Harvey Entertainment

From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum


Background

Harvey Comics was established in 1939, but didn't use a logo until the comic book publisher entered the animation arena (by purchasing the rights to many of the characters Paramount featured in its cartoon shorts) in 1959. Today, Harvey Entertainment currently remains as an in-name-only unit of DreamWorks Classics, a division of NBCUniversal. The Netflix original Harvey Girls Forever! (known as Harvey Street Kids in its first season), which ran from June 29, 2018 to January 10, 2020, was a homage to Harvey Entertainment.



1st Logo (1959-1962, September 17, 1994-2001)


Visuals: There is a white background, with the letter "H" on it. Then, the screen zooms out to reveal a TV tube (ala the first Screen Gems logo) and some Harvey characters (including Casper, Little Audrey, Baby Huey, Buzzy the Crow, Herman and Katnip and Tommy Tortoise and Moe Hare) and then it pops goes a tube, Harvey the clown appears at the top. "HARVEY FILMS" in a birthday party lettering is revealed. The logo is on a pink background (or sometimes light blue, blue, green, or red, due to print deterioration). Sometimes, "HARVEY FILMS" turns into "HARVEYTOON". The closing variant has the logo playing in reverse.

Variants:

  • A variant from 1959 used on Matty's Funday Funnies is shown in black and white and it featured the show's logo instead of the letter "H".
  • Another variant of this logo was used for The Harveytoons Show. Instead of "Harvey Films", the "Harveytoon" text is always presented. The logo is on an orange background and the characters, along with the clown, are drawn in a more "modern" version, plus marking the first appearance of Wendy and Spooky in this logo. There's also confetti falling off of it. Though on the cartoons presented, the confetti is omitted. This variant was last used in 2001.

Technique: Hand-drawn animation by Paramount Cartoon Studios.

Audio: The opening/ending theme of the cartoon.

Audio Variant: On re-dubbed soundtrack prints of the cartoons, a modern-sounding abridged rarrangement of the 1955-1965 Noveltoons theme is heard.

Availability: It appears on TV prints of post-October 1950 and pre-April 1962 Paramount cartoons, replacing the original Paramount logo. Paramount may be more visible if they continue to replace this logo with the originals. The closing variant is followed by the 1979 Worldvision Enterprises logo on early 1980s syndicated prints.

2nd Logo (October 5, 1963-1969)


Visuals: Over a black (1963-1966) or blue (1966-1969) background, there is a TV tube with the letter "H" on it. Then Harvey the Clown from the Harvey Films logo appears at the top of the TV tube to reveal "Harvey Funnies" in a similar lettering as the Harvey Films logo.

Variant: On the blue background variant (which was made for color), the color of Harvey the clown and the "H" TV tube is the same used for the Harvey Films logo.

Technique: Hand-drawn animation by Paramount Cartoon Studios.

Audio: A 8-note comedy tune.

Availability: It was originally seen on The New Casper Cartoon Show in black & white (1963-1966) and in color (1966-1969) on ABC.

3rd Logo (1990-1994)


Visuals: On a purple-pink gradient background, there is the TV tube with the letter "H" on it and Harvey the Clown appearing from it (which is reused animation from the Harvey Films logo). Then it zooms out on the left and the "ARVEY" appears letter-by-letter on turquoise squares. After this, "COMICS ENTERTAINMENT © [YEAR]" appears below it.

Technique: Hand-drawn animation (recycled from the Harvey Films logo) by Paramount Cartoon Studios.

Audio: None, or the ending of the show.

Availability:

  • It's seen at the end of Harveytoon tapes released by MCA/Universal Home Video around this time period.
  • It was also seen on a syndicated package of Harveytoons titled Casper and Friends, a DVD of which was released in the United Kingdom by Right Entertainment/Universal in January 2005, in which this logo is preserved.

4th Logo (September 17, 1994-1995)


Visuals: On a blue background, there is the face of Harvey the Clown, overlapping a yellow-orange seal at the top of the screen. Over the clown are the words "The Harvey Entertainment Company", with "Est. 1939" above "Entertainment Company". Below it is the copyright disclaimer for Harvey Comics.

Technique: A still, hand-drawn graphic.

Audio: The final bars of the abridged re-arrangement of the 1955-1965 Noveltoons theme heard in the re-dubbed soundtrack versions of the Harveytoons.

Availability:

  • It only made appearances on two shows - the first season of The Baby Huey Show, and a syndicated web series of classic Casper cartoons called Casper Classics, on which this logo is intact on Universal/Classic Media's Spooky Collection and Spooky Collection 2 DVDs from the UK.

