George 1972 opening & closing TV credits

Opening and closing credits for the 1972 family program "George", a CTV series filmed in Grindelwald, Switzerland starring Marshall Thompson (who also produced).

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• TV
• television
• opening
• closing
• credits
• 1970s
• George
• Switzerland
• Marshall
• Thompson
• St
• Bernard
• dog
• 1972

[phillydisco]

Thanks for posting this! I was asking around if anyone remembered a show about a dog and for some reason I kept thinking the song Georgie Girl was the theme, but clearly it wasn't. I must have seen this in reruns in the mid to late 70s because I wasn't around during it's first run.

When did YTV play this? Man, I wish I had known, I would have taped it.

[robatsea2009]

@phillydisco I think it was mid-to-late 1980s when YTV had it on their schedule

[RetroWinnipeg]

According to broadcasting-history(dot)ca, it looks like this series was filmed in BC to play the role of Switzerland (with some stock footage in the mix as well). It just seems like it would have been astronomically expensive for a Canadian series to have been produced right out of Switzerland, and could it have been that CTV is fudging the truth based on those credits?

[robatsea2009]

@RetroWinnipeg While some of the scenery can be comparable I've never read any suggestion (including local publications) anywhere that "George" was filmed anywhere but in Switzerland; producer/star Marshall Thompson's website states it was filmed entirely there. At the time the show was produced there were numerous other syndicated series filming in Europe as it was economically feasible to do so; in 1971/2 one Canadian dollar was buying just over 4 Swiss Francs.

[heine71]

Has a DVD set of George the Dog ever been released in Canada yet?

[robatsea2009]

@heine71 Not that I'm aware of.

[landrykkb]

I remember this vaguely being on CTV before I had even started school.

[vzd963]

This series was run in Ireland during the early 1970s - I can strongly remember my reaction to it at the time: "Why on EARTH did anyone think THIS was worth making?" I mean, did ANYBODY ever watch it? It was pitiful! Poor Daktari!

[AmazingFilmsNS]

Here's the rest of the quote:

"Freddie and his aunt (Trudy Young) lived in the chalet next door. Frau Gerber was Hunter's stereotypical frantic housekeeper, resigning twice per episode over some entirely predictable canine calamity. Based on a full-length 1970 film also starring creator/producer Thompson on behalf of Thompson International."

[AmazingFilmsNS]

Awesome show!!! Here's a not completely flattering excerpt from the Canadian television book "TV North" which also suggests that the show may have filmed partly in Canada (reshoots?):

"Dreadful family comedy featuring George, a slobbering St. Bernard who wrecked havoc in the Swiss town of Grindelwald (a thinly disguised collection of British Columbia chalets) while fetching dates for his master, Hunter (Thompson had recently played an animal medico in the U.S. Series Daktari).

[volkerstewart]

If you don't remember this show and are in the US it's cos it never played there. The US production company went belly up. As far as i know, it was shown in Canada, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Hong Kong. Someone once told me that at Robertson's CBN showed it back in the 80s. FWIW, I played Freddie, the kid. My only foray into showbiz - hard as nails work, but I will say Marshall Thompson was a stand up guy!

[clay70]

It was filmed in Switzerland alright

[MrStereo10]

@phillydisco By the look of the YTV logo-that would have been their very first years on the air. They aired some really strange programs back in those days. They even had the old CTV sitcom "The Trouble With Tracy" - serious cheezyness there(but I loved the theme music).

[BemusedExpression]

@MrStereo10 Yes, I remember "Story Theatre" very well! (I wondered if anyone else did!) That wonderful painted caravan at the beginning, and all that wonderful semi-Brechtian story-telling! I remember very clearly Alan Alda playing in "Sir Gawain and the Loathly Damsel". It was great stuff! I would pay serious money for a DVD, if anyone with influence is listening . . .

[BemusedExpression]

I LOVED this show when I was little! Even had a school-bag with St. Bernards on it in honour of gorgeous George. Thanks so much for posting this clip. Those were the days!

[MrStereo10]

Been looking for this for years. hah. Now If i could only find the theme to "Story Theatre" that was made by the same people that did this. It featured a cover version of the Rolling stones "Sing This All Together" as the theme. Remember Alan Alda doing some of the skits on it as well.