Lorimar Productions

Background

Lorimar was formed initially as Lorimar Productions on February 1, 1969 by Merv Adelson, Irwin Molasky and producer Lee Rich, who named the company after Adelson's ex-wife Lori, and San Diego, California's Palomar Airport. Their first production was the TV movie The Homecoming (now owned by CBS Studios), based on the book by Earl Hamner. Their first logo did not appear until 1971 when The Waltons premiered. On April 21, 1986, it merged with Telepictures Corporation and later became Lorimar-Telepictures Corporation (or just simply Lorimar-Telepictures). In 1987, the television production companies were later split back in two companies and Lorimar was reincorporated as Lorimar Television, but Lorimar-Telepictures remained as the name for their parent company.

Contents

1st Logo (October 31, 1971-May 10, 1978)	2nd Logo (September 6, 1978-May 22, 1986)

1st Logo (October 31, 1971-May 10, 1978)

Visuals: On a blank red screen, the words "A LORIMAR PRODUCTION" in a Goudy font wipe in left to right. As this happens, a thick white line starts to draw out the letter "L", then turns and goes straight, before wrapping around and forming the letter "P", moving through the bottom of the "L" to form the bottom of the "P". It then stops a bit below the space between the words "LORIMAR"" and "PRODUCTION".

Trivia: The logo was created and designed by Sandy Dvore, who also created the 1982 United Artists "Turning UA" logo and the brush-stroke logo and drawings from the soap opera The Young and the Restless.

Technique: Motion-controlled cel animation.

Audio: A ten-note ascending electric piano tune, with the last note held-out, is played as the logo is formed. The music echoes at the last note.

Audio Trivia:

This tune was composed by Jack Elliot and Allyn Ferguson, and was played on a Fender Rhodes electric piano.
These are the notes used to play the theme: low C, A, E, F, A, mid C, E, F, A, high C.
The 2016 remastered print of The Ninth Configuration features a higher-pitched version of the jingle playing over a dedication screen (to writer/director William Peter Blatty's son, Peter Vincent Galahad Blatty, who passed away in 2006 at the age of 19). Lorimar held TV and some foreign rights to the film, so it's possible that portions of the movie's audio were sourced from a time-compressed TV print, or a print from a country where Lorimar held the rights to the film.

Audio Variants:

Between 1971 and 1973, the music has a slightly different orchestration and lacks the echo after the final note. The version with the echo was introduced in 1974.
Sometimes, this logo is silent.

Availability:

It's still saved on most episodes of The Waltons on the DVD box sets (with the Warner Bros. Television Distribution logo following it), however TNN (now Paramount Network) airings in the late '90s plastered this logo with the 1995 Warner Bros. Domestic Pay TV, Cable & Network Features logo, and MeTV's prints of most episodes omit closing logos entirely.
This is also seen at the end of various TV movies from the era such as The Blue Knight, Bad Ronald, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, and Helter Skelter, which are retained on some of the recent DVD and Blu-ray releases (and omitting the Viacom "V of Doom" logo at the end on current releases; Viacom had a prior syndication deal with Lorimar. Although the original Warner Archive DVD-R release of Don't Be Afraid of the Dark and a True Christmas broadcast of A Dream for Christmas feature the 1990 Viacom "Wigga Wigga" logo plastered over this logo, while a 2017 Decades broadcast of The Blue Knight had the 1986 Viacom "V of Steel" logo over this logo instead).
It's also seen on a few Season 1 episodes of Dallas in its original syndication run.
- However, most current syndicated episodes prior to 1986, and all episodes on the S1/S2 DVD set plaster/replace it with the Warner Bros. Television Distribution logo, and the 1988 Worldvision Enterprises logo on a couple of S2 episodes (Worldvision distributed the show internationally until the 1990s, when the rights reverted back to Warner Bros.).
- On the PAL DVD release of Dallas, this is only retained on the first episode of the series.
- It is also intact at the end of an IMDb Freedive (now Amazon Freevee) print of S1E02 of Dallas, which is then followed by the 1988 Worldvision Enterprises logo.
This was also originally seen on the first two seasons of Eight is Enough, but this logo along with the next logo got plastered by the 1990 Warner Bros. Television Distribution logo in syndication and most reruns.
Some early productions from the company, such as Aesop's Fables and The Girls of Huntington House, only carry an in-credit notice.

Legacy: It is noted for its unique design and infamous theme.

2nd Logo (September 6, 1978-May 22, 1986)

Visuals: On a black background, an orange line begins to draw itself. It moves down and turns right to form an "L", then makes a loop to form an "O", turns again and goes up, around and diagonally to form an "R" and then back up to form an "I". Another section starts, going up, diagonally down, diagonally up, then down again to form an "M", then moving up and down again at angles to form an "A" without the line in the middle, then finally moving up, around, and down diagonally to form a second "R". The resulting logo reads "LORIMΛR", all in connected letters.

Trivia: The logo was created in 1977 by Paul Pascarella and made its debut in 1978.

