I used to see this at the end of all those American shows you sent across but as a kid I never thought it was scary; kind of weird though.
Peter - Australia | 09.27.06 - 12:07 am | #

This is supposed to be ugly or scary? I don't see it. Very mid-60s Carnaby-Streetish but hardly S-for-Shocking. Are you sure this scared kids or is this a generation-dependent joke that I as a Boomer can't comprehend?
Mac
Mac in Alberta | 09.27.06 - 1:54 am | #

Mac, are you just watching the "Ugliest Girl in Town" credits or are you watching the S from Hell? Watch the first clip, which is just the S -- then you'll understand.
Dawn Eden | Homepage | 09.27.06 - 2:00 am | #

Dawn, you never fail to amaze me at these obscure cultural references! I almost got "The Ugliest Girl In Town" out of my brain-cells, but it all came streaming back to me like yesterday. I'm not sure if I should thank you or not -- and as for the "S", well, I never thought it was scary, but I did think the music was a little Stylophone-y. Now, does anyone else remember "The Second Hundred Years?"
Tragic Christian | Homepage | 09.27.06 - 2:19 am | #

Tragic Christian, I've never seen "The Second Hundred Years," but I imagine it did have a catchy theme tune, as I see from a Web site that one of its themes was penned by Brill Building greats Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil.
Dawn Eden | Homepage | 09.27.06 - 2:26 am | #

Wow...I had forgotten about that S from Hell thing along with "The Ugliest Girl in Town". Still, there is some worth in the song:

You don't have to be a Mia or Sophia...

That should give us all hope, I should think. ;-)

As far as scaring children with music is concerned, I remember frightening my 4-year old nephew by playing a 45 of Sugar Shack at 16 rpm. The happy toodly plastic organ thing (or whatever it was) became very primitive and sinister sounding, and, when the voice was added, it became quite nightmarish. (He eventually got used to it, though.)
Patrick | 09.27.06 - 2:30 am | #

Patrick, I loved that "Mia or Sophia" line. Howard Greenfield was savvy; he also wrote the words to Neil Sedaka's hits like "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do." That rhyme's probably his best, though.

Songs at wrong speeds -- that brings back memories. One of my fonder moments with a man I dated when I was in my early 20s was when he got me to play Cilla Black's "You're My World" 45 at 33 rpm. He then pointed out that, at that speed, Ms. Black sounded exactly like Louis Armstrong. And you know what? He was right.
Dawn Eden | Homepage | 09.27.06 - 2:40 am | #

Dawn,

I can't help but wonder...

If you played a 33rpm recording of Louis Armstrong singing "What a Wonderful World" at 45, would he sound like Cilla Black? (Just thinking about the upbeat tempo it would have brings a smile and gets my feet to tapping. :-))
Patrick | 09.27.06 - 3:41 am | #

Dawn, you should listen to AC/DC TNT at high speed. They are truly the chipmunks from hell and Angus' riff sounds incredible. :lol:
Peter - Australia | 09.27.06 - 5:26 am | #

I think Peter Jackson modeled the "Eye of Sauron" in Lord of the Rings after that Screen Gems logo.
saintkansas | Homepage | 09.27.06 - 5:47 am | #

Don't forget, we're about to get back to the "ugly" theme soon: ABC-TV will premiering its Ugly Betty in the next few days, modeled on a hit Mexican series, Betty la Fea. My understanding is that Salma Hayek is the ExecProducer.
PMcGrath | 09.27.06 - 7:51 am | #

Oh, I thought the "S" was scary when I was really young. It's that music -- so weird and harsh with a sense of doom. I think I used to cover my ears or run from the room when it came on when I was like three or four years old.

I also remember being scared by commercials for Head and Shoulders shampoo (the lather ran all over a guy's face) and Hall's cough drops (the "mentholated action" sound and graphic -- looked like steam was consuming the person's head). Those would send me running from the room, too.
Susan B. | Homepage | 09.27.06 - 8:05 am | #

I think saintkansas touched on the really scary part of the 'S from Hell', above and beyond the creepy, hollow-sounding music. The logo resembles an evil and unblinking eye, staring out of the TV right at _you_, no matter where you are sitting.
DeeBee | 09.27.06 - 8:38 am | #

Anyone remember the big cake-wedge "V" coming at you in Viacom's old logo? That was pretty off-putting too. And I still can't get over the giant-"W"-taking-over-the-Mercator-globe logo/music for WorldVision Entertainment...
Black Johann | 09.27.06 - 9:25 am | #

I never thought it was scary and cant' get it.
Christina | Homepage | 09.27.06 - 9:59 am | #

Black Johann, I vaguely remember WorldVision Entertainment, only because I thought it was odd and amusing that it said at the bottom of the logo something like, "Unaffiliated with World Vision International, a charitable organization."
Dawn Eden | Homepage | 09.27.06 - 10:35 am | #

I don't remember ever seeing it growing up, but if I did I was way past the age of having reactions like that. I don't get it, either. It just seems like any old cheesy logo to me. But you never know how children will react to things that adults don't even notice. Once I told a couple of my children an impromptu story about aliens who loved strawberries so much that they threatened to destroy the earth if we didn't give them all the strawberries (it was strawberry season at the time). It scared the hell out of them and gave them nightmares. I felt terrible.

I think children of a certain age (around the four-to-six range, maybe?) have a certain amount of free-floating anxiety that's going to attach itself to something.
Mac in Alabama | Homepage | 09.27.06 - 10:39 am | #

It's interesting that anybody found the Screen Gems S scary at all. Perhaps this is a rumour generated originally by Screen Gems to encourage people to watch the production credits all the way through to the end.
Valerie | Homepage | 09.27.06 - 11:43 am | #

I think children of a certain age (around the four-to-six range, maybe?) have a certain amount of free-floating anxiety that's going to attach itself to something.

True...when I was very little, I was also scared of airplanes or helicopters flying overhead. If I was out playing and heard one, I would either run into the house or hide behind a tree or something. Then I grew out of it.
Susan B. | Homepage | 09.27.06 - 1:43 pm | #

Dawn,

I watched the B/W and colour versions of just the logo at least three times each before commenting. I only watched the Ugliest Girl credits once. I just don't see anything evil or scary in this.
No, the scariest thing on your blog yesterday was the abortion counsellor's attitude in the post about heroic young Samantha's refusal to murder her baby. But that was very well dissected by others.
Mac
Mac in Alberta | 09.27.06 - 2:23 pm | #

Mac, you're too old to find the S scary. It's the four-year-old mind that finds it ominous.
Dawn Eden | Homepage | 09.27.06 - 2:28 pm | #

I remember the Screen Gems well, but was not be scared by it. In a related story, I was astonished when as a teenager a female friend mentioned that the flying monkeys in the Wizard of Oz gave her nightmares for weeks. I was non-plussed. My brothers and I thought they were cool, not frightening. Could this be a similar phenomenon?
Noah Nehm | 09.27.06 - 3:38 pm | #

I would've been 5 when it first popped up - but I never thought it was scary. Kinda of jarringly tinny sounding, but not scary.

Now when I was 2-3 years old, I was frightened by the animated opening to "My Three Sons" - those disembodied feet, with one tapping ominously - I would leave the room in fear when it started up.
henry o | 09.27.06 - 3:46 pm | #

After watching them repeatedly, I now feel compelled to shake a tamborine with reckless abandon & sing Valleri at the top of my lungs.

Evil? Ohyoubetcha!
Gene Branaman | 09.27.06 - 3:53 pm | #

Gene's on the right track. My thought was "Pleasant Valley Sunday" (here in status symbol l-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-and!).

Context is everything. If you grew up on the Gulf Coast, the "S" looked a lot like the weather map symbol for a hurricane. Hurricanes, granted, are scary ... especially in the middle of the night when trees are falling and the roof starts leaking; the SG logo and music? Meh. That ain't nuttin'.
C.J. | 09.27.06 - 4:16 pm | #

PMcGrath,

Betty la fea is a Colombian telenovela that originally aired in 1999 on RCN in Colombia. It was aired in the States on Telemundo in 2000-2001. It became an international sensation and inspired new versions in other countries. There is a Mexican version called La fea mas bella which is currently being aired on Univision. Ugly Betty, which is premiering tomorrow, is produced by Salma Hayek.

