When Damien Chazelle won the Best Director Oscar for "La La Land", he became the youngest such winner in history, ending a record that stood for 86 years. The man he replaced? Norman Taurog, who won in 1931 at the age of 32 for something called "Skippy".

"Skippy" was a movie based on a comic strip, one of the most popular ones of the early newspaper age. The titular character was a fifth grader who got into all kinds of mischief. (So, "Dennis the Menace", but... not?) Those were simpler times.

So, what did Taurog do to deserve such acclaims? Well, it's really not fair to compare his directing prowess to the modern ilk, so let's recount one anecdote from the production of "Skippy". The script called for the titular character to cry because his dog had died. So Taurog told Jackie Cooper, who played Skippy, that HIS real-life dog was dead. Tears flew.

When Cooper found out that Taurog lied to him, he never spoke to him again.

Taurog was Cooper's uncle.

Are we sure this verdict shouldn't be "Sadly, a Jew"?