(Version One: "Flash Gordon" -- Syndicated, 1954 - 1958; Reruns on the Dumont Network -- Weekends, 195?; Version Two: "The New Animated Adventures Of Flash Gordon" --; NBC Saturday Mornings, 1979 - 1980; NBC Saturday Mornings, 1982 - 1983; Version Three: "Flash Gordon" --; no information as yet) [The legend of the heroic rocketeer began as a newspaper comic strip by Alex Raymond whose brother created the very popular "Blondie" comic strip using the name Chic Young; In 1934 Raymond created his own strip -- "Flash Gordon" and later created other comic strips "Jungle Jim" and "Rip Kirby" a scientific investigator; After Alex died in an automobile accident in 1956, his publishers carried the "Flash Gordon" strip on as long as they could until 2001; A syndicated "Flash Gordon" radio series was produced by the Hearst corporation in 1935 since Hearst newspapers carried the comic strip; Radio's first "Flash Gordon" was Gale Gordon (who played the perpetually flustered high school principal -- Mr. Osgood Conklin -- on the radio/TV sitcom "Our Miss Brooks" starring Eve Arden); After only a few episodes of "Flash Gordon" a new cast was assembled in New York by the Hearst papers who weren't satisfied with the original; Only 26 radio epsiodes aired 1935--1936; More successful were the 2-reel theatrical serials produced by Universal Pictures between 1936 and 1940; Three series of episodes starred Larry "Buster" Crabbe; Filmed episodes of these 20-minute theatrical shorts were sometimes shown on early television as part of local movie shows or as "fillers" on weekends; In 1954 a joint venture of American, French and German film companies produced a syndicated television series filmed in Germany which was distributed in the US by the company "Motion Pictures For Television (MPTV)". The series starred Steve Holland in the title role of Flash; Irene Champlin played the female interest Dale Arden... and Joseph ("Joe") Nash played scientist Dr. Hans Zarkov; This live-action series not only aired on local stations via nationwide syndication, but also on the East Coast Dumont Network briefly; In 1979, an animated cartoon version was produced by Norm Prescott and Lou Scheimer for Filmation Associates, for the NBC Saturday Morning lineup; This flashy cartoon was called "The New Animated Adventures of Flash Gordon" -- aka "Flash Gordon" for short...It aired for one season and was re-run in the 1982/83 season; In 1980, Dino DeLaurentis put together a movie released by Universal Studios, scored by the British choral rock group "Queen"; Sam Jones played "Flash"; It might have done better box office if this kind of thing was done in the Disco 1970s; Finally in 1996 another attempt was made to produce an animated version directed by Norman LeBlanc for a Canadian Company using French animators; Little is known about this effort...or whether it aired on US television at all]
[above is the title as it appears in the 2001 ASCAP database; French TV composer Roger Roger got screen credit on episodes as supplier of "incidental music" for the series] Composer: Roger Roger (French SACEM/ASCAP/BMI) 1978 Publisher [listed without publisher in the 1978 ASCAP Index of Performed Compositions] 2001 Publisher: [listed without publisher in the 2001 ASCAP ACE Database; newer compositions represented by R F T Music Publishing Corp. (BMI) c/o Thomas J. Valentino of Elmsford, NY] US Copyright Date: US Renewal Date: Recordings:
[above is title as it appears in the 2001 ASCAP ACE database; ASCAP Alternate Titles... aka: "Flash Gordon Conquers The Universe"] Composers: Yvette H. Blais (ASCAP) and Norman ("Norm") Prescott (ASCAP) [also producer of the series] 2001 Publisher: RHI Television Music Co. (ASCAP) c/o WB Music Corp. a div. of Warner-Chappell Music, Inc. Copyright Date: Renewal Date: Recordings: