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According to MSNBC:
Quote:
NBC Universal President and Chief Operating Officer Ron Meyer says 40,000 to 50,000 videos and reels were damaged in the video vault, but there are duplicates in a different location.
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One shudders to think what could have been (was?) lost.
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Re: Universal Fire
From what is being report:
" massive fire at Universal Studios in California destroyed the building housing the King Kong exhibit and damaged a video library vault, officials said today. The blaze also destroyed the courthouse square from "Back to the Future,"
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Re: Universal Fire
Quote:
| The studio's film vault, which is lined in concrete and lead and contains irreplaceable film negatives, was not affected. |
Fire rages at Universal Studios - Entertainment News, Film News, Media - Variety
Quote:
| "Fortunately, nothing irreplaceable was lost," said Ron Meyer, CEO of Universal Studios. "The video library was affected and damaged, but our main vault of our motion picture negatives was not." |
Universal Studios blaze burns sets, video vault - CNN.com
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Re: Universal Fire
Vivendi Universal Music also owns the Motown back catalogue.
This is horrifying news. When I heard of this I feared something would be lost.
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Re: Universal Fire
You'd think that this sort of thing would've stopped by now with today's technology. When I think of all the great stuff lost in various vault fires over the years:
The 1937 Fox vault fire (many Fox silents lost, including Theda Bara's
Cleopatra)
The 1967 MGM vault fire (in which the last known copy of Lon Chaney's
London After Midnight was destroyed, with at least one fatality)
The 1978 Atlantic Records vault fire (many raw session tapes and unreleased masters from 1947 to the early 70s were lost, including works by the likes of Ray Charles, The Drifters, and Aretha Franklin- the finished LP and single masters were kept in a separate facility)
It really makes a grown man cry.
Here's an article that will shock a lot of you:
Bill's award winning "vault" piece
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Re: Universal Fire
scary to hear about the music stuff. Hope it's not true
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Re: Universal Fire
From over in the TV thread.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Corey3rd
reports are now that UMG had moved their Masters from that vault so that nothing was lost. Hits magazine has posted:
MASTERS NOT DESTROYED BY UNIVERSAL FIRE: Reports that this weekend’s fire on the Universal Studios back lot destroyed a video vault which housed thousands of original Decca, MCA and ABC recording masters, including a wide range of music from Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters to Judy Garland and the Carpenters, are unfounded. A UMG spokesperson insists: "Thankfully, there was little lost from UMG's vault. A majority of what was formerly stored there was moved earlier this year to our other facilities. Of the small amount that was still there and waiting to be moved, it had already been digitized so the music will still be around for many years to come. And in addition to being digitized, physical back-up copies of what was still left at that location were made and stored elsewhere." (6/2a)
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Re: Universal Fire
Well at least the studios are learning from the past and making backup copies. Still, there's nothing like the original source material. While the Atlantic Records catalog from the 40s-70s is practically complete, it would've been great to hear the unreleased music and stereo multi-tracks that were lost in the 1970s fire.
Bring "The continuing story of PEYTON PLACE" home on DVD: the one that started it all- from Dallas and Dynasty to Desperate Housewives and Gossip Girl!!! Starting this May, see the legendary saga starring Mia Farrow, Ryan O'Neal, Barbara Parkins, and Oscar-winner Dorothy Malone on DVD thru Shout!...
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Re: Universal Fire
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Charles Ellis
Well at least the studios are learning from the past and making backup copies. Still, there's nothing like the original source material. While the Atlantic Records catalog from the 40s-70s is practically complete, it would've been great to hear the unreleased music and stereo multi-tracks that were lost in the 1970s fire.
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The Atlantic fire, I think, is one of the great cultural and historical losses of our times. The unreleased music plus the studio byplay and alternate takes and sessions that are forever gone...the sense of loss is almost unimaginable and unbearable.
It also makes one think, when future generations look back at us, what will they shake their heads over, about what will they say "What were they thinking? Didn't they realize?..."
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Re: Universal Fire
Well, some stuff has been saved: individual artists and producers kept copies of items that were destroyed in the fire. Some alternate takes and chatter from sessions made by Ray Charles and The Coasters have been put out on CD. Futhermore, legendary songwriter/producer Jeff Barry produced an album ("Faithful") for Dusty Springfield in 1970/71: some singles were put out, but the project was scrapped when the singles failed to chart and Dusty moved on to ABC Records. The complete album was assumed lost until shortly before Ms. Springfield's death in 1999 when Jeff Barry provided Rhino Records with his personal copy of the finished songs. Most of the recovered Springfield/Barry tracks are on CD in the Deluxe Edition of Dusty In Memphis, and some other tracks are part of the CD release of A Brand New Me.
Bring "The continuing story of PEYTON PLACE" home on DVD: the one that started it all- from Dallas and Dynasty to Desperate Housewives and Gossip Girl!!! Starting this May, see the legendary saga starring Mia Farrow, Ryan O'Neal, Barbara Parkins, and Oscar-winner Dorothy Malone on DVD thru Shout!...
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Re: Universal Fire
What is strange though, is whenever you hear about music box sets being created, the producers always talk about how they track down the original analogue tapes, then bake them in ovens to make them capable of being played, and then they copy them using the finest azimuth adjustment possible onto whatever is the latest digital technology. It takes a lot of money, time, and care. Sometimes they take weeks to find the same model recorder/playback device that the reels were originally laid down with. Yet now Universal says "we did all that". Color me skeptical, because I've never read a story where the producer of a box set says "Yeah, it was easy to make this box set because Universal had already made digital backups. I just sat at my computer at home, and was done in a week."
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Re: Universal Fire
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Dan1
Why do you think they will never be printed again?
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I can think of two reasons:
—The repertory market is minimal.
—Many of these titles are obscure.
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Re: Universal Fire
But would studio/rental prints (which by definition are covered in handling crap) be used for striking DVD masters? Agreed, the loss of such prints is a blow to film societies, but I wouldn't be too sure about the effect on DVD releases - remember that prints can be sourced from anywhere in the world, and in the past (so I've been led to believe) Universal has sourced DVD releases from the UK and Europe, with the BBC and BFI involved in restoration of movies including the RKO Fred Astaire musicals.
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