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Screen Gems Television
Logo descriptions by James Fabiano, Jason Jones, and Shadeed A. Kelly
Logo captures by Eric S., V of Doom, Shadeed A. Kelly, JohnnyL80, mr3urious, and Michael Bass
Editions by Shadeed A. Kelly, kidinbed and V of Doom
Video captures courtesy of Eric S., supremetaco, classictvfan, DanDMan16, JohnnyL80, and KLXT77
Background: Screen Gems was revived as a television subsidiary by Columbia Pictures Corporation in 1948. It was responsible for television production, TV movies, syndicating the Columbia Pictures movie library, and starting in 1958, The Three Stooges shorts starting with the Curly series. Also in the 1950s, Screen Gems also syndicated the Universal Horror Package and from 1957-1966, the cartoons by Hanna-Barbera. In 1968, Screen Gems merged with its parent Columbia Pictures Corporation and the whole organization was reincorporated as Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. In 1974, Screen Gems was reincorporated as Columbia Pictures Television (now Sony Pictures Television). The name was suggested by David Gerber, the then-current president of Columbia's television division.
1st Logo
(1951-1952, 1957-1974)
Logo: It's just an in-credit text that reads:
Variants: For those co-produced by Hanna-Barbera, it would say:
FX/SFX: None.
Music/Sounds: The end-title theme from any show.
Availability: Uncommon; It's seen on the first two seasons of The Flintstones, the first season of Top Cat and some first season episodes of The Jetsons all on Boomerang. Was also seen on the early seasons of The Ford Television Theatre.
Scare Factor: None.
2nd Logo
(1952-1955)
Nicknames: "The TV Tube"
Logo: We see a TV tube-like shape (outlined in dark gray and filled in black) over a light gray background. There are a couple of stars shining inside (like stars in the sky) under the phrase "A Screen Gems, Inc. Presentation" or "A Screen Gems Film Production".
Variants:
FX/SFX: The little stars twinkling.
Music/Sounds: The end title theme of any show or silent.
Availability: Ultra rare; only appeared on the first season of Father Knows Best. Currently seen on the complete first season on DVD. Was also seen on The Ford Television Theatre and Captain Midnight.
Scare Factor: Low to medium.
3rd Logo
(1955-1960) 
Nickname: "Torch Lady"
Logo: Like the then-current Columbia Pictures logo, we see a lady (Columbia, a representation of the USA) holding a light torch on top a pedestal with a backdrop of clouds over her. The torch lady's head is between the words "SCREEN GEMS" with "A" above it and "Film Presentation" or "Film Production" below it. The byline "Television Subsidiary: Columbia Pictures Corporation" appears below that.
FX/SFX: The lady's torch "shining".
Music/Sounds/Voice-over: A majestic horn fanfare at the begin/end of some syndicated programs (nicknamed the "Fanfare of Doom"), or the opening theme of the movie or short. Usually, as a closing logo, you will hear the ending theme for whatever show played over it with Harry Cohn announcing, "This has been a Screen Gems Film Production, from the Hollywood studios of Columbia Pictures".
Music/Sounds Variant: When the movie 20 Million Miles to Earth premiered on television, Screen Gems plastered the Columbia Pictures logo, keeping the fanfare intact.
Availability: Rare. Seen on seasons 2-4 DVD releases of Father Knows Best. Despite the logo blending in with the show itself, C-T has plastered the logo on several occasions.
Scare Factor: Depending on the logo variant:
4th Logo
(1960-1963)
Nickname: "Torch Lady II"
Logo: Same as the 1955 logo, excluding the clouds and the additional captions. Only the name "Screen Gems" remains, and the words are smaller and somewhat stretched out, and the words are shown on each side of the lower body and legs.
Variants:
FX/SFX: The lady's torch "shining".
Music/Sounds/Voice-over: Usually, the end title theme from any show has played over this with Harry Cohn, the longtime president of Columbia Pictures announcing:
Availability: Rare. Last seen on reruns of Hazel, Dennis the Menace, The Naked City and Route 66, to name a few. Surprisingly, this has been edited over with or followed by the Columbia TriStar Television or the Sony Pictures Television logo on some shows recently.
Scare Factor: Low to medium.
