Sanford And Son question

"Sanford And Son" had a filmed opening showing Fred coming out and sitting in a chair on the porch reading a newspaper, before Lamont comes back with a truckload of stuff, and Fred gets up to help him unload it.

There are two versions of this intro. In the one shown for the first four seasons, Fred comes out and sits directly in the chair. But there is a different version in seasons 5 and 6 where Fred takes a few steps and wipes his brow before sitting down.

I don't know why, but it only just recently occurred to me that these might have been shot at the same time back in 1971 or 1972, but the second version wasn't seen until several years later. Can anyone verify this? I suppose I ought to watch them back to back and look for details such as signs in windows, what kind of junk is in the truck (the close ups of Lamont in the truck are also different IIRC) etc. Also, I believe the storefront wasn't actually part of the set, would it have still been there in the same condition five years later?

Just curious.

 

The intro changed a little using alternate takes from the original shoot. In the second version, Lamont looks a little more confident and smug, tooling around in the pickup with a hint of a smile on his face.

The end credits film ran completely only once that I can recall. If I remember right, it ended with Fred getting disgusted, throwing his hands up and going back into the building with Lamont still complaining and following him, and a camera tilt back up, closing on the sign. Years ago, shows could trail on like that after the credits to cover for shows that ran short, and to give the network affiliates room for switching. I presume that full ending will never be seen again!

There's an episode of Emergency! where you get to see the front and back of the building as it looked in the 70's.. very much like what's in the intro to S&S. Detailed here:
The Site of Sanford and Son Salvage from “Sanford and Son”

 

Shows often change openings during their run, some don't.

 

Not sure about the beginnings but I sure did love that show. Three way tie between Sanford and Son, Taxi and MASH for best all time opening theme song.

 

"Quincy, M.E." ran from 1976 to 1983 and for almost the entire run, the same opening with the same clips was used (although it was rescored several times). There's even a jump cut where a couple words are edited from Quincy's speech to a group of medical students (from one of the first episodes).

 

The "new" shots in the later version of the intro do seem like
"alternate takes," but I wonder why they felt that was necessary.

That closing kind of sounds familiar now that you mention it. I wonder if it's still on that one episode (whichever one it is) on DVD.

One other thing I remember from watching reruns of the show on Channel 32 in Chicago: At the end of the show, there are a few credits over the end of the last scene, while the theme song begins to play. Then it fades to black -- Channel 32 always had a commercial break at this point, then the closing credits sequence would begin, picking up the theme song at about the same spot. I wondered if that was supposed to play continuous -- when I got the DVDs, sure enough, it's seamless.

 

Longer post-credit roll:


Now, take a deep breath and get ready to skip tonight's book.. worse yet, it's non-fiction!

Why did they change the opening film? Can't say for sure. Not to go all Monkees Thread, but it does seem like the opening theme mix changes a little at times, too. Like sometimes the maracas are a little more up in the mix, sometimes the double-tracked bass seems emphasized a little differently. Might be just me?

On dvd (and the Columbia House tapes) look for "Fred Sanford, Legal Eagle" and "Divorce, Sanford Style" as the 2 episodes with the longest play out, but still incomplete and only just over a minute and change each. Some of the early syndicated episodes now end with a shortened, plastered-over copyright still screen with 1972, 1975 and 1977 copyright dates (or 1972/1978) on the same set of titles. I, for one, would certainly love to see the entire credit sequences re-transferred a-la Doctor Who: clean with no titles AND the entire theme that was recorded just for the show. AFAIK, the film doesn't exist anymore, though, so none of that or any more alternate takes!

Based on the room that the family watched these in back in the day, I'd guess the episode with the full ending was a prime time, maybe summer re-run of an early episode, right around the time of The Hawaiian Connection which, itself, had a longer credit run originally, what with the accommodations/airline ads and such. Shows like All In The Family and The Jeffersons had ending bits that could run past the credits, as well. And, my copy of Whatever Happened to Dobie Gillis? has one of those long post-credit closes.

Even during the first run, it was a rare time when you'd get to the electric guitar and sax part of the Sanford song, but it kept going and my dad changed the channel. Me and my brother were like, "No, go back! It's still on!" And, he clicked the old Zenith back to channel 10 and we watched this thing go for what seemed like ever, and the music played on, eventually working back to a reprise of the opening bars like the album track and the film just kept playing until the song ended, Fred gave up and the camera went back to the sign and faded out.

If I could re-live any time it would be 1975-1979. Just good memories of those days, even tv channels with telco audio and it's sub-10k frequency!

