Which is your favorite studio logo or mascot?

Nothing Beats the Lion, 20th Cenury is a close second.

I'm actually split between Leo and the Radio Tower. Andy P had already voted for Leo, so I picked RKO (since I couldn't pick both). By the way, how did "Mount Paramount" not make the list?

What was United Artists' logo? Nothing comes to my mind immediately. (Does UA even still exist?)

Although they must have had one, United Artists' logo doesn't come to my mind either. On the other hand, the way Universal's logo changed throughout the years was neat. Starting with possibly their earliest view of a globe with a mono (or bi) plane circling it. The art deco model that came later of a lucite globe, stars and lettering was the glitziest and very much of a character of the times.

My vote for Leo the Lion is for the original logo, and not for the new one that was created to accommodate CinemaScope and used a different lion. From my days as an usher at Loew's Valencia in Jamaica, NY, I still have the two Leo the Lion pins that attached to the lapels of my uniform jacket.

I voted for 20th Century-Fox because I love the trumpet fanfare.

I'm curious to know why the choice failed to include the Paramount mountain (pre-modernization in the G+W era), which is one of the most famous corporate logos in any field. In the "old days," the company was also noted for the slogan, "If it's a Paramount picture, it's the best show in town."

I voted for the Fox logo, but I would have gone with the Paramount logo, especially the Paramount VistaVision logo.

The only UA logos that comes the mind is pre-TransAmerica days logo ( round like a meatball) and the TransAmerica one with the line going up and then the much later UA fade-in type from the late 80's.

Ditto Ron Newman's post. The fanfare still gives me chills, especially when followed by the CinemaScope logo.

Although I voted for 20th Century-Fox, I have this comment on Leo at MGM. Few people ever notice that THE LION'S ROAR is re-shot for every single MGM movie, every time. Even now that MGM is a second class studio, they still maintain this tradition.
Now that we're in the 21st Century, what should Fox do? They tried FOX 2000, a bad idea, but a better one was to just stick with 20th CENTURY-FOX; which they did. But where is the hyphin? It never was a fox of the 20th century, but was a union of Fox Film Corporation and 20th Century Pictures. Trivial? OK, but when RCA messed with the dog in their HIS MASTERS'S VOICE logo, the company tanked immediately into a 10-year slump.

Ron Newman

As of Friday, April 8, 2005 United Artists is nothing more than a film vault for Sony Corp. There never really was a animal or mascot logo for UA. It was many the words United Artists styled in whatever font was popular 10 years ago.

I speak poorly of UA but only out of love. She will always be my favorite studio.

As for classic logos I have agree with the Fox fanfare. I get goose bumps whenever I hear and see it. Then again Warner Brothers does an excellent job with incorporating it's logo to fit the film (ie: Harry Potter, the Matrix, Constantine)For contemporary I would have to give hats off to Orion features. That spinning "o" logo was alwasy catchy. As for modern day I would have to say that Lakeshore Productions, Mangele Entertainment, Dark Castle Productions, and Dreamworks have my votes.

There is a really neat studio logo that I recently (as in the past 6-7 months) saw for a film. I think that it was Kinsey. It looks like an abstract oil painting come to life and involves a red bird and a guy in an overcoat.

Leo the Lion is my favorite but I still chuckle to myself when I think of Lady Liberty at the beginning of "The Mouse That Roared" when Lady Liberty picks up her skirt and sees the mouse at her feet and runs.

When News Corp. brought back the 20th logo and musical fanfare, that was a piece of history I had always missed. The MGM lion is my 2nd choice, but there was just something about the opening of a Fox movie especially after they "added" the Cinemascope fanfare as well!

I thought the question had to do with the logo, not the musical fanfare?

I like all the logos, the RKO Tower was my favorite. I thought the lion at MGM was kind of dull.

I think of the logo and the accompanying sound as going together. Though, having said that, I have no real memory of any of the other fanfares besides 20th Century-Fox.

