Other Variations
Sometime in the 1950s the logo was replaced with a card saying, This Program Is Being Televised In COLOR And Black And White.
In the NBC fall preview for special for 1965, the peacock introduction began as normal with announcer Mel Brandt's standard introduction, but when the peacock fades, Brandt says "It just starts in black and white!" This is because the special begins with almost the complete pre-title teaser of Get Smart's pilot episode, which was shot in B&W.
In 1967, NBC was the first American TV network to show The Beatles' film A Hard Day's Night, but as it was filmed in black and white, NBC had to temporarily replace the peacock: A caption showing I Dream of Jeannie and The Jerry Lewis Show is pushed off the screen by an animated top-hatted penguin waddling on-screen and flapping its flightless wings (imitating the peacock), accompanied by announcer Mel Brandt drolly saying "I Dream of Jeannie and The Jerry Lewis Show will not be seen tonight. Instead... (music cue) The following very, very special program is brought to you in lively black and white, on NBC." At the end of this the penguin takes off its top hat and unzips its chest. The Beatles jump out, performing, then run away chased by fans.
In 1968, an episode of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In started with the 1965 peacock logo. At the very end of the logo, the peacock sneezes, sending its feathers flying off-screen. This clip was later re-used in 1985 to open an episode of TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes starring Dick Clark & Ed McMahon. The sneezing peacock was only an animation added onto the end of the original clip of the 1965 peacock because the peacock's feathers became brighter when he sneezed.
In 1993, NBC commissioned several artists (such as Al Hirschfeld, Peter Max, John Kricfalusi, J.J. Sedelmeier, Joan C. Gratz, and Mark Malmberg) to devise personal variations of the peacock for promotional use. However, the Gratz bumper was first used in 1992. Animated versions of the Hirschfeld, Sedelmeier, Gratz, and Kricfalusi peacocks acted as stings. Also, the Hirschfeld, Kricfalusi, Gratz, Sedelmeier, and Malmberg peacocks continue to air until 2002.
The current peacock logo was also used as a part of a sketch on Late Night with Conan O'Brien during the first few seasons.
Chermayeff & Geismar's book Identify includes the original sketches for the current peacock logo.
Read more about this topic: NBC Logos
Famous quotes containing the word variations:
“I may be able to spot arrowheads on the desert but a refrigerator is a jungle in which I am easily lost. My wife, however, will unerringly point out that the cheese or the leftover roast is hiding right in front of my eyes. Hundreds of such experiences convince me that men and women often inhabit quite different visual worlds. These are differences which cannot be attributed to variations in visual acuity. Man and women simply have learned to use their eyes in very different ways.”
—Edward T. Hall (b. 1914)