The George Burns And Gracie Allen Show Right Holders? (1 Viewer)

[Jim TV]

Hey everybody. As far The Burns And Allen Show and Sony, that information about copyright renewal came from a Sony Corp spokesperson in Los Angeles in 2010 to a colleague of mine in the media. He was questioning if these 239 episodes that were, and still are, licensed to The Amte

He was questioning if these 239 episodes that were, and still are, licensed to The Antenna Network along with several other Sony series that were unedited, going to be restored to full length. The answer from the rep was, "No. Why should we bother restoring Burns and Allen? They're public domain anyway." That was a good enough source for us. As far the Crosby-Philco Show and tape, that came directly from Les Paul. I pressed him on the year. I thought it was 1946. He stuck to his guns that it was '49. He said those people from Ampex who worked with Bing sold him, or gave him, the same equipment that ABC installed for Crosby in
their Hollywood studios into his home to play with!! That's the reel to reel decks that he invented stereo recording on. I interviewed him in 1999. He invited me to his house in New Jersey and regret not going. He was close with Bing as he was with George Burns. That's how I was introduced to Les. He was in his 80s but why should I believe otherwise? He was there.

 

[John Karras]

He was in his 80s but why should I believe otherwise? He was there.

Because memory plays tricks over time, as evidenced by many Archive of American Television interviews with actors and producers who "were there", but have to be corrected on years events took place in the interest of historical accuracy. This article supports consistent evidence that the year was actually 1947
http://ethw.org/First-Hand:Bing_Crosby_and_the_Recording_Revolution

 

[Mark McFurbin]

He was questioning if these 239 episodes that were, and still are, licensed to The Antenna Network along with several other Sony series that were unedited, going to be restored to full length. The answer from the rep was, "No. Why should we bother restoring Burns and Allen? They're public domain anyway." That was a good enough source for us. As far the Crosby-Philco Show and tape, that came directly from Les Paul. I pressed him on the year. I thought it was 1946. He stuck to his guns that it was '49. He said those people from Ampex who worked with Bing sold him, or gave him, the same equipment that ABC installed for Crosby in
their Hollywood studios into his home to play with!! That's the reel to reel decks that he invented stereo recording on. I interviewed him in 1999. He invited me to his house in New Jersey and regret not going. He was close with Bing as he was with George Burns. That's how I was introduced to Les. He was in his 80s but why should I believe otherwise? He was there.

Well I'm sorry but your friend was either misunderstanding what he thought he heard or misinformed. I can't imagine anyone at Sony saying that. Sounds made up to me. I can post all of the renewals on here if you'd like?

AntennaTV and Me-TV (when they were airing it) most definitely licensed them from Sony and were not running them as PD. You can see at the end of every episode that airs the Sony logo after the credits.

 

[Jim TV]

Well I'm sorry but your friend was either misunderstanding what he thought he heard or misinformed. I can't imagine anyone at Sony saying that. Sounds made up to me. I can post all of the renewals on here if you'd like?

AntennaTV and Me-TV (when they were airing it) most definitely licensed them from Sony and were not running them as PD. You can see at the end of every episode that airs the Sony logo after the credits.

This is a fantastic article. All I'm repeating is what Les told me. It may be in the interview I did with him. We met many times and I would ask him about anything and he was very open and 'with it' for his age. He made it sound like Crosby's team had a lot of problems with tape at first and it took them a couple years for it to work. He stressed this as if he had been asked about the development process many times and everyone got it wrong. He also hinted that, as he saw it, Crosby's team was embarrassed by these problems and that it took longer to properly function and pass for high quality. Or maybe Bing thought it was taking too long. He was friends with Crosby but I don't know if he had much interaction beyond McKenzie and John Scott Trotter and his band. And I'd like to see these renewals from Sony about The Burns and Allen Show. I don't know why this rep would tell another professional something like that but to me I can understand it. Most industry people don't care about this older material. The calm was they possessed masters from Columbia Pictures and broadcasting over cable outlets was as far as they would go. No restoration plans, no home video release. For six years hes been right. I do hope he was wrong.

 

[Neil Brock]

A simple quick check of random titles at the Library of Congress website shows that the filmed Burns and Allen episodes had their copyrights renewed by Columbia when their initial 28 year registrations expired. Hearsay doesn't stand up to actual facts (unless you happen to be running for political office).

 

[Jim TV]

A simple quick check of random titles at the Library of Congress website shows that the filmed Burns and Allen episodes had their copyrights renewed by Columbia when their initial 28 year registrations expired. Hearsay doesn't stand up to actual facts (unless you happen to be running for political office).

 

[Jim TV]

All right. This is my final say on the matter. The person my partner spoke to in 2010 was a vice president at Sony. I'm not repeating his name. This rights problem at the time had to do with Sony. It had nothing to do with anything in the past with Columbia/Screen Gems, Colex or whoever. This is what he heard, this is what he was told. Perhaps Sony needed to renew the copyrights again. I don't know. Contact Sony and see if the situation has changed.

 

[Neil Brock]

All right. This is my final say on the matter. The person my partner spoke to in 2010 was a vice president at Sony. I'm not repeating his name. This rights problem at the time had to do with Sony. It had nothing to do with anything in the past with Columbia/Screen Gems, Colex or whoever. This is what he heard, this is what he was told. Perhaps Sony needed to renew the copyrights again. I don't know. Contact Sony and see if the situation has changed.

Or more likely you are misinformed. Go to the LOC. You can believe what someone said, I'll believe what I can see with my own eyes.

 

[Garysb]

Unaired Burns and Allen pilot posted on Youtube.
I know nothing about the copyright status of the Burns and Allen Show but the copyright law in effect at the time the show was produced said that all copyrights were for 28 years and were renewable for another 28 years. The last Burns and Allen show aired in 1958 and would have had to been renewed in 1986, each earlier season one year earlier, so nothing to do with the 1990's. Later law removed the renewal requirement and extended the copyright protection so that currently anything protected since 1929 is still protected if it was renewed when renewal was necessary.



Here is an episode of the George Burns Show an attempt to continue the show without Gracie. Same characters just a change in setting and no Gracie. It lasted one season.

 

[Neil Brock]

All right. This is my final say on the matter. The person my partner spoke to in 2010 was a vice president at Sony. I'm not repeating his name. This rights problem at the time had to do with Sony. It had nothing to do with anything in the past with Columbia/Screen Gems, Colex or whoever. This is what he heard, this is what he was told. Perhaps Sony needed to renew the copyrights again. I don't know. Contact Sony and see if the situation has changed.

In the words of Robin Williams from Awakenings, I would agree with you if you were right.