The Many Faces of Columbia
In her autobiography The Lonely Life (1962), Bette Davis makes a passing reference to 'Little Claudia Dell', an actress and showgirl from the 1930's and early 1940's, '"whose image," Bette remarks, "was used as Columbia Pictures' signature for years"' (Source).
In February 2001, the Chicago Sun-Times published an article which claimed that a local woman named Jane Bartholomew, who worked as an extra at Columbia in the 1930's, served as the model for the version of the logo that appeared late in that decade (Source).
In February 2001, the Chicago Sun-Times published an article which claimed that a local woman named Jane Bartholomew, who worked as an extra at Columbia in the 1930's, served as the model for the version of the logo that appeared late in that decade (Source).
Evelyn Venable, who rose to fame in the 1930's, had an ethereal kind of beauty that was perfectly captured in films like Death Takes a Holiday. She served as the model and voice for the Blue Fairy in Walt Disney's 1940 full-length animated version of Pinocchio. Due to her resemblance to the Columbia, it is plausible to say she might have served as a model for the logo as well.
'In 1987, People Magazine reported that a Texas-born model and Columbia bit-player named Amelia Batchler had modeled for the logo in 1933' (Source).
Annette Bening was said to have posed for the Columbia Pictures logo in the latter-half of the 20C. However, it is more widely accepted that a composite face, possibly using Annette's as well, was used for the contemporary version of the logo, as we know it today.
'The logo's most recent overhaul was undertaken in 1993 when Sony Pictures Entertainment (which bought Columbia in 1989) commissioned illustrator Michael J. Deas to redesign the lady and return her to her "classic" look. The result, based on Deas' sessions with Mandeville, Louisiana homemaker Jenny Joseph who posed for him with a makeshift robe and torch, was a taller, slimmer Columbia Lady with lighter, curlier hair and a dimmer torch. Rather than use Joseph's face however, Deas constructed a composite face made up of several computer-generated features' (Source).
Click on the arrow to watch a video of Jenny Joseph posing for the creation of the modern logo: