Gracie Films

The Gracie Films logo as it appeared from 1987 to 2009.

Print logo

Gracie Films is an American film and television production company, created by James L. Brooks in 1986. The company has produced many award-winning films and television series, some of which include Broadcast News and Jerry Maguire, but most notably The Simpsons. The company is primarily associated with film studio, and distributor Sony Pictures Entertainment, but it still has an office at the 20th Century Studios lot due to the indefinite contract Gracie Films has with Fox for 35 years of The Simpsons (and counting).

Its vanity plate is set on a black background with two thick white lines sandwiching it.

It starts off in a movie theater with dimmed lights and a screen in front. The audience is animated and can be seen from the back. As the movie patrons are talking, a woman says "Shh!". Then, the audience becomes silent, and the projector comes on, where "GRACIE FILMS" is seen on a blue background.

The sound of an audience muttering and murmuring is heard, sometimes extended during the logo's early years and on a few early episodes of Weakest Link USA (the American version of the BBC UK game show), followed by a shushing sound effect, and then a 9-note electric piano theme with drums, but on the 1st season of The Tracey Ullman Show and a few early episodes of Weakest Link USA (the American version of the BBC UK game show), the last note of the jingle was extended. The jingle was composed by Jeffrey Townsend, and the "Shh!" was done by Garth Ancier. The people talking were Jeffrey Townsend and then-CEO of Fox Garth Ancier, double-tracked to sound like more people. The Halloween jingle was composed by Alf Clausen back when he did work on the show.

Some standard and special versions of the company's logo and jingle were made to fit television shows, most notably The Simpsons, which has lots of unique variants, as described below.

Gracie Films was also involved in the making of the majority of the video games, such as The Simpsons Road Rage and Tapped Out.

Variants[]

