Pardon Me, But I Never Received My Naked Man

The Oscars are tomorrow night, and if you've been to East Village Afternoon before, you've figured out by now that we love the Oscars, and Oscar trivia.

Here's one of our favorite Oscar riddles. Try it at a party, it never fails.

What Oscar-winning actor never saw his/her Oscar statuette?

Many of your quicker-witted friends will guess that it's an actor who was blind. But while some handicapped actors have won Oscars, (Marlee Matlin, Harold Russell), to our knowledge no blind actor has ever won. No, the answer is Alice Brady, who won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for 1937's "In Old Chicago".

(alice brady, above, with andy devine, in "In Old Chicago,

and at right, in "My Man Godfrey")

Here's the explanation. In 1938, Alice was suffering from a broken ankle and could not attend the 10th Academy Awards. During the ceremony, an unidentified man walked on stage and accepted Miss Brady's Oscar for her. Later, when Alice called the Academy to say that she'd never received her statuette, it was discovered that the man was an imposter. Neither he nor Miss Brady's Oscar was ever seen again. Before the Academy could issue Alice a replacement Oscar, sadly, she died of cancer, and thus, she is the only actor to have never seen nor touched her golden statue.