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Four Star Productions
Written and Compiled by Nicholas Aczel and Sean Beard
Logo captures by V of Doom and Eric S.
Editions by V of Doom
Video captures courtesy by Bob Fish, JohnnyL80 and Eric S.
Background: Four Star Productions/Television was formed in 1952 by prominent Hollywood actors Dick Powell, David Niven, Ida Lupino, and Charles Boyer originally to produce TV shows, buy when it was sold to new owners in 1968, the company was renamed Four Star International, closing this in 1975. This company was resurrected in 1984 as Four Star Entertainment Corporation, closing this finally in 1989 when Liar's Club was cancelled, being sold to New World Entertainment. Actually, all library of this company is owned by News Corporation.
1st Logo
(1952-1956)
Logo: In the end credits of Four Star Playhouse, we fade to the disclaimer “A FOUR STAR” written at the top of the screen. Below it one-by-one appear four stars, stacked and each bearing names of
the producers to the right:
Below them appears the word “PRODUCTION, INC.”, and in smaller text, some copyright info.
FX: Just the appearing of the stars and words.
Cheesy Factor: The logo is very simply animated.
Music: Plays over the “Four Star Playhouse” end theme, composed by Leon Klatzkin.
Availability: Intact on all episodes of Four Star Playhouse, as the logo is part of the end credits. Select episodes were given VHS release by Marathon Music and Video during the 90's.
Scare Factor: Low; depends strictly on your feeling regarding the “Four Star Playhouse” theme music, but it would get much worse with the follow-up logo…..
2nd Logo
Cheesy Factor: The zooming of the banner is quite rough, but if anything is especially cheesy, its got to be those gaudy shadows used on the stars, which are just waaaay too tacky.
Music: A booming fanfare composed by Rudy Schrader, usually accompanied with an announcer saying “FILMED BY FOUR STAR!” or “THIS HAS BEEN A FOUR STAR PRODUCTION!” Later in its existence, it was replaced with another fanfare composed by Joseph Mullendore (which sounds like a combination of the Desilu "Merging Circles" fanfare and the first Four Star fanfare). As the logo approached the end of its run in the mid-1960s, it was replaced with a more patriotic fanfare, composed by Herschel Burke Gilbert.
Availability: Survives on The Big Valley reruns on Encore Westerns.
Scare Factor: Medium to high; a generally well-liked logo for those who were lucky to see it, but more than a few cannot stand the loud fanfares or the creepy announcer, or hate the rough zoom-up of the banner (ala V of Doom), or the dark background.
4th Logo
(1964-1965)
Nicknames: "Zooming Vertical Stars", "Zooming Four Star Ribbon"
Logo: A gray box zooms up into the screen, which contains several thin lines seen on the left and a thick black horizontal line dividing it in two. On the right, we see the words “FOUR STAR,” in a thin white Old West-style font. Four white stars are shown on the set of lines. The word "TELEVISION" is shown under the company name.
FX/Cheesy Factor: The zoom-in, which is very simple and rough.
Music: The same abridged fanfare composed by Rudy Schrader.
Availability: Rare.
Scare Factor: Low to medium, due to the zoom-in and fanfare.
3rd Logo 
Nicknames: “Diamonds”, “Flying Triangles”
Logo: On a black background, we see a set of ten multicolored diamonds (five on top, five on bottom) stacked together, each composed of a top and bottom triangle (each half a different color). The diamonds split up and fly, and each of the triangles of a particular identical color merge at the bottom ends, forming four stars of the colors from left-to-right: green, red, white, and blue. The words “FOUR” and “STAR” uncover from the top and bottom of the stars, respectively, to complete the logo.
FX/Cheesy Factor: The triangle animations, the “FOUR” and “STAR” uncovering.
Music: The same Herschel Burke Gilbert fanfare used as the third music for the 2nd logo, either full or abridged.
Availability: Appears on Encore Westerns's Big Valley reruns.
Scare Factor: Low to medium; the loud music and the flying triangles might make some people jumpy.
5th Logo 
Nicknames: “Four Star ‘70”, "Vertical Stars", "Four Star Ribbon"
Logo: On a metallic blue (in later years, black) background, several thin lines are seen on the left of the screen, and a thick red horizontal line divides the screen in two. On the right, we see the words “FOUR STAR,” in a thin white Old West-style font, which is placed in between the red line. Suddenly, four yellow stars pop into place on the set of lines. After the last star appears, the word "International," in a red Calligraphy-style font, fades in under the company name, with the whole thing looking similar to the 3rd logo.
FX: The stars popping into place, the word "International" fading in.
Cheesy Factor: The design is very gaudy even by late-60s standards; the mixing of the two wildly different fonts really doesn't work here. Doubled with the fact that this resembles a number of 45 RPM record labels from earlier in the decade doesn't help matters any with this logo.