For most of its life, United Artists was not a studio. It provided the distribution and sometimes financing for independent producers. That was the original intent of founders Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Charles Chaplin and D.W. Griffith. That continued when the founders sold out to a group headed by Robert Benjamin and Arthur Krim.

When did the United Artists theatre chain become separate from the United Artists studio?

Ron

Here is a nice run down of the 1948 antitrust lawsuit that separated United Artists.

Warren

You are correct and I guess my definition of studio is not in the traditional sense. I even though they were a distributor I have alwasy viewed them as a studio due to The Lot.

I've seen that page before. It lists United Artists as a studio that "did not own their own theatres", which doesn't account for the large theatre chain with that name.

The theatre chain was a developed as separate entnty in accordance with the Paramount Decrees, which was part of the 1948 lawsuit.

In summary:

The verdict went against the studios, forcing all of them to divest of their movie theater chains.

Even though UA was not a "studio" it did provide fincial backing for palaces to be built so that they could exclusively play UA products. Thus, the separation of the company.

United Artists Theatre Circuit was never part of United Artists Corporation. It was planned as such by Joseph Schenck, CEO of United Artists at the time it was founded, but UA's owners (including Mary Pickford and Charles Chaplin) were against becoming involved in exhibition. They gave Schenck permission to use the name United Artists, but it was an entirely separate company, with Schenck as its largest stockholder...United Artists Corporation was not a party to the Federal Anti-Trust Decree, which applied only to the "Big Five" that did own both theatres and studios--Loew's, Inc., Paramount, 20th Century-Fox, Warner Brothers, and RKO.

Warren

United Artists Theatre Circuit was never part of United Artists Corporation. It was planned as such by Joseph Schenck, CEO of United Artists at the time it was founded, but UA's owners (including Mary Pickford and Charles Chaplin) were against becoming involved in exhibition.

That being true I would love to see your sources. I am not doubting you but both the department that I received my Communications minor in and the theatre chain that I worked for have always told me the exact same story that I have been professing on this website.


/ pin the tail me on right ----> x here

Warren

If you would like please drop me a line at the e-mail in my profile. I would love to discuss this with you.

Thomasina, I have not kept a bibliography of all the research that I've done on the movie industry during the last 50 years of my life, so I can't say specifically where I learned that United Artists Theater Circuit was a separate entity from United Artists Corporation. But it should be plain to you from the "nice run down of the 1948 anti-trust law suit" that United Artists Corporation was not one of the accused. Neither were Columbia or Universal, because they didn't own theatres...As I said, Joseph Schenck formed UATC as a separate company from UAC. When he formed 20th Century Pictures with Darryl Zanuck, they soon broke from United Artists and merged their company with Fox Films. But Schenck remained as head and largest shareholder of UATC, which became enmeshed with the theatrical holdings of 20th Century-Fox, most notably in the Greater NY-NJ area and in California and Texas. If you look at page 989 of the 1944 edition of Film Daily Year Book, under the listing for UATC it says: "United Artists Theater Circuit, directly and through subsidiary companies, is financially interested in the theaters below. The corporation also owns United Artists Theaters of California with interests in 63 houses; has 50% of the 'A' stock and 37.84% of the 'B' stock of Metropolitan Playhouses, which owns interests in 142 houses; and owns United Artists of Texas, which owns a 50% interest in Robb & Rowley United, operating 93 houses." Metropolitan Playhouses was a holding company formed to run the ex-William Fox theatres in NY and NJ, and used the circuit names of Skouras, Randforce and Prudential (depending upon locations).

I like the shortened Fox fanfare better.

I DON'T BELIEVE I FORGOT PARAMOUNT. I voted for Leo.

Warren

Settle down. I do not doubt your information. I more a less bewildered over the fact that both the educational institution that I received my Bachelor's from and the theatre chain itself had misguided me on the history of United Artists Theatres. Thank you for clarifying the history. You clearly have the superior hand whenever it comes to theatre history. Then again you are 50+ my senior.

