Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. (CPII) is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies in the world, a member of the so-called Big Six. It was one of the so-called Little Three among the eight major film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age.[1]
The studio, founded in 1919 as Cohn-Brandt-Cohn Film Sales by brothers Jack and Harry Cohn and Joe Brandt, released its first feature film in August 1922. It adopted the Columbia Pictures name in 1924 and went public two years later. In its early years a minor player in Hollywood, Columbia began to grow in the late 1920s, spurred by a successful association with director Frank Capra.
With Capra and others, Columbia became one of the primary homes of the screwball comedy. In the 1930s, Columbia's major contract stars were Jean Arthur and Cary Grant (who was shared with RKO Pictures). In the 1940s, Rita Hayworth became the studio's premier star and propelled their fortunes into the late 1950s. Rosalind Russell, Glenn Ford, and William Holden also became major stars at the studio.
In 1982, the studio was purchased by Coca-Cola; that same year it launched TriStar Pictures as a joint venture with HBO and CBS. Five years later, Coca-Cola spun off Columbia, which merged with Tri-Star to create Columbia Pictures Entertainment. After a brief period of independence with Coca-Cola maintaining a financial interest, the combined studio was acquired by Sony in 1989.
The toga lady holds her torch high for film audiences everywhere by representing Columbia Pictures, the studio through which Sony Pictures Entertainment produces its big budget movies. The studio was founded in 1924, and in 1982 it was purchased by Coca-Cola. Sony purchased Columbia from Coke in 1989 for $3.4 billion. The deal was the largest acquisition by a Japanese firm up to that time, and initially caused headaches for Sony due to losses from elaborate spending budgets and box office duds (Ishtar). In recent years Columbia Pictures has scored hits with its Spider-Man franchise, as well as comedies such as Superbad and Hancock. It operates as part of Sony Picture's Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group.
Columbia's logo, a lady carrying a torch and draped in the American flag (representing Columbia, a personification of the United States), has gone through five major revisions.
Originally in 1924, Columbia Pictures used a logo featuring a female Roman soldier holding a shield in her left hand and a stick of wheat in her right hand.
The first Torch Lady logo debuted in 1928. This version had no clouds, and had rays emanating from the torch in a flickering style of animation. The "Torch Lady" wore a headdress, and above her were the words "A Columbia Production" ("A Columbia Picture" or "Columbia Pictures Corporation") written in an arch.
In 1936, the logo was changed: the "Torch Lady" now stood on a pedestal, wore no headdress, and the single word "Columbia" appeared in chiseled letters behind her. The animation was improved so that the torch now radiated light instead of the more artificial-looking rays of light projecting from the torch. There were several variations to the logo over the years —significantly, a color version was done in 1943 for The Desperadoes,and the flag became just a drape with no markings – but it remained substantially the same for 40 years.1976's Taxi Driver was one of the last films to use the "Torch Lady" in her classic appearance.
From 1976–1993, Columbia experimented with two new logos. The first one was used from 1976–1981, and the second one was used from 1981–1993. Visual effects pioneer Robert Abel was hired by the studio for the first logo's animation. In the 1976 logo, it began with the familiar lady with a torch. Then, the camera zoomed in on the torch, and the torch-light rays then formed an abstract blue semicircle depicting the top half of the rays of light, with the name of the studio appearing under it, written in ITC Souvenir. This logo was first used on The Who's Tommy and then used on a regular basis starting with Murder by Death. The television counterpart used only the latter part of the logo, and the semicircle was orange. (It sometimes looks red, due to variations in the laboratory development process, but according to Columbia Pictures Entertainment's official logo color coding for their various divisions, it was meant to be orange[citation needed]). The second logo, introduced in 1981, featured the words "Columbia Pictures" straddling the Torch Lady, who was in this case less detailed in appearance. The shape of the lady's body was described as resembling a Coca-Cola bottle.
The current logo was created in 1992, when the logo was repainted digitally by New Orleans artist, Michael Deas who was commissioned to return the lady to her "classic" look. There was a CinemaScope version and a 1.85:1 in 1993.The animation starts with a bright light, which zooms out to reveal the torch and then the lady. Deas used Jenny Joseph, a homemaker and mother of two children, as a model, but used a composite for the face.
