Celebrity Home Entertainment

Celebrity Home Entertainment (also known as "Celebrity Home Video", and simply "Celebrity Video") was a home video distributor specializing in mostly obscure material from around the world, although they also released some material that was very famous at the time of its original release (such as BraveStarr, Filmation's Ghostbusters, C.O.P.S. and the G.I. Joe movie). They were perhaps best known (such as they were) for their "Just For Kids" imprint, featuring animated material broadcast in the United States, but also featuring original acquisitions such as the French animated series Clémentine, BBC's Postman Pat, and various English-dubbed versions of Japanese anime. It should be noted however, that most such productions of the latter 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" [original title: Tongari Boushi no Memoru] ). Some series were never even finished, and the videos themselves usually only contained select episodes.

In 1987, the company launched a short film found at the beginning (or possibly the end) of its Just for Kids tapes. In it, three kids are seen playing with toys in their backyard while a fourth searches through his VHS collection (all from the company) in the living room. When he finds the tape he wants, he puts the tape in the VCR, then heads back to his couch. At this point the logo for Celebrity Home Entertainment (consisting of the word "Celebrity" in a cursive font and colored pink over a black/blue gradient background, along with the words "Home Entertainment" in Arial font and colored white) appears in animated form on the TV. It then cuts back to the kids in the backyard, who then run into what appears to be a small hallway, peeking into the living room, at which point, the boy says "Hey, look what Celebrity's doing Just for Kids!". The other kids then sit on the couch and watch TV, at which point the logo zooms in to the viewer, and the rest of the animation continues as normal. It is not known where in America the clip was made, though Northern or Central California may be the most logical. This clip featured the founder's son, Noel Bloom, Jr in their living room. Many of the videos also have bookends featuring Noel Jr. introducing the video, and demonstrating the tracking adjustment on your VCR should it become necessary, as well as introducing a clip section at the end of the video featuring clips from other "Just For Kids" titles.

According to this [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=9th&navby=case&no=9855282] document, the company filed for bankruptcy protection in 1991 and closed down completely in 1997. Today, all of their releases are now out of print (although some can still be bought new), and the company no longer exists.

External links

* [http://www.littleman.com/movies/studios/movies-by-studio-Celebrity-Home-Entertainment,-Inc.-1.html A list of every title the company ever released; also includes non-"Just For Kids" titles.]
* [http://www.anime-games.co.uk/retro.php Reviews of a number of Just For Kids anime titles.]