Music: A gently tinkling woodwind and hapsichord scale, ending with a single orchestra hit. Sometimes the "tinkling" sound at the beginning is skipped.
Availability: Appears on Encore Westerns's reruns of The Big Valley.
Scare Factor: Minimum; the rather sedate jingle more than compensates for the gaudy look of the logo.
6th Logo
(1984-1989)
Nicknames: “CGI”, "CGI-4", “The Filmstrip 4”, "4-Star"
Logo: On a black background, we see four large red stars, one-by-one, zoom by from left to right at an angle. As the 4th star appears, the number “4” (in a high-tech font) comes from the right and attaches itself to the star. The background turns purple, and three lines (the first slightly thicker than the others) pass over the logo and settle under, wiping the words “FOUR” and “STAR” to the left and right of the logo, respectively. The logo “shines.”
FX: The star animations, the background turning purple, the line animations, the “shine.”
Cheesy Factor: The CGI is rather dated, looking two-dimensional and utilizing overly simple animation effects.
Music: A rising new-age synth theme.
Availability: Rare; Four Star’s output was coming to a stop by this time; was last seen on 1984-1985 episodes of Mad Movies with the L.A. Connection, mid-80s prints of the game show Liar’s Club, and the 1987 colorized version of Scrooge (1951) in syndication.
Scare Factor: Low; this once state-of-the-art logo was a fitting end to a company with a memorable library of logos.
![Four Star Productions - CLG Wiki]( "Four Star Productions - CLG Wiki")
Logo captures by V of Doom and Eric S.
Editions by V of Doom
Video captures courtesy by Bob Fish, JohnnyL80 and Eric S.
Background: Four Star Productions/Television was formed in 1952 by prominent Hollywood actors Dick Powell, David Niven, Ida Lupino, and Charles Boyer originally to produce TV shows, buy when it was sold to new owners in 1968, the company was renamed Four Star International, closing this in 1975. This company was resurrected in 1984 as Four Star Entertainment Corporation, closing this finally in 1989 when Liar's Club was cancelled, being sold to New World Entertainment. Actually, all library of this company is owned by News Corporation.
1st Logo
(1952-1956)
Logo: In the end credits of Four Star Playhouse, we fade to the disclaimer “A FOUR STAR” written at the top of the screen. Below it one-by-one appear four stars, stacked and each bearing names of
the producers to the right: A
FOUR STAR
CHARLES BOYER
---DICK POWELL
-------DAVID NIVEN
----------IDA LUPINO
FOUR STAR
CHARLES BOYER
---DICK POWELL
-------DAVID NIVEN
----------IDA LUPINO
Below them appears the word “PRODUCTION, INC.”, and in smaller text, some copyright info.
FX: Just the appearing of the stars and words.
Cheesy Factor: The logo is very simply animated.
Music: Plays over the “Four Star Playhouse” end theme, composed by Leon Klatzkin.
Availability: Intact on all episodes of Four Star Playhouse, as the logo is part of the end credits. Select episodes were given VHS release by Marathon Music and Video during the 90's.
Scare Factor: Low; depends strictly on your feeling regarding the “Four Star Playhouse” theme music, but it would get much worse with the follow-up logo…..
2nd Logo
(1956-1967)
Nickname: “The Banner (of Doom)”
Logo: On a space background, we see four big stars with shadows extending down and meeting at a vanishing point. From the vanishing point, a shady banner with the words “FOUR STAR” in a majestic font zoom up to just below the stars.
Variants:
FX: The “FOUR STAR” banner zooming up.
Nickname: “The Banner (of Doom)”
Logo: On a space background, we see four big stars with shadows extending down and meeting at a vanishing point. From the vanishing point, a shady banner with the words “FOUR STAR” in a majestic font zoom up to just below the stars.
Variants:
- On Four Star shows produced in color during the period, the logo was seen in blue-tone.
- A sped-up version also exists, with faster animation and an abridged version of the Schrader fanfare.
- A sped-up logo with an abridged version of the Gilbert fanfare also exists.
FX: The “FOUR STAR” banner zooming up.
Cheesy Factor: The zooming of the banner is quite rough, but if anything is especially cheesy, its got to be those gaudy shadows used on the stars, which are just waaaay too tacky.
Music: A booming fanfare composed by Rudy Schrader, usually accompanied with an announcer saying “FILMED BY FOUR STAR!” or “THIS HAS BEEN A FOUR STAR PRODUCTION!” Later in its existence, it was replaced with another fanfare composed by Joseph Mullendore (which sounds like a combination of the Desilu "Merging Circles" fanfare and the first Four Star fanfare). As the logo approached the end of its run in the mid-1960s, it was replaced with a more patriotic fanfare, composed by Herschel Burke Gilbert.
Availability: Survives on The Big Valley reruns on Encore Westerns.
