American International Television
Edited by Sean Beard
1st Logo
(ca. 1960-1966)
Nickname: "AIP Car Plate" , "AIP Skyline", "Sixties Capital Building I"
Logo: On a skyline background, we see the American International Pictures logo of the era (the words AMERICAN and INTERNATIONAL side by side a drawing of the Capital Building in a "Raceway"-like font), except that the word "TELEVISION" is in place of "PICTURES".
SFX: None, this was a still logo.
Music: None
Availiability: Scarce. This was on early syndicated rerun prints of "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" (before Ozzie Nelson took over distribution in the late 1960s) and English-dubbed episodes of the Japanese cartoon series "Prince Planet". It can still be found on old prints of the Mexican "Samson" (El Santo) films dubbed into English by K. Gordon Murray. An in-credit version still exists on the first two seasons (1964-66) of the cartoon series "The Adventures of Sinbad Jr." produced by animator Sam Singer. The AIP films now have their original logos at the beginning preceeded by the Orion logo or the MGM Lion.
Scare Factor: None, this AIP logo looks kinda cool really. It resembles a car nameplate from the era more than it does a film/TV production company's logo.
2nd Logo
(1966-69)
Nicknames: "Sixties Capital Building II" , "AIP Button"
Logo: We see on a dark BG, an image of the Capital Building inside a two-layer circle, resembling a coat button, with the words "American International Television" appearing below the Capital Dome. [This was a modified version of the late-1950s AIP logo.]
SFX: None-this was a still image.
Music: None.
Availability: Extinct. Appeared on some syndicated programs including early AIP films. [The late Samuel Arkoff retained ownership of the earliest AIP films and licensed them to Teleworld, so this no longer appears on TV.]
Scare Factor: None.
3rd Logo
(1969-1973?)
Nicknames: "The Capital Dome/Creepy AI Combo", "Creepy AI I", "The Avengers Logo"
Logo: Over a black background, we see a color-changing circle with a line drawing of the Capital Building inside. Then, it zooms into place as part of the American International Pictures logo, which is now an abstract lettering design consisting of the initials AI, to the right of the screen. After the circle moves into place, the bottom segment of the "A" and then the "I" fade into place forming the complete logo. The phrase "American International Television Presents" then fades in below the logo after it forms. This was a modified version of the American International Pictures logo of the era (1969-73).
SFX: Colors changing, the circle zooming to the right and the rest of the logo forming.
Music: A loud, battling horn, flute and drum/tympani fanfare.
Availability: Extinct; appeared on the original US syndication prints of "The Avengers" and TV prints of AIP films. "The Avengers" is now owned by Canal+, so outside tapes (of certain episodes of that series from early 1990s A&E reruns) this is long gone. Expect the Orion (or MGM) logo to preceed the AIP logo on feature films.
Scare Factor: Median. Some people might be put off by the logo and its fanfare.
4th Logo
(1974-80)
Nicknames: "AiTV","The OTHER Creepy ai"
Logo: On a blue background, we see 4 white angular letters spelling "AiTV" popping onto the screen one by one; the last two overlapping the letters "Ai" on top. Then the phrase "American International Television, Inc. presents" pop in near the "Ai" section of the logo,which then changes color to red. The complete logo fades out about a second before the empty screen fades to black.
Closing Version: A still shot of the complete logo, with a yellow background, a brown logo and lettering (this time reading "Distributed By American International Television,Inc."); this is silent, with the theme playing out over it on some shows.
SFX: The lettering and words popping into place,changing color as the sequence plays out
Music: An ascending horn and string fanfare; rather sedate compared with its predecessor
Availability: Extremely Rare; appeared on Lorne Greene's New Wilderness, Star Maidens, Twiggy's Jukebox and TV syndication prints of AIP films. In use until AIP's 1979 merger with Filmways. American International TV was absorbed into Filmways in 1980, becoming Filmways Television. Lorne Greene's New Wilderness remained avaliable to TV stations from Orion Television until the mid-1980s with the AiTV logo still present. Outside of tapes (or any future MGM Worldwide Television reissues), the latter AITV logo is gone.
Scare Factor: Minimal. Although a minor eyesore, it's fairly harmless.