ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, January 17, 1997 TAG: 9701170023
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MICHAEL E. ROSS KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE
If you've ever been to the movies, you've surely seen and heard it:
The almost martial drumbeats begin, followed by a trumpet fanfare and then a flourish of strings join the other instruments before a final, grand crescendo.
Meanwhile, on the screen, floodlights scan the skies on a hypothetical horizon, light illuminating a squat, imposing structure whose shape forms the words ``20th CENTURY FOX.''
``It'' is the logo signature of 20th Century Fox, perhaps the most recognizable 20 seconds in movie history, and a trademark as indelible as any in American history.
But the question remains: Come the 21st century, what's a 20th-century motion picture company to do about its name?
Maybe nothing at all, studio insiders say.
Some history: The Fox logo had its origins in 1933, when 20th Century Pictures, owned by Darryl F. Zanuck, used an early version of the logo without any music. In 1935, 20th Century merged with the prestigious but foundering Fox Film Co. The logo was redesigned to include the change, and the legendary trumpet fanfare was written by Alfred Newman, a celebrated film composer (and uncle of Randy Newman). The logo - dubbed ``the monument'' within the company - has undergone periodic tweaks down through the years.
Newman's original fanfare was extended to accommodate the introduction of Cinemascope. It was most dramatically changed in 1994 when, on the occasion of the release of James Cameron's ``True Lies,'' the studio introduced the digitally rendered ``panorama'' version, showing the monument logo after a swooping aerial journey over what may be the skyline of Los Angeles.
While the future of the monument seems secure, that of the name of the company has been a subject of internal debate.
Tom Sherak, the senior executive vice president for Fox Film Entertainment, laughed when addressing the issue in an interview. ``Believe it or not, there was conversation about this years ago. The last thing discussed was that we would leave the name as it is.''
``It has been a source of some internal soul-searching,'' says Kevin Burns, a senior vice president of Foxstar Productions, a unit of the studio.
Burns says that a possible name change was discussed as far back as the reign of the Zanucks - first father Darryl, in the '30s and '40s, then son Richard in the '60s and '70s. ``They were going to change it to Twenty-First Century Fox, but that never happened,'' Burns says. ``Then no one talked about it anymore.''
Both Sherak and Burns say the decision to change the name may hinge on how the company's expanding empire develops - and on how the public receives the idea.
``We had said, `Let's leave it.' But since then, a lot of things have happened in our world,'' Sherak says. ``There's been Fox News, Fox Sports, Fox Video. The question has come up that maybe we should leave the logo and call the company Fox Films. Nothing has been decided at this point.
``The 20th Century Fox logo stands for something,'' Sherak continues. ``When that logo goes on the screen, people know it as something. It has a history to it, and that history is very important as to why we are a major studio.''
Burns echoes Sherak's comments. ``Twentieth Century Fox is more like a brand name, like Band-Aids or something,'' he says. ``Ultimately, I think it will be the audience's decision. It depends on how well-known and well-loved the audience thinks it is.''
LENGTH: Medium: 66 linesby CNB