question about AMPTP's square-boxed predecessor

[BoscoGoldBear]

What did ATFP stand for? The square logo was seen at the end of various Revue, Desilu, Ziv, Superman and other 50s/60s TV series, plus of course most of the Quinn Martin series in the 60s and 70s (long after AMPTP's oval logo superceded the ATFP).

 

[wbhist]

It had been founded in 1951 as the Alliance of Television and Film Producers; the AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) moniker came about in 1964 following a merger between ATFP and the Association of Motion Picture Producers (AMPP, which had been founded in 1923). It wasn't until about 1965-66 that the oval "AMPTP" logo first began to be seen on TV shows.

 

[BoscoGoldBear]

Thanks! I had been wondering for a while! And yes, I did notice the Desilu/Sheldon Leonard series (TAGS, DVD, even Gomer) convert to oval in late 1965, a few months before Universal/Revue (The Munsters) did in 1966.

 

[oldiesfan6479]

Your studio review (or Revue, if you wish ;D) jogged my memory, as I always
wondered why, for a number of years, one or the other logo appeared in a
program's end credits. Did ATFP "hang around" due to existing contracts
with certain studios/producers, such as Quinn Martin?

Per the original post, there was the ATFP logo at the end of The FBI (in color),
a QM Production, starring Erskine Zimbalist*--OK, knock it off! --long after
AMPTP became the norm on Universal end credits (and after the "scary Revue tag"
had been superceded, at least visually, by the Universal globe).

*: Character name used in Mad Magazine sendup of the show.

 

[LynnW]

Efrem, not Erskine.

 

[bpatrick]

You didn't read the previous posting very carefully; if
you had, you would have noticed a footnote saying
that "Erskine Zimbalist" is the name used in the "Mad"
magazine sendup of "The FBI" (Efrem Zimbalist Jr. played
Inspector Lewis Erskine).

 

[wbhist]

Your studio review (or Revue, if you wish ;D) jogged my memory, as I always wondered why, for a number of years, one or the other logo appeared in a program's end credits. Did ATFP "hang around" due to existing contracts with certain studios/producers, such as Quinn Martin?

Could've been laziness. I mention that a few production companies as late as 1970 were using the 1958 NAB "Seal of Good Practice" variation (with a big "NAB" in the background) in the closing credits of TV shows, while some others used the 1959 "Seal of Good Practice" version into the mid-to-late '70's (whereas the "Television Code" variation of the "SOGP" insignia that debuted in 1965 was prevalent by then).

 

[BoscoGoldBear]

Your studio review (or Revue, if you wish ;D) jogged my memory, as I always wondered why, for a number of years, one or the other logo appeared in a program's end credits. Did ATFP "hang around" due to existing contracts with certain studios/producers, such as Quinn Martin?

Could've been laziness. I mention that a few production companies as late as 1970 were using the 1958 NAB "Seal of Good Practice" variation (with a big "NAB" in the background) in the closing credits of TV shows, while some others used the 1959 "Seal of Good Practice" version into the mid-to-late '70's (whereas the "Television Code" variation of the "SOGP" insignia that debuted in 1965 was prevalent by then).

I remember the first year of "Cheers" had the 1959 SOGP logo while Happy Days (same studio and season) had that new-fangled "Television Code - Broadcasting In The Public Interest" logo which I best remember viewing on many of those old Stephen J. Cannell series (i.e. The Greatest American Hero, The A-Team's first season).

All this leads to another question: if AMPTP is still around as a logo on series such as "24" and other Fox-produced series, how come Universal and Paramount dumped the logos in 1976 (especially since both are listed as current clients)? Also, how come Warner, MGM, Disney, Columbia (all listed as current AMPTP clients) and others never got an ATFP/AMPTP logo during TV's B&W-to-color heyday - or now?

FWIW, I liked the 1965 Television Code logo the best - Obama's FCC should bring that logo back to fictional broadcast TV series (the CSIs, L&Os, 24, House, The Office, etc.) IMHO and leave cable TV codeless.