The Simpsons:
- In Treehouse of Horror episodes, including "Not It", there is usually a pipe organ that plays the jingle in a minor key after a woman scream. The version was composed by Danny Elfman. Below are the following:
  - Only I, "Halloween of Horror" & "Simpsons Wicked This Way Comes" have the normal logo.
    - In addition, "Thanksgiving of Horror" replaces the shush with Homer gobbling as a turkey.
  - In II and III as well as Russian and French prints of IX, it was the organ only.
    - II considers the version to be the original. The original uses the Roland D-50 PN-D50-01 patch "Pipe Organ".
  - In IV and V, the scream was added in with a heavy reverb.
  - In VI, the jingle plays in a Myst/Philip Glass style as constantly heard during "Homer³", and the scream isn't heard.
    - This variant was only heard during the credits of "The Scorpion's Tale" and was not given the Gracie Films jingle.
  - Some "Treehouse of Horror" variants differ on what kind of sound effects are being heard and some key variants get reused on later Horrors.
    - The VII, XI and XIV versions were never reused.
      - VII has a higher pitched scream (making it sound like a little girl screaming instead of a woman) and has the organ in a slower fashion.
      - XI has the organ at a more dramatic outburst.
      - XIV has the organ in a deeper tone.
    - XVI reuses the same variant from XIII.
      - Unusually, whenever XIII is aired on FXX, another scream and the shush are present.
      - Similarly, FOX airings of XIII add talking and the shush in-between the scream and the music plays in major key instead.
    - VIII, XVII, XVIII and XX share the same variant where the scream and the organ are simultaneously heard at the 'shush' gesture.
      - On XXXIII, however, a similar variant that resembles VIII, XVII, XVIII, and XX is used albeit with the Bleeding Fingers's arrangement heard on XXVIII being mixed in.
  - In IX, the scream was replaced with Regis Philbin screaming, "My eyes, my beautiful eyes!" as heard in "Terror of Tiny Toon" during the Itchy and Scratchy episode "Candle in the Wound".
  - In X, the variant is the same one from IV, except that the scream has a small reverb and not a heavy reverb.
    - The organ themes in IX and X both share the same organ that was originally heard in II.
  - In XII, the organ plays first and then the scream is heard at the 'shush' gesture.
  - In XV, the scream was replaced with Homer screaming throughout this logo and the 20th Century Fox Television logo, just like "The Blunder Years". XXII and XXIII also have Homer screaming, but he only screams once in the logo and the FOX TV logo is played normally, and his screaming differs between both Horrors.
    - This was also the only FOX TV logo to use the Halloween sound effects.
    - The organ in XV is the same as VIII.
      - On FXX airings of V, this variant is used through Gracie Films only.
  - In XIX, the jingle plays in a Peanuts-style arrangement as heard in "It's the Grand Pumpkin, Milhouse", and the scream is absent again; a similar variant was used in "Gone Abie Gone" but sometimes with the shush being present.
  - In XXI, the scream was replaced by the famous Wilhelm scream heard in "War and Pieces".
  - In XXIV, the scream was replaced with a small crowd shouting the phrase, "One of us!" as heard in "Freaks, No Geeks".
  - In XXVI, the scream was replaced with Homerzilla roaring. The organ theme was also abridged.
  - From XXVII onwards, the organ shares the same the variant from XXI, XXII, XXIV and XXV.
    - Additionally, on Treehouse of Horror XXVIII, a newer organ theme by Bleeding Fingers is used.
  - In XXXIV, the scream was replaced with someone belching, during Lout Break.
  - In XXXV, the scream was replaced with a crowd roaring, almost similar to the Homer at the Bat variant.
    - The noise of this variant was recorded at a San Diego Comic-Con panel.
  - In XXXVI, TBA
  - In XXXVII, TBA
    - Interestingly, the organ jingle can be heard in The Complete Eleventh Season set when navigated to certain Scene Selections where Moe Szyslak is riding a ghost train before reverting his face to normal from his plastic surgery from Pygmoelian. The scream sound effect used is also heard occasionally when Seymour Skinner, Agnes Skinner and Edna Krabappel are the first to appear out of the ghost train tunnel.
- In some episodes that feature songs during the ending credits, the closing song continues playing over the logo.
  - Tony Bennett's "Capital City" (of note is that this was the very first Gracie Films variant created for The Simpsons)
  - Paul McCartney and Wings's "Maybe I'm Amazed"
  - NRBQ's cover of the Beatles's "Can't Buy Me Love" (Also runs into the 20th Century Fox Television logo)
  - NRBQ's "Always Safety First"
  - The Chicks's "America's Back"
  - Mona and Abe Simpson singing "Dream Operator"
  - Ragtime music
  - Icelandic rendition of The Simpsons theme song
  - "The Simpsons Christmas Theme"
  - Star Trek: TOS theme
  - Acoustic music
  - Homer's cover of You're the Best
  - Peekimon theme
  - Kevin Michael Richardson's cover of Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe
  - The Roman Holidays Theme
  - WKRP in Cincinnati
  - The Faces' "Ooh La La", which is cut off by the shush
- Numerous other alternate versions of the theme have been used over the years.
  - Whistle, then marching band
  - Baseball bat, then the stadium organ and the crowd cheering (A similar variant followed on Treehouse of Horror XXXV)
  - Played on a heavy metal guitar
