Alan Enterprises

Credits

Descriptions by
Leonardo “lenhill” Garcia and bigrene2

Captures by
Supermarty-o, and TrickyMario7654

Editions by
Lee Cremeans and Eric S.

Video captures courtesy of
VectraQS

Background

Alan Enterprises, Inc. was a TV syndicator founded in 1970 by distributor Alan Gleitsman. Its film and TV library was acquired from the now-defunct television division of Trans-Lux. In 1986, Gleitsman sold Alan Enterprises to Color Systems Technology, and used the proceeds from that sale to launch his philanthropy work but in 1989 as a result of the crash in the colorization market they sold the library to Broadway Video. In 1997 Golden Books Family Entertainment acquired the family entertainment library along with the Alan Enterprises library from Broadway Video.

Logo (1975-1982)

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Visuals: On a blue background, the words "A PRESENTATION OF" are seen in the center of the screen in yellow Helvetica lettering; they fade out 3 seconds later. Then, an abstract "ae" (looking similar to a Danish/Norwegian letter) appears/shimmers in abstract lettering. It zooms out, revealing "alan enterprises" in a sans-serif font of the same color as the "ae". Finally, a filmstrip going from the bottom to the top (except the two lines above and underneath the logo) appears via a flash.

Variant: There is also a black & white version.

Technique: This was animated on a Scanimate or a similar analog effects system; the keying noise around the graphics' edges and the "poofy" flash (which looks a lot like Scanimate's motion blur effect) are what give it away.

Audio: A '70s disco stinger during the formation of the logo. This is actually a piece of stock music, as it was also heard near the end of this 1981 Image West reel for Veronica Broadcasting.

Availability:

• This logo has replaced the MCA TV “Filmreel” logo on The Abbott and Costello Show, and it can be seen on airings of the show on MeTV, as well as the Entertainment One DVD sets of Abbott and Costello.
• This is also on the VHS/Laserdisc prints of Toho's The Wizard of Oz.
• They also distributed some Godzilla films, so it might be on some copies. It's not on the Video Treasures release of Godzilla Raids Again (or, Gigantis, the Fire Monster), however; Alan's print replaced the title, while the Video Treasures release uses the original title.
• It was spotted on old AMC prints, as well as Starz Encore Westerns' copy of The Shooting (1967), at the beginning, and on a Teletoon Retro airing of The Mighty Hercules.
• It can also be found on the Video Late Show VHS releases of Miss Annie Rooney and Joe Palooka and at the start of the King Bee Video release of T-Men.
• It appears on Shout! Factory TV's print of I, Mobster.

Legacy: An interesting logo for its time that puts Scanimation to good use.