South Detroit Production Warehouse

Background: South Detroit Production Warehouse was originally formed as Stevens Film Works by Herrick Stevens in his two-family flat in Detroit, Michigan on January 1, 1959. However, he planted it's roots in May 1958, when, in his animation class at the University of Detroit-Mercy, he showed a 6-minute cartoon short featuring a character he created named Samuel Seahorse to his classmates. Several weeks later, he submitted the short to Hanna-Barbera, but it was rejected immediately. However, Stevens learned from that and in January 1960, he purchased an abandoned warehouse in the nearby suburb of Wyandotte, Michigan and opened his first studio in that warehouse. In February 1961, SFW struck a deal with the CBS television network to syndicate Stevens' future cartoons on television by way of their television distribution division Tube Classics (Viacom's predecessor) until 1966, when SFW branched out to live-action shows and co-produced several cartoons from 1967 to 1970 and by Viacom from 1971-75. In April 1961, Samuel Seahorse became SFW's mascot. The company was renamed to South Detroit Production Warehouse in 1970 as part of a reorganization of the company which saw several employees leave SFW to formFederalwood (though Sam would remain it's mascot) and the live-action division was later acquired by Herrick's younger brother Patrick Stevens in 1976, who then retooled it into Steam Train Productions in 1979. Samuel Seahorse initially retired as a mascot from SDPW in 1975, for Bicentennial celebrations, but Samuel Seahorse was brought back in November 1990. Herrick Stevens continued running SDPW as the animation-only company it started out as before it was folded into Warner Bros. Animation in 1991, SDPW's main studios were renamed "Warner Bros. Animation Wyandotte Division" and Samuel Seahorse retired as a result. Stevens then remained with Warner Bros. Animation until his untimely death in a car crash on I-75 near his Fort Meyers, Florida summer home on June 3, 2001, the S11 premiere of The Allen Alan Show (titled "Grosse Ile's New Job") was dedicated to him. Today, South Detroit Production Warehouse still survives as an in-name-only unit of Warner Bros. Animation for distribution and marketing of properties and productions associated with SDPW's "classic" works.

Background Trivia: Steven's Samuel Seahorse short inspired the name of the Seahorse Lodge on Patrick Stevens' successful The Allen Alan Show series and Samuel's design inspired the seahorse picture seen on the sides of Allen's "Seahorse-Mobile" on that show.

1st Logo

(May 1958)

Nickname: "The Stevens Film Works Star"

Logo: Over a yellow background sits a red star. The following phrase appears in the star: "a Steven Film Works production by Herrick Stevens".

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: The opening theme of the cartoon.

Availability: Ultra rare. Appeared only at the beginning of Stevens' six-minute Samuel Seahorse short "The Wayward Waters" which was first screened at the University of Detroit-Mercy. However, the short (complete with this logo) has been included on the bonus features disc of The Allen Alan Show's "TAAS: The 100% Complete and 100% High Quality DVD (which included all 300 episodes of the show on 45 discs and the 46th having the bonus features).

Scare Factor: None to minimal.

2nd Logo

(February 1961-1991)

Logo: It's only an in-credit text saying either "A STEVENS FILM WORKS PRESENTATION" (pre-1970) or "PRODUCED BY SOUTH DETROIT PRODUCTION WAREHOUSE" (post-1970) at the end of a show. This practice continued all the way until Warner Bros. Animation's acquisition of SDPW, years after it introduced an in-credit logo for it's shows.

Variants: While the style of the wording varied from show to show, here are the variants below:

“Stevens Film Works" is in a script font called "Mistral". Seen at the end of several 1960's series such as Yoshi's Island (not the later anime) and The Rita and Runt Show.

The entire wording is in a bold, all-caps Franklin Gothic Condensed font. Seen at the end of many 1960's series, most notably Littlest Pet Shop, Pinky & the Brain, The Snorks (later sold to Hanna-Barbera) and The Slappy Squirrel Show.

"SOUTH DETROIT PRODUCTION WAREHOUSE" is in a bold Bauhaus 93 font. Usually seen on 1970's and 1980's series. The last shows to use this variation of "SOUTH DETROIT PRODUCTION WAREHOUSE" were the 1985 reboot of Littlest Pet Shop, Samuel Seahorse's Super Show! and the 1986 reboot of Pinky & the Brain, among miscellaneous shows.

There is also a small rectangle or square with a caricature sketch of the characters inside that accompanies the copyright with the in-credit logo on most shows. This practice began in the 1967 and would last until 1987 on most shows.

FX/SFX/Cheesy Factor: None except some variations are a bit harsh on the eyes.

Music/Sounds: The closing theme of the show.

Availability: Ultra common. It's still preserved on every Stevens Film Works/South Detroit Production Warehouse show after February 1961, as it’s incorporated in the credits.

Scare Factor: None.

3rd Logo

(1967-1970)

TBA

4th Logo

(1970-1974)

TBA

5th Logo

(1974-1979)

TBA

6th Logo

(1979-1986)

TBA

7th Logo

(1986-1991)

TBA