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Gracie Films animated logo

The Gracie Films logo as it appeared from 1987 to 2009.

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Print logo

Gracie Films is an American film and television production company, created by James L. Brooks in 1986. The company has produced many award-winning films and television series, some of which include Broadcast News and Jerry Maguire, but most notably The Simpsons. The company is primarily associated with film studio, and distributor Sony Pictures Entertainment, but it still has an office at the 20th Century Studios lot due to the indefinite contract Gracie Films has with Fox for 31 years of The Simpsons (and counting).

Its vanity plate is set on a black background with two thick white lines sandwiching it.

It starts off in a movie theater with dimmed lights and a screen in front. The audience is animated and can be seen from the back. As the movie patrons are talking, a woman says "Shh!". Then, the audience becomes silent, and the projector comes on, where "GRACIE FILMS" is seen on a blue background.

The sound of an audience muttering and murmuring is heard, sometimes extended during the logo's early years and on a few early episodes of Weakest Link USA (the American version of the BBC UK game show), followed by a shushing sound effect, and then a 9-note electric piano theme with drums, but on the 1st season of The Tracey Ullman Show and a few early episodes of Weakest Link USA (the American version of the BBC UK game show), the last note of the jingle was extended. The jingle was composed by Jeffrey Townsend, and the "Shh!" was done by Tracey Ullman. The people talking were Jeffrey Townsend and then-CEO of Fox Garth Ancier, double-tracked to sound like more people. The Halloween jingle was composed by Alf Clausen back when he did work on the show.

Some standard and special versions of the company's logo and jingle were made to fit television shows, most notably The Simpsons, which has lots of unique variants, as described below.

Gracie Films was also involved in the making of the majority of the video games, such as The Simpsons Road Rage and Tapped Out.

Variants[]

The Audiovisual Identity Database, formerly known as CLG Wiki, also has a page which lists most sound variants of the logo.

  • Other Variants:
    • An even shorter version is found on the short-lived Phenom, which cuts off the first two notes along with the murmuring and "Shhh!". The jingle is slightly higher toned here.
    • On the webisodes of The Critic, the logo is in the center of the screen, is brighter and blue, and is still. This variant uses the ending theme of the show. A silent version also appears on the digital re-release of The Simpsons Arcade Game, which was only re-released on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network.

It is often speculated that the main chorus of the 1990 song entitled "King of Wishful Thinking" by the British pop band Go West can be heard in this song. This has been fervently denied by some members of the successful pop band, though others have expressed their displeasure.

The company's production office is located in the Sidney Poitier Building on the Sony Pictures Studios lot in Culver City, California.

References in The Simpsons[]

  • Homer Simpson once claimed in his first ramble that he created Gracie Films.[1]
  • In the episode "Moho House", the fourth wall is broken when the Gracie Films logo appears at the end of Homer's flipbook to Marge. This is the second episode to have the Gracie Films logo play within the episode; the first was "You Kent Always Say What You Want".
  • Moe Szyslak even made a reference to Gracie Films whilst singing Barry-Barry Night, a song about Vincent Van Gogh that parodies Don McLean's Vincent, during the end credits of Now Museum, Now You Don't. "Now the show is done, Except the part where the chick goes 'Shhh!' But no-one ever obeys her. Cos really, what's she shushin' for?"

Gallery[]

Animation Production Manager/Coordinator for Gracie Films[]

Executive In Charge of Production for Gracie Films[]

Executive Vice President for Gracie Films[]

Notable TV series and films[]

  • The Tracey Ullman Show (1987-1990)
  • Broadcast News (1987)
  • Big (1988)
  • Say Anything (1989)
  • The Simpsons (1989-present)
  • War of the Roses (1989)
  • Sibs (1991-1992)
  • Phenom (1993-1994)
  • The Critic (1994-1995)
  • I'll Do Anything (1994)
  • Jerry Maguire (1996)
  • The Daytrippers (1996)
  • Bottle Rocket (1996)
  • As Good as It Gets (1997)
  • Riding in Cars with Boys (2001)
  • What About Joan? (2001-2002)
  • Weakest Link USA (2001-2003)
  • Spanglish (2004)
  • The Simpsons Movie (2007)

External Links[]

Citations[]

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