statuette as a take-home memento for the family. Besides the cooks, count on an additional staff of 900.

Moet & Chandon champagne will be poured (1,200 bottles), and an 18-piece all-female orchestra will entertain, with the party produced by Cheryl Cecchetto. Anticipated in the crowd are Oscarcast producers Bill Mechanic and Adam Shankman (designated the “odd couple” by USA Today), also Oscarcast hosts Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. In her Deadline Hollywood Daily on the Web, Nikki Finke, who always gets it right, previews a spoiler or two.