Compilations by James Fabiano And Sean Beard
Logo pictures by Eric S.
Editions by Mr. Logo Lord


Background: Claster Television was founded as Romper Room, Inc. by Bert and Nancy Claster in 1953. It was sold to Hasbro in 1969 (who renamed the company for its founders). It still exists as a full-blown unit of Hasbro today.


1st Logo
(1958-1987)

Nicknames: "Jack in the Box of Doom", "Evil Jack"

Logo: In an orange box with red borders is a jack-in-the-box (named "Happy Jack") with a similarly-colored clown suit and a red derby. He bounces around, then bends towards the front of the box to place, in Romper Room font, the words "A BERT CLASTER PRODUCTION".

Romper Room Info:

• Happy Jack was used as the logo for the Romper Room preschool toy line (best-remembered products: Mr. Potato Head and Weebles) in the '60s and '70s.
• The "A Bert Claster Television Production" (note the wording) ID was present on the various local editions as well (Claster licensed the format to 250+ stations over the years on top of producing and distributing the national show).
• Romper Room and Friends actually ran until 1994 (with an additional 85 episodes taped in 1991). The 1981-87 shows remained in circulation until 1991.
• There were three hostesses of the syndicated RR:Nancy Claster (1954-64), her daughter Sally Claster (1964-81) and Molly McAllister (1981-94)
• CBS offered to pick up the show in late 1953 (after it became a hit on Baltmore-area TV) but the Clasters chose instead to syndicate it instead (producing a show for national syndication and licensing the format to local stations).
• The last locally-produced RR (the Los Angeles version on the now-KCAL) ended in 1991.
• Claster licensed the format to Anglia Television in the mid-'60s for the British TV version (1964-1978).
• Claster licensed the format under the condition that the show's format be strictly adhered to and that all RR hosts be sent to Baltimore for a weeklong training course (led by "Miss Nancy" herself).

FX/Cheesy Factor: Very simple 1960s-1970s animation.

Music/Sounds: The end theme to Romper Room ( a synthesized version of "Pop Goes The Weasel") accompanied by an announcer spiel.

Availability: All 185 episodes of Romper Room and Friends do exist as well as a scattered number of episodes of the pre-1980 syndicated RR in Claster's library. TVparty.com once said that videotapes of Romper Room were erased and reused for taping the next day's episode; this often applied to the various local editions of the show.

Scare Factor: Medium to high; the drawing of the clown was quite creepy looking (especially for one that is named Happy Jack!). The presence of a synthesized version of "Pop Goes The Weasel" may not help matters.



2nd Logo
(1985-2000)
Nicknames: "The Spinner", "The Propeller", "The Spinning Star"

Logo: We start with a shot of this stylized text on a blue background:

Distributed By (small, in white)
(the Claster logo) Claster
TELEVISION INCORPORATED (in white)

The Claster logo is in red with the text in a strange, bold, italic font. There is a small line going above "laster" to represent an extended "t." To the left of "Claster" is a red parallelogram with 3 small, transparent lines inside. Now, to the animation. A white star moves in a horizontal direction from right-to-left and spins over all the letters in "Claster" until it reaches the parellogram symbol and stays in place to spin there.

Variants:

• On James Bond Jr., the star spins already in the parallelogram.
• One 1990 varation had the music in an extreme low tone.
• Until 1987, it was refered to as "TELEVISION PRODUCTIONS".
• In 1996, the logo was redone with better looking text, and a blue/black gradient background.
• An "A Division of Hasbro Inc." byline appeared until 1989. There is also a well-known in-credit variation of this logo seen around the mid-'80s. It was seen on "GI Joe" and "Transformers". It's appearance is the same as the above, but in white and of course, no animation. "Distributed By" was above, and "A Division Of Hasbro Inc." appears below.
• There was also an earlier in-credit variant with just text, in this format:

• The animated version did not debut until 1987.

FX: The spinning star.

Cheesy Factor: The star looks a bit cheap, and what is that parellogram supposed to represent?

Music/Sounds: 2 different themes were used. The 1st theme, from 1987, was a strange synth fanfare ending with an ascending flourish. The 2nd jingle, from 1996, used an electric piano bridge.

Availability: Near extinction; last seen on TV when All Dogs Go To Heaven: The Series was briefly reran on Toon Disney in September 2006. Should be intact on that and other Claster shows if they ever pop up on TV or DVD.

Scare Factor: Low for the 1st music, and none for the 2nd. The font wasn't the easiest to look at either.