Emmy origin: The Academy of Television Arts & Science presented the first Emmy Awards on January 25, 1949 at the Hollywood Athletic Club. That ceremony only honoured shows produced and aired in the Los Angeles area. The Emmys expanded in the 1950s and began presenting awards to TV shows broadcast across the United States.
Emmy name: The name of this famed Tinseltown trophy is a derivative of "Immy," the nickname of the image orthicon tube. That device was an integral part of early television cameras.
Fine design: After receiving 47 proposals for what the Emmy statuette should look like, Louis McManus' design of a winged woman holding an atom sold Academy members in 1948. McManus' statue included wings to represent the muse of art and the atom to symbolize the electron of science.
First Emmy winner: Shirley Dinsdale, the ventriloquist behind famed TV puppet "Judy Splinters," received the first Emmy in 1949 for Most Outstanding Television Personality. Dinsdale was just 19.
Weighty matters: The Emmy statuette weighs four and three-quarter pounds and is made of copper, nickel, silver, and gold. Each statue takes five-and-one-half hours to make and is handled with white gloves to leave no fingerprints.
Gold rush: Each year the R.S. Owens company in Chicago casts approximately 200 Emmy statuettes for the prime-time awards show and 300 for the regional awards. Surplus awards are stored for the following year's ceremony.
Emmy odds: A numerical advantage in nominations does not always translate into award wins. "Miami Vice" scored 15 nominations in 1985, but the TV phenom won just one major award. "Moonlighting" nabbed 16 nominations in 1986. The Bruce Willis-Cybill Shepherd hit walked off with only one Emmy for Best Editing.
Biggest Emmy winner: "Frasier" (1993 - 2004). Scoring 37 wins over its 11-year run, the Kelsey Grammar hit holds the record for most Emmy Awards.
Most Emmy nominations: "ER" holds that record with 120 nominations. The iconic comedy "Cheers" comes in at second place with 117 nominations.
Longest Emmy show: The 1987 Emmys made that bit of record-breaking history. The telecast lasted nearly four hours.
Emmy envy: Despite appearing in seminal shows in television's history, several stars have never won an Emmy, including: Jackie Gleason ("The Jackie Gleason Show," "The Honeymooners"), Michael Landon ("Little House Prairie"), Larry Hagman, ("Dallas"), Jerry Orbach ("Law & Order"), Angela Lansbury ("Murder, She Wrote") and Jason Alexander ("Seinfeld").
