The Academy Awards. The show is the stuff of dreams for many actors, directors, cinematographers, etc. They rehearse the acceptance speech nearly all their lives. Well, here in Chicago, those who are willing to suffer the cold to get their fingers around an actual Oscar statue, will get a chance to make their fantasy come to life if but for a moment on beginning Feb. 13 at the Shops at North Bridge.

"Meet the Oscars, Chicago" will feature a display of Oscars as they undergo a complex, weeks-long manufacturing process. The Windy City has a bona fide connection to the Oscars: R.S. Owens & Company has manufactured the statuettes annually since 1982. Six Oscars on display will be presented at next year’s ceremony.

Chicagoans will also get their chance to see a little movie-making history: the statuette that actor Clark Gable won for his performance in "It Happened One Night" (1934) will be on view. In 1996 an anonymous buyer bought this Oscar at auction for a whopping $607,500. Later that year, the Oscar was returned to the Academy. It was later learned that the buyer was Steven Spielberg.

Future Brad Pitts and Jennifer Anistons will need to hurry. The show closes Sunday, Feb. 22, the night of the actual Oscars. It's sort of like Cinderella's coach which needs to get home before it turns into a pumpkin, only in this situation Oscar needs to return to the West Coast to hang out with his buddies before the presentation that seen by millions is broadcast.