Embassy Limited Partnership
Compiled by James Fabiano, Sean Beard, Matt Williams, Matthew Anscher, and Mark Edward Heuek
Background:
Avco-Embassy Films
(1967-1982)
Nickname: "AE"
Logo: Three copies of a stylized "AE" (consisting of a right triangle, a rectangle, and three striped horizontal vertical lines) float in a circular pattern. The logos are red, green, and blue, and they eventually merge to form a white version of the logo. This one changes colors one shape at a time; the triangle turns blue, and each of the other shapes turn green. Below, three copies of the message "AN AVCO EMBASSY FILM" (red, green, and blue) come in from the left, right, and bottom and merge under the logo to form a white version of the words.
TV Version: For television, the text reads, "AN AVCO-EMBASSY TELEVISION PRESENTATION"
FX: The "merging," similar to the early-80s Marvel Productions logo.
Music: None.
Availability: Appears on The Producers, Swamp Thing, as well as The Graduate, among others. Is usually retained on home video releases of films, as well as most TV showings, even though these films are not shown often on cable.
Scare Factor: Low
Embassy Television
1st Logo
(1982-1983)
Logo: When Embassy
started/relaunched in 1982, they did not yet have a logo.
Instead, this text was used:
AN
EMBASSY TELEVISION
PRODUCTION
Later that year, their corporate logo was unveiled-- a boldface "E" extended to feature a star cut-out. The same text as above was used, but "EMBASSY" was changed to boldface and "TELEVISION" was moved below that line of text. These words were positioned to the right of the "E" logo, and "AN" and "PRODUCTION" is featured above and below the logo.
FX: None, it's a still in-credit logo
Music: The outro of the show
Availability: It's on the end credits of "Square Pegs" and 1982-83 season episodes of "Facts of Life", "The Jeffersons", "One Day at a Time" and "Silver Spoons". Being an in-credit logo, it is usually left alone. The all-text version can be seen on the pilot episode of "Square Pegs".
Scare Factor: None
Nicknames: "Rolling Star," "Spinning E," "Rolling *E"
Then in 1983, Embassy had an actual logo separated from the credits.
Logo: Over a blue background, we see 2 white parts of the Embassy logo (an E with a star cut-out on the right). The 2 parts zoom out and spin counterclockwise until they match up in the center of the screen. Under it would read one of the following (as they appeared on screen):
All text is centered in the "Coca-Cola" version
In 1988, Coca-Cola created "Columbia Pictures Entertainment," merging all their TV production banners together. Embassy shows were now produced by ELP Communications.
Movin' On Up: On later-season episodes of The Jeffersons, the logo was added onto the show but in an interesting way. Instead of doing a straight fade/cut to the logo, the end credits faded to a shot of skyscrapers. Over this image, the "E" star logo appeared (and the music started), rolling in over this background. The background soon faded to blue, and "EMBASSY TELEVISION" appeared like normal over this image. This logo variation has been praised by those who've seen it as very professional and very cool; however, the sudden appearance of the logo and music are sure to scare a few people. Surprisingly, this version is/was in pretty good circulation-- out of 6 late season episodes aired on Nick At Nite, 4 of them have this logo.
FX: The rolling E, text fading in
Cheesy Factor: The "Rolling E" is 2D, and doesn't really have any inspiring animation, and the music is totally 80s, with that cheap synthesizer tune.
Music: A high-pitched, 8-note, synthesized tune, the 7th note is rolled noticeably.
Availability: Extremely rare, but has been spotted on two episodes of The Facts of Life on Nick at Nite; episode titles: "For the Asking (1982)" and "The Beginning of the End (1988)," maybe one or two Jeffersons episodes from the 1982-1983 season, and a few Silver Spoons episodes, however, Nick At Nite currently does not currently rerun any of these shows. Expect the Boxes of Boredom to replace this late, lamented logo. It was recently found on reruns of "Who's the Boss?" on Prime Network in Canada. A 1982 episode of The Facts of Life reran on the Hallmark Channel recently with the Coca-Cola version shown.
Scare Factor: Median, it's a pretty fast-paced logo, that won't give the viewer much warning to it's appearance. The dated, loud music can add to that surprise factor as well. I gasp whenever it is shown by mistake on Facts Of Life reruns.
