Family Home Entertainment (FHE) was an American

home video Home video is prerecorded media sold or rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD, Blu-ray and streaming me ...

company founded in 1980 by Noel C. Bloom. It was a division of International Video Entertainment, which had its headquarters in

Newbury Park, California Newbury Park is a populated place and townReal Estate Communications, Inc. (1984). ''California Real Estate Directory''. Page 201. in Ventura County, California, United States. Most of it lies within the western Thousand Oaks city limits, while ...

History

The company was founded by Noel C. Bloom as a direct opposite to an earlier company he founded,

Caballero Home Video Caballero Home Video is an American pornographic film studio, based in Canoga Park, California founded by Noel C. Bloom. It was previously known as Caballero Control Corporation.Jennings, p.180 The company was founded in 1974, making it one of the ...

, which was a pioneering video distributor of hardcore adult fare. FHE released children's and

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

-oriented programming, most notably popular 1980s television cartoons, including '' The Transformers'', ''

G.I. Joe ''G.I. Joe'' is an American media franchise and a line of action figures owned and produced by the toy company Hasbro. The initial product offering represented four of the branches of the U.S. armed forces with the Action Soldier ( U.S. Army), Ac ...

'', '' Jem'', '' ThunderCats'', ''

Inspector Gadget ''Inspector Gadget'' is a media franchise that began in 1983 with the DIC Entertainment animated television series ''Inspector Gadget''. Since the original series, there have been many spin-offs based on the show, including additional animated s ...

'', ''

Defenders of the Earth ''Defenders of the Earth'' is an American animated television series produced in 1986, featuring characters from three comic strips distributed by King Features Syndicate—Flash Gordon, The Phantom, Mandrake the Magician, and Mandrake's assista ...

'', ''

Pound Puppies Pound Puppies is a toy line that was created by Tonka in the 1980s. It later inspired an animated TV special, two animated TV series, and a feature film. Shipments of the toys over five years generated sales of $300 million in 35 countries. Toy ...

'', the original ''

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' is an American media franchise created by the comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It follows Leonardo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Leonardo, Michelangelo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Miche ...

'' animated series, ''

Gumby ''Gumby'' is an American clay animation Media franchise, franchise, centered on the titular green clay humanoid character created and modeled by Art Clokey. Gumby stars in two television series, the feature-length ''Gumby: The Movie'', and oth ...

'', ''

Clifford the Big Red Dog ''Clifford the Big Red Dog'' is an American children's book series about the adventures of a precocious girl named Emily Elizabeth and her titular pet: a giant, red-furred dog named Clifford. It was first published in 1963 and was written by No ...

'', ''

The Care Bears Care Bears are multi-colored bears, originally painted in 1981 by artist Elena Kucharik to be used on greeting cards from American Greetings. In 1983, the characters were turned into plush teddy bears. The characters headlined their own televisi ...

'', and ''

Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars ''Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars!'' (also known as ''Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Menace'' in Canada) is an animated series created by Sunbow Productions, Abrams/Gentile Entertainment, Continuity Comics and the French company IDDH, co-produced by Ma ...

'', and other non-animated shows like ''

Baby Einstein Baby Einstein (stylized as baby einstein) is an American franchise and line of multimedia products, including home video programs, CDs, books, flashcards, toys, and baby gear that specialize in interactive activities for infants and toddle ...

'' and the ''

Laurel and Hardy Laurel and Hardy were a British-American Double act, comedy duo act during the early Classical Hollywood cinema, Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–19 ...

'' comedy series from the 1920s and 1930s by

Hal Roach Harry Eugene "Hal" Roach Sr.Randy Skretvedt, Skretvedt, Randy (2016), ''Laurel and Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies'', Bonaventure Press. p.608. (January 14, 1892 – November 2, 1992) was an American film and television producer, director, a ...

. FHE was one of the two distributors for most of the seasonal

Rankin/Bass Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment (founded and formerly known as Videocraft International, Ltd. and Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc.) was an American production company located in New York City, and known for its seasonal television specials, usual ...

television specials aired on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

, a relationship that began in 1989. The other distributor for this library was

Vestron Video Vestron Video was the main subsidiary of Vestron, Inc., a home video company based in Stamford, Connecticut, that was active from 1981 to 1993, and is considered to have been a pioneer in the home video market. The name is now used for a collect ...

, a now-defunct company which would be ironically acquired by FHE's then-parent Live Entertainment in 1991. However, it would lose the home video rights to the Rankin/Bass library in 1998 to

Sony Wonder Sony Wonder (founded as Sony Kids’ Music) is the kids and family entertainment label of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and the former record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Despite the similarity in name, Sony Wonder is not direct ...

and

Golden Books Family Entertainment ''Family Entertainment'' is the second album by the British progressive rock band Family, released in March 1969. The cover of the album was a takeoff from the sleeve of the Doors' second album, '' Strange Days'', as Family admitted. Backgrou ...

