Hi-Tops Video

Background

Hi-Tops Video was a children's video label founded by Heron Communications in 1986. In July 1991, as part of a liquidation of its entertainment assets following Heron chief executive Gerald Ronson's conviction of insider trading as part of the Guinness Four, Heron sold Hi-Tops Video to Western Publishing, owner of Golden Books, and the label was subsequently absorbed into Golden Book Video.

Logo (October 27, 1986-1991)

Visuals: On a gray background (with a notable border around the edges), a red vertical rectangle is seen (representing a stylized shoe). Animated shoelaces appear at the bottom and begin to slowly make their way up the shoe, culminating in a big bow when the shoe is completely tied. The shoe zooms out while turning pastel and the words "HI-TOPS VIDEO" (set in American Typewriter Bold) fade in below the rectangle. The byline "A Division of Heron Communications, Inc." (set in American Typewriter) fades in below.

Variants:

On Canadian Hi-Tops Video releases from Astral Video, this logo is followed by a black screen with the words "HI-TOPS VIDEO Presents". Then, the Astral Video logo plays.
On French-Canadian releases, after the logo zooms out and the text appears, a chyroned byline that says "Une filiale de Heron Communications, Inc." appears. This version also lacks the registered trademark "®" symbol by the word "VIDEO".

Technique: Cel animation.

Audio: A synthesized drum fill leads into a bouncy three-measure '80s synthesizer beat. On some releases, the music would fade out early.

Availability: It originally appeared on VHS releases of cartoons licensed from other companies, including My Pet Monster, The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin, Encyclopedia Brown, Cricket, Babar and Father Christmas, Pee Wee's Playhouse, Rub a Dub Dub, Madballs, the Baby Songs trilogy, the Barbie and the Rockers/Barbie and the Sensations specials, later Heron releases of Peanuts specials such as She's A Good Skate Charlie Brown, and other children's videos, some co-released by Saban Video and Video Treasures. Outside of the USA and Canada, it can be found on PAL tapes from the UK (after the VPD logo) and Australia (after the Family Home Entertainment logo).