U.M. & M. TV Corporation
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Media, Film distribution, Television syndication |
| Predecessor | United Film Service, MPA TV (Motion Picture Advertising Service), Minot T.V. |
| Founded | 1954 |
| Fate | Acquired by National Telefilm Associates in 1956 |
| Headquarters | United States |
Key people | Matty Fox (Motion Pictures for Television) |
| Products | Short films, animated shorts, television programs |
U.M. & M. TV Corporation was a U.S.-based media firm recognized for purchasing short films and animated shorts produced by Paramount Pictures before October 1950, with the exception of the Popeye and Superman series. The acronym stands for United Film Service, MPA TV (Motion Picture Advertising Service) located in New Orleans, and Minot T.V.
In October 1954, these three entities merged to form U.M. & M., shifting their focus from creating television commercials to film acquisition. Matty Fox, who led Motion Pictures for Television, entered into a decade-long sub-distribution contract with U.M. & M.
While U.M. & M. oversaw the physical distribution of television programs such as Paris Precinct and Sherlock Holmes, the syndication sales were managed by Guild Films.
Deals
In 1955, Paramount Pictures divested its collection of short subjects, cartoons, and select feature films including Max Fleischer's Gulliver's Travels and Mr. Bug Goes to Town. Alfred W. Schwalberg, a former Paramount sales executive, represented U.M. & M., which purchased approximately 1,600 short films for $3.5 million on December 28, 1955.
The acquisition encompassed nearly all Paramount content produced before October 1950 except for the Popeye cartoons—sold separately to Associated Artists Productions and currently owned by Warner Bros. through Turner Entertainment Co.—and the Superman cartoons, whose rights reverted to National Periodical Publications (DC Comics).
Included in the purchase were numerous live-action shorts featuring entertainers such as Burns and Allen, Robert Benchley, W. C. Fields, Jack Benny, alongside musical acts like Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, and Louis Armstrong. Additional series comprised:
- Mack Sennett Comedies – early 1930s two-reel talking comedies
- Hedda Hopper's Hollywood – behind-the-scenes movie industry features hosted by the gossip columnist
- Speaking of Animals – live-action animal shorts with animated mouths created by Jerry Fairbanks
- Paramount Pictorials (renamed U.M. & M. Pictorials) – one-reel human-interest magazine-style shorts
- Screen Souvenirs – compilations highlighting silent films
- Shorty the Chimp – live-action chimpanzee film shorts
Many of these live-action titles were later licensed by U.M. & M.'s successor company, National Telefilm Associates, to home-movie distributor Blackhawk Films, which re-released them on 16mm and 8mm formats between 1968 and 1972.
The cartoon collection primarily consisted of works from Max Fleischer's studio and its successor Famous Studios:
- Animated Antics
- Inkwell Imps
- Screen Songs (excluding the final six shorts now owned by DreamWorks Classics)
- Talkartoons
- Betty Boop
- Color Classics
- Gabby
- Stone Age Cartoons
- Fleischer two-reelers such as Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy
- Nearly all pre-October 1950 Noveltoons, including early appearances of Casper and the initial five shorts featuring Little Audrey
- Famous Studios' Little Lulu shorts
- George Pal's Puppetoons
The latest cartoon included in this package was the September 22, 1950 release titled Boos in the Nite. Altogether, the collection featured 513 animated titles from Fleischer, Famous, and Pal studios. Although NBC showed interest in broadcasting these nationwide, no agreement was finalized; subsequently, ABC aired a repackaged series of post-September 1950 Paramount cartoons after they were sold to Harvey Films.
Retitling and Promotion of the Paramount Shorts
To prevent the Paramount name or its mountain logo from appearing on television broadcasts, Paramount Pictures required U.M. & M. to replace the Paramount emblem with its own blue shield logo. Consequently, most explicit mentions of Paramount Pictures were removed, except for the phrase "Adolph Zukor presents." U.M. & M. and later NTA believed that TV audiences would not connect Zukor’s name with Paramount, though some copies either omitted or obscured his name entirely.
In U.M. & M.’s color versions of Paramount cartoons, the opening credits were generally displayed in yellow against a red backdrop. Eventually, the original credits were retained but references to Paramount, Technicolor, Cinecolor, and Polacolor were eliminated, as television prints employed Eastmancolor or Deluxe processes instead. Prints made with Eastmancolor often exhibited a red fading effect over time.
For black-and-white shorts, U.M. & M. removed Paramount logos directly from the original negatives and replaced them with their own opening logo and an end card stating "A U.M. & M. TV Corp. Presentation." The Paramount copyright notices were substituted with U.M. & M.’s byline; however, some Betty Boop cartoons released by Olive Films still display the original Paramount copyrights.
Marketing efforts for the Paramount shorts took precedence over live-action TV syndication under U.M. & M., highlighted by their promotion featuring a Miss Cartoon girl at the NARTB convention in Chicago. Prior to retitling all shorts, National Telefilm Associates purchased the U.M. & M. package in May 1956 for $4 million. The U.M. & M. copyright markings remained on prints distributed by NTA, which syndicated these cartoons under the banner Panorama of Entertaining Programs and also sold them for home movie use.
Most color cartoons acquired by U.M. & M. bear NTA title cards; however, numerous Little Lulu shorts preserve their original U.M. & M. openings. Certain prints display an updated U.M. & M. logo while maintaining original credits but blacking out all mentions of Paramount and Technicolor. Notably, these versions spell out "Corporation" fully rather than abbreviating it as "Corp."
After acquiring the Republic Pictures brand in 1984, NTA eventually merged into Paramount Pictures, which has been under Viacom ownership since 1994. In 2005, Viacom divided into two companies: one retained Paramount Pictures while the other became CBS Corporation. As a result, Republic Pictures—now a subsidiary label owned by Paramount—handles theatrical releases for Paramount Animation, ironically the original distributor of these vintage shorts. Meanwhile, television rights for the U.M. & M./NTA/Republic/Melange catalog are managed by Trifecta Entertainment & Media (formerly part of CBS Television Distribution) on behalf of Paramount Television Studios, whereas Olive Films (licensed through Paramount Home Entertainment) oversees home video distribution. Viacom and CBS reunited on December 4, 2019, forming ViacomCBS, later rebranded as Paramount Skydance Corporation.
Restoring original Paramount openings to black-and-white shorts remains difficult due to alterations made by U.M. & M. to the original negatives; however, contemporary CGI technology allows for authentic recreation of these title sequences. The UCLA Film and Television Archive has successfully restored many classic Paramount cartoons with their original opening titles intact.