Claster Television Incorporated

Logo descriptions by James Fabiano and Sean Beard
Logo captures by Eric S., wisp2007, snelfu, and TrickyMario7654
Editions by Mr. Logo Lord, V of Doom and Unnepad


Background: Claster Television was founded as "Romper Room, Inc." by Bert and Nancy Claster in 1953. It was sold to Hasbro in 1969 (who renamed the company for its founders). It still exists as a full-blown unit of Hasbro today.


1st Logo
(1975-1981)

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Note: The left video is the "ROMPER ROOM" variant, except with more things at the beginning (e.g, some lines forming the letters, A, B, and C) before the logo plays normal.

Nicknames: "Jack in the Box of Doom", "Evil Jack", "The Romper Room Logo"

Logo: In an orange box with red borders with a white line in between is a jack-in-the-box (a la the Harveytoons logos, but named "Happy Jack") with a similarly-colored clown suit and a red derby. He bounces around, then bends towards the front of the box to place, in Romper Room font, the words "A BERT CLASTER PRODUCTION".

Trivia:

• Happy Jack was used as the logo for the Romper Room preschool toy line (best-remembered products: Mr. Potato Head and Weebles) in the '60s and '70s.
• The animation of Happy Jack is the same as used in the intro, but with "A BERT CLASTER PRODUCTION" replacing "ROMPER ROOM."
  
• The "A Bert Claster Television Production" (note the wording) ID was present on the various local editions as well (Claster licensed the format to 250+ stations over the years on top of producing and distributing the national show).

FX/SFX: The jack-in-the-box bouncing around and bending to place the words. Sometimes, the logo is still.

Music/Sounds/Voice-over: The opening/ending theme of Romper Room (a synthesized version of "Pop Goes The Weasel", sounding almost like video game music) accompanied by an announcer spiel. E.g., Mrs."Unknown" says, "Pop Goes The Weasel, and the Jack-In-The-Box jumps out of his house and that means it's time for Romper Room school."

Availability: Extinct on TV. All episodes of Romper Room and Friends do exist as well as a scattered number of episodes of the pre-1980 syndicated RR in Claster's library. TVparty.com once said that videotapes of Romper Room were erased and reused for taping the next day's episode; this often applied to the various local editions of the show.

Editor's Note: The logo is quite cheesy with limited '60s-'70s-style animation and synthesized music. It's still nostalgic by those who remember Romper Room.



2nd Logo (in-credit)
(January 1981-1986)

Logo: Just in-credit text that was used in this format:

Distributed by:
CLASTER
TV PRODUCTIONS
A Division of Hasbro Industries

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: The closing theme of the show.

Availability: Appeared on Great Space Coaster, the original G.I. Joe mini series, My Little Pony, and Transformers.

Editor's Note: None.

3rd Logo

(September 16, 1985-March 7, 1999)

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Nicknames: "The Spinner", "The Propeller", "The Spinning Star"

Logo: We start with a shot of this stylized text on a blue background:

Distributed by
(the Claster logo) Claster
TELEVISION INCORPORATED

The Claster logo is in red with the text in a strange, bold, italic font. There is a small line going above "laster" to represent an extended "t." To the left of "Claster" is a red parallelogram with the extremely-thin 8-pointed star inside. Now, to the animation. A white star moves in a horizontal direction from right-to-left and spins over all the letters in "Claster" until it reaches the parallelogram symbol and stays in place to spin there.

Variants:

• An early in-credit variant with the Claster logo was used until 1987, and it was referred to as "TELEVISION PRODUCTIONS", with the texts "Distributed By" above and "A Division of Hasbro, Inc." below. This one was seen on some shows like G.I. Joe and Transformers.
• Locally produced versions of Romper Room tend to have unique variations of the logo. For instance, the KTVU version had the logo's animation superimposed over the end credit's background (which stays onscreen for 30 seconds).
  
• The main animated Claster logo debuted in 1987, and initially had the byline "A Subsidiary of Hasbro Inc." underneath (often with a copyright for Hasbro underneath) and the star spinning really fast. In 1993, the logo was updated with no bylines, the "Claster" logo and text appearing more shiny and metallic, and the star animation a bit slower and more refined.
• Many early variations had the entire logo flipping into view before the animation plays.
  
• On James Bond Jr., the star spins already in the parallelogram.
• Another variant which features a black background can be seen on a few episodes of James Bond Jr.

FX/SFX: The spinning star. None for the earlier in-credit variants.

Music/Sounds: 3 different themes were used:

• 1987-1989: Two synth notes, then an odd, rapid synth tune that sounds similar to cliche cartoon outer-space music.
  
• 1989-1999: An 8-note synthesized fanfare ending with an ascending flourish.
• 1997-1999: A dreamy electric piano bridge with a synth orchestral backing.
  

Music/Sounds Variants:

• The earlier in-credit variants used only the closing theme of the show.
• Another version cut off the logo before the second theme's flourish. This was seen on James Bond, Jr.
• In All Dogs Go to Heaven: The Series and The Lionhearts, the 1989 theme is in mono sound.
• On The Pink Panther (1993 series), the theme is high pitched (due to possibly being sourced from a PAL print).

Availability: Rare. The second music variant is intact on Hulu viewings and DVD releases of All Dogs Go to Heaven: The Series. It should be intact on other Claster shows if they ever pop up on TV or DVD, such as Beast Wars: Transformers, G.I. Joe (1989), and Conan the Adventurer. The second music variant also appears on Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Warriors, C.O.P.S., Littlest Pet Shop (the 1995 version), the 1996 Richie Rich series, the 1990's Pink Panther series, and G.I. Joe Extreme. The third music variant appears on Mummies Alive! and The Lionhearts. The in-credit versions can be seen on G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero and The Transformers. The first music variant is extinct and appeared on syndie prints of The New Archies and early episodes of C.O.P.S.

Editor's Note: This logo is known for its rather strange, albeit unique design. One of the more memorable logos in the '80s and '90s, thanks to how prominent this logo was on television.