I'm too young to have been affected by the "S from Hell". As a young tot, I was affected by the end credits music to Sesame Street. Back in the late 70's/early 80's the credits began with an instrumental reprise of the theme song (I much prefer the original 70's arrangment to today's) but was followed by this other piece of music with the credits against a blue screen. My sister and I called that the "scary music" and would have a race to see who could run out of the room the fastest once the "Sesame Street" reprise ended and the "scary music" began. It was so radically different from the theme song (and in a minor key to boot) that it scared my poor little 4 year old self.
Kit-Kat | 09.27.06 - 4:36 pm | #

I was an 80s child and here is what I found scary:

*Sara falling down a hole full of hands in the Labyrinth

*Nuclear man forming from an embryo out of the sun in Superman IV

*Shadowpuppets on various kid's TV shows, particularly playschool.
Rhys | Homepage | 09.27.06 - 7:07 pm | #

I dunno, Dawn -- I've been accused of having the mentality of a four-year-old and I'm not frightened by the logo! In fact, I find the "The Ugliest Girl in Town" song (and premise) to be far creepier than the Screen Gems bit.
Wes | Homepage | 09.27.06 - 8:07 pm | #

Back in my dj days we would take the Mary Hopkin 45 of "Those Were the Days" from Apple Records, play it at 33 and tell everyone that it was John Lennon's recording of the song. Which, frankly, it might have been.

And by the way, I buried Paul.
Robert N G | Homepage | 09.27.06 - 8:43 pm | #

Add me to the list of those who don't understand the alleged scariness of this logo at all. I don't understand why it would be scary even to a little kid.
I don't know how many people here have heard of the country group Sawyer Brown, but in the video for their song "Step that Step" there was a man in the audience who suddenly swiveled around, and on the back of his head was a mask of a woman who looked sort of like the dummy Madame. This scared me to death. (I was about six at the time; the original Madame scared me a little bit as well, but the two-headed aspect was what really got me here.) Recently I saw this video for the first time in two decades - and the man in question turned out to be Gallagher! (Obviously in 1986 I had no idea who Gallagher was.)
James Kabala | 09.27.06 - 11:10 pm | #

I'm with Mac in Alberta in not seeing anything even remotely scary in the Screen Gems trademark. But the Sherwin-Williams trademark, that was scary.

http://www.serie-cart.com/photos...lliams- logo.jpg
Pat Patterson | 09.28.06 - 12:29 am | #

The guys-in-drag gimmick was tried again in the early 80s with Bosom Buddies. The tall guy was Tom Hanks and you know what happened with him.

As far as the Screen Gems S goes, as a kid I wasn't scared, but what cracked me up then was at the end of Green Acres, when Eva Gabor would say, "Dis vass a Filmvays presentation, dahlink!" on top of the Filmways card.

When they mess with the end is always funny. Bob Clampett loved to do that at Warners. Bugs shoved a bomb into Elmer's mitts at the end of "The Old Grey Hare." Then came the iris out and then the bomb went off--the screen shook just as the "That's All Folks!" card showed up. Brilliant!

www.forgotten-ny.com
Kevin Walsh | Homepage | 09.28.06 - 12:57 am | #

The McDonald's logo -- THAT'S scary! Especially when they started using it as a "bug" in the lower right hand corner of the screen (one of the first I recall seeing on a commercial) so you'd be aware there was a McDonald's spot on; even if you were watching a recorded show and fast-forwarding through the commercials, you'd have to sit through a few seconds with the golden arches in constant view. That was good marketing, perhaps, but downright evil.
C.J. | 09.28.06 - 7:29 am | #

Going back to the very dawn of time, when I was of the age to get these frights, I remember being disturbed by a hand holding some kind of stamp which another hand then pounded with a hammer to leave a logo that was something like "Mark IV" at the end of "Dragnet." I thought it had something to do with death. Also some show that opened with a set of doors which opened onto another set of doors which opened onto another...it was like falling into the abyss.

