add site
services
publishers
database
health videos
toolbar
stats
live show
health store
more stuff
JOIN/LOGIN
| advertise add site services publishers database health videos
| | about toolbar stats live show health store more stuff JOIN/LOGIN |
BioSpace Job Posting - Research Associate Antibody Production, Agensys -... devicespace.com | RSV associated with poor proinflammatory cytokine production pediatricsupersite.com |
Associated Artists Productions (a.a.p.) was a distributor of theatrical feature films and short subjects for television. It existed from 1953 to 1958. It was later absorbed into United Artists, and now Warner Bros.' television unit.
[edit] History[edit] Formative yearsa.a.p. was founded in 1953 and headed by Elliott Hyman. In 1956, a.a.p. purchased the pre-1950[1] Warner Bros. film library which included every feature film and most short subjects the studio released prior to 1950.[1] Among the material a.a.p. bought from WB:
Former Warner cartoon director Bob Clampett was hired to catalog the Warner cartoon library.[3] Also in 1956, a.a.p. bought the black and white Popeye theatrical cartoons from Paramount Pictures through Popeye owner King Features which were produced by the Fleischer Studios and Famous Studios. The following year, a.a.p. also acquired the color Popeye cartoons. [edit] Preparing the prints[edit] WBOn the WB productions, a.a.p. simply inserted their logo at the head of each reel (on feature films, the logo featured an atom spelling out the company's initials set to a bongo piece,[4] while at the beginning of cartoons, the logo featured the initials in the center, between the full name of the company, with Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig and Elmer Fudd above or below the company name).[5] [edit] PopeyeOn the Popeye cartoons, a.a.p. was told by Paramount to remove any references to the studio (since at the time, Paramount did not want to be associated with television). As such, the a.a.p. logo would plaster over the Paramount logos,[6] while leaving in the copyrights on the actual title cards (on the color cartoons, a.a.p. created a new card to show that Popeye was a Famous Studios production while on the black-and-white cartoons, a.a.p. retained the title cards not bearing the Paramount name and made new cards which credited either Max Fleischer or Famous Studios replacing the title cards which bore "Paramount presents..."). However, a.a.p. did slip on a few occasions, where part of the Paramount opening could still be seen for a few seconds, such as on Private Eye Popeye[7] and Cooking with Gags[8] (both of which the copyrights lapsed in the U.S.). The color cartoons had the same opening and closing music, so, on each cartoon, the music would make an abrupt jump; on some cartoons, the original opening (and closing) music was different (the music used on the opening logo was actually the 1943-48 version of the Popeye theme, while the closing theme was lifted from Olive Oyl for President). A peculiarity resulted from the use of the color opening on the Popeye Color Specials, which at the beginning were said to be produced by Famous Studios, but were actually produced by Fleischer. Similarly, a.a.p. credited the first two Famous Studios cartoons to Max Fleischer, though again, these were Famous Studios productions (however, the theatrical releases did not bear the Famous name, since the studio did not have the name yet). In addition, the last several Popeye cartoons released never bore a.a.p. logos due to having been released after the sale. [edit] Later years[edit] Ownership of propertiesThe company was acquired by United Artists in 1958 and absorbed into United Artists Television (UATV), although the distribution arm was first called United Artists Associated (but would be renamed United Artists Television Distribution in 1968). In 1981, the library was incorporated into the merger of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and United Artists. The rights to Rope, years after reversion to Alfred Hitchcock (and later his estate), were sold to Universal Pictures, although UA continues to hold the film's copyright. Turner Entertainment took over the library in 1986 after Ted Turner's short-lived acquisition of MGM/UA. When Turner sold back the MGM/UA production unit, he kept the a.a.p. library for his own company. The WB film libraries were reunited when the studio's parent company Time Warner bought Turner in 1996. Warner Bros. holds the a.a.p. properties today, although technically they are under the ownership of Turner, with WB handling distribution. However, Moby Dick would be the only film in the