 

[azumanga]

I remember the first year of "Cheers" had the 1959 SOGP logo while Happy Days (same studio and season) had that new-fangled "Television Code - Broadcasting In The Public Interest" logo which I best remember viewing on many of those old Stephen J. Cannell series (i.e. The Greatest American Hero, The A-Team's first season).

Along a slightly different tangent -- many TV series that used RCA's recording system still used the old-fashioned, circular RCA logo, up until the mid-1970s, when it was replaced by the RCA logo introduced in 1968 (and still used today on RCA electronics). One of these series taht I noticed this was "M*A*S*H".

FWIW, I liked the 1965 Television Code logo the best - Obama's FCC should bring that logo back to fictional broadcast TV series (the CSIs, L&Os, 24, House, The Office, etc.) IMHO and leave cable TV codeless.

Actually, it's the NAB's ball on the court -- it's THEIR code.

 

[wbhist]

Along a slightly different tangent -- many TV series that used RCA's recording system still used the old-fashioned, circular RCA logo, up until the mid-1970s, when it was replaced by the RCA logo introduced in 1968 (and still used today on RCA electronics). One of these series taht I noticed this was "M*A*S*H".

I.I.N.M., the old-fashioned circular RCA logo was only seen on M*A*S*H's first season (1972-73), then replaced with the more modern logo starting in the 1973-74 season.

 

[wbhist]

You didn't read the previous posting very carefully; if you had, you would have noticed a footnote saying that "Erskine Zimbalist" is the name used in the "Mad" magazine sendup of "The FBI" (Efrem Zimbalist Jr. played Inspector Lewis Erskine).

I remember that one. Where the title was "The FIB."

 

[ixnay]

You didn't read the previous posting very carefully; if you had, you would have noticed a footnote saying that "Erskine Zimbalist" is the name used in the "Mad" magazine sendup of "The FBI" (Efrem Zimbalist Jr. played Inspector Lewis Erskine).

I remember that one. Where the title was "The FIB."

I thought the Zimbalist character in "The FIB" (and I wish I knew what that acronym stood for :-[) was named "Luke Oilyskin".

I'll have things to say more relevant to the topic tonight. I gotta get to work.

ixnay

 

[ixnay]

OK, my two cents on the ATFP and AMPTP logos...

It was in the closing credits of Batman with West and Ward on ABC that I first remember noticing the AMPTP oval. I don't remember if I first saw Batman in early 1966 when it premiered (I turned 5 that summer), but I do remember seeing it in first run on ABC (and I also remember wondering, even in 1967, why the Dynamic Duo viewed Batgirl as an unwelcome intruder. )

Now, the ATFP square... I don't remember if I ever saw it in prime time first run. Ditto for the NAB logo before it was modified to say "Television Code".

As for the RCA logos... the most surreal depiction of the later RCA logo I ever beheld, I beheld on a 1980 day trip to midtown NYC from my small college in east central PA. I looked up from somewhere on the edge of Rockefeller Center towards the top of 30 Rock - this was in the daytime - and I could make out the neon(?) lined 1968 RCA logo atop 30 Rock. Didn't the "RCA" atop 30 Rock hold the Guinness record for highest advertising sign above street level?

Now as for the quaint circular RCA logo, that it was changed in 1968 meant that the first pressings of Jefferson Airplane's "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit", both from 1967, would have sported the old logo. Rather incongruous in retrospect artwise. Hopefully YKWIM.

This is a good thread.

ixnay

 

[azumanga]

Now as for the quaint circular RCA logo, that it was changed in 1968 meant that the first pressings of Jefferson Airplane's "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit", both from 1967, would have sported the old logo.

On foreign pressings, yes -- on US and Canadian pressings, no. Here in the states and Canada, the record covers featured the RCA Victor "His Master's Voice" logo on the cover, which was switched to the modern RCA logo in 1968.

 

[BoscoGoldBear]

OK, my two cents on the ATFP and AMPTP logos...

It was in the closing credits of Batman with West and Ward on ABC that I first remember noticing the AMPTP oval. I don't remember if I first saw Batman in early 1966 when it premiered (I turned 5 that summer), but I do remember seeing it in first run on ABC (and I also remember wondering, even in 1967, why the Dynamic Duo viewed Batgirl as an unwelcome intruder. )

Now, the ATFP square... I don't remember if I ever saw it in prime time first run. Ditto for the NAB logo before it was modified to say "Television Code".