It has always been my understanding that the UA theater chain was dormant until the 1980s and around 84 or 85, when Reagan asked the justice department to reconsider the Paramount rule and they did. A couple of studio/theater chain partnerships arouse during that period. Once again, it was my (mis?)understanding that this is how the studio and the theatre chain were somewhat reconnected and then partnered with MGM.

As for me being able to review page 989 of the 1944 edition of Film Daily Year Book that will be rather hard given the local libraries cannot obtain that particular periodical. So I will take your word on the content of that publication.

Warren,understand that you are not being attacked or doubted. You are merely re-educating someone much younger that yourself who has only so far worked in the theatre business for 8 1/2 years. This is how theatre history continues on. It's called communication.

I think that United Artists Theatre Circuit operated into the 1990s, until the company, or what remained of it, was taken over by Regal. You can find the corporate officers and theatre holdings of UATC in any of the old Film Daily Year Books. It doen't have to be the one for 1944. Some of these annuals also carry the financial reports of United Artists Theatre Circuit. For many years, its stock was traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

Other studios not mentioned in the poll (besides UA, Paramount, and Orion): Republic, American International, Selznick, Did any of these have interesting logos?

Although I voted for the Warner Brother's sheild, the Paramount Logo is beautiful. The name came from the building that Adolph Zucker, Sam Goldfish (he wasn't Goldwyn yet), Jesse Lasky and I think one of the Schneck brothers lived in. The building, The Paramount, is at 315 W 99th Street. Not even a plaque on the outside, can you believe it. I am in the middle of trying to get NYC to put a plaque outside the building that Humphrey Bogart lived in(go to my website nycmovieplace.com for more information). The Paramount is next. The upper westside of Manhattan is rich in neglected film history.

If that is where the name "Paramount" came from, it was not Zukor, Goldfish, and Lasky who named it; Paramount existed as a distributor owned by (pardon my spelling if it is wrong) W. W. Hodgkinson.

Zukor & his partners company was called "Famous Players" and then "Famous Players-Lasky" before buying the Paramount company later.

The mountains from the original Paramount logo were supposedly from a range in Wyoming near Hodgkinson's home.

My question is, how do you guys pronounce Paramount? Some people say "Para-mont" and some say "Para-mount"? This seems to rival the "Loew's/Loewees" debate!

No contest. Fox is the best...logo and fanfare. Why did so many of the Fox movies not use the fanfare though? Many of the greats are minus the short and in the case of CinemaScope, the added. PEYTON PLACE, LAURA, SONG OF BERNADETTE, SOUND OF MUSIC to just name a few. Lately I believe every Fox film contains the fanfare, although I liked the original better. Agree?

Does anyone else recall the logo of Edward Small Productions?
S-M-A-L-L were the largest letters to ever fill the screen, monumentally carved out of rock...... I've only seen the logo on a few pictures.... I believe "Son of Monte Cristo" was one. And I don't know if that logo remains on the prints shown on TV over the years.

I worked in corporate HQ in NYC for ten years and never heard it pronounced as anything but "Paramount," with the "mount" as in "mount a horse."

I started to watch Star Wars the other night with my wife, and the Fox logo comes up and she say's, "ooh, when I was a little girl, whenever this logo came up, it meant it was going to be a good movie"..

Can you picture the commercial?..

I am thrilled to see that among the choices is the "Warner Bros. Shield". Can anyone tell me about this shield or coat of arms as I've been trying to find a photo or proof that this truly existed at Warner Theatres...perhaps it is the Warner Brothers symbol seen before movies connected with the name Warner?

I believe this coat of arms was on display at Warner Theatres and a theatre in Wellsville NY seems to have 2 brass shields. They have been painted overin black by a previous owner (why is the question)and the current owner plans to take them down and have a local man remove the paint and reinstall them in a prominent place of importance in his theatre which is a 'grand' idea for his Grand Theatre.

Actually by shield I meant the studio shield that you see before and after all the Warner Brothers Pictures. Today Bugs Bunny appears beside it.