a.a.p./UATV package that would be retained by United Artists, and thus UA (via sister company MGM) continues to own this film today. It is not known why this is the case, perhaps Turner did not notice that film when he kept the a.a.p. package. [edit] Recent television screenings and video releasesIn recent years, many of the shorts in question have now excluded the a.a.p. logo in order to bring them closer to what they looked like when they were originally released (however, Cartoon Network still kept the logo on a few cartoons that aired from time to time, it appeared on two shorts that were part of their New Years Day 2009 Looney Tunes marathon: Daffy Duck in Hollywood and Nasty Quacks). When most of the WB cartoons in the package were released on laserdisc as part of the series The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Turner and MGM had to resort to faded 16 mm television prints since neither a.a.p. nor its successor companies had any access to the original negatives of the films and short-subjects acquired from WB. Some of the cartoons came with a.a.p. logos intact. These same prints in fact permeated all releases from Turner/MGM. For the DVD release by Warner on July 31, 2007 of the first set of Popeye cartoons (1933-1938), they were restored to include the original Paramount logos.[1] However in the second volume, Popeye the Sailor: 1938-1940, Volume 2, two of the cartoons in the initial batch of discs bear a.a.p.-created Popeye title cards by mistake.[2] 123 of the Warner Bros. cartoons purchased by a.a.p. have also been restored to pristine condition (from the original negatives) on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVD sets, including restoration of original titles to a handful of cartoons reissued as Blue Ribbons. [edit] Public domainSome of the films and short subjects bought by a.a.p. fell into the public domain, and are available on various low-budget video releases (although the owners of original film elements would give some of this material official releases as well). These include (but are not limited to):
[edit] Colorization controversyMain article: film colorization Turner has also had controversy over colorizing many of the black-and-white films he owned, including former a.a.p. properties. Live-action films were colorized via computer. Among the notable films from the a.a.p. package that were colorized were Casablanca and 42nd Street. The cartoons were a different story. In 1988, the B&W Popeye cartoons were sent to South Korea and Taiwan, and redrawn frame-by-frame in color. Four years later, the Harman-Ising Merrie Melodies were done in the same fashion. WB had done this years before with some of the B&W Looney Tunes. However, by redrawing the cartoons, a lot of quality was lost in the process. [edit] Censored ElevenMain article: Censored Eleven 11 a.a.p.-owned cartoons were pulled from circulation by UA in 1968, at the height of the Civil Rights Movement. These cartoons were "banned" because they featured African American stereotypes that permeated the cartoons so much that UA felt no amount of selective editing would ever make these cartoons acceptable for distribution. The cartoons on the list were:
The "ban" would be upheld even by the later owners of the a.a.p. library, including MGM, Turner, and now WB. However, the cartoons are available online and on many unauthorized collections of mainly-public domain cartoons on VHS and DVD (which have occasionally featured cartoons still under copyright). However, only three of the cartoons are in the public domain at this time. [edit] Subsidiaries[edit] United Telefilms LimitedUnited Telefilms Limited was the Canadian division of a.a.p., which existed around the same time. Live action films used a variation of the main a.a.p. logo, but the initials "UTL" would be spelled out, and a notice at the bottom said "Distributed in Canada by United Telefilms Limited". [edit] Dominant Pictures CorporationDominant Pictures Corporation was a subsidiary of a.a.p. which distributed the features that the company purchased to theaters. It re-released a number of films from the pre-1950[1] WB library, as well as a number of British films which a.a.p. bought the rights to. The subsidiary was later dissolved into UA's main theatrical distribution arm after the company was sold to UA. [edit] Popeye cartoons sold to a.a.p.231 Popeye the Sailor cartoons were produced for theatrical release by Paramount Pictures between 1933 and 1957.
[edit] List of Warner Bros. Cartoons sold to a.a.p.
[edit] Notes
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ↑ top of page ↑ | about thumbshots |
