“Wow.” “Oh!” “Lady!!!” “Hey lady!!!” “Down here lady!!!” “Love this lady!!!” “Hey!” “Ha-ha! Lady!!!” “She’s in everything!!!” “Yeah!” “Kinda makes you wonder, doesn’t it?” “Wonder what?” “Whether she’s naked under that toga. She is French. You know that.” “I’m afraid the vibrations will shake her to pieces.” “I don’t think they make Nikes in her size, Ray.” “Hey, she’s tough. She’s a harbor chick!” “Your love!!!” “Is lifting me higher!!!” “Than I’ve ever been lifted before!!!” “So keep it up!!!” “Quench my desire!!!” “And I’ll be at your side FOREVER MORE!!!” “Columbia lady.” “The old Columbia lady.” Annette Bening? No that was later. Columbia. Dubbed Columbia Pictures in 1924, it was the creation of Jack and Harry Cohn and their business partner Joe Brandt. Its logo is the female embodiment of America with strong ties to The Statue of Liberty.
A minor blip until the late 20s, Frank Capra and Screwball Comedy made them a household name. It Happened One Night (1934), Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939). The Three Stooges, Jean Arthur, Cary Grant. By the 40s, they had Rita Hayworth and Judy Holliday. Gilda (1946), The Lady from Shanghai (1947), Born Yesterday (1950), From Here to Eternity (1953), On the Waterfront (1954), The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), Anatomy of a Murder (1959). Going bigger, the 60s saw The Guns of the Navarone (1961), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Dr. Strangelove (1964), A Man for All Seasons (1966), Oliver! (1968). Thanks to Easy Rider (1969) we have Five Easy Pieces (1970), The Last Picture Show (1971), Fat City (1972), The Last Detail (1973), Shampoo (1975), Taxi Driver (1976).
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) fed into a line of hits. The China Syndrome (1979), Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), All That Jazz (1979), The Blue Lagoon (1980), Stripes (1981), Gandhi (1982), Tootsie (1982), The Big Chill (1983), Ghostbusters (1984), The Karate Kid (1984), St. Elmo’s Fire (1985), Stand By Me (1986). The 90s exploded with Misery (1990), City Slickers (1991), A League of Their Own (1992), A River Runs Through It (1992), Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), A Few Good Men (1992), Groundhog Day (1993), In the Line of Fire (1993), The Remains of the Day (1993), The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Dolores Claiborne (1995), Bad Boys (1995), The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), Men in Black (1997). The new millennium pushed the limit. Erin Brockovich (2000), The Patriot (2000), Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000), Black Hawk Down (2001), Spider-Man (2002), Adaptation (2002), Spider-Man 2 (2004).
Columbia held the line for decades. Epics, blockbusters, dramas, comedy, genre pictures, cheese. 5 Columbias were called for MST. Space Travelers (1969) a.k.a. Marooned, Teen-Age Crime Wave (1955), Village of the Giants (1965), 12 to the Moon (1960), Invasion U.S.A. (1952). There’s a formality about them that reflects the studio. The Columbia lady stands as a beacon. Class and poise wrapped in a toga. Sweet Humanity or Higher and Higher?