 

I wonder what was up with that plastered "1972/1977" screen at the end of early episodes. Does it indicate a new copyright for syndicated or daytime reruns as a "new version" (i.e. edited version)? Was there some issue with the filing of the original copyrights? It's always been somewhat of a curiosity.

I see this is from one of the episodes with Stymie. He was very good and it was great to see him. I also love Grady Wilson. "A Little Extra Security" is one of my favorite episodes. Also the one where Uncle Woody comes over when Aunt Esther throws him out. Great interplay between Grady and Aunt Esther. I like how she calls him "Grady Wilson," first and last name, and even Lamont (whose real name is Grady Demond Wilson) calls him "Grady Wilson" at least once. Is that something people do when they're cross with someone, like a parent calling their kid by first, middle and last name? I do also remember Aunt Esther talking back to Fred and calling him "Fred Sanford." "Watch it, Fred Sanford." (Though it was usually "Watch it, sucka!")

By the way, my two favorite lines in the entire series:

"I could stick yo' face in some dough and make some gorilla cookies."

"I want my daddy's records!"

 

The show started syndicated reruns at the end of the 5th season, so it was probably just to reinstate the copyright for the syndie package. Some of the credit rolls got standardized, shortened and altered, as well. The episode called "The Headache" was missing the "Days of Our Lives" parody voice-over tag in reruns for a long time:

"Tune in next week for the further adventures of Sanford and Son. Will Lamont leave home? Will Fred Clean up the house?"
"Will you be quiet?!"
"Oh, Lamont, Lamont, Lamont.."
"Oh, Pop, Pop, Pop!"

Weird, too, for a short time circa '78, a local station here ran Sanford followed by another show (can't remember what, though!) as an hour block in the early evening with a custom title sequence called "Sanford and Co." using the Sanford theme.

That is probably the single, best one-liner in the whole series! Of course, being a lifelong favorite series of mine (and the follow-up), plenty of other, lesser moments remain imprinted in my old-guy memory:

[phone rings] Listen, Lamont: Don't play that hand!
[Phone rings again] Dummy!

"Hey, Pop! You asleep?"
"No, I'm just checkin' my eyelids for cracks."

"You look like you just jumped off a box of Wheaties. I look like I slid out a jar of prunes!"

"Boney knees to you, too!"

"Personally, I think you a fruitcake."

"Give us another pitcher of Shangri-La, but hold the garbage!"

"Haw, guh-lory!"

[Health Inspector] "And the dishwasher is sadly inadequate."
[Ah-Chew] "Hey, I do the best I can, man!"

"Yeah, he gets a lotta girls. They call him 'Sweet Lips' Lamont, The Dummy Don Juan."

[to the undertaker] "That's funny as a train wreck. Now, that'll get you some buisness!"

"I'm gonna sit down, here, and look at a lit-tle tella-vishunn."

"One old stove.."

"Stay cold."
"Cool!"
"Right, 'cool'!"

"Can the cat cook? Can the cat do coordinatin' in a junkyard? No! Okay, cat, you die."

"Bring a bigot and some beer and we'll bash 'em."

"Roll, uh.. roller.. Roller Derby!"

"I like it today, but tomorrow I might have a Sukiyaki seizure!"

"Eight day old collard greens wouldn't agree with Superman!"

 

"Rollo and Hollow"

"Superdummies"

"Don't put your mouth by that thing, you don't know WHERE it's been!"

"Julio and damn fool-io"

 

If the part you’re talking about is in the clip above, the instrument soloing around the sax is electric piano, not electric guitar.

 

When I hear that song, I think of a story that I believe Paul Shaffer told regarding Doc Severinsen.

Redd Foxx was appearing on The Tonight Show doing a standup routine. Before Redd went on, Doc asked him what his closing joke would be—when Doc heard it, the band would “play him off” with the Sanford & Son theme. Redd told Doc that he liked to adjust his routine on the fly, so Redd couldn’t give him a definitive answer; instead, he agreed to signal the end of his routine by saying “Thank you! Thank you very much!”

Come showtime, Redd is introduced, and less than a minute in, one of his very first jokes gets a TON of laughs, so he responds to the crowd by saying “Thank you! Thank you very much!” At which point Doc signals the band to play him off...

 

Barney Miller too...

 

I seem to recall the pickup truck noticeably getting a paint job by the later seasons. I think Lamont's part was definitely redone later on.

 

Edgy show. There's a traffic court scene that I'm guessing will never be shown on TV again.

 

The original is quite fun too

 

One thing I noticed in the opening titles is on one side of the truck, where the name "Sanford And Son" is painted, there is black paint underneath it as if it's covering up the name that had been there before. But when the truck turns around, there is no such artifact underneath the name on the other side.

 

They got a used replacement door and had to paint over the previous business's logo