Volney phifer biography channels

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.

Since (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 ), there have been seven different lions used for the MGM logo.

Logos[]

Goldwyn Pictures lion (–) and Slats (–)[]

Slats, trained by Volney Phifer, was the first lion used for the newly formed studio. Born at the Dublin Zoo on March 20, , and originally named Cairbre, Slats was used on all black-and-white MGM films between and The original logo was designed by Howard Dietz and used by the Goldwyn Pictures Corporation studio from to (see left). Goldwyn Pictures was ultimately absorbed into the partnership that formed MGM, and the first MGM film that used the logo was He Who Gets Slapped (). Dietz stated that he decided to use a lion as the company's mascot as a tribute to his alma mater Columbia University, whose athletic teams' nickname is The Lions; he further added that Columbia's fight song, "Roar, Lion, Roar", inspired him to make the lion roar. Unlike his successors, Slats did nothing but look around in the logo (as did the Goldwyn Pictures lion), making him the only MGM lion not to roar (although it is rumored that Volney Phifer trained the lion to growl on cue, despite the fact that synchronized sound would not officially be used in motion pictures until ). Slats died in at the age of

Jackie (–)[]

Jackie, born in , trained by Mel Koontz, was the second lion used for the MGM logo. He was a wild lion brought from the Nubian part of Sudan, and the first MGM lion to roar (recorded long after he was filmed; at least three different recordings of roars/growls were used), whic

Time to sell out
“When you’re doing something this long, it’s in your blood, just like racing,” said Steve Hudson, of S&M Auto Repair, who works on Preston’s cars. “People like him don’t quit. They die.”

On a sunny, cool day in February Hudson was pulling the brakes off of a Frazer, the doors of his Newnan garage open to the chilly afternoon breeze. It’s one of many vintage vehicles he’s tuned up for Preston.

In a few days the dusty sedan — a rarity built by Kaiser with push-button door openers — would be spotless, the heavy, chromed bumpers gleaming like Lancelot’s armor.

But Hudson worried whether Preston’s future is as shiny. “I don’t think he can quit,” said Hudson. “I don’t think there is a school or therapy you can go to, to get off buying antiques. They don’t have one.”

Not that a relapse would kill him. Preston’s wife Lauretta, on the other hand, might. She’s seen him chase after ancient slot machines and Mobil gas station signs for more than five decades, and she’s heard him promise to slow down several times.

This time, he says, he means it. “You’ve heard me say my wife wants me to stop,” said Preston, stopping in for a visit with old friend and fellow collector Joe Crain. Crain owns an oil and gas delivery service and, until recently, a collection of 80 jukeboxes. “This time I’m the one saying it.”

Curious to see how Preston will react when faced with a store full of antiques, we peruse a two-story antiques shop in Newnan one day.

“This doesn’t do anything for me,” he said, looking at old photographs, Depression glass and hand-carved walking sticks.

“See this wagon?” he said, pointing to a poster from “Gone With the Wind” showing Rhett and Scarlett piloting a buggy during the burning of Atlanta. “I have that wagon. I can’t prove it, but I’m sure it’s that one.” It also came from the Volney Phifer farm.

Before he leaves, there’s one more item Preston should look at: a smoothing iron. For $ No thank you, he says.

Mascot of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Leo the Lion is the mascot for the Hollywood film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and one of its predecessors, Goldwyn Pictures. The iconic logo was created by artist Lionel S. Reiss, who served as art director at Paramount Pictures.

Since , and through the time Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was formed in by the merger of Marcus Loew's Metro Pictures, Samuel Goldwyn's Goldwyn Pictures and Louis B. Mayer's company, several different lions have been used for the MGM logo.

Although MGM has referred to all of the lions used in their trademark as "Leo the Lion", only the lion in use since was actually named "Leo". In , MGM debuted a new logo which utilizes a CGI-animated render of Leo. This version of the logo remains in use as of by Amazon MGM Studios, mainly for film productions following their acquisition of the studio in

History

Goldwyn Pictures lions (–)

The lion was chosen as the company's mascot in by publicist Howard Dietz, as a tribute to his alma mater Columbia University, whose mascot is a lion. Dietz was most directly inspired by the university's fight song, "Roar, Lion, Roar". Names of the first two lions used for the Goldwyn Pictures logos are unknown.

Slats (–)

Slats, trained by Volney Phifer, was the first lion used in the branding of the newly formed studio. Born at the Dublin Zoo on March 20, , and originally named Cairbre (Irish for 'charioteer'), Slats was used on all black-and-white MGM films between and The first MGM film that used the logo was He Who Gets Slapped ().

Unlike his successors, Slats did nothing but look around in the logo, making him the only MGM lion not to roar. However, it is rumored that Phifer trained the lion to growl on cue, despite the fact that synchronized sound would not be used in motion pictures until

Slats died in when he was At that time Phifer retired to his farm in Gillette, N