Claudia Dell
The Columbia logo
Columbia's logo, a lady carrying a torch (suggestive of the Statue of Liberty), originally appeared in 1924. The first model for the logo is unknown, although Bette Davis claimed that Claudia Dell was used.
The original version of the Torch Lady depicted her draped with an American flag, the word "Columbia" being an informal synonym for the United States. This was eventually changed to a unicolor drape. The modern color logo has a bluish drape.
In 1936, the logo was somewhat changed, with the Columbia "Torch Lady" appearing with shimmering light behind her in place of the more artificial-looking rays of light projecting from the torch. Actress Evelyn Venable was the original model for this logo, which was used for a total of 40 years. 1976's Taxi Driver was one of the last films to use the "Torch Lady" in her classic appearance.
In 1976, Columbia (like other studios) experimented with a new logo. It began with the familiar lady with a torch, but the camera zoomed in on the torch, and the torch-light rays then formed an abstract blue semi-circle depicting the top half of the rays of light, with the name of the studio appearing under it. (A variation on this was used in the 2007 film Superbad.) The television counterpart used only the latter part of the logo, and the semicircleZS was orange.
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