Most Unique/Unusual SSB Film?

[Stanislav]

(Second of three sign-on/sign-off related threads.....)

Of all the many Star-Spangled Banner film features used on stations back in the day, which do you remember as being somewhat "different" or out of the ordinary?

Two I recall that were different. There was one that used an extended orchestral version of the SSB. It was played straight through once, but then repeated back to the bridge ("And the rockets' red glare..."), the repeat using some very striking non-conventional harmonies under the melody. (Even a non-musician would be able to hear the difference.) It ended with a sort of "coda" tacked on to the ending that featured a little fanfare-ish lick with some high trumpets. As I recall, I believe it ended with either the iconic Apollo 8 "Earthrise" shot, or a photo of Apollo 11's Neil Armstrong standing on the moon next to the American flag. It's the only SSB film I recall that actually sort of "re-arranged" the venerable anthem.

The other was a sort of low-key film that had less militaristic imagery -- no explosions or fighter jets, but one scene for example showed a sailor arriving home on leave and greeting his girl as he gets off the bus, etc. The audio was an acoustic version of the SSB with just a female singer accompanied by a guitar and, the really interesting thing is, it included the almost never-heard fourth verse of the song. (Yes, Virginia, there are FOUR verses to the SSB -- what we hear as the National Anthem is merely the first of the four.)

Any others come to mind that were different or unusual?

 

[Corky Marlowe]

Two I recall that were different. There was one that used an extended orchestral version of the SSB. It was played straight through once, but then repeated back to the bridge ("And the rockets' red glare..."), the repeat using some very striking non-conventional harmonies under the melody. (Even a non-musician would be able to hear the difference.) It ended with a sort of "coda" tacked on to the ending that featured a little fanfare-ish lick with some high trumpets. As I recall, I believe it ended with either the iconic Apollo 8 "Earthrise" shot, or a photo of Apollo 11's Neil Armstrong standing on the moon next to the American flag. It's the only SSB film I recall that actually sort of "re-arranged" the venerable anthem.
Was that the one where the visuals began with pictures of colonial America and then progressed through the Revolution, and so on, all the way up to the moon landing? I think WANE/Channel 15, the CBS affiliate in Fort Wayne, used it. I can remember seeing it in the early-mid 70's.

 

[Stanislav]

Two I recall that were different. There was one that used an extended orchestral version of the SSB. It was played straight through once, but then repeated back to the bridge ("And the rockets' red glare..."), the repeat using some very striking non-conventional harmonies under the melody. (Even a non-musician would be able to hear the difference.) It ended with a sort of "coda" tacked on to the ending that featured a little fanfare-ish lick with some high trumpets. As I recall, I believe it ended with either the iconic Apollo 8 "Earthrise" shot, or a photo of Apollo 11's Neil Armstrong standing on the moon next to the American flag. It's the only SSB film I recall that actually sort of "re-arranged" the venerable anthem.
Was that the one where the visuals began with pictures of colonial America and then progressed through the Revolution, and so on, all the way up to the moon landing? I think WANE/Channel 15, the CBS affiliate in Fort Wayne, used it. I can remember seeing it in the early-mid 70's.

Now that you mention it -- yes, I think that was the same one. It was kind of like condensing 200+ years of U.S. history into 2 or 3 minutes of film.

Maybe that's the reason for the "extended" version of the SSB. Perhaps just once through the tune only got them up to the Spanish-American War or thereabouts.... ;D

 

[RadioDze]

WRAL-TV in Raleigh, NC used the extended Star Spangled Banner for their sign offs, and may still do so for the rare times they leave the air. Some others I remember are Wilmington's WECT using Sandi Patti's singing of the anthem under local video, New Bern's WCTI skipping the national anthem and using America's "Lonely People" with video of a moon landing, and Durham's WTVD playing a brief Air Force jet video with anon-anthem patriotoc choral song underneath it (don't remember which one).

 

[Ultimajock]

WRAL-TV in Raleigh, NC used the extended Star Spangled Banner for their sign offs, and may still do so for the rare times they leave the air.