Key People
• President: Douglas (Doug) Belgrad
• COO: Robert (Bob) Osher
• SVP National Theatrical Publicity: Marisa McGrath
Contact Information
Address: 10202 W. Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232
Phone: 310-244-4000
Fax: 310-244-2626
The studio, founded in 1919 as Cohn-Brandt-Cohn Film Sales by brothers Jack and Harry Cohn and Joe Brandt, released its first feature film in August 1922. It adopted the Columbia Pictures name in 1924 and went public two years later. In its early years a minor player in Hollywood, Columbia began to grow in the late 1920s, spurred by a successful association with director Frank Capra.
With Capra and others, Columbia became one of the primary homes of the screwball comedy. In the 1930s, Columbia's major contract stars were Jean Arthur and Cary Grant (who was shared with RKO Pictures). In the 1940s, Rita Hayworth became the studio's premier star and propelled their fortunes into the late 1950s. Rosalind Russell, Glenn Ford, and William Holden also became major stars at the studio.
In 1982, the studio was purchased by Coca-Cola; that same year it launched TriStar Pictures as a joint venture with HBO and CBS. Five years later, Coca-Cola spun off Columbia, which merged with Tri-Star to create Columbia Pictures Entertainment. After a brief period of independence with Coca-Cola maintaining a financial interest, the combined studio was acquired by Sony in 1989.
The toga lady holds her torch high for film audiences everywhere by representing Columbia Pictures, the studio through which Sony Pictures Entertainment produces its big budget movies. The studio was founded in 1924, and in 1982 it was purchased by Coca-Cola. Sony purchased Columbia from Coke in 1989 for $3.4 billion. The deal was the largest acquisition by a Japanese firm up to that time, and initially caused headaches for Sony due to losses from elaborate spending budgets and box office duds (Ishtar). In recent years Columbia Pictures has scored hits with its Spider-Man franchise, as well as comedies such as Superbad and Hancock. It operates as part of Sony Picture's Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group.
Columbia's logo, a lady carrying a torch and draped in the American flag (representing Columbia, a personification of the United States), has gone through five major revisions.
Originally in 1924, Columbia Pictures used a logo featuring a female Roman soldier holding a shield in her left hand and a stick of wheat in her right hand.
The first Torch Lady logo debuted in 1928. This version had no clouds, and had rays emanating from the torch in a flickering style of animation. The "Torch Lady" wore a headdress, and above her were the words "A Columbia Production" ("A Columbia Picture" or "Columbia Pictures Corporation") written in an arch.
In 1936, the logo was changed: the "Torch Lady" now stood on a pedestal, wore no headdress, and the single word "Columbia" appeared in chiseled letters behind her. The animation was improved so that the torch now radiated light instead of the more artificial-looking rays of light projecting from the torch. There were several variations to the logo over the years —significantly, a color version was done in 1943 for The Desperadoes,and the flag became just a drape with no markings – but it remained substantially the same for 40 years.1976's Taxi Driver was one of the last films to use the "Torch Lady" in her classic appearance.
From 1976–1993, Columbia experimented with two new logos. The first one was used from 1976–1981, and the second one was used from 1981–1993. Visual effects pioneer Robert Abel was hired by the studio for the first logo's animation. In the 1976 logo, it began with the familiar lady with a torch. Then, the camera zoomed in on the torch, and the torch-light rays then formed an abstract blue semicircle depicting the top half of the rays of light, with the name of the studio appearing under it, written in ITC Souvenir. This logo was first used on The Who's Tommy and then used on a regular basis starting with Murder by Death. The television counterpart used only the latter part of the logo, and the semicircle was orange. (It sometimes looks red, due to variations in the laboratory development process, but according to Columbia Pictures Entertainment's official logo color coding for their various divisions, it was meant to be orange[citation needed]). The second logo, introduced in 1981, featured the words "Columbia Pictures" straddling the Torch Lady, who was in this case less detailed in appearance. The shape of the lady's body was described as resembling a Coca-Cola bottle.
The current logo was created in 1992, when the logo was repainted digitally by New Orleans artist, Michael Deas who was commissioned to return the lady to her "classic" look. There was a CinemaScope version and a 1.85:1 in 1993.The animation starts with a bright light, which zooms out to reveal the torch and then the lady. Deas used Jenny Joseph, a homemaker and mother of two children, as a model, but used a composite for the face.
Key People
• President: Douglas (Doug) Belgrad
• COO: Robert (Bob) Osher
• SVP National Theatrical Publicity: Marisa McGrath
Contact Information
Address: 10202 W. Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232
Phone: 310-244-4000
Fax: 310-244-2626