5th Logo
(1963-1965)
Nicknames: "The Dancing Sticks", "Stars and Spotlights"
Logo: Eleven animated lines "drop down" at the right of the black screen to ascending jazz notes as a swarm of circles scatter near the middle of the left side leaving behind the words "SCREEN GEMS" in a Benguiat Frisky font. (These circles were what one rec.arts.animation post described as the "spotlights." The "stars" may come from the fact that the circles sparkle like stars.) As this happens, the lines shrink somewhat and spread out, filling the right half and shaking slightly back and forth.
Color Variant: When broadcast in color, the sticks are pale rainbow colors and the dots are brighter. Also, on one color variant, the dots are rainbow colors as well.
FX/SFX: The lines dropping and shrinking.
Cheesy Factor: The lines' animations. Also, what are the dancing sticks supposed to represent?
Music/Sounds/Voice-over: An 8-note jazzy trumpet fanfare that ascends as the sticks drop in, and ends with a 5-note stinger when the logo finishes. An announcer states that the production is "A Screen Gems Presentation (or Production)." near the end. One extremely rare version of the logo does not use an announcer spiel. This was often used on foreign prints of Screen Gems shows.
Availability: Ultra rare; it does appear in color without the signature music on the 1999 Columbia Pictures documentary The Lady with the Torch. However, due to replacement with various newer logos, both Sony Pictures Television-related and syndication, this is very hard to find on television.
Scare Factor: Low to medium; dramatic music and spooky announcers may make some jumpy. But pretty tame, especially compared to its successor.
6th Logo
(1965-1974)
Nicknames: "The Spiral S", "The Filmstrip S", "The Creepy Screen Gems Logo", "The S From Hell", "The Spiral S (From Hell)", "Burning S", "Scream Gems", "Attack of the Killer S", "The Personification of All That Is Evil"
Logo: Two parallelograms come from the top and bottom of the screen, and the upper one is at a distance while the lower is closer. They fly towards each other, and the higher moves forward while the lower backs away. As they do so, they grow in length and wrap around a space where a dot appears, forming a stylized "S." Under that the words "SCREEN GEMS" zooms-in.
Trivia: The "S" logo was designed by Chermayeff & Geismar, a firm also responsible for the 1986 six-feathered NBC Peacock, the 1984 PBS logo, the 1990-2005 Viacom logo and the Chase Manhattan Bank logo, among other designs.
Variants:
FX/SFX: The parallelograms wrapping around the dot, "SCREEN GEMS" zooming-in.
Cheesy Factor: Really rough animation all over, and music so cheap and cheerful it's disturbing.
Music/Sounds: Composed by Eric Siday, it is an synthesized tune said to be produced by violins. It consists of six notes followed by two over synthesized tones. In 1970, it was shortened so only three notes came before the tones. This shortened variant was also used for the first short-lived Columbia Pictures Television logo.
Music/Sounds Variants:
Availability: This logo has been beautifully restored on reruns of Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie on WGN America and the former on TV Land and The Partridge Family on Hallmark Channel, though it is usually compressed with the credits. Ironically, the DVD versions are not so lucky; except for one B&W episode of Jeannie the logos were removed on disc, but the short version complete with jingle has been restored starting with the seventh season DVDs of Bewitched. The only other DVDs with this logo are the 1971 Brian's Song, and the 1974 miniseries QB VII, with theme music over it, plus the Columbia byline. It was also shown in an edited form on Fox Family reruns of The Partridge Family and in a sped-up form without music on The Hallmark Channel reruns of Bewitched. The still variant is extinct, and was seen originally on the TV show Soupy Sales. A good few episodes of Bewitched when aired on the UK satellite channel Living have this logo, often followed by the Sony Pictures Television International logo.
Scare Factor: Medium to nightmare for the full music variant and low to high for the 1970-1974 variants. Numerous people have very unfond memories of this logo, mostly due to the creepy theme music combined with the animation, which is very in-your-face (though it's less scary for those who are used to seeing it). Possibly one of the scariest logos ever made. The scare factor is low to medium for the trumpet variant.