  - Mexican mariachi band, then "Olé" chant (No shush, also included on the album Songs in the Key of Springfield. Spanish and Hungarian prints and early 2015 prints of the episode remove the voices that shout "Olé!")
  - Las Vegas style, then slot machine (No shush; included on the album Songs in the Key of Springfield.)
  - Renaissance (included on the album Songs in the Key of Springfield. This variant is reused in "Margical History Tour", but the shush is removed)
  - Played on a saxophone and a piano
  - Philip Glass homage
  - Beach music style
  - Played on saxophone (No shush)
  - Christmas version
  - A semi tone lower
  - Played on piano (akin to that of "Treehouse of Horror XIX")
  - Acapella version
  - New Piano Rendition (No Shush, also has a 20th Television Animation piano rendition)
- The first time the logo can be seen within the episode was in "You Kent Always Say What You Want", where after being interrupted by the 20th Century Fox Television logo when saying "The truth is...", Homer, on a white screen, whispers to the fourth wall, "OK. What I was going to say was...," before the 'shush' interruption and the end credits.
- In "The Longest Daycare", the background is pitch black. The audience (including the shush lady) have a teal outline. The rest of the logo continues as normal, but the jingle is replaced by a drum roll. The finished logo looks like the print logo.
  - In "Playdate with Destiny", one of the audience's heads is replaced by the head of the mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey Mouse. This marks the third visual variant. This is also seen at the end of the shorts "The Force Awakens from Its Nap", "The Good, The Bart, and The Loki", "Plusaversary", "Welcome to the Club" and "Rogue Not Quite One".
  - In "Meet the Bocellis in Feliz Navidad", the shush lady is wearing a Santa hat.
- Certain episodes use either a sound bite from the episode or use a quote from a character in that episode that plays alongside the jingle and shush or replacing the jingle and shush.
  - These types of variants were likely inspired by the 'Stinger Quotes' of Deedle-Dee Productions, as heard in nearly every episode of Mike Judge's animated comedy King of the Hill.
    - Abe Simpson says "I'm sorry."
    - Carl Carlson says "Shut up." (Overtakes the shush. This line is not present on Spanish, Italian, Hungarian and Ukrainian prints of the episode.)
    - Leon Kompowsky shouts "Woo!" (Before the logo proceeds)
    - Lisa playing the didgeridoo (No shush nor music)
    - Loud gunshot
    - Chief Wiggum says "Jamming." (This line is not present on Spanish and Italian prints of the episode.)
    - The first five notes, then (gunshot) Snake shouts "You too, Gracie music dude! Gaw!" (No shush)
    - Ron Howard says "Homer, we're out of vodka." (No music, and this line is not present on Ukrainian prints of the episode.)
    - Old Jewish Man retorts "Don't tell me to shush, you stupid lady."
    - Rupert Murdoch shouts "Silence!"
    - Gunshot, then a thud and three more gunshots (No shush nor music)
    - Lisa says "Ooh, I hear this really sucks."
    - Mel Gibson imitates Curly from the Three Stooges
    - A soldier complains "Oh, why'd you have to shush? You ruined the whole show!"
    - Fred Mertz says, "You hit her pretty hard there, Rick." (also used in the Latin American dub as Homer Simpson) (This line is not present on Spanish, Russian and Czech prints of the episode.)
    - Comic Book Guy complains "Worst. Episode. Ever."
    - Duffman shouts "Oh, yeah!" (Not present on Ukrainian prints of the episode)
    - Bart says "Moochie-moochie."
    - Vicki Valentine instructs "Tappa-tappa-tappa."
    - John Updike laughs and Krusty shouts "Shut up, Updike!"
    - Comic Book Guy retorts "¡Devuelvame mi dinero!" (Give me my money back!) (Used in the Latin American dub only)
    - Moe Szyslak says, "Y Esta porquería mirando mi programa de televisión." (And this is crap watching my television show.) (Used in the Latin American dub only)
    - Tri-tone on a loop from a house phone
    - Agnes Skinner retorts "Why, you ill-mannered sack of crap!"
    - Krusty says "Mukluk."
    - *Kids laughing* Teacher says En français. *kids laugh in a French way* (No shush nor music)
    - Violet coughing
    - Bill Cosby hilariously saying "Pokémon? Pokémon? Where the pokey and the man and the thing with the guy comes out?" *laughs* (also runs into the 20th Century Fox Television logo)
    - Milhouse proclaims "Whazzup?"
    - In a Southern accent, Lisa quotes "This has been a Gracie Films presentation." (The logo remains in its starting point while she says this line. It then animates like normal)
    - Mick Jagger shouts "Simpson!" (Overtakes the shush)
    - Simon Cowell proclaims "Oh, shush yourself."
    - Stephen Hawking says "Badabing, badaboom. And we're done." (No shush or music. On reruns of this episode, he simply says, "And we're done." and the shush and music are present. This line is not present on Hungarian prints of the episode, as it instead uses the shush and music as usual in the Hungarian dub.)
    - Plácido Domingo holding a high note (No shush nor music)
    - Milo says, "Might be some wrong words in there, but uh, pretty much nailed it." (No shush nor music)
    - Penelope vocalizing
    - Ricardo Bomba nearly says his catchphrase: "Soon you will be m-" (Before the logo proceeds)
    - A group of men shout "L'chaim!" (No shush)
    - Whale call (No shush)
    - Simon Cowell laughing (No shush)
    - Cow moo (music plays without the shush)
    - Katy Perry complains "...but I did say stop." (No shush)