As for the RCA logos... the most surreal depiction of the later RCA logo I ever beheld, I beheld on a 1980 day trip to midtown NYC from my small college in east central PA. I looked up from somewhere on the edge of Rockefeller Center towards the top of 30 Rock - this was in the daytime - and I could make out the neon(?) lined 1968 RCA logo atop 30 Rock. Didn't the "RCA" atop 30 Rock hold the Guinness record for highest advertising sign above street level?

Now as for the quaint circular RCA logo, that it was changed in 1968 meant that the first pressings of Jefferson Airplane's "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit", both from 1967, would have sported the old logo. Rather incongruous in retrospect artwise. Hopefully YKWIM.

This is a good thread.

ixnay

Year 1 Batman (as well as Year 1 Lost In Space): IATSE arms, RCA circle, NAB code (TV Code on all Batman eps, SOGP on Lost In Space eps - Irwin Allen used SOGP in all his series rather than TV code) - NO ATFP square or AMPTP oval
Year 2 and 3 Batman (and Lost In Space): IATSE arms, AMPTP oval, RCA circle, TV code (SOGP in Lost In Space) and in most 20th Fox series of that era (M*A*S*H included)

Other post 1965 SOGP sightings (besides Cheers and Lost In Space/Irwin Allen shows):

at least one season of Star Trek (Trekkies, back me up here)
Mary Tyler Moore (first 4 years)
Bob Newhart (first series)
last year or so of I Dream Of Jeannie
most Screen Gems/Columbia TV series from 71-75
All In The Family 72-74 (is Columbia today, wasn't back then)
Maude
Taxi 79-83
at least a season or so of Kung Fu
The Big Valley 65-67 (the original SOGP with the big NAB letters in the middle; BTW, Four Star was allied with ATFP sometime after 1960 and before 1965 - by the time of Big Valley their visible alliance was over)
Tarzan (the Ron Ely series)
Get Smart 68-70

I'm sure there are more, but many of those series are obscure, and I'm too tired to travel that road.

 

[ixnay]

Now as for the quaint circular RCA logo, that it was changed in 1968 meant that the first pressings of Jefferson Airplane's "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit", both from 1967, would have sported the old logo.

On foreign pressings, yes -- on US and Canadian pressings, no. Here in the states and Canada, the record covers featured the RCA Victor "His Master's Voice" logo on the cover, which was switched to the modern RCA logo in 1968.

Makes sense that HMV would be used. And just as incongruous with the Airplane's music!

ixnay

 

[Kurt Toy]

Speaking of the TV Code, I remember in the late '80s seeing an old rerun of the B&W incarnation of "Dragnet" on a low-power station and seeing a rare version of the NAB seal that had the TV screen with a different look [no wheat stalks], the wording was the same as the '65 variation, but the font was the same as the pre-'65 incarnations, and under the tube there was a reel and next to it were words that escape me. Probably didn't last long. Also-semi-OT, but about Fox and RCA. Fox used Western Electric-Westrex for their movies but used RCA for their TV shows any reason as to why?

 

[johnnya2k6]

Let's not forget that at one point in the mid to late '70s, the IATSE, AMPTP, NAB Television Code, AND MCA globe logos appeared on the end credits of your favorite Universal TV shows (MCA the longtime then-parent company of Universal, of course).

 

[hubcity]

Now as for the quaint circular RCA logo, that it was changed in 1968 meant that the first pressings of Jefferson Airplane's "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit", both from 1967, would have sported the old logo.

On foreign pressings, yes -- on US and Canadian pressings, no. Here in the states and Canada, the record covers featured the RCA Victor "His Master's Voice" logo on the cover, which was switched to the modern RCA logo in 1968.

Makes sense that HMV would be used. And just as incongruous with the Airplane's music!

ixnay

Bit off-topic here, but RCA Records these days uses the circular logo. (It's a bit like Warner Bros. losing the "w made of tylenols" logo in favor of the classic WB shield.)

/off topic? me?