On January 10, 2024, Columbia Pictures celebrates its 100th anniversary. The trademark, one of the major film companies in the United States and which has produced many masterpieces, is the logo of "Ms. Columbia", a woman holding a torch.
The company's predecessor was the Cohen-Blunt Cohen (CBC) Film Sales Company, which was founded in 1918 by brothers Harry Cohen and Jack Cohen and their close friend Joe Brandt, and later renamed Columbia Cohen in 1924. Movies started.
CBC's logo at the time was just simple letters, but when the company name changed to Columbia, a familiar woman appeared. The word "Columbia" was originally the official name of the United States, named after Christopher Columbus, who is said to have discovered America. Colombia is the embodiment of America as a female character, and she appears in various places throughout history as a symbol of America.
In the first memorable sign, the departure of the woman is very different from what it is now, with a shield in her left hand and wheat in her right, somewhat reminiscent of Roman mythology. The sign was used between 1924 and 1928. After that, the sign briefly changed to a woman holding a torch inside a circle with the words "Colombia**" written on it
In addition, a woman with an American flag draped over her shoulders and waist and holding a shining torch then stands proudly with the words "Made in Colombia" (or "Columbia Films"), "Columbia" written on the background). What is projected in an arch has changed dramatically.
This style can be said to be the archetype of the symbol that continues to this day, and later, the pattern of the cloth changed, the pitch-black background became clouds, and the word "columbia" was projected on a large, deep background. Engrave fonts. and repeat to make minor changes.
Evelyn Able is said to be the model for the second generation of logo illustrations. Active in the 1930s and 1940s, she is best known for voicing the Blue Fairy in Pinocchio (40), and her name is also engraved on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
In 1977, when the large-character "columbia" pattern was discontinued, a close-up appeared on the torch, the lighting changed to a modern logo, and when the light of the torch was intensely illuminated, it read "columbia pictures". The characters created by the two motifs appear behind the Colombian lady. This brings a significant change to the immutable logo.
However, in 1992, New Orleans artist Michael Dees decided to digitally create a new logo to return to the classic route. The model for the new logo is an ordinary man named Jenny Joseph, a graphic artist who works for a newspaper company in New Orleans. This ** was taken by a photographer named Kathy Anderson, who used Jenny's lunch break to shoot these ** in a small studio in her apartment, which was converted into a room.
This new opening sign, shrunk in the light of the torch to show the whole woman, has been in use since around 1993, and although there are slight changes such as the color of the background, it is still the same as the previous one. It is still familiar to people today.
Aside from the subtle changes, Columbia's opening logo is uniquely arranged in many films, perhaps because the logo shows a person. For example, Peter Sellers'MICE (59) appears to be an ordinary illustration, but is actually a live-action film in which Mrs. Columbia is surprised by a mouse that appears on a pedestal and flees the scene. It would have been a blow to people.
In the western drama Cat Ballou (65), starring Jane Fonda, Ms. Colombia transforms into an anime-flavored western girl and shoots, while in Friday, which is set in a discotheque starring Donna Summer. 78), there are a lot of variations, such as the lady dancing with the ** twisting her hips.
The Men in Black series uses the light of a torch as a neuromorphic item in the drama Cursed Plague (2006), Zombieland: Double Tap (19), in which the lady hits the attacking zombie holding a torch (19), which kills, and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse (18), which has a series of images with various touches. Like the main story (including the appearance of the Western girl in the Cat Ballou logo)......There are too many to list them all.
Also, in "2999: A Journey of the Opposite Sex" (2000), the face of the performer Annette Bening overlaps the face of the Colombian lady, is it because Annette is a model for the Colombian woman? In response to rumors that the logo was used as a humorous joke, the logo was arranged as a clever joke and brought a playful touch to many productions, mostly comedies.