Volney phifer biography samples
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The story behind the MGM lions that have become cinema icons
THEY were the real Lion Kings of Hollywood, and it’s a century since the first of this special pride was born.
For many people, the most famous lion in the world has always been the one seen at the start of MGM movies, but there were actually five lions used over the years.
The stories behind Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s lions, in fact, could make a movie in themselves, and there was much more to them than a simple roar.
Slats was the very first, being seen on the opening MGM logo from 1917 to 1928, but this lion was born nowhere near Tinseltown, or the African outback for that matter.
He was born in Dublin Zoo, and had already appeared in the logo for Goldwyn Pictures Corporation, after designer Howard Dietz chose him as mascot.
The reason he chose a fearsome lion was as a personal tribute to his place of learning, Columbia University, and its famed friidrott team, the Lions.
Along with his trainer, Hollywood’s foremost
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Lions in Northfield
No, I am not writing about the Northfield Cannon Valley Lions Club. Nor am I writing about the St. Olaf Lion, logo of the college and former name of athletic teams before “Oles” took over.
In August of 2007, I wrote a Historic Happenings column about two events that happened in August of 1915 and 1929 involving real lions in Northfield, one tragic and one not. I am revisiting that theme, in more detail.
On Aug. 19, 1915, the Northfield Independent announced “Carnival Shows Draw Big Crowds. Many Clever and Interesting Performances to be Seen with Patterson Carnival Company, Now Exhibiting Here.” The scene was “the little triangle at the north end of West Water Street,” which was called “the gayest and most populous spot in Northfield.” It was “brilliantly lighted by electricity” with show people lending the tent city “an air of oriental enchantment.” The main show featured “a number of animal acts that are extremely clever.”
The audience on the night of
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Leo the Lion is the mascot for the Hollywood film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and one of its predecessors, Goldwyn Pictures, featured in the studio's production logo, which was created by the Paramount Studios art director Lionel S. Reiss.[1]
Since 1916 (and when the studio was formed by the merger of Samuel Goldwyn's studio with Marcus Loew's Metro Pictures and Louis B. Mayer's company in 1924), there have been seven different lions used for the MGM logo.
Logos[]
Goldwyn Pictures lion (1916–1923) and Slats (1924–1928)[]
Slats,[2] trained by Volney Phifer, was the first lion used for the newly formed studio. Born at the Dublin Zoo[3] on March 20, 1919, and originally named Cairbre,[4] Slats was used on all black-and-white MGM films between 1924 and 1928. The original logo was designed bygd Howard Dietz and used bygd the Goldwyn Pictures Corporation studio from 1916 to 1924 (see left). Goldwyn Pictures was ultimately absorbed into the p