First Artists

Background
The First Artists Production Company, Ltd. was founded in 1969 by three of the top Hollywood stars of the time: Paul Newman, Sidney Poitier, and Barbra Streisand. First Artists allowed the actors to have creative control over their projects. Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman later joined the company. Its films were first released by National General, and later Warner Bros. The company was sold in 1980.

1st Logo (December 18, 1972)


Nickname: "The Profiles"

Logo: On a light robin's egg blue background, we see the words "First Artists" in black and in Mistral font. A few seconds later, the text stretches vertically and morphs into four lines: blue, burgundy, pink, and red, each flipping over one at a time to the profiles of Newman, Poitier, Streisand, and McQueen respectively facing right. The background darkens, and after that happens, the profiles/lines shrink vertically, as the word "presents" in white, and with the same Mistral font, fades in.

FX/SFX: The stretching, the shrinking, the flipping. Seem to be Scanimate effects.

Music/Sounds: The opening main title music.

Availability: Extremely rare. It appears on The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, and can also be seen on the theatrical trailer of said film.

Editor's Note: The morph of the First Artists logo to the profiles could startle unsuspecting viewers.

2nd Logo (July 26, 1974-March 28, 1980)


Nickname: "First Artists Wallpaper"

Logo: We see a wallpaper of red "First Artists" in its corporate script font. Then, one of them on the wallpaper turns white and zooms up to the middle of the screen. Then, "PRESENTS" fades in under "First Artists". The wallpaper fades away even before "First Artists PRESENTS" fades away.

FX/SFX: The zoom in of "First Artists", the fade out.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Rare. Much more prolific than the previous logo. It's seen on the 1980 WCI release of The Main Event.

Editor's Note: None.