# The Mountain Symbol for Paramount **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [October 25, 2002, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mountain-symbol-for-paramount/133906 "2002-10-25T21:54:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Real\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@The\_Real\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Real_Rex)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2002, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mountain-symbol-for-paramount/133906/1 "2002-10-25T21:54:49Z")
I recently read a question which asked ‘which mountain is used as the symbol for paramount pictures’ to which Cecil failed to come up with the correct answer (even the greatest must fail) i believe i have the answer and i am suprised cecil did not get it. I think you will find its the Matterhorn in Switerzland. It has very the famous characteristics of having three joining arete peaks forming a ‘pyremidal peak’ - a do find this odd as paramount is an American company and you think they would have chosen a mountain from the rockies?!?! anyways, feel free to disagree but im pretty sure that is correct. Cheers Rex ;j ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2002, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mountain-symbol-for-paramount/133906/2 "2002-10-25T23:53:46Z")
Hi and welcome to the SDMB! It helps if you include a link to the column. [What mountain is depicted in the Paramount logo?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/020104.html) The old logo. [http://www.mini35.co.uk/italian\_job/paramount.jpg](http://www.mini35.co.uk/italian_job/paramount.jpg) The new logo. [http://www.paramount.com/](http://www.paramount.com/) The trouble with proving it’s the Matterhorn is figuring out which face it’s showing. Yeah, the Paramount logo and the Matterhorn are both big pointy mountains, but I can’t find anything offhand on Google Image search that exactly matches. You want to go look? [http://images.google.com/](http://images.google.com/) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Real\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@The\_Real\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Real_Rex)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2002, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mountain-symbol-for-paramount/133906/3 "2002-10-26T13:55:57Z")
i researced on google for all of 5 minutes and found this link www.geo.unizh.ch/~heller/DTM/ i think its a pretty good angle and you can clearly see the famous amazingly sloped side and the incredible steep opposing side. i think this is a pretty good picture to help my case, and the text also suggests to me that it is the mountain. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2002, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mountain-symbol-for-paramount/133906/4 "2002-10-26T21:12:22Z")
Well, they’re similar, but not identical. Your picture distinctly shows the peak pointing to the left, while the Paramount peak does not. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2002, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mountain-symbol-for-paramount/133906/5 "2002-10-27T16:34:28Z")
Ummmmmm… That can be resolved merely by rotating it on the vertical axis. I think a case can be made that the Paramount mountain was “inspired by” the Matterhorn. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2002, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mountain-symbol-for-paramount/133906/6 "2002-10-27T22:02:25Z")
I still don’t see how these look similar, but I don’t see many mountains, so I guess I don’t have much of a basis of comparison. On both mountains, the left side is smooth. On the Paramountain, the right side has little subordinate peaks along its face. On the Matterhorn, there’s a big old bite taken out of the right side. I can’t see any way to rotate these and resolve it. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2002, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mountain-symbol-for-paramount/133906/7 "2002-11-04T14:34:19Z")
I always thought it was based in the Matterhorn as well - it’s a REALLY impressive mountain, and it’s image would stay with you for a long time after having seen it - kind of what the movies are going for, isn’t it? Short of speaking to the original artist, though, I guess there’s no way to know. I do not, however, think it IS the Matterhorn - they are clearly different mountains. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2002, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mountain-symbol-for-paramount/133906/8 "2002-11-06T07:47:52Z")
Since some think it is the mountain Ben Lomand in Utah, has anybody found a picture of that mountain to compare? My search was empty - no pictures. ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2002, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mountain-symbol-for-paramount/133906/9 "2002-11-10T13:55:06Z")
I’m certain that this has been discussed before–especially the Utah connection–but I can’t find anything in the archives. There were even pictures of the mountain. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2002, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mountain-symbol-for-paramount/133906/10 "2002-11-11T00:41:28Z")
[Here](http://www.chud.com/news/mar02/mar1para1.php3) is a reference to William W. Hodkinson doodling “an image he remembered of a mountain peak from his childhood in Ogden, Utah.”