BW - EP125—009: March 1954—The 1954 Tony Awards on NBC with Audrey Hepburn

The eighth-annual Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Broadway Theatre were held at the Plaza Hotel’s Grand Ballroom on March 28th, 1954. Broadcast on radio by NBC, it was emceed by Ben Grauer and Faye Emerson. ____________ The entire post-dinner awards ceremony took thirty minutes. Some of the plays and musicals of note that season were Ondine, Kismet, Can-Can, The Teahouse of The August Moon, and John Murray Anderson's Almanac. ____________ Dolores Grey won a Tony for Carnival in Flanders, even though this Broadway musical ran for only six performances. It’s a still-standing record for the briefest run by a Tony winner. ____________ This was David Wayne's second and final Tony award. He would appear in numerous films and TV, including starring alongside Paul Muni in the 1959 film, The Last Angry Man. ____________ 1954 was a banner year for the twenty-five year old Audrey Hepburn. Three days earlier she won a Best Actress Oscar for her starring role in Roman Holiday. She’d also won a Golden Globe for the same film. In September, Sabrina would premiere, for which she was again Oscar nominated the following year.