Marian Rees Associates

Background

Marian Rees (born October 31, 1927) is a television producer. Spending her life in Iowa, she moved to Los Angeles in 1952 to pursue her television career as a receptionist. By 1955, she joined the production company Tandem Productions, and in 1958 served as an associate producer on An Evening With Fred Astaire, which was a highly praised television program on NBC, winning 9 Emmy awards in 1959. However in 1972, Rees was told by Tandem that she would be happier elsewhere. While most thought it was a big blow, Rees explained that she used the firing to grow her career. Around the same year, Rees assumed a position at Tomorrow Entertainment, where she broadened her knowledge of television production, where she was associated with a numerous amount of quality productions, including The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. Rees later spent 2 years with the NRW Company as vice president and executive producer of The Marva Collins Story, a Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation. In 1982, Marian Rees Associates was founded, later for Rees to be joined by Anne Hopkins, who has worked with her ever since. Going through financial pressure, Rees was pushing her first true production, Miss All-American Beauty, to gain network approval from NBC, however the show was rejected by the male executive which just didn't want to trust a woman, as Rees found out. Not long after, the production was picked up by CBS, in which Rees continued the project under budget. In the later years Rees ended up winning 11 Emmy awards.

You can read more about Marian Rees' career and the list of productions she was involved in at the website for the Museum of Broadcasting Communications.

1st Logo (December 27, 1982-April 25, 1988)

Visuals: On a black background, there is a white octagon with a red filling. An abstract "M" is shown messing up the shape, with an abstract "R" under it. "MARTIN REES ASSOCIATES, INC." is seen below.

Variant: On Foxfire, the logo is on a blue background with no text.

Technique: A still printed image.

Audio: None or the closing theme of the program.

Availability: Can be seen on Marian Rees's productions from the time period.

2nd Logo (December 3, 1989-December 3, 2000)

Visuals: On a brownish-grey gradient background, there is a nearly completed octagon in a white-black gradient zoom out. As the shape finishes zooming out, the bottom sides of the octagon begin to extend outward, curve and meet each other, forming an M. An R shape in a red-pinkish gradient forms below the M and in the gap of the octagon shape. Then, the text "A MARTIN REES ASSOCIATES PRODUCTION" zooms in below the logo.

Variants:

Sometimes, the text will fade in instead of zooming in.
Sometimes, the text will just say "Marian Rees Associates".
Videotaped and filmed versions of this logo exist.
A widescreen version of this logo exists.

Technique: Computer animation.

Audio: A high string note, followed by a "whoosh" sound followed by electronic chimes. Otherwise, it's the closing theme of the program, or none.

Availability: Can be seen on Marian Rees's productions from the time period, such as For the Love of Aaron, Is There Life Out There?, When the Vows Break, and Disney's Ruby Bridges.