After briefly studying journalism at Columbia in 1917, Howard Dietz became vice president for advertising and public relations for the Goldwyn Pictures Corporation, later MGM, where he adopted the Columbia Lion for the studio's logo. As the University's fight song says, "Roar, Lion, Roar!"

The Goldwyn lion's debut roar was delivered by phonograph on July 31, 1928, at the beginning of the silent movie White Shadows of the South Seas.

Dietz also wrote lyrics and music into the 1960s for such Broadway shows as Three's a Crowd, The Bandwagon, and The Gay Life with fellow Columbian Arthur Schwartz.