It's hard for me to see that logo without hearing the 'Looney Tunes' theme in my head...

Patsy;
I just thought that if you did a search for the Warner Grand in Los Angeles it would lead to their website thru a click. You may be able to get some photo of it from there.

Mr. Newman;
I can understand why, they were great cartoons. Warner and Disney really became famous with animation. Many people love the silliness of the Looney Toons sure as Porky Pig stutters, and Mel Blanc did great vocal characterization.

On the DVD of "House of Usher", Roger Corman comments on how strange it is to now see Leo preceed an AIP picture. The AIP library went to Filmways, then Orion then MGM/UA. While UA was far and away my favorite studio they only released films produced by others and many films had no opening logo at all they simply just began with "released through United Artists" seen below THE END at the conclusion. Later the Transamerica logo was featured but is gone from DVD prints now although you can sometimes see it in the trailers. At one time, MGM owned the pre-1950 Warners catalog. Now Warners owns the MGM library. Or should I say AOL?

About American International Pictures, for much of its history, the AIP logo incorporated the U.S. Capitol dome. The logo changed over the years. The most familiar ones were the script American International with the dome in the middle. In the late 1960s, the logo was changed to a stencil lower case "a" design with the dome inside the circle of the "a" at first before the dome itself was eliminated. After Filmways bought AIP, the company was renamed Filmways Pictures before Orion Pictures took over Filmways which was absorbed into Orion. The Sony-led group which bought MGM got Orion with it.

After MGM bought UA, they edited their prints to remove virtually any trace of the Transamerica logo and all references to Transamerica.

I have always liked the 20th Century Fox logo, but the newest incarnation, where they use the weather and the colors to match the following shot, and they pan the logo starting with the Hollywood hills is the classiest of all the "updates." Had it been on the list, the Paramount Mountain would be my next favorite. By the way... the 20th Century fanfare music was composed by Alfred Newman (1901-1970) and the slightly longer version created about 1954 is the original "Fanfare" with "The Cinemascope Extension." Newman was most remembered for his music scores for "Airport", "How the West Was Won", "The Egyptian" and "Citizen Kane" , but he wrote more than 250 motion picture scores and is the record holder as the musician with more nominations for the Oscar than any other in film history. He actually won 9 Oscars during his lifetime.

Actually, Bernard Herrmann scored Citizen Kane.

Response To Ian,

ALL of theose people lived in the same building, It has been a while since I've re-read "Goldwyn" or "Empire of Their Own - How The Jews Invented Hollywood" but credit for the studio name went to the building's name.

I too pronounce it Lowees but I believe that this is just a New York thing.

Movieplace

I never heard of the pronunciation 'Lowees' until I started reading this site. In Ohio and in Boston, it's "Lows".

Mr. Newman;
That was a fairly common mispronunciation, at least here in New York. In Brooklyn we had the "Lowees" Kings, in Manhattan there was the "Lowees" State. We only heard the pronunciation lows on television. Did anyone know that in their handbook the chain told its employees that to pronounce it "lows"?

Mr. Newman;
That was a fairly common mispronunciation, at least here in New York. In Brooklyn we had the "Lowees" Kings, in Manhattan there was the "Lowees" State. We only heard the pronunciation lows on television. Did anyone know that in their handbook the chain told its employees that to pronounce it "lows"?

Add the LOWEES SHERIDAN to the mix. I thought that Lowee's was something my friends & family came up with in Manhattan in the 50s. The only other time I've heard that pronunciation is here on CT. I'm relieved. j

For many years, Loew's instructed the public via advertising to pronounce the name like the word "low," as in "low prices."

Leo, the MGM lion rules!

Good theaterat...Are you still on with the Loews Kings?

LOEW'S --- pronounced Loeeez --- is strictly New Yorkese. Ignore it.

REALART had a nifty logo. All UNIVERSAL re-issues to theatres had the Universal globe removed and the REALART logo taking its place. A sky with two movie reels. The left real turns and film from it spells out REALART before connecting to the right=hand reel. Nifty!
I voted for the FOX drumroll, still best; but REALART ought be remembered. UNIVERSAL re-issued ALL their films to theaters. Others, like Paramount, less than 10%.

