Playhouse Video

Credits

Descriptions by
Jess Williams and James Stanley Barr

Captures by
Eric S. and V Of Doom

Video captures courtesy of
DudeThatLogo

Background

Playhouse Video was a sub-label of CBS/Fox Video for children and family releases on video. It was formed in 1985 and quietly retired around 1990.

Logo (July 7, 1985-1990)

• 
  Normal variant
• 
  Black and white variant
• 
  Muppet Video Variant

Visuals: On a white background, a black dot sketches a round snow-globe outline, followed by a inner outline revealing a tree, a house with a cote-out roof, and a tall bush. The outlines continue with the right half of the tree with an extra bush, the Sun, 6 "apples" in a pentagon-like formation, and the window of the house. The outlines then fill with black as a rainbow color hue slides down to fill the inside of the snowglobe, and the words "PLAYHOUSE V I D E O" with "V I D E O" in spaced-out letters, wipe in from top to bottom, as well as a small "_TM" bug.

Variants:

• On videos from Muppet Video, after the logo finishes, the background turns red and blue, the Playhouse Video logo flies away, and the 4th Muppet Video logo plays.
• There is a grayscale variant on videos of black and white films.
• There is a variant where the Chace Surround Sound logo appears at the top left of the screen. This was used for Surround Sound releases.

Technique: 2D CGI animation for the drawing, and computer effects for the rest.

Audio: A mellow synthesized trumpet/piano tune. It starts with four synth-trumpet notes, then a held-out note as a synth-piano backing begins. Three more synth-trumpet notes play afterward, with the last note held-out. As the color hue slides down, four more synth-trumpet notes play. Finally, when the company name appears, a final, held-out synth-trumpet note is heard while one last synth-piano note is held and fades out.

Availability: It's seen on any tapes by this company from the era, such as the 1970s Dr. Seuss TV specials aired on CBS, Muppet Video releases, and feature films such as Bad Medicine, Kid Colter, In Search of a Golden Sky, Batman: The Movie, and Eliminators, among others. It also appears on the original VHS of A Boy Named Charlie Brown (the later versions were distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment) and several Doctor Who releases like Pyramids of Mars, which retain this logo even on reprints as late as 1997.