While Jackie was the lion for many animated films, with a specially animated logo, and also for black and white films (including ‘The Wizard of Oz’, which starts that way), there were 3 other lions who made up the technicolour brigade of MGM, though due to the experimental nature of colour at the time, the first two get a bit of a roar deal, and aren’t technically official. He even survived a plane crash in Arizona, surviving on sandwiches and water left by the pilot until he was eventually rescued! This period also gave one of the earliest parodies of the logo, in the 1935 film ‘A Night at the Opera’ where the Marx Brothers gave their best roars after the lion, although sadly it was vetoed at the time.ĭuring Jackie’s tenure, there were 3 pretenders to the MGM mascot throne. After surviving an explosion, an earthquake, train crashes, and a shipwreck, he gained the nickname ‘Leo the Lucky’.
Outside of his work as the logo, Jackie also appeared in many other films, particularly Tarzan features, and in keeping with this and a later MGM franchise, he was the most James Bond of all the lions, burning through his nine lives. Before the film itself, the lion roared for the first time in fact three times! In total, Jackie would be used for 28 years in the role, and would also retroactively be used on rereleases of silent pictures with soundtracks, such as ‘Ben-Hur’. While previous films may have had general accompanying music, played in the cinema itself, this film had its own score, as well as sound effects. This was during ‘White Shadows In The South Seas’, the first MGM film with a pre-recorded soundtrack. Slats’ replacement came in the form of Jackie, the first Lion to actually make a sound.
Mgm iconic roaring movie lion replaced skin#
His skin may not have made it that far, however, with the McPherson museum of Kansas claiming to hold the pelt, though other sources indicate it could be that of his replacement. The grave can still be visited, lion under the shade of a pine tree that was planted to ‘hold down the Lion’s spirit’, in the words of Phifer. His trainer, Volney Phifer, took Slats to his farm in New Jersey, where a lot of animals for use in New York productions were kept, where he later died in 1936. Slats too never made a sound, and was retired in 1928. Turning their head across the camera, before staring out at the screen and eventually looking away they look a lot less sad than their predecessor, perhaps reflecting the ongoing success of the studio at the time. Slats also had the distinction of becoming the first MGM Lion when the studio came into being in 1924. The Goldwyn Lion was replaced by Slats, who first appeared as a still picture in 1921, and then later in video. Also, being in the pre-sound era, with Goldwyn never making a talkie, and MGM’s first soundtracked film not coming about until 1928, the lion doesn’t even get to give the iconic roar! Frankly, they look a bit forlorn, glancing to the left of the screen perhaps feline a bit confused over what was actually going on. The very first, Goldwyn only, lion doesn’t appear to have been named.
So sit back, and bask in the tail of these Big Cats. It has served two studios, 101 years, and countless films, in which there have been 8 individual lions, each with various incarnations.
First used in November 1916, and designed by Howard Dietz, MGM’s lion logo has been updated multiple times over the years first when Goldwyn Pictures became the G of MGM (standing for Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer). ROAR! So goes the sound that has accompanied various films for over 100 years, including films as varied as ‘The Wizard of Oz’, and all of James Bond. Originally published in The Oxford Student in January 2018 Image Description: Leo the Lion being filmed Image Credit: P & A-Pacific and Atlantic Photos (Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons)
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