Logo captures by Eric S., V of Doom, Shadeed A. Kelly, JohnnyL80, mr3urious, and Michael Bass
Editions by Shadeed A. Kelly, kidinbed and V of Doom
Video captures courtesy of Eric S., supremetaco, classictvfan, DanDMan16, JohnnyL80, and KLXT77
Background: Screen Gems was revived as a television subsidiary by Columbia Pictures Corporation in 1948. It was responsible for television production, TV movies, syndicating the Columbia Pictures movie library, and starting in 1958, The Three Stooges shorts starting with the Curly series. Also in the 1950s, Screen Gems also syndicated the Universal Horror Package and from 1957-1966, the cartoons by Hanna-Barbera. In 1968, Screen Gems merged with its parent Columbia Pictures Corporation and the whole organization was reincorporated as Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. In 1974, Screen Gems was reincorporated as Columbia Pictures Television (now Sony Pictures Television). The name was suggested by David Gerber, the then-current president of Columbia's television division.
1st Logo
(1951-1952, 1957-1974)
Logo: It's just an in-credit text that reads:
A
SCREEN GEMS, INC.
PRODUCTION
Variants: For those co-produced by Hanna-Barbera, it would say:
- A SCREEN GEMS FILM PRESENTATION, TELEVISION SUBSIDIARY COLUMBIA PICTURES CORPORATION
- On some episodes of The Flintstones and The Jetsons, the letter "A" isn't shown next to the words "SCREEN GEMS". (This version can still be seen intact on the Jetsons episode "The Coming of Astro" on Boomerang and Amazon Video on Demand.)
FX/SFX: None.
Music/Sounds: The end-title theme from any show.
Availability: Uncommon; It's seen on the first two seasons of The Flintstones, the first season of Top Cat and some first season episodes of The Jetsons all on Boomerang. Was also seen on the early seasons of The Ford Television Theatre.
Scare Factor: None.
2nd Logo
(1952-1955)
Nicknames: "The TV Tube"
Logo: We see a TV tube-like shape (outlined in dark gray and filled in black) over a light gray background. There are a couple of stars shining inside (like stars in the sky) under the phrase "A Screen Gems, Inc. Presentation" or "A Screen Gems Film Production".
Variants:
- There is one version that the stars shining are more animated and differently shaped. Also, there isn't any glow surrounding them.
- Until late 1954-early 1955, the word "Film" is added inside the tube.
FX/SFX: The little stars twinkling.
Music/Sounds: The end title theme of any show or silent.
Availability: Ultra rare; only appeared on the first season of Father Knows Best. Currently seen on the complete first season on DVD. Was also seen on The Ford Television Theatre and Captain Midnight.
Scare Factor: Low to medium.
3rd Logo
(1955-1960)
Nickname: "Torch Lady"
Logo: Like the then-current Columbia Pictures logo, we see a lady (Columbia, a representation of the USA) holding a light torch on top a pedestal with a backdrop of clouds over her. The torch lady's head is between the words "SCREEN GEMS" with "A" above it and "Film Presentation" or "Film Production" below it. The byline "Television Subsidiary: Columbia Pictures Corporation" appears below that.
FX/SFX: The lady's torch "shining".
Music/Sounds/Voice-over: A majestic horn fanfare at the begin/end of some syndicated programs (nicknamed the "Fanfare of Doom"), or the opening theme of the movie or short. Usually, as a closing logo, you will hear the ending theme for whatever show played over it with Harry Cohn announcing, "This has been a Screen Gems Film Production, from the Hollywood studios of Columbia Pictures".
Music/Sounds Variant: When the movie 20 Million Miles to Earth premiered on television, Screen Gems plastered the Columbia Pictures logo, keeping the fanfare intact.
Availability: Rare. Seen on seasons 2-4 DVD releases of Father Knows Best. Despite the logo blending in with the show itself, C-T has plastered the logo on several occasions.
Scare Factor: Depending on the logo variant:
- Medium to high; the old B&W film and scary drawing might send some chills, but the fanfare has been considered by many to be overly bombastic and scary.
- Low to medium with the opening and closing themes.
4th Logo
(1960-1963)
Nickname: "Torch Lady II"
Logo: Same as the 1955 logo, excluding the clouds and the additional captions. Only the name "Screen Gems" remains, and the words are smaller and somewhat stretched out, and the words are shown on each side of the lower body and legs.
