Awards shows such as the Oscars (Hollywood) and Tonys (Broadway) have a person announce the nominees in a category, and then that person usually says, “The envelope, please.” This well-guarded envelope contains the name of the winner on a card.
 
The Oscars began using envelopes in 1940. “But a large part of the evening (the Oscars telecast—ed.) still will consist of someone saying: ‘The envelope, please!’” was cited in 1955.
 
“The Envelope Please” was trademarked in 2014, but this refers to an envelope with tips for hospitality service workers.
 
   
29 March 1955, Boston (MA) Traveler, “Fancy Footwork On ‘Oscar’ Show” by Joseph Levine, pg. 20, col. 1:
But a large part of the evening still will consist of someone saying: “The envelope, please!” Unless I’ve counted wrong, we’ll hear that request exactly 26 times between 10:30 p.m. and midnight.
 
26 March 1959, Boston (MA) Evening America, pg. 4, col. 5 ad:
THE RACE FOR THE OSCAR
by LOUELLA PARSONS
“first lady of Hollywood”
”...THE ENVELOPE PLEASE”
starts in the Sunday ADVERTISER
 
4 April 1965, The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA), “Oscar Casts Shadow” by Bob Thomas, sec. 2, pg. 16, col. 1:
HOLLYWOOD (AP)—“The envelope, please.”
 
OCLC WorldCat record
And the envelope, please : a quiz book about the Academy Awards
Author: Richard Altman
Publisher: Philadelphia : Lippincott, ©1978.
Edition/Format:   book_printbook : English : 1st ed
 
OCLC WorldCat record
“And now we come to the last presentation—the envelope, please—”
Author: Herbert Block
Publisher: 7/13/1980.
Edition/Format:   Image : Graphic : English
Publication: Herbert L. Block collection (Library of Congress)
Database: WorldCat
 
OCLC WorldCat record
May I Have the Envelope, Please?
Author: Himanee Gupta
Edition/Format: Article Article : English
Publication: Currents, v11 n3 p20-23 Mar 1985
Database: ERIC The ERIC database is an initiative of the U.S. Department of Education.
Summary:
A survey of schools, colleges, and universities about how they make their award ceremonies memorable is discussed. The best prizes, the best award categories, and the best awards ceremonies are described. (MLW)
 
OCLC WorldCat record
The envelope please ... Academy Award winning songs (1934-1993) : sampler.
Author: Rhino Records.
Publisher: Los Angeles : Rhino Records, 1994.
Edition/Format:   Music CD : CD audio : English
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Features - The Envelope, Please ... - A comprehensive list of award-winning cinematographers
Publisher: [Hollywood, Calif., ASC Holding Corp.]
Edition/Format: Article Article : English
Publication: American cinematographer. 80, no. 3, (1999): 176
Database: ArticleFirst
 
OCLC WorldCat record
The envelope, please : the ultimate Academy Awards trivia book
Author: Arnold Wayne Jones
Publisher: New York : Avon Books, ©1999.
Edition/Format:   book_printbook : English
 
Marriott
09/15/2014
Marriott International Joins The Envelope Please™, A New Initiative Created by Maria Shriver and A Woman’s Nation™ in Support of Hotel Room Attendants
HousekeepersMarriott to Place Gratitude Envelopes in More Than 160,000 Hotel Guest Rooms in the United States and Canada
Los Angeles and Bethesda, Md. - Sept. 15, 2014 – A Woman’s Nation (AWN), together with Marriott International (NASDAQ: MAR), announced today that Marriott International will be the first partner in AWN’s The Envelope Please™ initiative, which is designed to encourage and enable hotel guests to express their gratitude by leaving tips and notes of thanks for hotel room attendants in designated envelopes provided in hotel rooms.
   
CNN.com
‘Envelope, please’: 6 things you may not know about the Oscars envelope
By Jane Caffrey, CNN
Updated 3:31 PM ET, Sun February 22, 2015
Hollywood, California (CNN)The shining Oscar statuette is a celebrated symbol of the Academy Awards, but there is another icon on the Oscars scene.
 
Weighing a quarter of a pound and seen by millions of viewers around the world, it’s the Oscar envelope.
 
It bears, after all, the Oscar winner’s name.
(...)
Unfortunately for the Academy in 1939, The Los Angeles Times got a bit anxious and leaked the winners list before the announcements were made, said Marc Friedland, the Los Angeles-based designer of the current Oscars envelope.
 
So in 1940, the “envelope” was born—as a security measure to prevent the media from prematurely revealing the winners and spoiling the surprises of the evening.
 
(Trademark)
Word Mark THE ENVELOPE PLEASE
Goods and Services IC 035. US 100 101 102. G & S: Social action services in the nature of promoting the interests of hospitality service workers
Standard Characters Claimed
Mark Drawing Code (4) STANDARD CHARACTER MARK
Serial Number 86353925
Filing Date July 31, 2014
Current Basis 1B
Original Filing Basis 1B
Published for Opposition January 13, 2015
Owner (APPLICANT) A Woman’s Nation CORPORATION CALIFORNIA c/o Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP 1453 3rd Street Promenade, Suite 300 Santa Monica CALIFORNIA 90401
Attorney of Record Konrad Gatien
Type of Mark SERVICE MARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator LIVE