Paramount Television "Mountain" Logo - Formerly long-lost childhood memory recovered!

Here is a formerly long-lost childhood memory that I recently recovered (with the help of Benjamin Edge, who goes by Frosty81 on SitcomsOnline, and ClassicTVMan1981X on Home Theater Forum and YouTube): Mandy Films (Leonard Goldberg's label) IAW Paramount Television, from a 1988 second-season episode of a CBS comedy called The Cavanaughs.

Why was I glad to recover this memory? Because (and I was 7 when it originally aired) even though this was a 1988 episode, the Paramount Television logo at the end of this show was not the then-new CGI Mtn., but rather the Blue Mtn. of before. When I had originally seen this, I was in a state of wonder as why a 1988 show would have the previous logo, and not the newer one. I assumed it was a rerun, but then 30 years later, discovered that this was a second-season original (The Cavanaughs had its first season's worth in 1986-87, then went on hiatus, before coming back for a second and final season in late summer of 1988).

Other things I discovered:
--The Cavanaughs was copyrighted to Mandy Films, even though Mandy was in association with Paramount Television. If Mandy was in association with Paramount, why wasn't the show copyrighted to Paramount like many other Paramount series were (whether Paramount was solo or working with someone else)?

--The Mandy Films logo was on a white background, and had an IAW text to come up under it. When I first saw this, I thought the Mandy logo was on a purple background, and had the IAW text on another frame; now, I discovered how it was then after 30 years.

--The Paramount Television logo (which faded in after the Mandy card) was the version where the Blue Mtn. started still, then unfroze long enough for Television to come in between Paramount and the Mtn. (this was the standard-form one with the space between Paramount and the Mtn.), and then became still again and faded out on completion of the logo; it also had the 1979 music as well.

Here's that Mandy/Paramount logo sequence from 1988:

 

Contractural deals are complicated, and sometimes the studio only had the rights for X number of years, then they reverted back to the production company. Or shows get sold. It's a whole thing. And whenever the owner changes, they opt to change the logos. It's the way things are.

 

That's about the Mandy copyright, I take it?

 

Could be. I dunno. That one I never heard of. Going back to Desilu and companies like that, Paramount had a way of using both logos for awhile, then discarding the original. They even got rid of the original Paramount logo and transitioned to Gulf & Western, even though G&W didn't own the studio when that particular show was made. It's always a lawyer making the decision: they send out a memo that says, "put this logo on all shows, period, in order to establish our brand," and to it gets done. In general, the original logo exists on film and is on the negatives, but it's erased for the final syndication/home video version.

 

The history of the Paramount Television logos:

Paramount Television/Other

 

Yeah, it's just simple branding- you don't want an old/dated/outdated/inaccurate logo for your company or studio on the product you're presenting to people. They spend money to update logos and by golly they're going to get use out of 'em!

 

Is that why everything else that Paramount would be behind would use the then-new CGI Mtn. in all its forms, as has been the case pretty much ever since?

 

Yup!

 

What bugs me is studios that retain rights to a film will update their own logos for older films when releasing it on home video. Not all the time, but it is a sticking point for some that why not leave the historic original logo on there.
One that comes to mind is the missing original Saul Bass Warner logo from The Exorcist (1973)

This is from VHS copy - starts at 24 seconds

 

I prefer the original/vintage logos too, but remember that the whole point of the logo is to identify your company and you want to do that with the most current logo/name instead of an older one that might look dated or have an obsolete name or something.

I wish they'd just tag the new logo onto the end after the old logo, but most companies don't do that.

 

Yeah, it would be easy to just add the new logo card right before the start of the actual film, which I think has been done on some home video releases.

 

I think this old logo was used at the beginning of "Argo".....just to be a little nostalgic.

 

You are right. That kinda pisses me off considering they replace some on those that used it originally.

 

70's show ends...
70's production company logo....
2015 studio logo.

 

I also miss these kind of things. Very nostalgic.

 

I miss General Cinema theaters in general - the first theater I ever went to as a child was a General Cinema, and the last remaining one in Houston before the company went under had some of the best presentation standards in town.

I'm fonder of their 60s-70s era feature presentation intro than the later ones:

 

General Cinemas was the first to have a THX house in my home town.

 

Just gonna throw a theory out here and hope it sticks (WRT Mandy/Paramount on The Cavanaughs in 1988):

Maybe I'm wrong, but do you think that perhaps the production people at Mandy Films did not get the message (over hiatus of The Cavanaughs) that Paramount Television (the studio that Mandy was associated with on The Cavanaughs) had changed looks from the Blue Mtn. of old to the then-current CGI Mtn. which is still in use today, and as such assumed that the old way was still in effect (that the Blue Mtn. was still to be used as Paramount's representation)?

After all, when Columbia bought Spelling-Goldberg in 1982, and S-G started to work with CPT on several shows (Hart to Hart, T.J. Hooker, et al. [Hart to Hart had Rona II in the mix as well]), we saw the then-new 80s Torch Lady (w/Coca-Cola ownership byline) not long into the 1982-83 season, IINM (the Sunburst/AT was still on the first few episodes of one short-lived show called Bring 'Em Back Alive, w/Bruce Boxleitner, also IINM).

 

I wish they kept the old United Artists logos for the James Bond movie series, especially the one that says "A Transamerica Corporation". One or two did manage to make it through to DVD, but by and large, they are all replaced by the new United Artists logo. I wished they even kept the later Bonds that had the UA logo that turned with the tense music.

 

Would love to see any policy trailers from Sack Cinemas, especially from the late '70s and early '80s. Sack was a theater chain based in MA, but not sure how well known they are outside of the state.

 

The reality is that no one cares about the logos. What did sometimes happen is, "somebody didn't get the memo" and a lab worker or a video editor continued to slap in the older logo by mistake. This can be a disaster when a recent corporate merger happened, and the CEO (or the COO) insists that every TV series, motion picture, and other project reflects the new logo.

I was doing a lot of work for Columbia Pictures when they switched over from "A Unit of the Coca-Cola Company"...



and then switched to Sony in early 1988:



I personally was charged to remaster all the old Columbia Pictures logos, which they opted to keep the same... but the home video releases did put a new "Sony Pictures Home Video" logo at the head of the home video release. (BTW, they were insistent that there were always 6 steps visible in the Columbia Lady logo.)

I kind of miss the Coca-Cola days, because they had free Coke machines all over the lot. Employees knew there was a black button on the side of every machine that you could press and get a free soft drink.

 

Ah! I take it then that you think it was more on Paramount's end than Mandy's. After all, Paramount, for a time after changing to the CGI Mtn., continued to be owned by G+W (I think it was in 1989 when Paramount Communications became the new owners, and in 1994 when Viacom took control [Viacom still having Paramount today]).

 

Yes, Gulf+Western was reorganized in June 1989 as Paramount Communications, after all of G+W's non-entertainment-related assets (except for Simon & Schuster) were sold off.

~Ben