...in fact, http://youtube.com/watch?v=sBiCebc-zxU&feature=related is one such WRAL-TV sign-off from 1989. This version is known as the "Flag Evolution" film, as it uses several different versions of Old Glory to mark the time frame. I used to see this on WITI-TV/6 Milwaukee as early as 1978, and was always struck by the fact that the last three historic photos incorporated are of the banner portrait of Franklin Roosevelt being carried through Times Square during the celebration of the Japanese Surrender announcement in WW2, jumping 23 years ahead to the Apollo 8 and Apollo 11 images. Might this have been a Chuck Workman film? It is very similar in construction to his 100 Years at the Movies which still occasionally pops up between movies on TCM...

 

[Corky Marlowe]

Was that the one where the visuals began with pictures of colonial America and then progressed through the Revolution, and so on, all the way up to the moon landing? I think WANE/Channel 15, the CBS affiliate in Fort Wayne, used it. I can remember seeing it in the early-mid 70's.

This computer won't let me edit posts for some reason, so...Now that I think of it, that ran on WKJG (now WISE) Channel 33, the NBC affiliate.

 

[jh]

The other was a sort of low-key film that had less militaristic imagery -- no explosions or fighter jets, but one scene for example showed a sailor arriving home on leave and greeting his girl as he gets off the bus, etc. The audio was an acoustic version of the SSB with just a female singer accompanied by a guitar and, the really interesting thing is, it included the almost never-heard fourth verse of the song. (Yes, Virginia, there are FOUR verses to the SSB -- what we hear as the National Anthem is merely the first of the four.)

KCRG/9 Cedar Rapids used a rather standard SSB sign off in the early 70s including various military scenes, rockets, etc. One day there was a small protest in front of their studio (this was at the height of Vietnam) against the station's use of military scenes on their sign off.

KCRG announced they would drop their old SSB sign off in favor of one showing various pictures of the flag. This lasted for awhile, then they started using an acoustic version including the fourth verse. It may be the same one. I don't remember much about it other than seeing a young woman playing the guitar. I don't recall if they used this version every night or alternated with the flag version, but it was quite a change from the original military version.

 

[jc]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=sBiCebc-zxU&feature=related[/url] is one such WRAL-TV sign-off from 1989. This version is known as the "Flag Evolution" film, as it uses several different versions of Old Glory to mark the time frame. I used to see this on WITI-TV/6 Milwaukee as early as 1978, and was always struck by the fact that the last three historic photos incorporated are of the banner portrait of Franklin Roosevelt being carried through Times Square during the celebration of the Japanese Surrender announcement in WW2, jumping 23 years ahead to the Apollo 8 and Apollo 11 images. Might this have been a Chuck Workman film? It is very similar in construction to his 100 Years at the Movies which still occasionally pops up between movies on TCM...

Mississippi Public Broadcasting (MPB) to this day still uses that film on Sunday nights when they signoff

 

[RobertAnthony]

Well, I didn't know there were extra verses to our National Anthem until WFSB-TV in Hartford in the 1980's used the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's mighty rendition (From their God Bless America album). It was done over a montage of scenes from channel 3's Sky 3 chopper overlooking CT's highways, shoreline and other areas. The beginning and ending were sandwiched between close-ups of the flag. IOW, there was this dramatic cloud shot with old glory superimposed on the screen at the start and end. I recorded it a few times, but kept one from about the mid 1990's.


There was another CT station, WVIT-30 during their cellar dweller Viacom days that had quite the sign-off. I think this YouTube vid will explain things:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQHwgO_hNA8


One of the most poignant renditions of the anthem came from another CT TV Station, WTIC-TV 61. In this case, it's from the 1984 gala opening up the station, but not from a sign-off sequence. The station was named in honor of Ella T Grasso, who over 25 years ago this month died from cancer, after her historic run as the nation's first woman governor elected in her own right. Arnie Chase was going to call the station, WETG-TV, but people in Erie, PA wanted those calls for channel 66 (Now WFXG), so, Chase took the WTIC-TV Calls, once used on channel 3 from 1957-74, and thus...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwuWt6tNEYw


Or as I like to call it, Ella's anthem. OT--I was 7 years old when Ella died. But reading about her and what she did for this state especially after the big blizzard of 1978, made me appreciate what she did. When you see the video above, you will also get it being an unique version of the song.

