With the possible exception of Billy Crystal, entertainers based at New York haven’t fared very well as hosts for the Academy Awards, and this Sunday a comic, Chris Rock, will try to improve a dismal record that includes David Letterman’s Uma-Oprah routine, which went over like a lead balloon.

Actually, New York was part of the earliest telecasts until 1957, though only old-timers like me seem to remember that tidbit of cinematic history. The first telecast was in 1953. Bob Hope was emcee at the RKO Pantages Theatre, and in New York the host was Conrad Nagel, with Fredric March doing the presentations at the NBC International Theatre. In 1954 it was Bob Hope there and Fredric March and Jean Hersholt here. In 1955, Hope there, Thelma Ritter here. In 1956, Jerry Lewis there, Claudette Colbert here, and finally, in 1957, Jerry Lewis there and Celeste Holm here.

I watched every one of those shows, because I was a film buff with a great desire to direct a masterpiece one day. As a teen, I bought movie magazines such as Modern Screen, Photoplay, and Motion Picture, and I followed gossip columns by Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper. As I grew up, my interests in the denizens of the silver screen persisted.

Last year it finally died.

Sorry, Chris, but I plan to skip Sunday’s broadcast, and I have a sneaky suspicion that many Americans will do the same. Your being the host will have nothing to do with that. Last month’s Grammy awards show had its lowest ratings in years, and network programmers are still wondering why – which just goes to show how out of touch they are with real people.

We happen to be a nation at war, and unlike their counterparts during World War II the current crop of movie stars, along with some musicians and television performers, chose to exercise their freedom of speech by protesting the war and our president. They are certainly free to do so. Hooray for Hollywood. They are so peace-loving.

I, on the other hand, along with millions of other Americans, no longer have to pay attention to them. I did try to separate the actors and actresses from their private anti-war campaigns and simply enjoy their theatrical endeavors. Alas, I could not. I simply lost respect for them. I found them to be intellectually moribund individuals living in the lap of luxury who had become bores.

Besides, what is spewing out of Hollywood is not worth watching, no matter how fine the performances.

There seems to be a pattern of deliberate disingenuousness in this year’s crop of nominees. “Million Dollar Baby” is a heavy favorite to win Best Picture, but it is also a subtle endorsement of an act that a true Catholic would never condone. “Kinsey” is a biographical whitewash of an amoral pervert. “Vera Drake,” like “Cider House Rules,” seeks to transform abortionists into heroic figures.

All this would be tolerable except for that steady bombardment during the last election campaign of Hollywood heavyweights pontificating on how stupid President Bush is and why our presence in Iraq is evil. Apparently I’m not the only person who was turned off by the politicizing cinema icons. A billboard went up in Hollywood recently thanking those stars for re-electing George Bush. Naturally, it was soon defaced by a swastika drawn on the president’s forehead. Nice town, Hollywood.

The Sturm und Drang continues. Now there seems to be a controversy over remarks Chris Rock made in an interview with Entertainment Weekly magazine. He’s the Oscars emcee, yet he apparently has no respect for these types of award shows. In typical profane language, he mocked the proceedings he’s been engaged to celebrate: “What straight man sits there and watches the Oscars? Show me one.”

Who in the Academy of Arts and Sciences, pray tell, came up with the brilliant idea of selecting someone who admits to avoiding all Oscar telecasts until 2002, when many blacks were nominated? The real shock of Mr. Rock’s interview was not his “straight man” remark but his proclaiming that he makes most of his choices based on color. Mr. Rock says he wears clothes by Sean John to “Help out the black designer.” He names as his favorite actors Eddie Murphy and Denzel Washington. As for the Oscar show, he said, “… you don’t see a lot of black people nominated, so why should I watch it?”

Indeed. Maybe I’ll watch the Oscars only when Rita Moreno is nominated again. Seems to me that Mr. Rock wouldn’t be enjoying this golden opportunity if blacks were the only ones who came to see him perform.

Methinks Billy Crystal will be back on board next year.