Embassy Pictures
(1982-1988)
In 1982, when Lear acquired Avco Embassy, the motion picture division changed accordingly, becoming "Embassy Pictures". In 1986, when Coca-Cola bought Embassy, Lear kept control of the motion picture division and retained the company name.
Logo: Same as Embassy Television, but with several differences:
1) The logo is on a brighter blue background
2) The animation is much slower and smoother
3) "EMBASSY PICTURES", of course, is
underneath, but it fades in instead of simply appears
4) No music
On some releases, the logo will appear without
the "EMBASSY PICTURES" text. This is mainly for later
releases when the company was called "Embassy Film
Associates".
FX: The "spinning E"
Music: No music, unlike the television logo.
Availability: Embassy's library is spread across several companies, with the majority owned by MGM. It's more available than the television version, and can be seen on This is Spinal Tap (with company name and MGM preceding it), and The Sure Thing (no company name, Nelson preceding)
Scare Factor: Minimal.
Embassy Home Entertainment
1st Logo
(Early 1980s)
Nickname: "Chyron"
Logo: Just a black screen with "EMBASSY HOME ENTERTAINMENT" in white, EXTREMELY CHEAP, computer graphics. The words all have the "shadow" effect.
FX: None
Cheesy Factor: The logo is TOO plain, and the text is very primitive chyron with a "shadow" effect.
Music: None
Availability: Can be seen at the beginning of the "Raccoons on Ice"/"The Christmas Raccoons" video.
Scare Factor: Low.
2nd Logo
(1982-Late 1980s?)
Logo: Same as the EMBASSY TELEVISION ID, but Embassy Home Entertainment appears for the text.
FX: Again, same as the Television logo
Music: Extended version of the synth instrument jingle.
Availability: Rare, can also be found on various Nelson video releases.
Scare Factor: Minimal, the dated synthesizer sounds and simple animation may take a few off.
3rd Logo
(Late 1980s)
Nickname: "Golden *E"
Logo: A three-dimensional, gold version of the starred "E" logo comes in from the left of the screen turned diagonally. As it turns face forward, a similarly colored star outline floats as if coming down an invisible slope and comes through the star-shaped hole in the "E" and becomes its border. Below the "E" appear, also in gold, the words:
EMBASSY (in bolder
font)
HOME ENTERTAINMENT (which just appear instead of quickly
"fade" like the Embassy)
FX: The moving "E," words appearing in synch with the music.
Music: A fast paced, dramatic tune.
Availability: Can be found on a video release of The Producers.
Scare Factor: Low
To sum it up, here is what has became of all the Embassy properties:
In 1985/86, Embassy was broken up into three parts and sold to
various different corporations.
Coca-Cola/Columbia kept the Embassy Television division, merging
it with Columbia Pictures Television to form Columbia/Embassy
Television. This company name was never used on-air, but trade
ads in Broadcasting and Cable magazine show a hybrid version of
the Coca-Cola Telecommuniocations logo, with the print version of
the 80s Torch Lady in the upper half, above the coke
"swoosh", and Embassy's logo below the coke
"swoosh". Embassy was retired for good when Tristar
Television was merged with Columbia/Embassy to form the new
Columbia Pictures Television.
Embassy Pictures wound up with Dino De Laurentiis, who renamed it
De Laurentiis Entertainment Group, or DEG for short. DEG was
never a big success, but it did introduce two memorable logos; a
"flipping lion", and then the masterful "stone
lion". That company inherited the Embassy and Avco/Embassy
library, which shifted around when DEG went under. The library
now resides with Canal +.
The Home Video division went to Nelson Entertainment, which began
marketing Embassy's videos under that name. (Nelson retired the
Charter Entertainment label, which Embassy also distributed stuff
under.) Nelson retained home video rights to Embassy's pictures
and began entering the production business themselves, most
notably the Bill and Ted movies, and teaming with Rob Reiner's
Castle Rock Entertainment and Columbia Pictures for "When
Harry Met Sally". Nelson, too, went under, eventually ending
up at MGM. MGM retained the rights to Nelson's movies and some
Embassy films, such as "The Howling", "Escape from
New York", and "This is Spinal Tap." The rest of
the library reverted back to Canal +, which licensed the films to
Anchor Bay for distribution.