Home » Santa Clarita News » Education » College of the Canyons » Jack Oakie Scholarship To Award 10 COC Performing Arts Students $1,000 Scholarships
COC, scholarships, MEA, Media Entertainment Art, Students, visual art, performing arts, Jack Oakie Foundation, Jack Oakie, Victoria Horne Oakie
David Sonne and Stan Taffel address COC visual and performing arts students

Jack Oakie Scholarship To Award 10 COC Performing Arts Students $1,000 Scholarships

Dozens of performing and visual arts students at College of the Canyons sat Tuesday for a showing of a classic comedy film that could give them a $1,000 scholarship.


Sponsored Articles


Don’t miss a thing. Get breaking KHTS Santa Clarita News Alerts delivered right to your inbox.

Every year, the Jack Oakie and Victoria Horne Oakie Charitable Foundation awards ten $1,000 scholarships to College of the Canyons students studying in either the Performing arts or Visual arts program.

Several dozen COC students watched ‘Song of the Islands,’ starring Jack Oakie in the Mentry Hall auditorium for the 2017 contest.

COC, scholarships, MEA, Media Entertainment Art, Students, visual art, performing arts, Jack Oakie Foundation, Jack Oakie, Victoria Horne Oakie

Students are required to attend the presentation, which includes both the film screening, a question and answer panel and a “Double Take” contest.  

Contestants each year submit an analytical review of the film for judging.

The essay must include both a brief synopsis of the film along with the student’s analysis of what they would have changed or kept the same if given a chance to redo the film.

David Sonne a representative for the Jack Oakie Foundation since 2003, led the 2017 presentation.

“The purpose of the foundation is to fund scholarships for students studying either comedy in film or comedy in theater,” said Sonne, “Jack oakie wanted to give the money to the kids, and Victoria Horne wanted her husband’s legacy to live on forever.”

COC, scholarships, MEA, Media Entertainment Art, Students, visual art, performing arts, Jack Oakie Foundation, Jack Oakie, Victoria Horne Oakie

This year, the foundation added the “Double Take” competition, which provided students an additional opportunity to win scholarship prizes.

The ‘Double Take’ competition is an homage to Jack Oakie’s famous gesture, where students are challenged to perform the move (looking at something and away before quickly looking back in surprise), on the spot.

COC, scholarships, MEA, Media Entertainment Art, Students, visual art, performing arts, Jack Oakie Foundation, Jack Oakie, Victoria Horne Oakie

Over 30 students lined up and one by one attempted to replicate the double take for three judges.  

The students also asked three-time Emmy Winner Stan Taffel questions about performing.

Taffel shared his experiences in entertainment as an actor and writer, and gave professional advice.  

COC, scholarships, MEA, Media Entertainment Art, Students, visual art, performing arts, Jack Oakie Foundation, Jack Oakie, Victoria Horne Oakie

“I was very humbled and pleased to be here and to talk to the film generation of the future”, Taffel said. “(To) speak to the future film generation. They should have an open mind, and they should be receptive to everything that come towards them, because the more they take in, the more they’ll be able to use in the future.”

The scholarship is a useful way to allow more students to continue their education in filmmakeing, said Carmen Dominguez, Dean of MEA department at College of the Canyons.

COC, scholarships, MEA, Media Entertainment Art, Students, visual art, performing arts, Jack Oakie Foundation, Jack Oakie, Victoria Horne Oakie

“This scholarship film series is a wonderful opportunity for our students to be able to receive support from the Jack Oakie Foundation to pursue their studies in filmmaking”, said Dominguez. “It’s a perfect blend of professional history and our future coming together.”

