CED Digest Vol. 6 No. 31

CED Digest Vol. 6 No. 31 • 8/4/2001
20 Years Ago In CED History:

August 5, 1981:
* The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration begins sending dismissal
notices to striking air traffic controllers. Some 13,000 air traffic
controllers began the strike two days earlier.

August 6, 1981:
* Egyptian President Anwar Sadat ends a two-day visit to the U.S. during
which he held discussions with President Reagan and other government
officials. Sadat urged that Saudi Arabia be given a role in negotiating
self-rule for the 1.3 million Palestinians living in territory occupied
by Israel.

August 7, 1981:
* The Reagan administration announces a decision to produce and
stockpile neutron warheads.
* Future CED titles in widespread theatrical release: Tarzan- the Ape
Man, Victory.

August 8, 1981:
* Cuban President Fidel Castro ends a visit to Mexico during which he
and President Jose Lopez Portillo discussed the North-South economic
summit scheduled for October. Mexico supports Cuban participation, but
President Reagan has made it clear he will boycott the meeting if Castro
attends.

August 9, 1981:
* The PGA Championship is won by Larry Nelson at the Atlanta Athletic
Club in Duluth, Georgia.
* Major league baseball resumes with the All-Star Game in Cleveland,
Ohio, following the settlement of a seven week players' strike.

August 10, 1981:
* The Canadian Union of Postal Workers ends its 42 day strike after more
than 80% of its 23,000 members approve a new two-year contract.

August 11, 1981:
* India's foreign minister announces that his country has applied for a
$5.65 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, the largest
request to date.

* RCA PRESS RELEASE:
RCA Expands Video Disc Catalog with 25 New Titles Catering to a Wide
Range of Home Video Collectors

INDIANAPOLIS, August 11 -- RCA today announced that the 25 new and
diverse titles being added to its growing video disc catalog are
designed to appeal to consumer tastes ranging from Bogart to the
Beatles, from tennis to "The Not Ready For Prime Time Players" on
"Saturday Night Live."

"These titles bring to 151 the number now available from RCA and they
expand every major category in our catalog," according to Howard M.
Ballon, director of market planning for RCA "SelectaVision" VideoDiscs.
The new titles will be available at retail beginning this fall.

Mr. Ballon said the titles in RCA's catalog have been carefully chosen
to provide programs that appeal to the widest possible audience -- young
and old, male or female.

In outlining RCA's ambitious fall marketing and promotion plans for
video discs at a distributor meeting here, Mr. Ballon said the real
challenge is to help dealers effectively merchandise the catalog.

"There is a positive correlation between the number of titles stocked
and players sold," he added. "All of our merchandising and advertising
programs will be especially effective because of special attention to
software. Key dealers' stock of discs, the use of disc and displays,
point-of-sale materials, and the ability to reorder discs from
distributors will have a positive influence on RCA video disc system
sales. A key dealer can now carry well over 100 titles at retail.

"Our catalog additions were selected with this stress on quality
software in mind. We have Julie Andrews singing
supercalifragilisticexpialidocious in Walt Disney's unforgettable 'Mary
Poppins'; Mike Schmidt, Pete Rose and Tug McGraw starring in the
Philadelphia Phillies first World Series victory in 98 years; Fred
Astaire and Ginger Rogers doing their thing in 'Swing Time'; Elvis
Presley having 'Fun In Acapulco'; and David Janssen in one of
television's highest rated programs -- 'The Fugitive: The Final
Episode.'"

Add -to these such current hits as "Raging Bull" with Robert DeNiro in
his Academy Award winning role as boxer, Jake LaMotta; "Elephant Man," a
poignant story of human courage and dignity with John Hurt; and Mel
Brooks' zany "History Of The World, Part l," which will appear on disc
only four months after being one of the summer's most popular movies.

For those who like classic films, RCA is offering "The African Queen"
with Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn; "Stagecoach," John Ford's
1937 western which launched the career of John Wayne; and "City Lights,"
which film critics have called Charlie Chaplin's greatest movie.

Seth M. Willenson, staff vice president, programs and business affairs
for RCA "SelectaVision" VideoDiscs, said many of the titles in RCA's
catalog are or will become the basis for home video disc collections.
Many of RCA's video disc titles represent the first in a series of disc
releases of movies by popular stars.

