Before becoming the executive director of the Be Concerned food pantry in Covington, Andy Brunsman was a student at Mount St. Joseph University. In one of his film classes, he watched the 1934 film It Happened One Night starring Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable. The movie didn't make a noticeable impression on him at the time, but the film that swept the 7th Academy Awards and took home Best Picture in 1935 would re-enter his life in an unusual way.
In September, a box containing various items was donated to Be Concerned. Among the pictures and paintings inside the box was a small statuette shaped like an Academy Award.
The relic was initially believed to be nothing more than a paperweight or old vacation souvenir. It sat on the food pantry's thrift store shelf labeled "knick knacks" and went unsold.
Brunsman said the figure wasn't getting much attention and was on its way to being recycled for scrap metal until he decided to take a closer look.
"At that point, I kind of grabbed the statue and said, 'Well, I think it's a cool paperweight. Maybe we can make it an award for somebody or something fun," Brunsman said.
After showing the statue to his colleague at the pantry David Laake, the two reached out to a curator at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures who identified the object as one in a series of figurines produced by Columbia Pictures to celebrate It Happened One Night's "clean sweep" of the 1935 Academy Awards.
The statues were given to the cast and crew of the film to recognize the biggest accomplishment in the studio's then 15-year history.
Brunsman says other statues in the series have been valued at $12,000, but he wanted to make sure the rare item sold to a place where it could be appreciated by the most people.
Be Concerned sold the miniature Oscar to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures for $1,000 to be displayed in an exhibit honoring actor Clark Gable.
"We are the people's pantry," Brunsman said. "We thought, 'That belongs in a museum for people to enjoy,'"
Be Concerned says the money from the sale will cover one week of supplies in the pantry.
When it comes to the original owner of the statue and who dropped off the box: that answer is still unknown.
"One of the things that we're trying to figure out is where'd it come from?" Brunsman said. "Who in this region had that sitting in their house for a long time, who maybe had a grandma or grandpa, or a great aunt or great uncle, or somebody who used to talk about knowing Clark Gable? Or 'being in them moving pictures' and said, 'Oh, okay, sure,' and at the end of the day, it's true!"
Be Concern says they're holding onto the statue for a few more days before it ships to Los Angeles.
