Astor Pictures Corporation

Background

Astor Pictures was founded by Robert M. Savini in 1930 as a distributor of film re-releases and other films. Among their re-releases were films from RKO, Grand National, Monogram and Educational Pictures, but it also distributed early Hammer Films releases. In the early 50s Astor started a TV subsidiary called Atlantic Television. After Savini's death the two companies were acquired by George M. Foley and Franklin Bruder, but it went out of business around 1960.

1st Logo (1939-1947)

Nickname: "The Triangle"

Logo: On a black background, we see zooming up three rows of words: "ASTOR" on a fancy font; "PICTURES" and "CORP.", with a dot below the letters. The last two words are in a triangular frame.

FX/SFX: The zoom-up.

Music/Sounds: A bombastic sixteen note fanfare.

Availability: Seen on some Astor re-releases from other studios.

2nd Logo (1947-195?)

Nicknames: "The Bodybuilder", "The Man with the Logo"

Logo: On a black background, a still frame of a bodybuilder holding the APC logo fades in and zooms up to the distance. The logo consists of three rows of words: "ASTOR", "PICTURES" and "CORP.", with a star below the letters, in a triangular frame. We zoom up closer to the letters that the man holds, with "ASTOR" in a 3-D font and the T extended over the rest of the letters.

FX/SFX: The zoom in.

Music/Sounds: A bombastic sixteen note fanfare.

Availability: On some public domain movies. Seen on a 1947 re-release of Li'l Abner (1940), which plasters over the RKO logo. You can check those tapes for this logo first.