MCA Television Enterprises
Compiled by Jason Jones, Michael Bode, Kurt Toy and James Fabiano
MCA TV
1st Logo
Nickname: ''The Filmreel from Hell''
Logo: We see, on a dark background, a reel of film, with a
black rectangle in front of it. The words ''DISTRIBUTED BY'' in a
futura font, appear atop the reel. Inside the rectangle are the
words
MCA TV
Ltd.
''MCA TV'' appears in a variation of the futura, while ''Ltd.''
which appears underneath, is in a fancy cursive font. Underneath
the reel, the words ''EXCLUSIVE REPRESENTATIVES'' in the same
font as ''DISTRIBUTED BY'', are shown contoured [if that's the
right word], taking up half the reel's shape.
FX: None, this is a still logo.
Cheesy Factor: The film reel looks sort of hand drawn.
Music: None. It is all silent.
Availability: Very, very, extinct. …'The Abbott and
Costello Show', for many years, perhaps the lone remaining source
of that logo, has gone through syndicator changes. Episodes now
end with either Alan Enterprises (pre-1983 prints) or [DFS]
Program Exchange logos (current licensee of TCA Television
Corp.,the copyright holders) plastered over the reel logo.
Scare Factor: Median to high. Dark backgrounds and silence
can give someone the shakes.
2nd Logo
(1954-1956)
Nickname: ''The Sunburst Filmreel''
Logo: Virtually the same alignment as before, except that
the reel doesn't take up as much picture space, is on a sunburst
background, the ''DISTRIBUTED BY'' is in a different font,
''MCA'', ''TV'' and ''LTD.'' [the latter now shown in block
letters] are in a variation of the same 3-dimensional font as the
then Revue logo, the ''TV'' and ''LTD'' are smaller than ''MCA'',
and the ''EXCLUSIVE REPRESENTATIVES'' doesn't take up as much
reel space.
FX: None, same as before.
Cheesy Factor: The sunburst background makes this logo
SCREAM 1950s.
Music: The last few bars of the show's closing theme.
Availability: Can be seen at the end of 'The Adventures of
Kit Carson' on Encore Westerns, as well as first-season episodes
of 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' and early episodes of 'The
Millionaire' alongside the Don
Fedderson Productions logo. (MCA was Fedderson's agent.) [The
latter were in-credit.]
Scare Factor: Low to minimum. The background may make a
few people feel uneasy, but an improvement over the previous
logo.
3rd Logo
(1956-1960s)
Nickname: ''The Arrowhead''
Logo: On a dark screen, a trio of trilons turn to reveal
an arrowhead which has the letters ''mca'' in a lower-case font
inside, set against a satiny background. After a second or two,
the ''a'' appears on top of the ''mca'', while ''tv'',
underneath, and the word ''release'', under the arrowhead, fade
in. The trilons then turn a different direction, and the screen
is dark once again.
Variation: Also shown as an in-credit logo at the end of
Revue shows alongside the Revue logo from 1956 to at least 1962,
as well as black-and-white episodes of ''My Three Sons'' made
prior to 1965.
FX: The turning walls.
Cheesy Factor: Bad grammar; It should be ''AN MCA tv
release, not ''a''.
Music: A fanfare that starts with drumbeats similar to the
first notes of 20th Century-Fox's famed jingle, then goes to a
3-note ominous sounding horn sounder.
Availability: Appears on old MCA
DiscoVision/Videocassette/Home Video releases of pre-1950
Paramount movies; these are too easy to spot due to the MCA-TV
prints being 16mm rather than the original Paramount 35mm master
negatives and are therefore lower in picture quality. This
company switch is due to Paramount selling their entire pre-1950
film library to MCA.
Scare Factor: Median to high. Largely on account of the
scary-sounding fanfare.
MCA Exclusive Distributor
1st Logo
(1974?-1990)
Logo: Similar to the '70s/'80s Universal television logo, except the text, in yellow, now reads "MCA-TV," with "EXCLUSIVE DISTRIBUTOR" under that. Usually preceded by a graphic with the show's title and other information (like the "In Association With" screen). Also, one version of the logo has the picture "flipping away" when the music finishes.
Cheesy Factor: The flipping effect. And the freeze-frame of the logo looks really low-budget.
Music: The original Revue theme, though it may have been abridged.
Availability: Appeared on "Bionic Six", "Puttin' On The Hits", and reruns of "Gimmie A Break!", "Kate and Allie" in the 80s. Can still be seen on "Kate and Allie" reruns on Oxygen.
Scare Factor: High, Is a bit shocking thanks to the dramatic Revue music.
(Mid-to-Late ‘80s)
Logo: Like Universal Television's 1975-91 logo, we see a still of the then-current Universal “Zooming Globe,” but the logo now reads, in the same font as the MCA byline on that logo:
FROM
M C A
TELEVISION
Music: Universal TV’s 1987 theme
FX/Cheesy Factor: None
Availability: Very rare, only known to have been seen on the short-lived 1988 ABC series “Probe.” The logo is preserved when the show is rerun on the Sci-Fi Channel.
Scare Factor: Median
2nd Logo
(1990-1995)
Nickname: "CGI Globe 1"
Logo: We see a computer generated rendition of the globe logo. The company name "MCA TV" (which is now in the font used on MCA Records and MCA/Universal Home Video) slides in from the top of the screen, and makes a stop in front of the globe. The words "Exclusive Distributor" fade in below the MCA name.
FX: The slide-in of the name.
Music: Universal TV's 1987 and 1990 jingles respectively.
Availability: Uncommon.
Scare Factor: Median.
3rd Logo
(1990-1997)
Nickname: "CGI Globe 2"
Logo: Like its network counterpart, the words "MCA TV" (in the previous logo's typeface" appear from behind the rotating globe and makes a stop in front of it. The byline, "Exclusive Distributor", appears afterward.
FX: CG of rotating globe and company name.
Music: Same as 2nd Logo.
Availability: Uncommon.
Scare Factor: Minimum.