These days studios will occasionally mess around with their logos, but years ago I remember it being done just once. WARNER BROS. put a royal crown on their shield for the 1939 ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD with Errol Flynn. Remember the so-called remake with Kevin Costner? Does anybody? Remakes of classics are soon forgotten. Classics live on!

Once MGM tried with the Marx Brothers roaring as their lion, but they decided to go with the regular logo instead.

Jerry Lewis sees the Paramount stars around Mount Fiji in Geisha Boy.

I don't think that Mt. Fiji was the symbol, but the Rock of Gibraltar.

I don't think that Mt. Fiji was the symbol, but the Rock of Gibraltar.

I don't think that Mt. Fiji was the symbol, but the Rock of Gibraltar.

In The Geisha Boy (A Paramount Picture),Jerry is in Japan on a USO type tour (he is a magician). While on a sightseeing trip he sees Mount Fiji and then sees the stars around it(looking just like the Paramount logo) and then does a fast double take.

Along similar lines, in the Hope/Crosby Road to Utopia picture, Crosby makes some remark to Hope about the mountain scenery in the background. To which Hope replies, "Nope, it looks like bread and butter to me. At that point the mountain peak is suddenly surrounded by stars making up the Paramount logo. I believe Hope then said "See, our bread and butter!"

For a while in the 1970's, Warner Brothers use the W in a circle (two big \ and 1 small \), but I like them all.

I can't help but wonder why in the world they would do that?

It was also the logo for Warner Communicaions Co., and is still the logo for Warner Music Group.

The United Artists logo was a U with the A going off that, the logo on the front of Carrie is the U folded over to the A.( it has a 3d look, the newer logo is a flat look) After they merged with MGM, it was a UA logo and a ball shot thru to cross the A in a swoosh for the stereo, then the line the ball went on in the middle of the screen, would snap open and the top half rolls up and the bottom rolls down to reviel the MGM lion. ( The Bond flims of the mid 80s have this logo, I remember The Living Daylights having it, new Bond, new MGM/UA logo.)

I've noticed that recent news articles referring to the "six major Hollywood studios" no longer include MGM in that list. What exactly happened to it, to make it non-major?

I guess the lion didn't roar loud enough to make an impression in Hollywood, and that may be why (LOL)

MGM was acquired by a group headed by Sony which already owns Columbia Pictures.

My vote was for "all of the above", but minus yhe Tri Star Pegasus, and plus the Chesterfield silhouette, the Republic eagle, the Grand National clock, the Monogram sheild, the Gaumont-British daisy, the block letters P R C , and many many more!

How could I have forgotten: the First National globe-and-chain, the Universal airplane, and the Eagle-Lion...er...ah eagle and lion!

For my money MGM is well ahead of the rest but I can't agree with rlvjr that the lion's roar was/is re-shot for each film. Certainly the lions have been re-shot over the years but only to accomodate changes/improvements in technology. Although the lions are all generically referred to as "Leo" that was only a stage name. From a lot of misinformation it can fairly confidently be said that the first lion was Slats from Gay's Lion Farm and he dates back to when the logo belonged to Goldwyn Pictures (pre-1924). Whether he is the lion in the well-circulated photo of a sound "take" for the talkies I do not know but he was soon replaced by Jackie, the lion who introduces all the black and white films from about 1930 onwards. When colour arrived the logo was re-shot with Tanner in the roaring role and he survived (with a change in the artwork around him when widescreen saw the words Metro Goldwyn Mayer transposed from below the lion to above) until about 1956. Thereafter the identity of the lions is clouded in mystery. One heavily maned creature was used in the period 1956-8 before the animal presently still in use appeared about 1959. Its apparent lack of a mane may add credence to a comment passed to me about 20 years ago from an MGM contact that the last lion's name was Jenny (ie, a lioness) but that is very much second hand hearsay. Perhaps the present lion is just an Indian lion (they have lighter manes than African lions).

