Oscar winners warned to keep speeches short

The producer of this year’s Oscars telecast has ordered winners to keep their acceptance speeches short and warned that if they don’t they will be drowned out by the orchestra.

Gil Cates has also banned winners from reading their speeches from prepared notes and warned that they may only thank five people.

“These are harsh measures but necessary,” he told the nominees at a pre-Oscar lunch in Beverly Hills. “The list of names means nothing to 99.9 per cent of the audience.”

He is expecting some winners to use the occasion as a forum to make anti-war speeches and he said he will not try to rein in political comments as long as the speakers make their remarks to the 45 seconds allowed by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.

Cates also said the ceremony, set for March 23, will go ahead – ”war or not war.”