Theater crowd watches the stars.

Byline: JAIME SHERMAN The Register-Guard

She's a typical movie buff. She enjoys the glamour and anticipation of the Academy Awards and wants the most deserving actor, actress and film to win at the Oscars.

But after years of disappointment because her favorite movie stars have gone home without a golden award, Sue Harvey decided long ago that the best don't always shine brightest on Oscars night.

"I'm always kind of mad because they don't pick the ones I like," Harvey said early Sunday evening at the Bijou Art Cinemas in Eugene. "It's real political. It's based on who (the Academy) likes and who's been around the longest."

Several hours later, however, Harvey had changed her tune: "This was a lot more honest," she said of Sunday's selections. "It didn't seem so political this year."

Harvey, a Eugene nurse, was among about 60 film fans who gathered at the Bijou to watch the 74th awards show. The popular moviehouse near the University of Oregon hosts the Academy Awards screening each year to raise money for local nonprofit organizations. This year's proceeds will go to Committed Partners for Youth and the Feral Cat Coalition.

Theater guests paid $15 to $20 a ticket and enjoyed food, beer, wine and popcorn during the evening. They also received door prizes of movie posters and movie passes during commercial breaks.

Marina Morrow of Eugene, a Bijou volunteer who helped host the screening, was one of several who arrived in costume - dressed the part of actress Nicole Kidman's "china doll" character from the movie "Moulin Rouge."

She wore bright lipstick, heavy eye shadow, glitter and a beaded pants suit. She awoke at 5:30 a.m. Sunday to put curlers in her straight hair to add wavy curls to her Hollywood look.

"This is actually more of a `Dream of Jeannie' moment," she said, laughing. "I thought I'd try to emulate (Kidman) for the Oscars."

Harvey, wearing a sweater with a Toulouse-Lautrec drawing on the front and the words "Moulin Rouge" on the back, also was pulling for Kidman. But she said she was pleased by the evening's winners, especially the career-achievement Oscar given to Sidney Poitier.

"I got tears in my eyes over that one," she said.

For some, the suspense is as important as the winners.

"I like the surprise. I like guessing," said Marlene Peterson of Honolulu before the show. "I like it when they pull something I absolutely hate, and I get so angry."

Peterson, a middle school teacher and UO alumna, attended the screening party while on vacation in Eugene. She predicted that Denzel Washington would win for best actor and "A Beautiful Mind" would be best picture - both correct guesses, as it turned out.

The evening included plenty of lighter moments - including when Whoopi Goldberg, the host for the Oscars, was lowered from the ceiling at the new Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. She wore an outfit of black, silver and long white feathers that imitated Kidman's costume in "Moulin Rouge" and made the Eugene audience roar with laughter.

"Leave it to Whoopi," Harvey said. "She's funny. I can't believe she came in that outfit."

Harvey, 52, said this was her first time watching the Oscars at the Bijou - but not her last.

"It's almost like being at the Academies," she said. "You're with a group of people who all love the movies. It's just a real blast."

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WAYNE EASTBURN / The Register-Guard Judith Fernando pets "Boo," the Bijou Art Cinemas' resident cat, at the theater's annual Oscar night on Sunday.