This actually was pretty much the dawn of time, tv-wise: early-to-mid '50s.
Maclin Horton | Homepage | 09.28.06 - 10:46 am | #

Mark VII Limited [CLANK]
And that WAS scary. Especially in black and white.

Come to think of it, the volumes of Corpus Juris Secundum on Perry Mason scared me too, which is probably why I ended up being a lawyer.

And that Clarabell the Clown! Now that was REALLY scary!
Robert N.G. | Homepage | 09.28.06 - 12:30 pm | #

The Mark VII Limited logo was also at the end of The FBI - remember that one, with Efram Zimbalist, Jr? His daughter went on to be cute as a bug in Remington Steele. (SIGH)

My Dad always watched it & I, being 6, wasn't interested. So I'd do something else until The FBI was over & the show I wanted to see was on. But, for some reason, I'd always catch the Mark VII Limited & I never understood what it was supposed to be. My 6 year old understanding of the FBI was that it was guys in suits that caught bad guys, who were always pictured about to go to jail at the end of each episode. So I thought the logo was the bad guys being thrown in jail or something. Scared me to death. I couldn't even look at it. And the sound was horrific!

And, in the color version, wasn't the arm metallic or something? Silver, maybe? Anyone remember?
Gene Branaman | 09.28.06 - 12:48 pm | #

Maclin

The endless corridor of doors was in the opening sequence of Get Smart. One of the best TV shows ever.
Mac in Alberta | 09.28.06 - 1:19 pm | #

Agreed, Mac. Where's the Cone of Silence when you really need it???

What would really be frightening is the door-slamming of the opening sequence in SurroundSound®. BAMMMMMM!

Mark VII was indeed ominous ... like carving an inscription on a tombstone. Eek!
C.J. | 09.28.06 - 2:15 pm | #

I think Maclin is referring to a different show pre-dating Get Smart by a decade.
Robert N.G. | Homepage | 09.28.06 - 2:43 pm | #

Not in my memory banks. But then again, I lived in a culturally deprived area that only had two TV stations. But we DID get The Outer Limits, and that opening sequence was freaky: "There is nothing wrong with your television set"? Yeah, right! Now that was go-hide-behind-the-sofa scary.
C.J. | 09.28.06 - 4:01 pm | #

Right, RNG--a decade at least. And I'm glad (a) somebody else remembers it (I didn't make it up) and (b) somebody else also thought it was scary. Two of you, in fact.

Clarabell and Buffalo Bob--now there's a pair I had forgotten.

Having scored once, let me try again: does anybody else remember a cartoon called Crusader Rabbit? If my memory of the room and the tv set are correct, it would have to have been no later than about 1954 when I saw it. Assuming I didn't imagine it.
Maclin Horton | Homepage | 09.28.06 - 5:18 pm | #

True, Robert, he might be referring to something older than Get Smart. I only had two TV stations in the early to mid-60s, a CBC affiliate and a CTV station. And since I grew up in the Sixties that corridor leading to Control HQ was my first thought. It would only have been evil had it led to KAOS.
I thought, and still do, that Maxwell Smart was a great role model: a hard-working man who never slacked off and always did his best.
Mac in Alberta | 09.28.06 - 5:18 pm | #

Maclin, I remember Crusader Rabbit's existence but I cannot remember any story lines or what it was about, and my memory would have to be 1957 or '58 at the earliest because we didn't have a TV before then. And that was only one station for the first few years.
When we finally got a TV (not the first on the block by any stretch) the store sent a guy over to "install" it.
Mac in Alberta | 09.28.06 - 5:24 pm | #

Speaking of Get Smart, I was in...ahem...high school when that was on. Beyond the childhood fears, and well into full teenage paranoia.

But now I'm wondering if I'm mixing up two memories. Maybe the really early one was only one door, opening onto darkness. Whatever, it scared me.
Maclin Horton | Homepage | 09.28.06 - 5:26 pm | #

Don't know why I didn't think to just google Crusader Rabbit. He was real all right. Well, I mean, the show was real.
Maclin Horton | Homepage | 09.28.06 - 5:29 pm | #

I never found the Screen Gems "S" scary, but I did find the closing credits of "Hogan's Heroes" absolutely frightening. Now I can see that it was Hogan's colonel's hat sitting on top of a German spiked helmet. When I was a kid, it somehow looked like a really - REALLY - scary skull.

