For such an ostensibly offbeat fear, I sure do see this one brought up a
lot in various Usenet groups. Not just an irrational fear of TV logos, but
movie ones too.
Has the American Psychiatric Association categorized this yet?
("markVIIphobia"?... "kayrovuephobia"?...
"thishasbeenafilmwayspresentationphobia"?)
--
_--_ "And stay right here, 'cause
/ `--''> ,,, these are the good old days."
| / I I |||||||||[:::]
\ oo ,-._> ''' Super Seventies RockSite!
`--' http://www.superseventies.com/
The only logo that kinda scared me was the late 60s United Artists movie
logo like in the beginning of Yelllow Submarine). I was told that the music
had subliminal messages in it, which of course isn't true. A voice really
slowed down. I don't seem to remember any logos scaring me. In fact, I
used to love the logos so I could hear the synthesizer music (even though I
didn't know what a synth was at the time). The things that scared me on tv
was a few shows including SAM from Sesame Street.
A local TV station had a "please stand by" slide (you know for when they
have technical problems) that scared me-it was in those 60s blob type
letters with the letters colored sea blue on a black background.
Although a little OT, my mom says that I was scared by a commercial that
had a close up of an owl in it, but she can't remember what company it
was advertising. I asked this before here and somebody said that a bank
used an owl in advertising then.
(ting a la ting ting a lla ting ting a la ting ting a la ting)
Turning on the television, hoping to watch Sesame Street, but instead, it
was Tom and Jerry! But the lion wouldn't stop roaring! GROWL!!!! GROWL!!!!!
Come on, Tom and Jerry, come on and make the lion stop! But instead....
the lion just kept roaring! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
So I tried to run outside and what happened! Right at the door, there was
a hand holding a chisel! BOING! BOING! Oh, no! There was a Mark VII logo
on the door.... so I turned around and ran in the other direction. As I
tore past the TV, the lion just kept on roaring! GROWL! ROAR!
And I tried to turn the channel, hoping I could get him to stop! I
turn... and there his older, scarier black-and-white predecessor was...
turning his head sideways when he was done roaring! And then in another
channel, it was the Cinemascope version, scrunched up for TV, and he just
wouldn't stop roaring! GROWL! ROAR! And then I turned to a different
channel. Whew.... he wasn't there.... but then suddenly there was a calm,
relaxing yellow screen. And as soon as I sat down to enjoy, the Screen Gems
"S" started to be drawn! EEeeeeeeK! And it wouldn't stop! The synth just
kept on going, so I ran outside, and enjoyed the view.... only to see.....
THE PARAMOUNT MOUNTAIN! So I started running in the opposite direction,
trying to get away, and ran smack into the COLUMBIA woman.... with an
announcer who wouldn't stop saying, 'THIS HAS BEEN A SCREEN GEMS FILMED
PREODUCTION!"
And I just kept running and running until I got into a rocket! It was the
only way to escape and then as soon as I got into orbit, I looked down, and
heard, "BUM DUM BUM DUM DUM!" And there was THE UNIVERSAL LOGO!!!!!! And I
screamed as loud as I could, only to look back again and hear Ellie Mae
saying, "This has been a "Filmwize" "Praysentyshun!" And it wouldn't stop!
Suddenly, I found myself caught up in cursive writing, that kept spiraling
out "DESILU" I was trapped! So I saw these lights and kept running, and
there it was! THE 20TH CENTURY FOX LOGO! The world "TELEVISION" came
spiraling at me! And every time I tried to run, there was Maria telling me
"Sesame Street" was brought to me by the Children's Television Workshop!
Finally, Mom and Dad awoke me, and to calm me down, they gave me my
favorite stuffed toy.... a black cube with a surreal "W" on it!
I really miss seeing the 1960's NBC color intro where the white peacock
flutters open its colorful wings against a black background and the
announcer says..... "This program is being brought to you in living color on
N-B-C!"
---shambala
>This would be the ultimate scary logo dream, one
>encounter after another. And speaking of Sesame Street, who could forget the
>70's PBS ID. You know, the one where the P-head, the B, and S show up one by
>one with that really bizarre synth tune. I'm sure that one unnerved more
>than a few. IMHO, the 70's were the worst decade for scary TV logos, since
>synthesizers were in their infancy then (Moog). That was when they started
>using them like crazy. Things got less scary over the years, when
>synthesizers improved, and come a long way from the Moog.
