| Torch Lady | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Other Names |
Columbia Pictures girl |
|
First Appearance |
Columbia Pictures logo (1924) |
|
Original Publisher |
Columbia Pictures |
|
Created by |
Jack and Harry Cohn |
Origin[]
The Columbia Pictures logo, featuring the Torch Lady, a woman carrying a torch and wearing a drape (representing Columbia, a personification of the United States). It has often been compared to the Statue of Liberty, which was an inspiration to the Columbia Pictures logo.
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, which was based on actress Doris Doscher (known as the model for the statue on the Pulitzer Fountain) as the Standing Liberty quarter used from 1916 to 1930, though the studio's version was given longer hair. The logo changed in 1928 with a new woman wearing a draped flag and torch. The woman wore a headdress, the stola and carried the palla of ancient Rome. The illustration was based upon the actress Evelyn Venable, known for providing the voice of the Blue Fairy in Walt Disney's Pinocchio. Both logos featured the words "A Columbia Production" ("A Columbia Picture" or "Columbia Pictures Corporation"), the latter logo had the words written in an arch above her.
An alternative logo in tandem with the 1924 and 1928 versions that used the slogan "Gems of the Screen"; itself a takeoff on the song "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean", later inspired the renaming of the Charles Mintz Studio into Screen Gems.
Public Domain Appearances[]
All published appearances of the Torch Lady from before January 1, 1930 are public domain in the US.
Public Domain Advertising Appearances[]
- Columbia Pictures Logo (1924- 1929)
Notes[]
- The Torch Lady remains trademarked by Sony.