5th Logo (May 26, 1995-October 31, 2000)


Visuals: On a black background, there is the same Harvey seal logo from before, but with a white outline around it and shifted to the left. To the right of the seal, the following text appears via a wipe effect:

The Harvey
Entertainment
Company

Finally, Harvey winks.

Variants:

  • On the video game of said movie, the logo is still.
  • On season 1 and early season 2 episodes of The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper, the words "A UNIVERSAL CARTOON STUDIOS PRODUCTION", in Universal's corporate logo font, fade in underneath the logo as the company name wipes in.
  • On one episode of The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper, the logo was shown on the left while the Universal Cartoon Studios logo was shown on the right. Plus, the company name is already there.

Technique: 2D animation.

Audio: The closing theme of the show or movie.

Audio Variants:

  • On the video game of said movie, the opening theme of the game is heard.
  • On Casper's Haunted Christmas, the logo is silent.
  • On The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper, the re-arrangement of the first few notes of the 1943-1955 Noveltoons theme with jingle bells at the end plays.
  • The Baby Huey Show and early season one episodes of The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper use the 1955-1965 Noveltoons re-arrangement from the previous logo.

Availability:

  • The standard version was originally seen on the 1995 film adaptation of Casper (the still version can also be seen on the video game of said movie for PlayStation, Saturn, and 3DO), early season 1 episodes of The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper and season 2 of The Baby Huey Show.
  • The variant with the UCS text originally appeared on the first season (since episode 7) and early season 2 episodes of said show and is intact on VHS releases.
  • However, it got plastered by the variant of the next logo on the DVD releases of said show.
  • The standard version can also be seen on Casper's Haunted Christmas.

6th Logo (1995-2001)


Visuals: There is a blue curtain background, which then opens to reveal the face of Harvey the Clown on a yellow background, and he winks his eye. Then he zooms out to reveal the yellow seal with "Est. 1939" on it with the words "HARVEYTOONS" underneath it. The word "TOONS" takes on the bottom-right of the seal, and it is in sky blue while "HARVEY", in red, is on the bottom-left of the seal. After the logo forms, at the top of the company name, the URL "harvey.com" appears. Harvey the clown shakes his right bell on the jester hat. There is a yellow light surrounding the logo.

Variant: On The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper, it's almost a still logo and the website URL is not there, but Harvey the clown still winks his eye and shakes his right bell of the hat. Plus, the logo is smaller to make room for the words "& A UNIVERSAL CARTOON STUDIOS PRODUCTION", again in Universal's corporate logo font, in stacked words and in red underneath.

Technique: 2D animation.

Audio: The re-arrangement of the first few notes of the 1943-1955 Noveltoons theme with jingle bells at the end from the previous logo, but with a winking sound.

Availability:

  • It was originally seen at the end of The Harveytoons Show and the 1996 version of Richie Rich.
  • The variant with the UCS text was seen on S2-4 episodes of The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper on syndication.
  • Volume 1 and 2 DVD releases (which plasters the previous logo), as well as the VHS releases of said show also have the variant intact.

7th Logo (September 9, 1997-2001)


Visuals: On a black background, the words "THE HARVEY ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY", in sky blue and red respectively, scroll from the right to the left of the screen. The Harvey Clown trademark is revealed, winking. He then takes his place on a yellow seal with "Est. 1939" in a small script. Below it, the now-stacked words

THE
HARVEY
ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY

reappear. The word "HARVEY" shines brightly twice.

Variants:

  • On Casper: Spirit Dimensions, it was a still logo and the text is shifted up a bit. Plus, the yellow seal is plain yellow and "Est. 1939" is not there.
  • On Casper: Friends Around the World, the logo is still and on a white background with a copyright notice underneath the text.

Technique: 2D animation.

Audio: A horn-driven orchestral fanfare. None for the still version.

Audio Variant: On Baby Huey's Great Easter Adventure, the logo is silent.

Availability: It debuted on Casper: A Spirited Beginning and also appears on Casper Meets Wendy, Baby Huey's Great Easter Adventure and Richie Rich's Christmas Wish. The still version appears on Casper: Spirited Dimensions for GameCube and PlayStation 2.

8th Logo (Europe only) (2006)

Visuals: On a white background is the usual Harvey-in-the-seal logo on the left of the screen and to the right of it is the text "HARVEY". Copyright information is seen at the bottom of the screen.

Technique: A still, digital graphic.

Audio: None.

Availability: It appeared on the video game Casper and the Ghostly Trio, released only in Europe.

Paramount Cartoons (1950-1962)
Harvey Entertainment
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