Amelia Bachelor, 94, "Columbia Torch Lady"
Hal Erickson
>x-no-archive: yes
>
>http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,60-270313,00.html
>
>[London] Times Online
>
>Obituaries
>
>April 18, 2002
>
>Amelia Bachelor
>
>Actress who hoped for Hollywood stardom and became familiar to film fans as
>the symbol for Columbia
>
>Harry Cohn did not place enormous numbers of actors under contract - unlike
>MGM, which was a star's studio - preferring instead to borrow them from
>other studios, and because of the nature of the early movies made at
>Columbia, stars feared being sent there. But one exception was Dorothy
>Revier; she and Cohn were at one time lovers, and she became the original
>model for the grand lady of Columbia. She and Bachelor became friends,
>however, and when, in 1936, Cohn suggested to his brother Jack that the
>studio needed a fresher image, it was Revier who suggested that Bachelor
>could help. She has been pictured holding the torch ever since.
>In the late 1980s Columbia was bought by Sony Entertainment and settled into
>what remained of the MGM Studios lot in Culver City. When the old studio
>ceased to exist, Bachelor was interviewed by a roving cameraman, and after
>several phone calls from the television station she and an ailing Revier
>agreed to be photographed together sporting the famous Columbia outfit; but
>Revier died in 1989 and the shoot never happened.
>
>Bachelor wore the costume for the last time in 1990, when Columbia-Tri-Star
>celebrated its 70th anniversary.
So I guess this puts an end to all claims for Viola Dana, Claudia
Dell and Evelyn Venable.
Wonder who "played" the torch lady in the live-action openings for THE
MOUSE THAT ROARED and William Castle's ZOTZ?
And isn't the current Columbia torch lady (who looks like Annette
Bening) based upon the most recent graphic artist's wife? (I can't
remember her name, or his....)
--Hal E
Tim Sturges
"Hal Erickson" <hl...@execpc.com> wrote in message
news:3cbf3c2e$0$80224$272e...@news.execpc.com...
Cardinal 1
Friday" (which I believe was the penultimate disco movie), the Columbia Lady
does a little '70s-style dance, and then gets all dignified again. Maybe no
one else cares about this, but I liked it. 8)
C1
R. wrote in message
>x-no-archive: yes
>
>http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,60-270313,00.html
>
>[London] Times Online
>
>Obituaries
>
>April 18, 2002
>
>Amelia Bachelor
>
>Actress who hoped for Hollywood stardom and became familiar to film fans as
>the symbol for Columbia
>
>Amelia Bachelor made more appearances on the big screen than perhaps any
>other individual in motion pictures, but the role for which she is famous
is
>not a speaking part, and nor did it demand much histrionic skill. For it
was
>Bachelor who held aloft the torch and became "the Grand Lady", the symbol
>that for decades has represented Columbia Pictures.
>
>Paid only $25, Bachelor posed for an illustrator for four days. Her make-up
>was applied by Percy Westmore, the most famous make-up artist at the time,
>and the head costumier at MGM, Adrian, made her scarlet robe. Bachelor was
>thrilled when the portrait was finally completed, as she was depicted as a
>statuesque beauty despite standing at 5ft 2in.
>
>Francis Amelia Bachelor grew up near Springfield, Ohio, and during the
early
>1930s she went to Hollywood, where she dropped her first name as she
thought
>it sounded too masculine. Bachelor was among the many hopefuls who arrived
>at Union Station in downtown Los Angeles hoping for movie stardom. She
>obtained bit parts, including a role as a Busby Berkeley Girl in Kid
>Millions (1932) with Eddie Cantor, and roles in Bachelor Bait (1934) with
>Hazel Forbes, Heritage (1935), The Flying Doctor (1936), and Big City
(1937)
>with Spencer Tracy and Luise Rainer. Of the small parts she played, her
>favourite was as one of the inhabitants of the Emerald City in The Wizard
of
>Oz (1939).
>
>Columbia Pictures had been founded in 1920 by Harry and Jack Cohn, and by
>the 1930s Columbia Studios, situated on the corner of Gower Street and
>Sunset Boulevard, was one of a group on the particular stretch of road that
>became known as "Poverty Row" for churning out hundreds of low-budget
>movies.
>
>Harry Cohn did not place enormous numbers of actors under contract - unlike
>MGM, which was a star's studio - preferring instead to borrow them from
>other studios, and because of the nature of the early movies made at
>Columbia, stars feared being sent there. But one exception was Dorothy
>Revier; she and Cohn were at one time lovers, and she became the original
>model for the grand lady of Columbia. She and Bachelor became friends,
>however, and when, in 1936, Cohn suggested to his brother Jack that the
>studio needed a fresher image, it was Revier who suggested that Bachelor
>could help. She has been pictured holding the torch ever since.
>
>During the 1940s Bachelor made a determined attempt to break from the ranks
>of chorus cutie, nurse or secretary. She obtained several appointments with
>very prominent producers, only to discover that they were merely curious to
>discover what the woman who posed for the Columbia symbol looked like in
the
>flesh.
>
>Having retired by the mid-1950s, Bachelor returned to her original name,
>Francis, and moved to Washington, where she briefly became an elocution
>teacher for the children of the future President Richard Nixon. In 1987
>People magazine found her living in Sun Valley, California, and with
flowing
>grey hair she lifted the torch again for the magazine's photographer.
>
>In the late 1980s Columbia was bought by Sony Entertainment and settled
into
>what remained of the MGM Studios lot in Culver City. When the old studio
>ceased to exist, Bachelor was interviewed by a roving cameraman, and after
>several phone calls from the television station she and an ailing Revier
>agreed to be photographed together sporting the famous Columbia outfit; but
>Revier died in 1989 and the shoot never happened.
>
>Bachelor wore the costume for the last time in 1990, when Columbia-Tri-Star
>celebrated its 70th anniversary.
>
>She married in 1940 and had one daughter.
>
>Amelia Bachelor, actress, was born on February 2, 1908. She died in Santa
>Monica, California, on April 15, 2002, aged 94.
>
>
>