 

[perf2k4]

(Second of three sign-on/sign-off related threads.....)

Two I recall that were different. There was one that used an extended orchestral version of the SSB. It was played straight through once, but then repeated back to the bridge ("And the rockets' red glare..."), the repeat using some very striking non-conventional harmonies under the melody. (Even a non-musician would be able to hear the difference.) It ended with a sort of "coda" tacked on to the ending that featured a little fanfare-ish lick with some high trumpets. As I recall, I believe it ended with either the iconic Apollo 8 "Earthrise" shot, or a photo of Apollo 11's Neil Armstrong standing on the moon next to the American flag. It's the only SSB film I recall that actually sort of "re-arranged" the venerable anthem.

As mentioned, this is the "Flag Evolution" SSB film, most notably used here in Philadelphia by WTAF/WTXF-29 (and also on WNEW/WNYW-5) from 1975 to 2000. Still a classic...

The other was a sort of low-key film that had less militaristic imagery -- no explosions or fighter jets, but one scene for example showed a sailor arriving home on leave and greeting his girl as he gets off the bus, etc. The audio was an acoustic version of the SSB with just a female singer accompanied by a guitar and, the really interesting thing is, it included the almost never-heard fourth verse of the song.

This sounds like one used on WXTV-41 and WPHL-17 for years, although this version had no female singer, just a soft guitar building to a full orchestral finish. Come to think of it, this version had a soldier, not a sailor, and was probably a shorter version.

---Perf2k8

 

[azumanga]

This sounds like one used on WXTV-41 and WPHL-17 for years, although this version had no female singer, just a soft guitar building to a full orchestral finish. Come to think of it, this version had a soldier, not a sailor, and was probably a shorter version.

In Tampa Bay, WTOG also used the above to close the station every night, at least in the early-1980s. One thing I recall is the soldier takes a taxi as he leaves for duty, as the guitar plucks the anthem.

 

[jc]

Well, I didn't know there were extra verses to our National Anthem until WFSB-TV in Hartford in the 1980's used the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's mighty rendition (From their God Bless America album). It was done over a montage of scenes from channel 3's Sky 3 chopper overlooking CT's highways, shoreline and other areas. The beginning and ending were sandwiched between close-ups of the flag. IOW, there was this dramatic cloud shot with old glory superimposed on the screen at the start and end. I recorded it a few times, but kept one from about the mid 1990's.

Not to be off topic but you do have the WFSB signoff? All of it? If so can you post on YouTube?

Also, not to be off topic but I like to remind you to join my Yahoo group, if you haven't already devoted to this very topic of signoffs

http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/USTVSignoffs/

 

[RobertAnthony]

Well, I didn't know there were extra verses to our National Anthem until WFSB-TV in Hartford in the 1980's used the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's mighty rendition (From their God Bless America album). It was done over a montage of scenes from channel 3's Sky 3 chopper overlooking CT's highways, shoreline and other areas. The beginning and ending were sandwiched between close-ups of the flag. IOW, there was this dramatic cloud shot with old glory superimposed on the screen at the start and end. I recorded it a few times, but kept one from about the mid 1990's.

Not to be off topic but you do have the WFSB signoff? All of it? If so can you post on YouTube?

Also, not to be off topic but I like to remind you to join my Yahoo group, if you haven't already devoted to this very topic of signoffs

http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/USTVSignoffs/

Re: uploading the WFSB sign-off, if only I knew how to do so. And in terms of joining the sign-off group, not only am I a member, but a moderator (under a different name than this one at R-I)

 

[jc]

Re: uploading the WFSB sign-off, if only I knew how to do so. And in terms of joining the sign-off group, not only am I a member, but a moderator (under a different name than this one at R-I)

I'm the owner and am the one who started that group. I am too under a different name than I am here.

 

[Stanislav]

Re: uploading the WFSB sign-off, if only I knew how to do so. And in terms of joining the sign-off group, not only am I a member, but a moderator (under a different name than this one at R-I)

I'm the owner and am the one who started that group. I am too under a different name than I am here.

That's the problem with the Internet. It's so hard to keep all our secret identities/pseudonyms/personas sorted out. ;D