At the time I rationalized it by thinking, "that's the studios way of helping us to see, even though the show was funny, the Nazis were really scary and evil."
Tim Ferguson | 09.28.06 - 6:07 pm | #

Rhys, I totally agree on the "Labryinth" scene where she falls down that hole. It gave me the creeps and I really wanted to cry.
Jessica | 09.28.06 - 6:20 pm | #

One that would always get me was the end of Space: 1999.

But how about this classic? I haven't seen a cab look like that in way too many years.
Nightfly | Homepage | 09.28.06 - 7:17 pm | #

Those who are talking about a series prior to "Get Smart" with doors may be thinking about "The Prisoner" with Patrick McGoohan. In any case, as a "child of the 60's" (born in '58) I can't remember anything scary about the Screen Gems logo, which was on a a number of shows in the early-mid 60's (especially the Three Stooges). The only frightening thing I can recall is "The Wizard of Oz", specifically the scene where the Wicked Witch of the West sets the hourglass to define how long Dorothy has to live. That was scary - to me, at least. Everything else - Screen Gems, Viacom, etc., was just a routine part of watching TV. It's hard for me to understand how anyone can say such things were frightening. That's like saying that the "That's Some Bad Hat Harry" clip after "House" is scary. It's certainly possible, but realistically speaking it's not a reasonable fear.
Joey W | 09.28.06 - 9:06 pm | #

What about that freaky-sounding United Artists (UA) intro before "The Pink Panther"? Yikesville!!
A-dub | Homepage | 09.28.06 - 9:39 pm | #

Joey, "The Prisoner" came after "Get Smart."
Dawn Eden | Homepage | 09.28.06 - 11:07 pm | #

"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered."

There was something very, well, AMERICAN about The Prisoner. Dawn is correct about the sequence. The Prisoner was around 69-70 I believe and Get Smart started 65-66.

"I am not a number! I am a FREE MAN!"

Geesh, that was great.
Robert N G | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 8:26 am | #

Actually, Robert, "The Prisoner" was a British show that premiered in 1967. But "No. 6" could be said to have an American spirit, as you say.
Dawn Eden | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 8:43 am | #

All well and good, but I'm more concerned with how Jack Bauer will get away from the Chinese.

But still, "The Prisoner" was cool, even if my mom didn't get it.
C.J. | 09.29.06 - 12:21 pm | #

Oh, I'm well aware it was a British show. Hard to miss that! I haven't seen it in years, but the final two episodes with the magnificent Leo McKern as "The New Number 2" are classics, and about as surreal as tv has ever produced. And those giant bubble guards . . . and Angelo Muscat as the butler.

And after he finally escapes and returns to his apartment, the door closes behind him by itself.

The show itself was a weird sort of sequel to Secret Agent, an earlier MacGoohan favorite. ("Secret A-gent Man! They've given you a number, and taken away your name.")
Robert N.G. | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 4:02 pm | #

Hi Dawn,
I always loved that Screen Gems promo -- especially the cool jingle of sorts. As for "The Ugliest Girl In Town," I just discovered this outstandingly charming theme song today and I've been enjoying it ever since. Small world, eh?
Scott ;-)
Scott Finter | 12.04.06 - 11:48 pm | #

I was a toddler when "The Ugliest Girl In Town" was on the air, so I don't remember it. It does sound like a stupid concept with an awful title. I was surprised to find that it did have a really cool theme song, so I should thank you for that. I would expect no less from Sedaka and Greenfield, though. (That show was not a hit, though--so where did someone find the credits? I can't imagine there would be demand for it on DVD.)
And to follow it up with the S From Hell--urrrgh! It's the creepiest of many creepy production logos of the period. Runners-up: the Mark VII Limited stonecutter's hammer and the early-70s Paramount logo (titled "Closet Killer" for good reason).
Bob Fritz | 02.27.07 - 11:01 pm | #

Just realized that if you spell it backwards, it's "Smeg Neercs"
Anonymous | 05.01.07 - 7:16 pm | #