FAKE HONOR RAISES REAL COMPLAINTS ACADEMY: CLINTON'S 'OSCAR' INAPPROPRIATE.Byline: Fred Shuster Staff Writer The folks who honor fantasy on celluloid celluloid [from cellulose], transparent, colorless synthetic plastic made by treating cellulose nitrate with camphor and alcohol. Celluloid was the first important synthetic plastic and was widely used as a substitute for more expensive substances, such as have to draw the line somewhere - and they did Wednesday over the phony Oscar presented to President Clinton by Gov. Gray Davis. Davis handed Clinton the mock fiberglass fiberglass, thread made from glass. It is made by forcing molten glass through a kind of sieve, thereby spinning it into threads. Fiberglass is strong, durable, and impervious to many caustics and to extreme temperatures. trophy as an ``honorary Oscar for his achievements as president'' during the California Welcome party on the Paramount Pictures lot Monday night in Hollywood. However, John Pavlik, spokesman for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, wants to make clear that the statuette ``wasn't really an Oscar - it was a counterfeit To falsify, deceive, or defraud. A copy or imitation of something that is intended to be taken as authentic and genuine in order to deceive another. A counterfeit coin is one that may pass for a genuine coin and may include a lower denomination coin altered so that it may Oscar being used in an inappropriate way.'' Ironically, the Academy's reputation for holding on to its Oscars hasn't been that stellar lately. Earlier this year, 55 Oscars en route from Chicago to Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. disappeared from a loading dock in Bell about a week before the Oscars ceremony. Just in time, though, 52 of the missing statuettes were found by Los Angeles junk salvager Willie Fulgear in a trash bin in Koreatown, a discovery that made him almost as famous as the celebs the Academy honors. Fulgear was invited to the Academy Awards ceremony and was given a $50,000 reward by the shipping company, Roadway Express Roadway is an operating company within YRC National Transportation, a division of YRC Worldwide which is headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas. The company services all (50) states as Roadway, services Canada with its subsidiary, Reimer Express. . A Roadway Express employee accused of stealing the statuettes pleaded no contest to grand theft and was sentenced to five years' probation. The three missing Oscars failed to turn up, prompting comedian Billy Crystal to joke at the ceremony that actor Jack Nicholson John Joseph Nicholson (born April 22 1937), known as Jack Nicholson, is a three time Academy Award winning American actor internationally renowned for his often dark-themed portrayals of neurotic characters. has three Oscars, ``but so does some guy in Bell.'' No, the one given Clinton was not one of the missing Oscars, but a prop. Gabriel Sanchez, spokesman for Davis, said the governor didn't realize the use of a prop Oscar would pose a problem and added that everyone at the party realized it was a fake. Yet another Hollywood fantasy. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: President Clinton receives a phony Oscar from Gov. Gray Davis at a Democratic Party event Monday at the Paramount Studios. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has made an effort to make sure no one mistakenly thinks the trophy is real. Michael Owen
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