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We’re not able to have the change of pace and tone that we had when we could have had Thomas Hardy and Balzac and then had Lord Peter Wimsey. I tell you one thing that makes life a little more difficult in choosing was since the arrival of Mystery. Mobil spent 2.3 million in 1979 and 3.2 million in 1980 toward the shows it sponsored on PBS, including for the kickoff of Mystery! Not everyone was especially enthusiastic over the genre division between Masterpiece Theater and Mystery! Then Masterpiece Theater host Alistair Cooke initially bemoaned the loss of the crime genre: By 1979, WGBH was bringing in a diverse array of British programming, to the point that Mobil saw an advantage to creating a unique time slot for the crime/police drama genre. Mobil Oil was already the underwriter for Masterpiece Theater and had seen success with high-profile British series, including The Six Wives of Henry VIII and Elizabeth R.
#EDWARD GOREY MASTERPIECE SKULL SERIES#
In 1979 Mobil Oil head of corporate affairs Herb Schmertz offered the idea of an all-British crime series show to WGBH manager Henry Becton. Mystery! was the second British anthology to come to WGBH Boston after Masterpiece Theatre. The Mystery! version still features the Gorey/Lamb characters. Each opening fades in and out of scenes of popular characters from each series. Today, the Masterpiece opening sequence is almost identical across the sub-brands. For the Hillerman episodes, the American flag was worked into the opening title sequence. Over time, the sequence became more streamlined, shorter, and slightly more colorful. The scenes include a formal ball, a crowd of umbrella-toting funeral attendants, three investigators, a croquet game in the rain, and a moaning damsel in various scenes of distress. It consisted of a non-linear series of animated period country house tableaux. The Lamb/Gorey sequence has changed several times since 1980. So Derek Lamb or somebody concocted the final scenario and I had very little to do with it.
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When we first started talking about it, I gave them a scenario for the credits, but they said, 'Thank you, very much, dear, but this will take half an hour.' I told them it wouldn’t if they put in on at a reasonable rate of speed, but they didn’t seem to care for that idea very much. Gorey, known for his eccentric and stubborn nature, recounted: Because executive producer Joan Wilson was looking for a 75-second sequence, Gorey was eventually asked to hand over the drawings and allow animators to use his work as inspiration. Gorey’s first attempt at creating a storyboard of the opening was estimated to run 10 minutes. A PBS veteran, animator Lamb had also created programming for series like Sesame Street, The Electric Company, and The Great American Dream Machine. Mystery! is noted for its animated opening and closing title sequences with original drawings created by cartoonist Edward Gorey and animated by Eugene Federenko, Derek Lamb, and Janet Perlman, with music by Normand Roger.
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1 Edward Gorey, Derek Lamb, and the Mystery! opening sequenceĮdward Gorey, Derek Lamb, and the Mystery! opening sequence.In 2008 PBS combined Mystery! with its predecessor Masterpiece Theatre under the umbrella title Masterpiece, which includes the sub-brands Masterpiece Classic, Masterpiece Mystery!, and Masterpiece Contemporary. In 2002, due to pressure to include more American material, a series based on the novels of US mystery writer Tony Hillerman was produced, but the vast majority of Mystery! programming has always been and continues to be British literary adaptations co-produced with UK-based production companies. From 1980-2006, Mystery! aired mostly British crime series purchased from or co-produced with the BBC or ITV and adapted from British mystery fiction. The series was created as a mystery, police and crime drama spin-off of the already established PBS show Masterpiece Theatre. Mystery! (also written MYSTERY!) is a television anthology series produced by WGBH Boston for PBS in the United States. (component programs produced by various entities including the BBC and ITV operators)