However, Columbia was one of a few studios who branched out to television under a pseudonym to conceal the true ownership of the television arm. Many film studios saw television as a threat to their business, thus it was expected that they would shun the medium. The name 'Screen Gems,' at the time, was used to hide the fact that the film studio was entering television production and distribution. Earlier on August 2, 1957, they also acquired syndication rights to 'Shock!', a package of Universal horror films (later shifted to MCA TV), which was enormously successful in reviving that genre. During that year, the studio began syndicating Columbia Pictures' theatrical film library to television, including the wildly successful series of two-reel short subjects starring The Three Stooges in 1957. Hygo Television Films was founded in 1951 by Jerome Hyams, who also acquired United Television Films in 1955 that was founded by Archie Mayers. Serials Inc.) and its affiliated company United Television Films, Inc. On December 10, 1956, Screen Gems expanded into television syndication by acquiring Hygo Television Films (a.k.a. to release series through Screen Gems and supervise all of its productions. On July 1, 1956, studio veteran Irving Briskin stepped down as stage manager of Columbia Pictures and form his production company Briskin Productions, Inc. The studio started its new business in New York on April 15, 1949.īy 1951, Screen Gems became a full-fledged television studio by producing and syndicating several popular shows (see below).īy 1952, the studio had produced a series of about 100 film-record coordinated releases for television under the brand 'TV Disk Jockey Toons' in which the films 'synchronize perfectly with the records'. Pioneer was later reorganized as Screen Gems. In November 1948, Columbia borrowed the Screen Gems name for its television production subsidiary when the studio acquired Pioneer Telefilms, a television commercial company founded by Ralph Cohn in 1947, the nephew of Columbia's head Harry Cohn. Color Rhapsodies (1939–1949, inherited from Charles Mintz).Magoo series, were major critical and commercial successes. The studio's purpose was assumed by an outside producer, United Productions of America (UPA), whose cartoons, including Gerald McBoing Boing and the Mr. The Screen Gems cartoons were only moderately successful in comparison to those of Disney, Warner Bros., and MGM. During that same year, the studio shut its doors for good, though their animation output continued to be distributed until 1949. The final black-and-white Screen Gems shorts appeared in 1946, over three years after the second-longest holdouts ( Famous Studios and Leon Schlesinger Productions). Screen Gems was, in an attempt to keep costs low, the last American animation studio to stop producing black and white cartoons.

However, the most successful characters the studio had were The Fox and the Crow, a comic duo of a refined Fox and a street-wise Crow. These included Flippity and Flop, Willoughby Wren, and Tito and His Burrito. Like most studios, the Screen Gems studio had several established characters on their roster. Animators, directors, and writers at the series included people such as Art Davis, Sid Marcus, Bob Wickersham, and during its latter period, Bob Clampett. Cartoons (previously Leon Schlesinger Productions). After Tashlin's short stay came Dave Fleischer, formerly of the Fleischer Studios, and after several of his successors came Ray Katz and Henry Binder from Warner Bros. Columbia then decided to 'clean house' by ousting the bulk of the staff (including Winkler), and hiring creative cartoonist Frank Tashlin. Mintz's production manager became the studio head, but was shortly replaced by Mintz's brother-in-law, George Winkler. When Mintz became indebted to Columbia in 1939, he ended up selling his studio to them. The name was derived from an early Columbia Pictures slogan, 'Gems of the Screen' itself a takeoff on the song ' Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean'.įor an entire decade, Charles Mintz distributed his Krazy Kat, Scrappy, and Color Rhapsody animated film shorts through Columbia Pictures. The name was originally used in 1933, when Columbia Pictures acquired a stake in Charles Mintz's animation studio.

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