Variants:

A registered trademark "®" symbol was added to the logo (on the lower-right hand corner of the letter "R") in 1983.
This logo has two distinctive colors: yellow and orange.
A red-colored variant exists on theatrical movies, the 1980-81 Dallas blooper video, and the soap opera Loving Friends and Perfect Couples.
Some programs show the text "DISTRIBUTED BY" above. This was mainly seen on TV prints of Allied Artists films, including Mitchell. A B&W variant also exists.
The opening variant of the logo is still with "P R E S E N T S" appearing below it. This was mainly seen on TV movies and some shows.
Another opening variant is still and has "LORIMAR" in its normal font and "Presents" (in a Helvetica font) in red.
On the opening of the 1985 Christopher Columbus miniseries, the in-credit text reads "and LORIMAR" with "LORIMAR" in its font.
The end of presentations would have "a presentation of" above the logo.
Later episodes of the 1980s version of Dream House has this logo's animation superimposed over the credits.
A B&W version of the "a presentation of" version also exists. In this one, the top text is a little thicker and the logo is silent.
A zoomed-in widescreen variant exists on the Warner Archive instant streaming release of the 1982 TV movie One Shoe Makes It Murder and on an European TV broadcast of A Wedding on Walton's Mountain.
On the 1983 TV movie Pajama Tops, the logo becomes a still image shortly after its animation finishes. After the music ends, it fades to black.

Technique: Cel animation.

Audio: The 1974 arrangement of the last logo's theme or none.

Audio Variants:

On the Knots Landing S2 episode "Hitchhike, Part 2", the logo theme is played on a synthesizer.
On a Hallmark Channel Italy airing of the Dallas season 2 episode "Black Market Baby", the normal tone variant of the 1986 Lorimar-Telepictures "Crashing Comets" theme is heard over it, due to a reverse plastering error.
On the blooper video for the 1980-1981 season of Dallas, the music is replaced with multiple sci-fi style gunshot sound effects.

Availability:

It can be seen on The Waltons, Dallas, Knots Landing, and Falcon Crest episodes of the era, as well as various other shows, TV movies and miniseries that Lorimar produced during this time.
- However, MeTV's prints of most episodes of The Waltons omit closing logos entirely.
The "PRESENTS" version has been long gone from television, however, but is still intact on the first season DVD set of Knots Landing and a couple of episodes on the DVD set of the first season of Falcon Crest.
This can also be found on later episodes of the 1980s version of Dream House as well, though that version of the show is now only intact from off-air recordings, as the master copies of all the episodes and production materials (which were not held by either Lorimar or WB) were destroyed in a flood in 2013.
The B&W version of the "A presentation of Lorimar" logo can be found on the 1989 U.S. VHS release of the original House on Haunted Hill, released by CBS/Fox Video (though the box has the Lorimar-Telepictures logo).
On some pre-fall 1986 episodes of Falcon Crest, it is plastered over with the 1986 Lorimar-Telepictures "Crashing Comets" logo.
This logo was also originally seen at the end of S3-S5 episodes of Eight is Enough, but was plastered over by the 1990 Warner Bros. Television Distribution logo on some reruns in syndication.
This was also originally seen on the pilot of Valerie and early episodes of Perfect Strangers, but the 1st and 2nd season box sets of the latter show plaster it with the 1986 Lorimar-Telepictures "Crashing Comets" logo.
TNN (now The Paramount Network) airings of The Waltons in the late 1990s plaster this logo with the 1995 Warner Bros. Domestic Pay TV, Cable & Network Features logo.
It was also seen on the 1983 unsold CBS TV pilot The Best of Times.
It has also been spotted at the end of the Lorimar Home Video and Warner Home Video prints of Americathon with the music (although it is omitted from the Warner Archive DVD release thereof), as well as a select handful of Dallas episodes on DVD from season 3 and onward, Dallas: The Early Years on DVD from the Dallas Movie Collection (preceded by the Roundelay logo), and followed by the 1972 "Distributed by Warner Bros." logo on some episodes of Knots Landing on DVD.
It was seen at the end of the unsold game show pilot Babble, when Game Show Network first aired the full pilot on October 5th, 2014 (without the credit crunching).
The Warner Archive instant streaming also retains this on the TV movies Desperate Lives and One Shoe Makes It Murder.
The still, silent "Distributed By" variant can be seen on the end of MST3K's version of Mitchell, very briefly during the transition back to the host segment.
- A version of this variant (with audio) was seen on a MUBI print of The Ninth Configuration.
This was originally seen on early episodes of Valerie and Perfect Strangers.
It was also spotted at the end of the U.S.A. Home Video VHS release of Two of a Kind (1982).
On recent U.S. prints of The Ninth Configuration, including a Shout! Factory print, the logo's jingle (in a higher pitch) plays over a "In Loving Memory" screen, though the logo is never seen (see the previous logo's "Audio Trivia" for more).
- A similar thing also happens on a 1984 English dubbed print of the 1965 film Red Dragon (also called Code Name Alpha) but on a blue copyright screen.

Legacy: It's noted for unnerving some viewers because of the black background, electric piano jingle and connecting letters, but at the same time, it's still a favorite among logo fans for its good 2D animation, as well as impeccable timing with the music. The same cannot be said for the Dallas blooper variant, due to the gunshot sounds and red text.

Lorimar Productions

Lorimar-Telepictures
Lorimar Television

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