History of the MGM Intro: The Lions and Myths

MGM comes up in my orders more than you would expect, usually from people making something deliberately old-fashioned. They do not want a generic film logo. They want the gold ring, the curtain, the lion and that pause before the roar.

My view is simple: most of what gets repeated about the MGM lions is wrong, and the corrections are more interesting than the myths. The history of the MGM intro is a short lesson in how a studio kept one image while changing the animal, film stock, sound and eventually the rendering.

That distinction matters when someone asks me for an MGM-style title card. "The lion" is not one fixed recording from 1924. It is a chain of choices, with a few excellent surprises.

What is the history of the MGM intro?

The history of the MGM intro begins with a lion emblem created in 1916 for Goldwyn Pictures and carried into Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer after the 1924 merger. Seven lions are usually counted, from silent-era Slats to today's Leo, but the footage, sound and motto changed as film technology changed.

The useful starting point is that the MGM intro did not begin with MGM. Goldwyn Pictures was already using a lion in 1916, eight years before Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was formed. The emblem then moved into the new studio's identity after the 1924 merger.

What does the MGM intro mean?

The lion was chosen as a studio symbol for a specific personal reason. Howard Dietz, an advertising executive and publicist at Goldwyn Pictures, picked it as a tribute to Columbia University, his alma mater. Columbia used a lion as its mascot and had a fight song called "Roar, Lion, Roar". A detailed account of the MGM lions tracks that origin.

The ring carries the Latin words "Ars Gratia Artis", usually translated as "Art for Art's Sake". It is a slightly grand phrase, but it fits the old studio system. MGM was selling the idea that a film arrived with a house style before the first scene began.

That is why the logo works as a personal intro. The viewer recognises the shape before reading the name. When a customer wants that old studio feeling, I point them toward the Priyansh Animations intro library. I like the MGM option for home cinema collections and family projects. I would skip it for a quick social clip. The build-up is the point.

How many lions has MGM used?

The common answer is seven lions. That count includes Slats, Jackie, Telly, Coffee, Tanner, George and Leo. It gets messier because Telly and Coffee were brief colour-test lions and some histories add Numa as an obscure eighth. I use seven as the main count, with that caveat.

1. Slats, 1924 to 1928. Slats was the first lion used by MGM. He appeared in silent black-and-white films, so he never delivered the roar associated with the brand. He was born at Dublin Zoo in 1919 and trained by Volney Phifer.
2. Jackie, 1928 to 1956. Jackie was the first MGM lion to roar audibly. His recorded roar opened MGM's talkies, and he appeared in more than 100 black-and-white films. Mel Koontz trained him. If you are looking for the original MGM lion roar, Jackie is the answer, not Leo.
3. Telly and Coffee. These two appeared briefly in early two-strip Technicolor test logos. They matter because the logo changed with colour film, and MGM was testing how its identity survived a new way of photographing movies.
4. Tanner, 1934 to 1956. Tanner became the three-strip Technicolor lion. His use overlapped with Jackie, another reason a neat one-lion timeline falls apart. MGM could use different lions for different film formats.
5. George, 1956 to 1957. George had an unusually heavy mane and lasted about a year. His short tenure makes him easy to miss, but he is in the common seven.
6. Leo, 1957 to the present. Leo is the lion most people picture today. He was the youngest lion when filmed and the standard version uses two roars. Calling every MGM lion Leo is understandable, but historically wrong.

This is the part I enjoy most. The logo looks stable in sequence, yet MGM kept adjusting the animal for silent film, black-and-white, colour and sound. The identity survived because it was flexible underneath the gold frame.

Which MGM lion made the original roar famous?

Jackie made the first audible MGM roar famous in 1928. Slats came first but appeared in silent films. Leo is the modern lion and roars twice in the standard version. If you are looking for the original MGM lion roar, Jackie is the answer. So "original roar" can mean the first recording or the version most viewers recognise.

Sound changed the logo from a picture of a lion into a performance. Jackie did not simply sit inside the ring. His roar became the moment people waited for, and later lions inherited that job with different footage and recordings.

An MGM logo history video on YouTube can flatten the timeline by placing one lion's name beside footage from another period, then calling the whole sequence Leo. A reliable timeline is more useful than a video title that treats every version as one clip.

For a personal film collection, I would keep the distinction in mind. The point of a custom version is the old studio feeling. If you want it with your own wording, a custom MGM intro gives it a clear home. I would choose a short title because the ring already carries visual weight.

Did an MGM lion kill its trainer?

No. The story that an MGM lion mauled and killed its trainer or handlers is false. Snopes' fact check rates the claim false, and the real record is much less sensational. Slats' trainer, Volney Phifer, outlived Slats and died in retirement in the 1970s.

That correction matters because the myth pretends to explain the lion's expression or danger behind the roar. It explains neither. No MGM logo lion killed a trainer. A fatal attack involving a famous studio animal and known trainer would have left a very different paper trail.

The story appears to have spread through novelty fact sites that rewarded drama over checking. Once copied into list videos and articles, the trainer's name blurred, the lion became Leo and repetition gained the force of evidence. It is not evidence.

I have seen the same shorthand in custom intro requests. Someone asks for the classic Leo when they mean the whole MGM identity, not one animal. That is fine until shorthand becomes false history. The real version has enough drama: a silent first lion, a new lion for talkies, colour-test animals and a digital Leo.

What changed in the modern MGM intro?

The latest major change is digital. On 8 March 2021, MGM revealed a CGI Leo based on footage of the 1957 lion. It first appeared theatrically on 13 August 2021 with Respect. The current treatment also shows the English words "Art for Art's Sake" alongside the Latin motto. The documented Leo history records those changes.

I like this update because it follows the logo's pattern. MGM kept the recognisable frame while changing what sat inside it: silent film became talkies, black-and-white became Technicolor and photographed footage became CGI.

That does not make the versions interchangeable. Slats matters because he never roared. Jackie marks the arrival of sound. Leo is the version that has lasted since 1957 and now has a digital continuation. The history is a sequence, not one asset with cosmetic edits.

FAQ

How many lions has MGM used?

The common historical count is seven: Slats, Jackie, Telly, Coffee, Tanner, George and Leo. Telly and Coffee were brief colour-test lions, while Numa is sometimes added as an obscure eighth. The number changes because some records include rare silent-colour appearances that sit outside the familiar studio sequence.

Was Leo the first MGM lion?

No. Slats was the first lion used by MGM after the studio era began, and Jackie became the first to roar audibly. Leo arrived in 1957 and is the current lion most viewers recognise. Calling every MGM lion Leo is common shorthand, but it removes the changes in film format and sound that shaped the logo.

What does "Ars Gratia Artis" mean?

"Ars Gratia Artis" means "Art for Art's Sake". The Latin motto appears around the MGM lion in the circular emblem. Howard Dietz selected the lion in 1916 as a reference to Columbia University's mascot and fight song. The motto and lion gave Goldwyn's identity a formal studio signature.

Did an MGM lion kill a trainer?

No. Snopes checked the claim, and the known record shows that Volney Phifer, trainer of the first MGM lion Slats, outlived the animal and later died in retirement. The rumour likely spread through copied novelty-fact pages, where a dramatic claim was easier to pass along than a source.

The version I trust is the documented one. That is enough history for one roar.