However, for two Los Gatos women that world of movie stars and red carpets is not so unfamiliar.

The Los Gatos Meadows is home to two Academy Award­goers, who were more than happy to share their stories with the Los Gatos Weekly-Times. Keep reading for a little touch of Hollywood--then and now.

Then

In 1948, Elizabeth "Betsy" Neumann was working for Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation in Hollywood.

"[Back then] they made the only films that were in color--they had a corner on the market," says Neumann.

In 1949, during her 10-year stint at the company, Neumann was handed her very own ticket to the Academy Awards.

"The studio was given a block of tickets, and I was available, so I went with my girlfriend," she recalls.

That was the first year the Oscar ceremonies were held at the RKO Pantages Theater at Hollywood and Vine. Neumann describes a much different event than today's generation knows.

Rather than the grand arrival the stars are known for, Neumann says, "We had to park quite a ways away, so we took a bus down closer to the Oscars. It was very crowded. We pushed our way through and went in the door ordinary people go in. They had a section at the top [of the theater] for Technicolor employees, so that's where we went."

Back then, Neumann remembers, the Oscars were broadcast live on the radio.

Neumann says there were, of course, many stars present that night, but she was used to seeing celebrities on a regular basis.

"The stars didn't make that much of an impression on me, because I did it for a living," she says.

That night, Broderick Crawford won the best actor award for his performance in All the King's Men, beating out classic movie heroes like Gregory Peck and John Wayne for the famous gold statuette. Neumann says back then members of the Academy introduced and announced winners and nominees--the Oscars didn't start booking high-profile entertainers until the first television broadcast in 1953, when it was presided over by none other than Bob Hope.

"They didn't have a spectacular, elaborate show and performance like today," she says. "However, just being able to go, since Oscars had been given out since 1929, and I had grown up with it and had heard so much about it, it was fun to be able to go."

Now

Ellenetta Longworth's experience at the Oscars was about as different from Neumann's as one can get.

Longworth's sister, Alice Davis, is the wife of one of Disney's most influential animators, Marc Davis.

"He created Tinkerbell and Cruella DeVille," she says proudly. "He also worked on Bambi, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and designed areas of Disneyland like Pirates of the Caribbean and Bear Country."

Although Marc Davis passed away a few years ago, Alice still gets complimentary tickets to the Academy Awards. Since Longworth's 80th birthday was approaching, her sister decided to give her a gift like no other--a trip to the Oscars, complete with a walk down the red carpet and a seat at the Governor's Ball.

"The limo came and picked us up at her house around 3 p.m.," she recalls--and it was no ordinary limo at that. Davis had hired a vintage 1941 Cadillac limousine.

When they reached the Kodak Theater, they had to check in at many tents that searched all the Oscar-goers and verified their IDs and tickets.

Then they hit the red carpet.

"It was surrounded by beautiful flowers. The carpet was as long as a street," she says. "There were bleachers on either side that had photographers and fans, and [the media] was there to interview the stars as they walked by."

Longworth and Davis went to their seats, which were on the second level in the theater.

"Some people who won Oscars were seated all around us," she says, remembering brushes with stars like Kate Winslet and Laura Linney. "Martin Scorsese was only an arm's length away, and we also saw Clint Eastwood's mother."

Longworth says that drinks and hors d'oeuvres were served to guests until dawn on a landing just before the seats. She says when TV audiences saw a commercial, stagehands would be busy changing sets--even they were clad in tuxedoes--and some people sitting around her would rush down toward the front of the theater to catch glimpses of other stars.

"The stage was just beautiful. There was no mistaking it was the Oscars," she says.

After the awards, Longworth and Davis proceeded on to the Governor's Ball, where they kept the party going. The ball, she says, hosted by governors of the Academy like Tom Hanks, was more elegant than she ever could have imagined.

"There was an orchestra for dancing, and a magnificent dinner by Wolfgang Puck," she recalls, which she later heard went for a staggering $750 per plate for those without complimentary tickets like her and her sister.

All in all, says Longworth, the night was truly full of magic.

"Hollywood really knows how to dress it up," she says.