Part of the charm of '70s popular culture is its scary TV logos. I just
wish PBS would bring back its old ID.
--
I think. Therefore, I am not a conservative!
------ http://www.todayslastword.org -------
>Even scarier than the PBS logo at the end of "Sesame Street" was the black
>screen with white type that came on right after the show with this "bum bum
>bum bum... buddabuhpum" music that played. The screen was almost covered
>with fine-print that no little kid could possibly read, and it really did
>kinda give you this unnerving feeling.
I remember that! That music bed was great!
They used that same music bed into the early '90s.
They should have brought that one back last year, for their 30th
anniversary. It would have went perfect with it.
I remember a logo and music for KCOP, channel 13 in Los Angeles back in the
1960's..
was strings or something, and I would love to hear that one again.. anyone
remember that?
Sam
One time we had a tornado drill in kindergarten class. My best friend
Mark got so scared and caught up in the drill that he peed his pants.
He's 42 now and I still enjoy bringing that up at reunions and
get-togethers.
"Chad Thomas" <chab...@attbi.com> wrote in message news:<kgcO8.26921$R61....@rwcrnsc52.ops.asp.att.net>...
"Chad Thomas" <chab...@attbi.com> wrote in message
news:kgcO8.26921$R61....@rwcrnsc52.ops.asp.att.net...
>You mean the one where the bright yellow "HB" zooms out, V of Doom-style, on
>a black background? Then the "HB" turns orange and the background turns
>yellow. I know that one, and it was worse when it still had that jingle,
>which is a fast glide up the scale followed by a brass stinger.
I keep hearing so much about this HB logo, but I don't quite remember
it. I think I remember the one that someone said was used from 1975-80,
which I think is pretty scary myself.
and now a lot of people are actually scared of ME !! hehe.. Shh.. don't let
them see this post. :)
this is even more humiliating, and WHY am i telling you nice people? BEcause
it is 3am I guess :0
I keep my TV on 24/7 like a night light I guess always have... but about once
a month.. our local cable goes completely out.. then comes a pink screen of
nothing but really bad computer letters ( think graphics made with say.. an
Atari) .. and someone that I am sure is just some Innoccous fireman-joe type of
fellow.. preceeded by a lot of walkie-talkie CB-sort of crackling says
somethign like..
"Central texas ... testing of monitoring equipment.. some big bunch of
numbers.. more crackling.. more announcement of presumably our cable systems
antenna number... " and then the screen flicks and goes back to normal.
And Im 35.. and as said a fellow that SOME may find intimidating.. and I swear
the last time this happened I got up.. shirtless and barefooted.. and went
outside to my apart. complex's parking lot at 345 am or whenever this happened
until I was sure it was over and my beloved cable was back on.
Ok, was it GOOD to get that off my chest or am I now forever mortified. I
guess I will see tomorrow . :) heheh
That's just the government running it's monthly check on everybody. No
reason to be alarmed. :-)
Billy
Here's another one that can cause momentary loss of bladder control:
Rankin-Bass. You probably remember this one from those animated Christmas
specials on CBS, where a rectangle forms, followed by two dots, making an
abstract B. Looks something like this: ( |: ), excluding parentheses. The
music to this logo has got to be the most forbidding, chilling tune ever
used on children's TV. For me, it always evoked an image of some sort of ice
monster.
As for those "Please Stand By" stills, the one that scared me was the one on
CBS, where the tech is shown half buried in the projector (or is it a
camera), ripping out parts and throwing them on the floor. As a kid, I
thought it looked like the machine was eating the guy! Not to mention the
creepy sounding announcer. This too, never failed to send me seeking cover
behind the davenport.
Thanks for posting this -- I was combing through my brain trying to remember
ANY of these jingles, because I just didn't recall ever being scared by them --
and I definitely remembered it when I heard it. Are any of those others online
somewhere too?
Maybe it's the musician in me that is more fascinated by the fact that an
entire identity can be conveyed by the proper combination of notes in mere
seconds. It never occurred to me to be frightened by them (not to diminish the
fears of those of you who were!!!).
Liz
Go to http://www.crosswinds.net/~teamfx2000/tv_audio.htm
where you'll find sound clips of dozens of logos. Those little musical
snippets can really take you back in time!
