Celebrity Home Entertainment (also known as simply "Celebrity Video"), founded by Noel C. Bloom in 1985, was a home video distributor specializing in mostly obscure material from around the world, as well as B-grade action films and soft-core adult fare, although they also released some material that was very famous at the time of its original release (such as BraveStarr, Filmation's Ghostbusters, COPS and the G.I. Joe movie).
They were perhaps best known (such as they were) for their "Just For Kids" imprint, primarily featuring animated material broadcast on television in the United States as well as original acquisitions. This imprint distributed various English-dubbed versions of foreign material; their offerings included Japanese anime such as the RAI/TMS joint production, Sherlock Hound and Tottoi (The Secret of the Seal); European productions such as the French animated series Clémentine, the BBC's Postman Pat, Jannik Hastrup's Samson & Sally, Vuk (The Little Fox), Bibifoc (Seabert), and the Dutch-produced The Bluffers; and some Russian cartoons including The Adventures of Buratino (released as "The All New Adventures of Pinocchio") and Maria, Mirabela (released as "Maria & Marabella").
In addition to their animated offerings, the company licensed a share of Japanese Tokusatsu productions (all dubbed by Sandy Frank), including five of the eight entries of Daiei's Gamera films from the Showa era.
However, most of these productions reflected the times, being edited to reflect U.S. broadcast standards. Further, some, though not all TV series releases were edited into 1 or 2 compilation films (ex: the aforementioned Clémentine, plus Wee Wendy (Tongari Boushi no Memoru). Some series were never even finished, and the videos themselves usually only contained select episodes. The Just for Kids videos were hosted by Noel C. Bloom's son.
Celebrity Home Entertainment filed for bankruptcy protection in 1991, and it closed down completely in 2001. All of their releases are now out of print (although some can still be bought new).
Video Celebrity Home Entertainment
Other companies founded by Noel C. Bloom
- Artisan Entertainment - Founded in 1981 as Family Home Entertainment; changed its name to International Video Entertainment (IVE), then changed again to LIVE Entertainment Co., and in 1998, to Artisan. Operating as a subsidiary of Lionsgate as of 2003.
- Caballero Home Video
- Monterey Home Video
Maps Celebrity Home Entertainment
References
External links
- Celebrity Home Entertainment on IMDbPro (subscription required)
- A list of every title the company ever released; also includes non-"Just For Kids" titles (from the Internet Archive)
- Reviews of a number of Just For Kids anime titles (Last updated on October 2010)
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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