1951 Search For Tomorrow opening with CBS Logo

[mca1218]

You know what makes this special? The inclusion of the first 3 seconds which show the original CBS logo...this is the design BEFORE the iconic 'eye,' and from a time the announcer still ID'd the station as "the Columbia Broadcasting System." A true time capsule. Thank you.

[Sheri451]

My Mom used to watch that when I was a child, then I got hooked on it the summer I was eleven. When they moved it to NBC I was working and was sleeping because i was on the night shift

[radiodj1520]

In This Clip, From 0:04 To 0:23, It Was "Search For Tomorrow" Video Open From September 3, 1951.

[retroguy1976]

Nice organ sounds like I'm at a funeral lol

[gymnastix]

@retroguy1976 Yes, this early version, particularly, is kind of creepy and morose. By the mid-1960s, although still played live by an in-house organist, this same theme music wasplayed with a picked-up pace.

I think you, like many, would prefer the theme music of "Search" used from 1974-81, a new tune used titled "We'll Search For Tomorrow." You may find a few versions of it here on You Tube (played on keyboards 1974-79), the vocal variant of it in a "Search" tribute montage.

[soap1919jt]

I remember "Interchange." It was used most often for the mid-show bumper. Now as a child, I also recall the original theme having a much fuller sound from the organ, compared to the same theme in the 50s.

[soap1919jt]

When SFT went to color in 1967, the logo underwent a few changes. It went from white to gold, and the S took on a swash "flourish" to more closely match the T. The lettering in the color logo was also smaller and thinner than the original.

[tbear4pa]

That was just right before they had switched to the "CBS Eye" logo, which was introduced in the fall of 1951, at the beginning of the 1951-52 season.

[atwtgl]

This is hypnotizing.

RIP Search Of Tomorrow. Today U will be the longest running TV soap.

[quicksite]

GREAT commentary gymnastix. These branding campaigns tell a story of America's development.  It will be interesting to see how and if AMC's "Mad Men" will interact with the influence of TV soaps to marketing.

[gymnastix]

@quicksite Thank you.

What I find especially nice here on You Tube is so many others with their own versions of the same memories we share of these classic television programs.

Even if from a slightly younger person, such as the (then) boy or girl who may only remember watching these programs with a grandparent, we nonetheless share a mutual memory. That makes one feel a little less alone in the world, especially gratifying these days, with so many more singles living alone.

[gymnastix]

All other daytime soaps were too short-lived to bother mentioning, except "The Bold & The Beautiful" and "Ryan's Hope," the title sequences for which I frankly can't recall. Sorry.

[Soapking1965]

RYAN'S HOPE showed the characters in various parts in New York City, mainly Manhattan. RH was set in the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

[gymnastix]

Or the "Y&R" monogram of "The Young & The Restless," suspension bridge (Golden Gate) of "Love Is A Many Splendored Thing," conjoined spheres of "Another World," the hourglass of "Days Of Our Lives," family scrapbook of "All My Children," and siren-screeching ambulances driving up to "General Hospital."

"Dark Shadows" borrowed the same crashing waves from "The Secret Storm" (dissolving into a shot of a Gothic mansion) and "One Life To Live" had many, variable, title sequences.

[Soapking1965]

The globe turning on ATWT. The segueway of the Cincinnati skyline from day to night for THE EDGE OF NIGHT (from 1956-80). GUIDING LIGHT's logo (except for the Conboy/Weston era) always had something to do with light (a beam of light, a lighthouse, sunlight). GH and THE DOCTORS always showed something medical-related (a hospital, an ambulance, an operating room, a nurses' station).

[soap1919jt]

@Soapking1965 Or, the heart monitor thump of THE DOCTORS and the colorful rings of ANOTHER WORLD. Oh, and what about the colorful floral arrangement of LOVE OF LIFE?

[gymnastix]

Though the visuals in this clip lasted 31 of the soap's 35 years (with only a color variant), it is felt by many, long-time fans that the best theme music was the first version of "We'll Search For Tomorrow" (not the music in this clip) played by Ashley Miller, and the occasional, closing variant version with vocals.

[gymnastix]

The soap's last title sequences featured a montage of clips of the show's characters, culminating in a shot of a trio of "McCleary" brothers; the closing sequence a sky & clouds backdrop for the credits roll.

The music was a techno-rock tune called "Somewhere In The Night," by Billy Chinook, performed instrumentally at show's open & with vocals for the closing.

[gymnastix]

Then, of course, came the Latin disco version of "We'll Search For Tomorrow, " with a Chuck Mangione-like trumpet, and completely new visuals opening with a seagull flying over the horizon before a title burst featuring more modern letters, but still a blue sky and clouds.

The closing sequence in these years (1982-86) was simply a sunset scene of the same skyline.

[gymnastix]

Ashley Miller wrote his own theme, used for a few months in 1974 only, titled "Signature For Search For Tomorrow."

But between 1969 and '74 there was also another theme used for the mid-show bumper and closing theme, titled "Interchange." I have vague memories of it, would really be a find if someone could upload a clip with that music.

[Soapluvva]

@gymnastix I have an audio tape of the "Search for Tomorrow" theme that I recorded circa 1973. I think the theme you're talking about, and which was the one where the piano was predominant, was being used during middle breaks 1 and 2. Incidentally, (the late) Dwight Weist, who was the SFT announcer for many years, was one of my acting teachers in 1979 at NYC's Weist-Barron school.

[gymnastix]

This is the first opening sequence of TV's first, successful soap opera, "Search For Tomorrow."

The in-house organist playing on this version is Bill Meeder, who played into the years of the color sequence (which used the same, moving clouds, but a blue sky and yellow titles), until his death in January 1969.

Meeder was replaced by Ashley Miller, the same opening visuals continued till 1981, but with new theme music (in various arrangements) produced in 1974 titled "We'll Search For Tomorrow."