Well of course I do! It seems like a lot of subscribers in this newsgroup
have some interest in the logos of the past, and many were also scared by
some of them! We could have some potential future CLG members in here.
Was just curious if you remembered me......LOL
Some commercials really scared me though. The commercial for the movie
"It's Alive" would give me nightmares. It had a baby crib in a dark
smoky place and the narrator would talk about the movie and we'd pan
around the crib to finally see a clawed hand and hear loud heartbeat
sound effects. I finally found this commercial to put on one of my 70's
commercial compilation tapes, not as scary as it once was but still
cool.
Also, the commercial for "Alice, Sweet Alice" stuck with me for so long,
I made sure to see the movie when it first came to cable. It basically
uses the closing image of a creepy girl with creepy eyes walking slowly
in a church isle while there is some sort of mayhem in back of her. The
movie is actually really good and is the film debut of Brooke Shields.
Finally, the commercial I had the most nightmares about was this one for
"The Hunger Project"(a world hunger charity). It first showed a super
creepy black and white image of an emaciated (starving boy)with low Bass
music fit for a horror movie. It was actually a realistic illustration
of a boy which they faded, one after the other onto other illustrations
of the boy filling out ang getting healthy. It finally dissolved to the
real film of the healthy boy and the music brightened up.
They would show that damn commercial on Saturday mornings. It would
scare the &^%* out of me every time. I started to turn around whenever a
commercial break was on and hope I didn't hear that music.
I had nightmares of that kid coming after me.
Aaaaagghhhh...
Mike
And what about the shooting star logo at the end of a Hanna-Barbera
cartoon? Anyone remember that one? Was this in the 70s, as I
remember it from the 80s cartoon "Smurfs" of which I saw a rerun on
Cartoon Network last week sometime.
And what closing TV logo could I been remembering here? The
syntesized music sounded like they were saying "yimpy-yay" and it had
some red "S" shaped letter? Am I imagining this, or does anyone else
remember this?
Jamie
The executive producer, Danny Arnold, actually created a new production
company for each new series he did.
> And what about the shooting star logo at the end of a Hanna-Barbera
> cartoon? Anyone remember that one? Was this in the 70s, as I
> remember it from the 80s cartoon "Smurfs" of which I saw a rerun on
> Cartoon Network last week sometime.
>
> And what closing TV logo could I been remembering here? The
> syntesized music sounded like they were saying "yimpy-yay" and it had
> some red "S" shaped letter? Am I imagining this, or does anyone else
> remember this?
You are talking about the short "Screen Gems" logo, perhaps?
> Jamie
> And what about the shooting star logo at the end of a Hanna-Barbera
> cartoon? Anyone remember that one? Was this in the 70s, as I
> remember it from the 80s cartoon "Smurfs" of which I saw a rerun on
> Cartoon Network last week sometime.
The HB shooting-star logo first appeared on TV in the fall of 1979.
In the fall of 1986, a slightly different version of the shooting-star logo
was used.
I don't remember exactly when they stopped using that logo, but I think it
was sometime in the early 90s.
Mark McNeil
mdwm...@teleclipse.net
http://groups.msn.com/TriviaZone
And how about the Embassy logo? Saw this on a "Facts of Life" rerun
on Hallmark last week. Remember this one?
Jamie
Screen Gems was the former name for the TV division of Columbia, used from
the 50's to 1974-75, when it was renamed CPT (Columbia Pictures Television).
Sony, the parent of Columbia, has been very erratic on replacing the logos
on all its old TV shows, so that is why sometimes you will see Screen Gems
(in its various incarnations), the CPT logo, the Sunburst logo, or the
updated Columbia lady.
> And how about the Embassy logo? Saw this on a "Facts of Life" rerun
> on Hallmark last week. Remember this one?
Yep, of course I do. Embassy was originally part of the Avco-Embassy
company, then bought by Norman Lear, who promptly folded all his TV
operations into Embassy, which was later sold to the Coca-Cola Company (who
also owned Columbia at the time), therefore when Sony bought Columbia, it
also got all of Embassy's library.
There is a Yahoo group devoted to closing logos......check it out! (I belong
to it but haven't been a very active member lately)
I saw "Bewitched" (2 episodes) on Hallmark today and saw the red "S"
Screen Gems logo. It seemed to appear longer than when I last saw it,
but the "yimpy-yay" music was cut, and they went to the Columbia logo.
Jamie
Hallmark does some strange things with those end credits....