    - Ricky Gervais asks "Well, why couldn't you have said that a minute ago? Don't take any of my ideas." to Ridley Scott (No shush and then a 5-note version of the jingle)
    - "The Peach Song", then the shush interrupts it and Ewell Freestone responds "You shush yourself."
    - Wayne Slater says, "Shush me again, and I'll take your head clean off."
    - Annie Dubinsky shouts "Oh, grow up!"
    - Moe's bar rag says, "I'm in hell." (No shush)
    - Cletus sings "The Outlands" (No shush nor music)
    - Tribal drums (No shush nor music)
    - Cletus and Brandine Spuckler scatting (No shush nor music)
    - Abe says "Not the second, or the..." (Before the logo proceeds)
    - Marge Simpson's shush
    - Peter Griffin from Family Guy sings along to the jingle: And now the show is over now
    - Sammy Hagar laughing (No shush nor music)
    - Pit Master says, "I'm out of here." (No shush)
    - A person whispers "Departed." (which came from an acapella version of 'I'm Shipping Up to Boston') before getting shushed.
    - Hawaiian-like singing (No shush nor music)
    - Squeaky-Voiced Teen sings "Throne of God!" in an off-key tone (No music)
    - Plopper squealing (No shush)
    - A dog howls, but gets cut off by the shush
    - Lawrence O'Donnell shouts "Last word!" (before the logo proceeds)
    - Raphael scats "Wahh-wahh." (No shush)
    - Professor Frink in his operatic voice: "The End" (before the logo proceeds)
    - Nelson's signature laugh, then another kid (likely Rod, Todd or Ralph) shouting "Yay!" (No music)
    - Turkey gobbling (No Shh!)
- Homer Simpson has the most dialogue in the variants he has been heard in:
  - Ringing bicycle bell twice, then giggling (No shush nor music)
  - "You're cut too, Shushy!" (This line is not present on Czech prints of the episode.)
  - "Larry Flynt is right! You guys stink!"
  - "Don't shush me, you rich bastard!" (This line is absent on reruns, Network Ten and BBC airings of the episode. It is still present on the Season 11 DVD and on Disney+, however. Sky One airings of this episode have Homer simply say, "Don't shush me.")
  - "Save me, Jebus!"
  - "Aah! Undo! Undo! Oh!" (The logo is normal as usual, but this continues over to the 20th Century Fox Television logo without music. This line is not present on Ukrainian prints of the episode.)
  - "Baby made a boom-boom."
  - "Oh, boy! Buffalo testicles!" *chomp*
  - "Cobras! Ahhh!"
  - Screaming (overran into the 20th Century Fox Television logo, then re-used in "Treehouse of Horror XV". This line is absent on Ukrainian prints of this episode.)
  - The Smothers Brothers say, "We may both agree, but folk singers never say, "Take it, naked bacon" and Homer asks, "Do you guys know 'Funkytown?'" (No shush nor music)
  - "Hey, shush yourself!" (Reruns only)
  - "Excellent!" (No shush)
  - "Geez, sorry Dave." (No shush)
  - "And if I'm dead, avenge my death!" (Reruns only, no shush)
  - "Are we going to New York, or..." "Oh." (Before and after being shushed)
  - "Usher! Will you stop that person who's shushing?" (No music)
  - "Do do do do, waiting on the pants! Oh, Bart, not coolants!" *groans* (No shush or music, also runs into the 20th Century Fox Television logo. West Coast live feed only)
  - Gobbling as a turkey (No shush)
The first visual variation of this logo was in "Last Tap Dance in Springfield", where after the shush, we hear Vicki Valentine saying "Tappa, tappa, tappa" while the logo's main animation slides up to the top half of the screen, while the bottom half has an animated black-and-white scene of a cat rubbing its eyes (with fake prop arms from off screen) and smiling afterwards (this was in an old Vicki Valentine movie that Lisa was watching during the episode). There wasn't a second visual variant for nearly 17 seasons, 16 years and 11 months until the episode "Looking for Mr. Goodbart". In that episode, the second visual variant replaces the audience and the shush with several different species of Peekimon. The Peekimon are heard mumbling. After the green Peekimon (the Peekimon that replaces the shush lady) shushes, another Peekimon pops out in the background.
In two episodes, the jingle is played at the start of the logo and then a sound is heard. In "All Singing, All Dancing", Snake Jailbird shoots his gun to stop the music like in the ending credits and says, "You too, Gracie music dude! Gaw!" and in "Elementary School Musical", a cow's moo is heard at the very end of the jingle. The shush is not present in both of these variants.
A few episodes have the ending song continue over to the logo before getting muted by the shush. In "The Great Simpsina", the Peach Song plays shortly before it gets interrupted, and in "The Dad-Feelings Limited", the Faces' "Ooh La La" runs over the logo, but not before the "Shh!" cuts it off.
On Simpsons episodes starting in Season 2, there is a shorter version of the logo without the murmuring. Earlier Season 2 episodes carried the normal logo. The exceptions to this were the episodes "When Flanders Failed", "Stark Raving Dad", "A Star is Burns", "You Only Move Twice", "The Homer They Fall", "Burns, Baby Burns, "Bart After Dark", "A Milhouse Divided", "She of Little Faith" and Season 7 episodes (up to "The Day the Violence Died"), which use the normal logo instead.
- From the DVD release of Season 15 to 17, the 2009-present logo was plastered over the original logo along with the 2007 20th Century Fox Television logo.
- On FXX reruns from 2014-present and local syndication prints from 2015-present of pre-2009 episodes, the 2009-present logo was plastered over the original logo along with 2013 without the byline 20th Television logo with the 2008 20th Television theme.