"Just as people collect books, records, stamps, coins and autographs,
they will collect video discs of their favorite stars or favorite genre
of programs. Our Star Trek discs have borne this out."

Mr. Willenson said "From Russia With Love" is the second James Bond
movie to be added to the category and "our research indicates his fans
are eagerly waiting for more."Video disc collections will grow in
popularity, spurred by Bogart titles like "The African Queen" and
"Casablanca." and the great Chaplin classics. Charles Bronson fans, for
example, now can own some of his great hits, such as "Death Wish," "The
Magnificent Seven," "The Great Escape" and "The Dirty Dozen."

Mr. Willenson said one new disc -- "Complete Tennis From The Pros, Vol.
1 -- was made for the video disc and emphasizes RCA's commitment to new
ideas and non-feature film programming. He said RCA will make "Friday
The 13th," the year's most popular horror film, available in time for
Halloween. "And Beatles fans of all ages will want to collect their last
film together -- 'Let It Be.'"

"As we diversify and broaden the catalog in the months and years ahead,
we will appeal to that large group of collectors who want to build
in-home video libraries of movies, the best of television, children's
programs, sports highlights or instruction, Shakespeare, the ballet,
music, how-to programs, or a combination of these categories," he added.

RCA's Third Release of CED titles for Fall '81 purchase:

African Queen, The
Barbarella
City Lights
Complete Tennis from the Pros, Vol. 1
Death Wish
Elephant Man, The (2) [1980]
Escape to Witch Mountain
Fleetwood Mac: Documentary and Live Concert
Friday the 13th
From Russia With Love [RCA]
Fugitive: The Final Episode
Fun in Acapulco
Greatest Show On Earth, The (2)
History of the World, Part 1
Let It Be
Little House on the Prairie
Magnificent Seven, The (2) [RCA]
Mary Poppins (2)
Odd Couple, The
Raging Bull (2)
Saturday Night Live, Vol. 1: George Carlin/Steve Martin
Stagecoach
Swing Time
Tales From Muppetland
World Series 1980, Phillies vs. Royals

------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: pceebee
Date: Sun, 29 Jul 2001 19:04:27 -0400
To: digest@cedmagic.com
Subject: Raiders of the Lost ..

I have both a CED and Laser disk versions of this film.

They are clearly the same print and obviously mastered at the same time
for simultaneous release ..what is interesting is the laserdisk is a PAL
(UK) release. (Both contain the trailer for Last Crusade)

Equally, my copy of The Lion in Winter on  US CED is identical ..right
down to the scratches in the print to the version I taped in 1980 from
local Australian TV.

They all come from the era before serious restoration was seen a
essential for tape/disk release.

I will be interested to look at the print used for the DVD release which
is winging its way across the Pacific at this very moment from the US to
OZ!

CB

------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Thompson Bob <Bob.Thompson>
To: digest@cedmagic.com
Subject: Any UK CED collectors?
Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2001 13:11:02 +0100

I know there must be some CED collectors in the UK who subscribe to CED
Digest. I have a collection of 101 titles and amongst them I have 40
duplicates. Any of you out there want to do some swapping? I have a
spreadsheet available, if you want a copy drop me an email and I'll send
it
by return.
Cheerio from the UK. Keep up the good work Tom

Bob Thompson

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 4 Aug 2001 11:16:11 -0800
To: digest@cedmagic.com
From: Tom Howe <ceds@teleport.com>
Subject: MTV 20 Year Retrospective

Hello All:

MTV did a retrospective on their past twenty years, spending about a
half hour on each year. They showed a number of their old commercials,
which in 1984 were highly touting stereo sound via a cable hook-up to an
FM receiver. Someone once contacted me confused about the big deal RCA
was making about stereo sound on VideoDiscs in 1982, as stereo sound was
nothing new, but it _was_ a big deal to have it on video at that time.

i thought the best CED-era retro video MTV showed was "Take On Me" by
A-Ha which featured live animation after the heroine enters the world of
a comic book she's reading. This came out too late to make it on any of
the CED music video compilations, but I noticed the tile character from
the upcoming comedy "Corky Romano" is singing the song while driving a
convertible in the movie trailer.

--Tom
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