Variants:
- An updated version of sorts can be seen as the logo for the "Screen Gems Network", the syndicated package of classic SG, Columbia, and ELP shows.
- A rare color variant of this logo was seen on Hazel.
FX/SFX: The lady's torch "shining".
Music/Sounds/Voice-over: Usually, the end title theme from any show has played over this with Harry Cohn, the longtime president of Columbia Pictures announcing:
- "This has been a Screen Gems Film Presentation (from Columbia Pictures); Herbert B. Leonard, Executive Producer".
- "This has been a Screen Gems Film Production, from the Hollywood studios of Columbia Pictures". Announced by Hal Gibney.
- Other shows would have a fanfare with a different announcer saying, "From Columbia Pictures, A Screen Gems Production".
Availability: Rare. Last seen on reruns of Hazel, Dennis the Menace, The Naked City and Route 66, to name a few. Surprisingly, this has been edited over with or followed by the Columbia TriStar Television or the Sony Pictures Television logo on some shows recently.
Scare Factor: Low to medium.
5th Logo
(1963-1965)
Nicknames: "The Dancing Sticks", "Stars and Spotlights"
Logo: Eleven animated lines "drop down" at the right of the black screen to ascending jazz notes as a swarm of circles scatter near the middle of the left side leaving behind the words "SCREEN GEMS" in a Benguiat Frisky font. (These circles were what one rec.arts.animation post described as the "spotlights." The "stars" may come from the fact that the circles sparkle like stars.) As this happens, the lines shrink somewhat and spread out, filling the right half and shaking slightly back and forth.
Color Variant: When broadcast in color, the sticks are pale rainbow colors and the dots are brighter. Also, on one color variant, the dots are rainbow colors as well.
FX/SFX: The lines dropping and shrinking.
Cheesy Factor: The lines' animations. Also, what are the dancing sticks supposed to represent?
Music/Sounds/Voice-over: An 8-note jazzy trumpet fanfare that ascends as the sticks drop in, and ends with a 5-note stinger when the logo finishes. An announcer states that the production is "A Screen Gems Presentation (or Production)." near the end. One extremely rare version of the logo does not use an announcer spiel. This was often used on foreign prints of Screen Gems shows.
Availability: Ultra rare; it does appear in color without the signature music on the 1999 Columbia Pictures documentary The Lady with the Torch. However, due to replacement with various newer logos, both Sony Pictures Television-related and syndication, this is very hard to find on television.
Scare Factor: Low to medium; dramatic music and spooky announcers may make some jumpy. But pretty tame, especially compared to its successor.
6th Logo
(1965-1974)
Nicknames: "The Spiral S", "The Filmstrip S", "The Creepy Screen Gems Logo", "The S From Hell", "The Spiral S (From Hell)", "Burning S", "Scream Gems", "Attack of the Killer S", "The Personification of All That Is Evil"
Logo: Two parallelograms come from the top and bottom of the screen, and the upper one is at a distance while the lower is closer. They fly towards each other, and the higher moves forward while the lower backs away. As they do so, they grow in length and wrap around a space where a dot appears, forming a stylized "S." Under that the words "SCREEN GEMS" zooms-in.
Trivia: The "S" logo was designed by Chermayeff & Geismar, a firm also responsible for the 1986 six-feathered NBC Peacock, the 1984 PBS logo, the 1990-2005 Viacom logo and the Chase Manhattan Bank logo, among other designs.
Variants:
- There's an in-credit logo that's shown on the short-lived series Adventures of the Seaspray with the text "in association with" and "Screen Gems" in the same font as the credits.
- Starting in late 1973, the byline "A DIVISION OF COLUMBIA PICTURES INDUSTRIES, INC." zooms up with "SCREEN GEMS".
- When shown in black & white, the standard scheme seems to be a light gray screen and black S and words. When shown in color, the standard scheme seems to be a yellow screen, red S, and black words. The words may or may not have actually been red at one time as well. On some prints of The Partridge Family, the S and the words were both black, attributed by some to film deterioration. However, when the Columbia byline was added, everything was changed to a light gray, and that color change seemed more natural. At the same time, other Screen Gems shows carried the normal color scheme (as did The Partridge Family when it was rerun on i).
