FilmFair

Background

FilmFair was a animation studio founded by Gus Jekel in 1968 in Los Angeles. Jekel had asked Graham Clutterbuck to open an office in Europe, so he opened one in Paris and later moved the office to London. The company's productions over the years include the 1975 animated version of Paddington, Astro Farm, The Legend of White Fang, and The Wombles. In 1987, the company was acquired by Central Independent Television. Central sold FilmFair to the Storm Group in 1991, and FilmFair's american branch was acquired by AGC (which was purchased by Discovery Communications in 2003). In 1996, Storm Group sold FilmFair London to Cinar. Cinar later got into a financial scandal in 2000, and Cinar was sold to an investor group who changed the name to Cookie Jar in 2004. Currently, the FilmFair London library is now owned by WildBrain.

1st Logo (February 12, 1968-1979)

Logo: On a yellow square, we see a carousel horse and either next to the square or below the square, we see the words "Created By FilmFair, London" in black. Sometimes, the copyright will be below.

Variants:

• On The Wombles, the logo varies in every episode, for example in the first episode of season 1, the logo appears on a piece of paper, and in the second episode, it appears on a bag.
• On season 1 of Paddington, the logo appears on a letter, Paddington then takes the letter, and opens the door to the Brown's house to go inside, and then shuts the door.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None or the ending theme of the show.

Availability: Can be found on most shows from FilmFair produced during this time period. They remain intact on VHS and DVD, as it's an in-credit logo.

2nd Logo (1989-May 1, 1999, September 3-December 17, 2001)

Logo: We see a black background with "Digital restoration by INTERNATIONAL IMAGE and CINAR STUDIOS". Then a carousel with blue windows, yellow flags and a red top is seen. "FilmFair" in dark blue letters with sparks around it, appears. "ANIMATION" is under it in a red, green, and blue pattern. It either cuts or fades to the Cinar logo or the Cookie Jar logo.

Variants:

• The text at the beginning may be superimposed in season 1 of Paddington.
• On the 1996 revival of The Wombles, the logo appears in-credit, without the text.
• On The Upstairs Downstairs Bears, the logo is shown below the Imagination Production logo. A copyright notice is shown below.
• On some shows, "Digitally restored by INTERNATIONAL IMAGES and CINAR Studios" text doesn't appear.

FX/SFX: The logos appearing.

Music/Sounds: None or the ending theme of the show.

Availability: Appears tacked to the end of remastered versions of the company's shows, like Paddington, The Wombles, The Adventures of Portland Bill, Nellie the Elephant and Bangers & Mash. Later appeared on Cinar's revival of The Wombles and The Upstairs Downstairs Bears on Teletoon and TBN.