. The company also released several VHS releases of British kids' cartoons and animation in the US (i.e., ''

Roobarb ''Roobarb'' (also known as ''Roobarb and Custard'') is a British animated children's television series, created by Grange Calveley and originally shown on BBC1 just before the evening news. Each cartoon, written by Calveley and directed by Bob ...

'', ''

Wil Cwac Cwac ''Wil Cwac Cwac'' is a Welsh-language animated television series produced by Siriol Animation for S4C in 1982. It is based on a series of children's books written in the early 1930s by Jennie Thomas and J. O. Williams (including the famous We ...

'', ''

James the Cat ''James the Cat'' is a 1984 British children's series created by Kate Canning and produced by Jan Clayton with Grampian Television. It chronicles the many events which take place at the Cornerhouse (number 104) between James and his new animal f ...

'' and ''

Fireman Sam ''Fireman Sam'' (Welsh: ') is a Welsh animated children's television series about a fireman named Sam, his fellow firefighters, and other residents in the fictional Welsh rural village of Pontypandy (a portmanteau of two real towns, Pontypridd ...

''), as well as some Japanese

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

, such as ''

Robotech ''Robotech'' is a science fiction franchise that began with an 85-episode anime television series produced by Harmony Gold USA in association with Tatsunoko Production and first released in the United States in 1985. The show was adapted from t ...

'' and '' The Adventures of Ultraman'', plus the Australian '' Dot'' films. Their output was not strictly targeted at children and families; in the early '80s, several titles were released under the "World of Horror" label directly by FHE, including ''Journey into the Beyond'' and '' The Child'' (which was later rebranded as a

Monterey Home Video Monterey Media Inc. (formerly The Monterey Movie Company) started as a home video company founded in 1982 by Scott Mansfield. It was initially financed by Noel C. Bloom, and the titles were distributed by the Family Home Entertainment subsidiary o ...

release). Beginning in 1982, they also released

Filmation Filmation Associates was an American production company that produced animation and live-action programming for television from 1963 until 1989. Located in Reseda, California, the animation studio was founded in 1962. Filmation's founders and pr ...

's TV shows such as ''

Lassie's Rescue Rangers ''Lassie's Rescue Rangers'' is an animated TV show produced by Filmation and featuring Lassie, running from 1972 to 1973. The hour-long pilot, ''Lassie and the Spirit of Thunder Mountain'', was part of ''The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie''. Summar ...

'', ''

The Lone Ranger The Lone Ranger is a fictional masked former Texas Ranger who fought outlaws in the American Old West with his Native American friend Tonto. The character has been called an enduring icon of American culture. He first appeared in 1933 in ...

'', '' Shazam!'', ''

Blackstar ''Blackstar'' is an American animated science fantasy television series, produced in 1981 by Lou Scheimer and Norm Prescott for Filmation. The series was Filmation's second fantasy epic, the first being '' The Freedom Force'', a segment of '' ...

'', and '' The New Adventures of Zorro'', plus the only Filmation movie released at the time, '' Journey Back to Oz''. Early FHE releases were distributed by

MGM/UA Home Video MGM/UA may refer to: *Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, American film and television production and distribution company **United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital p ...

, including the very first release of few episodes of ''Gumby''. In the late 1980s, FHE's releases were distributed by MCA (most notably in Canada). In 1982, the company introduced USA Home Video as a non-family division of the company. Two years later in 1984, both FHE and USA became part of Noel Bloom's NCB Entertainment Group (which also included Bloom's other labels

, Thriller Video, USA Sports Video and later

Celebrity Home Entertainment Celebrity Home Entertainment (also known as simply Celebrity Video), founded by Noel C. Bloom in 1987, was a home video distributor specializing in mostly obscure material from around the world, as well as B-grade action films and softcore adult ...

), and in 1985, they were reorganized into International Video Entertainment (which then changed its name to Live Entertainment years later), with "Family Home Entertainment" as a kids and family imprint of IVE/Live. Throughout the 1990s, Family Home Entertainment Theatre was used as a banner for full-length, family-friendly movies Live had the rights to; certain FHE titles were also reprinted by Live's budget video brand Avid Home Entertainment. FHE continued as a sub-label of Live through its rebranding as Artisan Entertainment in 1998 and formed another imprint, FHE Kids. By the early 2000s, FHE had begun to concentrate on new direct-to-video material in addition to pre-existing television shows and movies, including the ''Barbie'' film series, Crayola Home Entertainment product and ''

'' (until the rights to that franchise were acquired by Disney). It also had a one off theatrical release division, FHE Pictures, established in 2002; its first and only release was '' Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie''. Ultimately, the brand was discontinued in 2005 by new owner Lionsgate (who had purchased Artisan in 2003), as the division restructured into Lionsgate Family Entertainment (an internal name only; from that point forward, all family-oriented releases carried the normal Lionsgate logo).

Notes

References

{{reflist

External links

Lionsgate Films

Division information
Home video companies of the United States Entertainment companies based in California Defunct companies based in Greater Los Angeles Companies based in Thousand Oaks, California Entertainment companies established in 1980 Entertainment companies disestablished in 2005 Former Lionsgate subsidiaries 1980 establishments in California 2005 disestablishments in California