[78-L] So what? was Re: Warner Home Video to release Shorts via Archive Series

[Bud Black]

Now just a minute, old boy!  You can trash Alfalfa, and you can trash Spanky
McFarland and maybe even Buckwheat, but when you pick on the Stooges you're
pickin' on the fightin' side of me.

Bud  
 
-------Original Message-------
 
From: David Lennick
Date: 9/1/2009 5:49:14 PM
To: 78-L Mail List
Subject: [78-L] So what? was Re: Warner Home Video to release Shorts via
Archive Series
 
Big deal. I saw enough Our Gang and Little Rascals on afternoon TV in the
50s
to last me a lifetime. I have absolutely no nostalgic pangs for that stuff.
am
I the only one who couldn't care less about them or the Three Stooges? I
realize that's what sells, but boy it would be nice to have more Vitaphones,
Robert Benchley shorts (okay, I already have a disc of those) and stuff with
a
little creativity to it.
 
dl
 
Steve Ramm wrote:
> Just read this article in trade magazine. They discuss Our Gang but looks
like VITAPHONES could be coming this way too! Note George Feltenstein
mentioning that many of the shorts are ones they've put in as bonus features

>
>
> Steve
>
>
> Warner adds shorts, TV series to MOD DVD
> PHYSICAL: Our Gang first in studio's new Archive Collection categories
> By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 8/31/2009
> AUG. 31 | PHYSICAL: Warner Archive Collection is launching two new
categories, classic theatrical shorts collections and TV DVD.
>
> Much of this shorts content, with its limited mass merchant appeal, has
been seen on DVDs only in bits and pieces as bonus features. But Warner Home
Video is taking advantage of the Archive’s efficient manufacturing-on-demand
business model to roll out whole collections of theatrical shorts for the
first time, starting with this week’s release of a 52-episode, five-disc set
of Our Gang.
>
> These shorts, starring famous kid characters Spanky and Alfalfa, were
released by MGM during big-screen news reels between 1938 and 1944. They
shouldn’t be confused with the Little Rascals TV series, which starred the
same actors and featured similar story lines but was controlled by different
rights holders. Genius Products has streeted many Little Rascals content on
DVD already.
>
> The Our Gang set is priced at $49.95, but will be offered at $35 during
its first week on sale. It will kick off planned monthly installments of one
to two theatrical shorts collections on Warner’s MOD service.
>
> “We have 3,000 shorts, but we’ve released less than 200 on DVD, and only
as enhanced content,” said George Feltenstein, Warner senior VP of
theatrical catalog. “It would be hard to know where to put this [material]
in stores. But the Archive can target the consumer who loves it. We’re
taking advantage of the opportunities the Archive business model provides.”
>
> Also now available are Warner Archive’s first TV movies, 1973’s Don’t Be
Afraid of the Dark, 1974’s Bad Ronald and 1978’s The Bermuda Depths. These
campy favorites, which all first aired on ABC, are new to DVD. Episodic TV
will be added shortly to the Archive, Feltenstein said.
>
> “Consumers have been asking for these [films], and they were out on VHS
but never on DVD,” he said. “They’ve been out of legitimate view for a long
time.”
>
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