Television Programs of America, Inc (TPA) was a New York-based US television production company in the 1950s. TPA had a Canadian subsidiary, Normandie Productions.
This television production and distribution company was best known for Fury, King of the Wild Stallions (1955-1960).
The company was created in 1952 as a partnership between Chicago lawyer (movie financing) Milton Gordon and film producers Edward Small and Leon Fromkess. [1]
The company often worked in association with the British production and distribution company ITC and its sister ITV company Associated TeleVision.
TPA also worked with Jack Wrather's companies Wrather-Alvarez Broadcasting, later Jack Wrather Productions, which held the rights to Lassie and The Lone Ranger .
In September 1958, Independent Television Corporation (a joint venture of Jack Wrather and the British Incorporated Television Company (ITC) purchased TPA for $11,350,000. Wrather later (1960?) sold his shares of Independent Television Corporation to ITC.
TPA and Normandie productions included: [2]
Associated Television was the original name of the British broadcaster ATV, part of the Independent Television (ITV) network. It provided a service to London at weekends from 1955 to 1968, to the Midlands on weekdays from 1956 to 1968, and to the Midlands all week from 1968 to 1982. It was one of the "Big Four" until 1968, and the "Big Five" after 1968, that between them produced the majority of ITV networked programmes. In 1982, ATV was restructured and rebranded as Central Independent Television, under which name it continued to provide the service for the Midlands.
PolyGram N.V. was a multinational entertainment company and major music record label formerly based in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1962 as the Grammophon-Philips Group by Dutch corporation Philips and German corporation Siemens, to be a holding for their record companies, and was renamed "PolyGram" in 1972. The name was chosen to reflect the Siemens interest Polydor Records and the Philips interest Phonogram Records. The company traced its origins through Deutsche Grammophon back to the inventor of the flat disc gramophone, Emil Berliner.
Lew Grade, Baron Grade, was a British media proprietor and impresario. Originally a dancer, and later a talent agent, Grade's interest in television production began in 1954 when, in partnership, he successfully bid for franchises in the newly created ITV network, which led to the creation of Associated Television (ATV). Having worked for a time in the United States, he was aware of the potential for the sale of television programming to American networks. The Incorporated Television Company was formed with this specific objective in mind. Grade had some success in this field with such series as Gerry Anderson's many Supermarionation series such as Thunderbirds, Patrick McGoohan's The Prisoner, and Jim Henson's The Muppet Show. Later, Grade invested in feature film production, but several expensive box-office failures caused him to lose control of ITC, and ultimately resulted in the disestablishment of ATV after it lost its ITV franchise.
Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment was an American production company located in New York City, and known for its seasonal television specials, usually done in stop motion animation. Rankin/Bass' stop-motion productions are recognizable by their visual style of doll-like characters with spheroid body parts and ubiquitous powdery snow using an animation technique called "Animagic". Often, traditional cel animation scenes of falling snow would be projected over the action to create the effect of a snowfall.
PolyGram Filmed Entertainment was a British film studio founded in 1979 which became a European competitor to Hollywood, but was eventually sold to Seagram Company Ltd. in 1998 and was folded in 1999. Among its most successful and well known films were An American Werewolf in London (1981), Flashdance (1983), Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Dead Man Walking (1995), The Big Lebowski (1998), Fargo (1996), The Usual Suspects (1995), The Game (1997) and Notting Hill (1999).
John Devereaux Wrather Jr., was an entrepreneur and petroleum businessman who became a television producer and later diversified by investing in broadcast stations and resort properties. He is best known for producing The Lone Ranger, Sergeant Preston of the Yukon, and Lassie television series in the 1950s as well as marrying actress Bonita Granville.
Interscope Communications was a motion picture production company founded in 1982 by Ted Field. It soon became a division of PolyGram Filmed Entertainment.
The Incorporated Television Company (ITC), or ITC Entertainment as it was referred to in the United States, was a British company involved in production and distribution of television programmes.
Cannonball is a British/Canadian adventure drama series starring Paul Birch and William Campbell, and aired on CBC Television in Canada, ABC Weekend TV in the United Kingdom, and in syndication in the United States. Produced by Normandie Productions and ITC Entertainment, the series' interiors were filmed at Canadian Film Industries Limited, a studio in Canada. Exteriors were shot in and around Toronto.
Interpol Calling was a 1959 Rank Organisation and Jack Wrather Productions British television crime drama series for ITC Entertainment. The programme, which ran for one series of 39 half-hour monochrome episodes, followed the adventures of Interpol policemen Duval and Mornay as they fought against international drug-running, homicide, robbery and forgery.
New York Confidential is a British-American crime drama series that aired from 1958 to 1959.
Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC), originally British International Pictures (BIP), was a British film production, distribution and exhibition company active from 1927 until 1970 when it was absorbed into EMI. ABPC also owned approximately 500 cinemas in Britain by 1943, and in the 1950s and 60s owned a station on the ITV television network. The studio was partly owned by Warner Bros. from about 1940 until 1969; the American company also owned a stake in ABPC's distribution arm, Warner-Pathé, from 1958. It formed one half of a vertically integrated film industry duopoly in Britain with the Rank Organisation.
Nestor Montague "Monty" Berman was a British cinematographer and film and television producer.
Fury is an American western television series that aired on NBC from 1955 to 1960. It stars Peter Graves as Jim Newton, who operates the Broken Wheel Ranch in California; Bobby Diamond as Jim's adopted son, Joey Clark Newton, and William Fawcett as ranch hand Pete Wilkey. Roger Mobley co-starred in the two final seasons as Homer "Packy" Lambert, a friend of Joey's.
The Financial Interest and Syndication Rules, widely known as the fin-syn rules, were a set of rules imposed by the Federal Communications Commission in the United States in 1970. The FCC sought to prevent the Big Three television networks from monopolizing the broadcast landscape by preventing them from owning any of the programming that they aired in prime time. The rules also prohibited networks from airing syndicated programming they had a financial stake in. The rules also led to the networks spun-off their syndicated divisions, like CBS' CBS Enterprises was later renamed as Viacom in 1971 and later spun-off, ABC's ABC Films was sold to its five executives and later renamed as Worldvision Enterprises and NBC's syndicated division NBC Films was later sold to National Telefilm Associates for $7.5 million, both occurred in March 1973.
Sidney Henry Cole was a British film and television producer. Earlier in his career he worked as a film editor.
The Best of the Post is a syndicated anthology drama television series adapted from stories published in the Saturday Evening Post magazine. It was produced by John J. Enders and hosted by John Conte. A total of 26 half-hour episodes, all in color, aired from 1960 to 1961 with stars that included Marie Windsor, Pat O'Brien, Charles Coburn, Peter Lorre, Bonita Granville, Buddy Ebsen, and Vincent Price.
Jerry Leider is an American producer of both feature films and television programs. He has also worked as a senior executive at studios, television networks and talent agencies.
This is a timeline of the history of the former British television broadcaster ATV. It provided the ITV service for London at weekends and the Midlands on weekdays from 1955 to 1968, and for the Midlands all week from 1968 to 1982.