Scare Factor: Medium to high; a generally well-liked logo for those who were lucky to see it, but more than a few cannot stand the loud fanfares or the creepy announcer, or hate the rough zoom-up of the banner (ala V of Doom), or the dark background.
4th Logo
(1964-1965)
Nicknames: "Zooming Vertical Stars", "Zooming Four Star Ribbon"
Logo: A gray box zooms up into the screen, which contains several thin lines seen on the left and a thick black horizontal line dividing it in two. On the right, we see the words “FOUR STAR,” in a thin white Old West-style font. Four white stars are shown on the set of lines. The word "TELEVISION" is shown under the company name.
FX/Cheesy Factor: The zoom-in, which is very simple and rough.
Music: The same abridged fanfare composed by Rudy Schrader.
Availability: Rare.
Scare Factor: Low to medium, due to the zoom-in and fanfare.
3rd Logo
(1967-1969)
Nicknames: “Diamonds”, “Flying Triangles”
Logo: On a black background, we see a set of ten multicolored diamonds (five on top, five on bottom) stacked together, each composed of a top and bottom triangle (each half a different color). The diamonds split up and fly, and each of the triangles of a particular identical color merge at the bottom ends, forming four stars of the colors from left-to-right: green, red, white, and blue. The words “FOUR” and “STAR” uncover from the top and bottom of the stars, respectively, to complete the logo.
FX/Cheesy Factor: The triangle animations, the “FOUR” and “STAR” uncovering.
Music: The same Herschel Burke Gilbert fanfare used as the third music for the 2nd logo, either full or abridged.
Availability: Appears on Encore Westerns's Big Valley reruns.
Scare Factor: Low to medium; the loud music and the flying triangles might make some people jumpy.
5th Logo
(1969-1975)
Nicknames: “Four Star ‘70”, "Vertical Stars", "Four Star Ribbon"
Logo: On a metallic blue (in later years, black) background, several thin lines are seen on the left of the screen, and a thick red horizontal line divides the screen in two. On the right, we see the words “FOUR STAR,” in a thin white Old West-style font, which is placed in between the red line. Suddenly, four yellow stars pop into place on the set of lines. After the last star appears, the word "International," in a red Calligraphy-style font, fades in under the company name, with the whole thing looking similar to the 3rd logo.
FX: The stars popping into place, the word "International" fading in.
Cheesy Factor: The design is very gaudy even by late-60s standards; the mixing of the two wildly different fonts really doesn't work here. Doubled with the fact that this resembles a number of 45 RPM record labels from earlier in the decade doesn't help matters any with this logo.
Music: A gently tinkling woodwind and hapsichord scale, ending with a single orchestra hit. Sometimes the "tinkling" sound at the beginning is skipped.
Availability: Appears on Encore Westerns's reruns of The Big Valley.
Scare Factor: Minimum; the rather sedate jingle more than compensates for the gaudy look of the logo.
6th Logo
(1984-1989)
Nicknames: “CGI”, "CGI-4", “The Filmstrip 4”, "4-Star"
Logo: On a black background, we see four large red stars, one-by-one, zoom by from left to right at an angle. As the 4th star appears, the number “4” (in a high-tech font) comes from the right and attaches itself to the star. The background turns purple, and three lines (the first slightly thicker than the others) pass over the logo and settle under, wiping the words “FOUR” and “STAR” to the left and right of the logo, respectively. The logo “shines.”
FX: The star animations, the background turning purple, the line animations, the “shine.”
Cheesy Factor: The CGI is rather dated, looking two-dimensional and utilizing overly simple animation effects.
Music: A rising new-age synth theme.
Availability: Rare; Four Star’s output was coming to a stop by this time; was last seen on 1984-1985 episodes of Mad Movies with the L.A. Connection, mid-80s prints of the game show Liar’s Club, and the 1987 colorized version of Scrooge (1951) in syndication.
Scare Factor: Low; this once state-of-the-art logo was a fitting end to a company with a memorable library of logos.
Latest page update: made by VofDoom
, Apr 12 2008, 10:15 PM EDT
(about this update
About This Update
Edited by VofDoom
6 words added
5 words deleted
2 images deleted
view changes
- complete history)
Edited by VofDoom
6 words added
5 words deleted
2 images deleted
view changes
- complete history)
Keyword tags:
Four Star Entertainment Corp.
Four Star International
Four Star Productions
Four Star Television
News Corporation
More Info: links to this page
| Started By | Thread Subject | Replies | Last Post | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JMFabianoRPL | This seriously needs updates | 0 | Oct 18 2007, 6:28 PM EDT by JMFabianoRPL | |
|
Thread started: Oct 18 2007, 6:28 PM EDT
Watch
Given the many sightings outside of Pax we've had since, we need those mentioned in the above. In fact, even in their plastering heyday (a lot of logos we thought would be Towered over survive actually), it seems that Fox went out of their way to protect 4* logos (they'd play the logo then put up the Fox copyright info, then 20th Television).
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