Guntzelman-Sullivan-Marshall Productions
(April 26, 1988-April 24, 1991)
Nicknames: "Guy Falling Off Roof", "Fall of Doom", "GSM", "AAAAHHHHHHHH!", "Ben's War Movie"
Logo: We see an old house at night. An insane-looking man walking on the left side of the roof stumbles and falls two stories into some bushes below. Superimposed on the right side of the screen is:
A
Guntzelman
Sullivan
Marshall
_________________
P R O D U C T I O N
in association with
The logo then cuts to the current Warner Bros. Television logo of the time.
Trivia: From Steve Marshall, writer/producer of Growing Pains:
- "Here's the story behind this logo. We had done a fantasy sequence on Growing Pains involving Ben in a 'war movie' setting. He was on a walkie talkie saying they were down to six men. At that moment, a guy is shot and falls off the roof of an old church behind him. He says into the walkie-talkie, "Make that five men". We had another camera closer in on the stunt man's dive and decided to use that footage for our logo. As I recall, the scream was mine".
The episode in question is the 26th episode of the 3rd season of Growing Pains titled "Graduation Day". However, unlike the quote, Ben actually says that they're down to FOUR men...make that THREE. The clip in question can be viewed here. Additionally, you can see what appears to be smoke at the right side of the screen, as it's the backdrop of Ben's war movie fantasy, and as the Stuntman falls, he is seen dropping his gun, while another object hangs off the roof, presumably the stuntman's helmet.
Variant: An early version exists that has the logo in a different font and the word "Production" placed on the bottom of the screen, above the text "in association with".
FX/SFX: It's all live-action.
Music/Sounds: The sound of the guy falling off the roof yelling "AAAAAAAHHHHH!" as he falls playing over the closing theme of the show from Growing Pains and Just the Ten of Us. On syndicated prints of the fifth and sixth seasons of Growing Pains, a man or a woman voice-over is heard during the logos: "Growing Pains is a Guntzelman-Sullivan-Marshall Production in association with Warner Bros. Television, and is distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution."
Music/Sounds Variant: On the Growing Pains Halloween Special, the logo uses a different yelling soundbite accompanied with a comical "falling" sound effect and a thud for when the man falls into the bushes. The theme the logo usually plays over is replaced by crickets chirping.
Availability: It's seen on Growing Pains and Just the Ten of Us.
Editor's Note: The dark image and the scary-looking man falling off the roof may probably give more than a few the creeps, but those who enjoy black comedy may find this logo hilarious.
