It prompted the chief executive of America’s anti-defamation league to ask “Where are the Jews?” when he visited, while John Goldwyn, the producer whose grandfather Sam founded MGM, called the omission of the founders’ contribution “an egregious oversight”, adding, “If you’re going to have a museum…that celebrates arguably the most significant art form of the 20th century, how is it possible not to acknowledge the Jewish men who started it all?”

Leading donors have demanded redress of the fact the industry founders had been excluded, while Marvin Hier, the double-Oscar-winning rabbi and founder of the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, called the omission “a form of intellectual discrimination”, adding, “Without the Jewish leadership in Hollywood, there would be no Hollywood.”

In response, the Academy Museum promised that Hollywoodland, which opened in May, would comprehensively tell the story of several seminal studio heads in the first permanent exhibition in the £400 million museum.

Dara Jaffe, its curator who has borne the brunt of the criticism for the exhibit, claimed the show would get prominent space in the popular area where visitors had previously paid to be filmed picking up their own Academy Awards in a simulated ceremony. 

But its location has been condemned as small, dark and unimpressive, “up on the third floor where nobody is going to see it”.

Ampas has acknowledged receiving letters of criticism and promised to “move quickly and thoughtfully” in addressing concerns.