MGM/CBS Home Video

Background
MGM/CBS Home Video was founded in 1973 (some sources claim 1979) originally known as MGM Home Video by releasing its film and television libraries on video.

In 1979, MGM joined forces with CBS Video Enterprises, the home video division of the CBS Television Network, and established "MGM/CBS Home Video", which released its first VHS batch (consisting of 16 MGM titles and 8 CBS Video titles) in October 1980.

MGM/CBS Home Video was later renamed to MGM/UA Home Video in 1982 after CBS ended its venture with MGM since MGM acquired United Artists a year earlier, forcing CBS to align with 20th Century-Fox Video to form CBS/Fox Video.

1st Logo (October 1980-April 6, 1981)
Logo: On a black background, the words "MGM" and "CBS" in white and in Helvetica font fly in from the top and bottom of the screen, with lines on the top and bottom of each letter respectively. We fade to another set of lines sort of shaped like a room, which zoom back to bring another copy of the words, and then "AN" and "HOME VIDEO PRESENTATION" zoom into their respective places. A forward slash appears in-between "MGM" and "CBS" on the last note of the music.

Closing Variant: See CBS Home Entertainment for description.

Technique: Basic computer effects.

Music/Sounds: An uninspired synth tune which sounds like the opening of a news program.

Availability: Quite rare.
 * Seen on the initial batch of twenty-four VHS and Betamax tapes, including The Wizard of Oz, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Ben-Hur, An American in Paris, Network, Jailhouse Rock, Coma, The Street Fighter, and the Bolshoi Ballet productions of The Nutcracker and Giselle.
 * Also seen on the very first CED releases from CBS, as well as a few other VHS releases, including Being There, Fame, Carny, Cruising, Great Figures in History: John F. Kennedy, Treasure Island, Mutiny on the Bounty, Benji, The Formula and My Fair Lady.

2nd Logo (June 1981-June 1982, November 1981-August 1982 (UK))


Logo: We see a metallic forward slash mark on a dark background dropping down. Afterward, "MGM" and "CBS", in the same font as before, zoom out toward the slash at the same time, "CBS" from the right and "MGM" from the left. After that, we see "HOME VIDEO" zooming out. The "MGM/CBS" text then shines.

Variant: On rental-only tapes, this fades to the next logo.

Closing Variant: See CBS Home Entertainment for description.

Technique: Computer effects.

Music/Sounds: A short, orchestrated, majestic trumpet fanfare.

Availability: Also pretty rare.
 * Seen on most MGM/CBS releases after the first batch of twenty-four Betamax and VHS tapes and on UK pre-cert releases from the company. Notable titles to include this logo include Return of the Street Fighter, Westworld, and Clash of the Titans, as well as titles such as Gigi, The Philadelphia Story, Adam's Rib, My Fair Lady, South Pacific, Cruising, and Victory.
 * However, early MGM/UA releases with the MGM/CBS Polaroid seal or tape labels would still use the MGM/UA Home Video logo, and some later MGM/CBS releases, such as select copies of Viva Las Vegas as well as copies of Kismet and The Prisoner of Zenda, go straight to the MGM logo used by the film.
 * Some Samuel Goldwyn Home Entertainment releases such as The Billion Dollar Hobo would feature this logo at the end (this practice would continue when the Samuel Goldwyn Home Entertainment library shifted to CBS/Fox Video, although on the original VHS/Betamax release of Guys and Dolls, this logo was shown at the beginning before the first SGHE logo).
 * Surprisingly, this was retained on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn even after Warner took over distribution of the Turner library.
 * It also appears at the start of the 1981 UK pre-cert VHS release of Tom and Jerry: Cartoon Festival as well, among others.