In Jackie's day there was an MGM fanfare as well but by Tanner's time the fanfare had given way to incorporating the opening bars of the title music behind the three roars. Post 1960 the roars are usually unaccompanied and sometime in the late 1980s changed to more of a gutteral growl (symbolic of MGM's decline)?

I went with other. There's something very inspiring about the Paramount logo with the stars swooping in.

What about '80's schlockmeisters Cannon? I think they spent more on their logo than any of their films....

Does anyone know if Sony will still release films under the MGM banner?

The current plan, so far as I know, is for the Sony consortium to continue releasing MGM films and occasionally co-branding them with Columbia Pictures. At least that's what they're planning to do with high profile "series" films like THE PINK PANTHER, CASINO ROYALE, and ROCKY BALBOA. The once-mighty United Artists is little more than an art-film division of MGM at this time (CAPOTE was a recent release), and the rumor is that MGM is looking to sell the UA name, logo and library to another company, while keeping the rights to the cash-cow series (Bond, Pink Panther and Rocky) it acquired when it bought UA in the 80s.

Leo the Lion! And I always loved Mary Tyler Moore's take on it for MTM Productions with the kitten.

My fave is the MGM lion, but not Leo (he used to scare me when I was younger. :P ) My favourite MGM lion is Jackie, IMO he was the most gorgeous lion ever, and the fact that I'll always associate him with The Wizard of Oz helps. :) Other than him, I also love the Tristar pegasus logo. :)

It's 20th-Fox for me that's the best, mostly because of the grandeur that both logo and fanfare convey. The searchlights extending into the night sky, the letters illuminated from below, and the monumentality of the trumpeting farfare, which seems to reach towards the sky... Powerful stuff.
Fortunately, pretty much every Hollywood logo has something appealing about it. Just the lighting on the WB shield in the 40s (when Jack L. had the audacity to plaster his name just below) makes for a moody and exciting begining to a Warners picture. Max Steiner's fanfare always fits it like a glove.

UA had an 'unofficial' logo with archaic lettering within a hexagonal box. Probably reflecting Mary Pickford's tastes (as in the UA theatre on LA's Broadway). In the post-Transamerica era, UA had an ultra high-tech logo with an astounding 'THX-like' fanfare - very serious stuff!

Right up there with the 20th logo for me though, is the Selzick opening sequence, in all its variations. From the knurled 'Selznick International' or 'Selznick Studio' sign, the camera tilts down to the frontage of the Selznick studio itself, that imitation of Mount Vernon which, to this day, is the most distinguished studio building in Hollywood. The best versions are in front of, not surprisingly, 'Gone With The Wind' and, in even more blazing Technicolor, 'Duel in the Sun'. Maestro Alfred Newman also composed the exalted fanfare, which starts in a bell-chime mode and finishes in a triumphant downbeat that adapts perfectly to any main title which follows. This is emblematic cinema art at its finest! Newman has the distinction of composing three great studio fanfares: 20th-Fox, Selznick, and, for the non-logo 'Samuel Goldwyn Presents'. At their best, logo and fanfare go hand in hand.
One more example: Van Cleave's spine-tingling, tuba-crazed fanfare for Paramount/VistaVision. Paramount should revive it, as 20th sensibly did their own.

I would basically say that these are my favorite logos:

1) (and the winner) Leo the Lion without a doubt. In the theatre, you never know how loud they are going to make the sound system and when they make it loud and Leo comes on...watch out! It is enough to scare the pants off you if you are not ready for it and it is for that reason it is my favorite.

2) The Tri-Star Pegasus is next

3) Last favorite is the Universal logo...but only the one that shows the old planes circling the globe and then the logo gets newer and and newer. This one is cool.

Ok, and now for favorites not on the list:

1) Dark Castle Entertainment...for the same reason as Leo, it is scary.

2) Paramount

3) Burning Tree Productions.