http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/01/25/w...-of-color/
Quote:This could be an undermining revolution and Mr. [Louis B.] Mayer was one of those Russians who loathed revolutions. So he got a few friends together and said they needed some formula to make unions unnecessary. It would be a way of settling disputes before they arose…
So Mr. Mayer and his pals decided they needed an organization to handle labor problems at the studio without having to get into the union thing, and it would be a public relations operation that pumped out the message that Hollywood was a wonderful place where delightful and thrilling stories were made to give the folks a good time.
They liked the scheme and wondered what to call this organization. It needed a word with class, history, distinction . . . ?
In a few more days they had fleshed it out: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The “Arts and Sciences†touch was genius because it made you think the Academy had always been there, arranged by God and Harvard and Albert Einstein.