8/7/2019 The distinctive Art Deco 20th Century Fox logo

1/2

The distinctive Art Deco 20th Century Fox logo, designed by famed landscape artist EmilKosa, Jr., originated as the 20th Century Pictures logo, with the name "Fox" substituted for

"Pictures, Inc." in 1935. The logo was originally created as a painting on several layers ofglass and animated frame-by-frame. It had very little animationjust a sideline view of the

tower with searchlights, some moving and some non-moving. Over the years the logo was

modified several times. In 1953, Rocky Longo, an artist at Pacific Title, was hired to recreate

the original design for the new CinemaScope process. In order to give the rather static designthe required "width", Longo tilted the "0" in 20than idiosyncratic element which became

part of the design for more than two decades. In 1981, after Longo repainted the eight-layered

glass panels (and straightened the "0"), his revised logo became the official trademark.

In 1994, after a few false starts and expensive failed attempts (which even included trying to

film the familiar monument as an actual three-dimensional model), Fox in-house television

producerKevin Burns was hired to produce an all-new, standardized logothis time using

the new process ofCGI. With the help of graphics producerSteve Sofferand his company

Studio Productions (which had recently given face-lifts to the Paramount and Universal

logos), Burns directed that the new logo contain more detail and animation, so that the longer(21 second) Fox fanfare with the "CinemaScope extension" could be used as the underscore.

This required a virtual Los Angeles City to be designed around the monumentone in whichbuildings, moving cars and street lights can be briefly glimpsed. In the background can be

seen the famous Hollywood sign, which would give the monument an actual location(approximating Fox's actual address in Century City). One final touch was the addition of

store front signseach one bearing the name of Fox executives who were at the studio at thetime. One of the signs reads, "Murdoch's Department Store"; another says "Chernin's" and a

third reads: "Burns Tri-City Alarm" (an homage to Burns' late father who owned a burglar

and fire alarm company in Upstate New York). The 1994 CGI logo was also the first time

that Twentieth Century Fox was recognized as "A News Corporation Company" in the logo,

although it had already been owned by News Corp. for eight years. In 2009, an updated

version was used to coincide with 20th Century Fox's 75th anniversary and made its official

debut withPercy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief.[4]

The Fox fanfare was originally composed in 1933 by Alfred Newman, who became head of

Twentieth Century-Fox's music department from 1940 until the 1960s. It was re -recorded in

1935 when 20th Century Fox was officially established.

In 1953 an extended version was created forCinemaScope films, first used on the filmHowto Marry a Millionaire, released in the same year. (The Robe, the first film released in

CinemaScope, used the sound of a choir singing over the logo, instead of the regular fanfare.)

As television grew as a medium, the practice of placingproduction logos at the end of

programs became commonplace. For Fox's television arm, a truncated version of the

Newman fanfare has been used with a brief shot of the Fox logo. Syndicated programs wouldoverlay "Television" over "Century" in an animation, resulting in the logo reading "20th

Television Fox". Today, CGI logos are used, with 20th Century Fox Television primarily for

Fox networkprogramming, and 20th Television for other programming (such as cable and

syndication).

By the 1970s the Fox fanfare was only being used sporadically in films. George Lucas

enjoyed the Alfred Newman music so much that he insisted it be used forStar Wars (1977),

which features the CinemaScope version. ComposerJohn Williams composed the Star Wars

8/7/2019 The distinctive Art Deco 20th Century Fox logo

2/2

mai t me i t e same key (B maj as t e Fox fanfare as an extension to Newman's

score. In 1980 Williams conducted a new version oft e fanfare forThe Empi e St i

es Back.Williams' recording oft e Fox fanfare has been used in everyStar Wars film since. Since the

introduction ofthe C I Fox logo, Star Warstheatrical releases (beginning with the SpecialEditions ofthe originaltrilogy in 1997) have used a static angle version ofthe new logo, to

allow forthe animated Lucasfilmlogo to appear during the extension.

The Fox fanfare was reorchestrated in 1981, as Longo's revised logo was being introduced.

As the C I logo was being prepared to premiere atthe beginning ofJames Cameron's True

Lies (1994), Burns asked composerBruce Broughton for a new version ofthe familiar

fanfare. In 1997 Alfred's son, composerDavid Newman, recorded the new version ofthe

fanfare inAnastasia (1997). This rendition is stillin use as of 2010.

The 20th Century Fox logo used from 1994 to 2010.