- Several shows in 1970 didn't have the name in bold.
- There is also a still variant of this logo with the phrase "DISTRIBUTED BY" in small print above "SCREEN GEMS".
- Another still variant with and without Columbia bylines respectively was seen on the first season of Police Story.
- Another variant has the byline appearing after the company logo/text animation stop. This variant was seen on some of the five episodes of the miniseries QB VII.
FX/SFX: The parallelograms wrapping around the dot, "SCREEN GEMS" zooming-in.
Cheesy Factor: Really rough animation all over, and music so cheap and cheerful it's disturbing.
Music/Sounds: Composed by Eric Siday, it is an synthesized tune said to be produced by violins. It consists of six notes followed by two over synthesized tones. In 1970, it was shortened so only three notes came before the tones. This shortened variant was also used for the first short-lived Columbia Pictures Television logo.
Music/Sounds Variants:
- There is a version of the logo where no music is played. This was seen on the 1973 television movie Brian's Story.
- The latter version had the end theme of Police Story playing over the logo.
- At least one show, the 1966 series Hawk (with Burt Reynolds), carried an alternate recording of the Eric Siday music, which had sharper, more "shrill" tones.
- On some first-season episodes of I Dream of Jeannie (seen in syndication in the 70s and early 80s), as well as the half-hour packaging of Batfink, an alternate trumpet fanfare played over the logo. (This may be the fanfare attributed to Van Alexander, but this is not certain.)
- In other cases, it used the closing theme of the show or TV movie.
Availability: This logo has been beautifully restored on reruns of Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie on WGN America and the former on TV Land and The Partridge Family on Hallmark Channel, though it is usually compressed with the credits. Ironically, the DVD versions are not so lucky; except for one B&W episode of Jeannie the logos were removed on disc, but the short version complete with jingle has been restored starting with the seventh season DVDs of Bewitched. The only other DVDs with this logo are the 1971 Brian's Song, and the 1974 miniseries QB VII, with theme music over it, plus the Columbia byline. It was also shown in an edited form on Fox Family reruns of The Partridge Family and in a sped-up form without music on The Hallmark Channel reruns of Bewitched. The still variant is extinct, and was seen originally on the TV show Soupy Sales. A good few episodes of Bewitched when aired on the UK satellite channel Living have this logo, often followed by the Sony Pictures Television International logo.
Scare Factor: Medium to nightmare for the full music variant and low to high for the 1970-1974 variants. Numerous people have very unfond memories of this logo, mostly due to the creepy theme music combined with the animation, which is very in-your-face (though it's less scary for those who are used to seeing it). Possibly one of the scariest logos ever made. The scare factor is low to medium for the trumpet variant.
Shadeed329 |
Latest page update: made by Shadeed329
, Aug 17 2010, 1:42 PM EDT
(about this update
About This Update
Edited by Shadeed329
9 words added 3 words deleted view changes - complete history) |
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Keyword tags:
Columbia Pictures Television
Screen Gems
Sony Corporation
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Sony Pictures Television
More Info: links to this page
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| Started By | Thread Subject | Replies | Last Post | ||
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| PrimeEvil | S From Hell Documentary from the Sundance Film Festival | 0 | Aug 16 2010, 1:33 PM EDT by PrimeEvil | ||
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Thread started: Aug 16 2010, 1:33 PM EDT
Watch
Well, I thought it was funny.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YM2AxGYn8jU&feature=fvw |
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| MysteryLogoMan888 | Recent "S from Hell" Sightings? | 1 | Jul 19 2010, 10:21 PM EDT by clevelandrox | ||
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Thread started: Jul 19 2010, 1:11 PM EDT
Watch
I have never seen this logo on TV before but I have seen it on Youtube before. It isn't scary for me. I'd like people to tell me what TV show people have recently seen the "S from Hell" on.
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| thomasislandthomo | TV Tube | 0 | Jun 25 2010, 4:20 PM EDT by thomasislandthomo | ||
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Thread started: Jun 25 2010, 4:20 PM EDT
Watch
have you watched "Father Knows Best", It looks like the jingle from the logo might be the ending theme from "Father Knows Best" or the shows like "The Ford Television Theatre" and "Captain Midnight".
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