Once students apply and submit their essays by 5 p.m. Nov. 22, 2017, MEA department faculty will review all applicants submission and choose 10 winners in the categories of:

The Jack Oakie Award for Excellence in Comedy Script or Screenwriting

The Jack Oakie Award for Excellence in Comedy Film Direction

The Jack Oakie “It’s All in Fun” Award for Excellence in Film or Theatre Comedy

The Jack Oakie “Double Take” Award

The Jack Oakie “It’s All In Fun” Award for Excellence in: Comedy Acting (Film or Theatre) or Comedic Improvisation

The “Benzino Napaloni” Award for excellence in Comedy (In honor of Jack Oakie)

The “Myrtle Mae” Award for Excellence in Film or Stage Performance (In honor of Victoria Horne Oakie)

The Victoria Horne Oakie “Albuquerque” Award for Excellence in Comedic Script or Screenwriting

The Carmen Cortez Dominguez Award for Excellence in Entertainment Communication, in honor of Victora Horne Oakie

The Victoria Horne Oakie Award for Making People Smile Through Cinema, in memory of Pamela Sonne

About Jack Oakie:

Jack Oakie came to Hollywood in 1927. His career by that time already included vaudeville, Broadway musicals and appearances in New York films. In Hollywood, he made 87 pictures, mostly comedies or musical comedies, over which period he perfected his trademark comic triple-take. His career included such films as “Once in a Lifetime,” “Million Dollar Legs” and “It Happened Tomorrow.” Oakie received an Academy Award nomination in the supporting role category for his satirical portrait of a Mussolini-like head of state in 1940’s “The Great Dictator.” Victoria Horne Oakie was an American character-actress, appearing in 49 films (uncredited in 25 of these) during the 1940s and 1950s. Some of the films in which she appeared included Blue Skies (1946), Forever Amber (1947, uncredited), The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff (1949), and Harvey (1950). Jack Oakie died in 1978 and his wife, Victoria Horne, died in 2003.

Do you have a news tip? Call us at (661) 298-1220, or drop us a line at community@hometownstation.com.

As Santa Clarita’s only local radio station, KHTS mixes in a combination of news, traffic, sports, and features along with your favorite adult contemporary hits. Santa Clarita news and features are delivered throughout the day over our airwaves, on our website and through a variety of social media platforms. Our KHTS national award-winning daily news briefs are now read daily by 34,000+ residents. A vibrant member of the Santa Clarita community, the KHTS broadcast signal reaches all of the Santa Clarita Valley and parts of the high desert communities located in the Antelope Valley. The station streams its talk shows over the web, reaching a potentially worldwide audience. Follow @KHTSRadio on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and sign up for KHTS email and text alerts today!

KHTS AM 1220 - Santa Clarita Radio

Jack Oakie Scholarship To Award 10 COC Performing Arts Students $1,000 Scholarships

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

About Gilbert Bernal

Gilbert A. Bernal Jr. has been part of the KHTS video department since Jan 2017. He was hired as video editor in June 2017 after his four-month internship in the video department. While serving as a video intern, his duties were extended to become a multimedia journalist, producing news videos for KHTS News and Features. Gilbert was added to the KHTS team as part of the station’s continued growth and expansion. An Army veteran, father and local artist Gilbert has dedicated time and energy to volunteering at schools in the Santa Clarita Valley. At Pinetree Community Elementary School, in Canyon Country, Gilbert donated art for school auctions, photographed events and painted murals. At Canyon High, he gave two art demonstrations for the “Yes I Can” organization, a peer counseling class that focuses on learning about disabilities, social inclusion, and tolerance. Starting in Feb 2017 Gilbert launched the “KHTS Man On the Street” video features which gather and reports local opinion of Santa Clarita residents on current issues or events. A return student at College of the Canyons since 2014, Gilbert has been apart of the Media Entertainment Arts department working as a college assistant. After enrolling into the film program in 2014, he was hired to work in the camera equipment room (The Cage). There he helps students with film equipment rentals and technical advice. Gilbert received his associates degree in Film Production from College of the Canyons in 2017. He is continuing his educational path and plans to attend CSUN in Fall 2018 to work for a Bachelor's degree in Film.