FilmFair

FilmFair was an animation studio founded by Gus Jekel in 1959 in Los Angeles, California. In 1968, Jekel had asked Graham Clutterbuck to open an office in Europe, so he opened one in Paris and later moved the office to London. The company's well-known productions over the years include Paddington Bear, Astro Farm, Huxley Pig and The Wombles. In 1987, the company was acquired by Central Independent Television. Central later sold FilmFair to the Storm Group in 1991, and FilmFair's American branch was acquired by AGC (which was purchased by Discovery Communications (now WBD) in 2003). On November 1, 1996, Storm Group sold FilmFair London to the Canada-based CINAR. However, CINAR later got into a financial scandal in 2000, and CINAR was sold to an investor group who changed the name to Cookie Jar Entertainment in 2004. Currently, the FilmFair London library is now owned by WildBrain.

Production LogosFilm Leaders

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1st Logo (February 12, 1968-1976)

Standard LogoLogo Variations

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  The Wombles - "Orinoco And the Big Black Umbrella": The "The End" appears on a piece of paper that blows onto Orinoco, which soon rotates to reveal the logo.
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  The Wombles - "The Rocking Chair": The FilmFair logo appears on a tote bag, with the "FilmFair London" sign on another tote bag next to it on the right.
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  The Wombles - "A Sticky End": The piece of paper from the first episode is seen stuck to Orinoco, although only a close-up of it is seen, unlike the "The End" side of it where it is seen on his back.
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  The Wombles - "Great Uncle Bulgaria's Keep Fit Lesson": The logo appears on a football.
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  The Wombles - "A Safe Place": The logo appears as a hanging sign attached to the Wombles' door as it closes.
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  The Wombles - "Peep-Peep-Peep": Orinoco picks up two pieces of paper - One reading "THE END", the other featuring the FilmFair logo.
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  The Wombles - "The Purple Paw Mystery": The logo appears on a bucket, the same one that Tobermory gets his foot stuck on at the end of the episode.
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  The Wombles - "Bungo's Birthday Party": The logo appears as a fancy paper decoration with a cupcake and a burning candle. This is the first episode where the "THE END" and FilmFair logos appear at the same time.
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  The Wombles - "The Invisible Womble": The two pieces of paper from before appear from under the Wombles' door.
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  The Wombles - "Orinoco Sees The Light": Orinoco picks up a can that reads "THE END", which he then puts into his bag, and then picks up a bottle with the FilmFair logo, which he then puts back as well.

Visuals: On a yellow square, there is a carousel horse and either next to the square or below the square, there are the words "Produced by FilmFair, London" in black. Sometimes, the copyright will be below.

Variants:

• On The Wombles, the logo's appearance varies in every episode, normally depicted as some form of recycled material to fit the show's focus.
• On the Children's ITV airings of The Wombles from 1989, this fades into the 1989 A Central Production for ITV endcap.

Technique: Varies depending on the show - either stop-motion animation, cel-animation, or a still photograph.

Audio: The ending theme of the show or none.

Availability Notes: Seen on most shows from FilmFair produced during this time period such as The Herbs, The Adventures of Parsley, The Wombles, and Paddington Bear, among others.

• They also remain intact on VHS and DVD releases, as it's an in-credit logo.

2nd Logo (March 5, 1997-2002)

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Visuals: On a black background, there is a carousel with blue windows, yellow flags and a red top. "FilmFair" in dark blue letters with sparks around it, appears. "ANIMATION" is under it in a red, green, and blue pattern.

Variants:

• On the remastered version of Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings, a variant featuring a cloud background is used, while the carousel is seen spinning.
• On the 1997 revival of The Wombles, the logo appears in-credit, without the text.
• On The Upstairs Downstairs Bears, the logo is shown below the Imagination Production logo.

Technique: Simple fade transitions, or for the animated variant, simple animation.

Audio: The ending theme of the show or none.

Availability

Edit Table

Media Title	Date of Release	Additional Notes
The Wombles	5 March 1997–10 November 1998	1997 Revival Series, appears in-credit
The Herbs	1968	1997 CINAR Restoration Still logo
Hattytown Tales	1969–1973	1997 CINAR Restoration Still logo
The Adventures of Parsley	1970	1997 CINAR Restoration Still logo
The Wombles	1973–1975	1997 CINAR Restoration
Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings	1974–1976	1997 CINAR Restoration Only known usage of the animated logo
Paddington The Adventures of Paddington	1975–1980	1997 CINAR Restoration
The Perishers	1978–1979	1997 CINAR Restoration
Moschops	1983	1997 CINAR Restoration
The Adventures of Portland Bill	1983	1997 CINAR Restoration
The Shoe People	1987–1993	1997 CINAR Restoration
Bangers and Mash	1988	1997 CINAR Restoration
Huxley Pig	1989–1990	1997 CINAR Restoration
Nellie the Elephant	1990–1991	1997 CINAR Restoration
Rod 'n' Emu	1991	1997 CINAR Restoration
The Gingerbread Man	1992	1997 CINAR Restoration
Astro Farm	1992–1996	1997 CINAR Restoration Only Series 1 was restored.
The Upstairs Downstairs Bears	September 3–December 7, 2001	Appears in-credit

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1st Leader (1970s)

ImagesVideo

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Visuals: A variant of the SMPTE Universal Leader. The "PICTURE START" frame is absent. From seconds 8-4 during the countdown, superimposed over the countdown graphic, the FilmFair carousel horse logo with "FilmFair" below wipes in clockwise. During the 4th second, the logo wipes away clockwise.

Technique: Cel animation.

Audio: The 2-pop beep.

Availability: Can be seen on 16mm prints of commercials from around the time period such as a Rinse Away Dandruff Shampoo commercial.

2nd Leader (1970s-1980s)

LogoGraphicsVideo

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Visuals: A recreation of the SMPTE Universal Leader, with handwritten text and hand-drawn graphics. The countdown sequence also changes colors from salmon to darker green. At the end of the sequence, during the 2-second, it cuts to a white background with "filmfair" zooming out.

Technique: Cel animation.

Audio: The 2-pop beep.

Availability: Seen on 16mm prints of Filmfair productions such as Winter Safety and A Bear Called Paddington.

Final Note

From 1976 to 1997, FilmFair had no logo, instead, an in-credit notice saying either, "A FilmFair Production" or "A FilmFair Presentation".