The Audiovisual Identity Database, formerly known as CLG Wiki, also has a page which lists most sound variants of the logo.

Other Variants:
- An even shorter version is found on the short-lived Phenom, which cuts off the first two notes along with the murmuring and "Shhh!". The jingle is slightly higher toned here.
- On the webisodes of The Critic, the logo is in the center of the screen, is brighter and blue, and is still. This variant uses the ending theme of the show. A silent version also appears on the digital re-release of The Simpsons Arcade Game, which was only re-released on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network.

It is often speculated that the main chorus of the 1990 song entitled "King of Wishful Thinking" by the British pop band Go West can be heard in this song. This has been fervently denied by some members of the successful pop band, though others have expressed their displeasure.

The company's production office is located in the Sidney Poitier Building on the Sony Pictures Studios lot in Culver City, California.

References in The Simpsons[]

Homer Simpson once claimed in his first ramble that he created Gracie Films.^[1]
In the episode "Moho House", the fourth wall is broken when the Gracie Films logo appears at the end of Homer's flipbook to Marge. This is the second episode to have the Gracie Films logo play within the episode; the first was "You Kent Always Say What You Want".
Moe Szyslak even made a reference to Gracie Films whilst singing Barry-Barry Night, a song about Vincent Van Gogh that parodies Don McLean's Vincent, during the end credits of Now Museum, Now You Don't. "Now the show is done, Except the part where the chick goes 'Shhh!' But no-one ever obeys her. Cos really, what's she shushin' for?"

Gallery[]

Animation Production Manager/Coordinator for Gracie Films[]

Ken Tsumura (1993-1995)
Joel Kuwahara (1995-1998)
Richard K. Chung (1999-2001)

Executive In Charge of Production for Gracie Films[]

Richard Sakai (for feature films only, 1987-1994)
Michael Stanislavsky (1989-1991)
Michael P. Schoenbrun (1991-1993)

Executive Vice President for Gracie Films[]

Denise Sirkot (1993-1998)

Notable TV series and films[]

The Tracey Ullman Show (1987-1990)
Broadcast News (1987)
Big (1988)
Say Anything (1989)
The Simpsons (1989-present)
War of the Roses (1989)
Sibs (1991-1992)
Phenom (1993-1994)
The Critic (1994-1995)
I'll Do Anything (1994)
Jerry Maguire (1996)
The Daytrippers (1996)
Bottle Rocket (1996)
As Good as It Gets (1997)
Riding in Cars with Boys (2001)
What About Joan? (2001-2002)
Weakest Link USA (2001-2003)
Spanglish (2004)
The Simpsons Movie (2007)

External Links[]

Official Site
Gracie Films at Wikipedia

Citations[]

↑ "Thursdays with Abie"

[1] "Thursdays with Abie"

[1]

Simpsons Wiki