Springtime! is a boutique entertainment company established in the UK in 1977 and based in the United States since 1983. The company's activities encompass film, TV, radio, record and stage show production, entertainment marketing & publicity and talent management. The company has produced and marketed audio recordings, films, TV specials and music videos. It is periodically active as a record company releasing its own audio productions and acquisitions.

Record company

The record division of Springtime! was launched in 1981 as a label distributed in the UK by

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in Jamaica by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in 1959, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, another ...

and in the US/Canada by Island/ Warner Bros. Records. The label is primarily focused on both newly recorded and historic comedy material. It has distributed recordings by the Portsmouth Sinfonia, alternative comedians such as

Alexei Sayle Alexei David Sayle (born 7 August 1952) is an English actor, author, stand-up comedian, television presenter and former recording artist. He was a leading figure in the British alternative comedy movement in the 1980s. He was voted the 18th g ...

, Rik Mayall, Ade Edmondson, Nigel Planer, Peter Richardson and French and Saunders of ''

The Comic Strip The Comic Strip are a group of British comedians who came to prominence in the 1980s. They are known for their television series ''The Comic Strip Presents...'', which was labelled as a pioneering example of the alternative comedy scene. The c ...

'', the historic ''

Private Eye ''Private Eye'' is a British fortnightly satirical and current affairs (news format), current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely recognised ...

'' recordings. Springtime recorded and released Alexei Sayle's first album ''Cak!'' in 1982. 'The label's most successful humour release has been the comedy album of

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

's, 1981 benefit show '' The Secret Policeman's Other Ball'' which featured

John Cleese John Marwood Cleese ( ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, and Television presenter, presenter. Emerging from the Footlights, Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinbur ...

and

Graham Chapman Graham Chapman (8 January 1941 – 4 October 1989) was a British actor, comedian and writer. He was one of the six members of the Surreal humour, surrealist comedy group Monty Python. He portrayed authority figures such as The Colonel (Monty Py ...

Monty Python Monty Python, also known as the Pythons, were a British comedy troupe formed in 1969 consisting of Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin. The group came to prominence for the sketch comedy ser ...

, Rowan Atkinson, Barry Humphries, Billy Connolly,

Jasper Carrott Robert Norman Davis (born 14 March 1945), known by his stage name, Jasper Carrott, is an English comedian, writer, actor, singer and television presenter. His credits include '' An Audience With Jasper Carrott'' (1978), '' The Secret Policeman ...

, John Bird, John Fortune,

Tim Brooke-Taylor Timothy Julian Brooke-Taylor (17 July 194012 April 2020) was an English actor and comedian. He was best known as a member of The Goodies. Brooke-Taylor became active in performing in comedy sketches while at the University of Cambridge and beca ...

Griff Rhys Jones Griffith Rhys Jones (born 16 November 1953) is a Welsh actor, comedian, writer and television presenter. He starred in a number of television series with his comedy partner, Mel Smith. He and Smith came to national attention in the 1980s for ...

, Alexei Sayle and

Neil Innes Neil James Innes (; 9 December 1944 – 29 December 2019) was an English writer, comedian and musician. He first came to prominence in the comedy rock group the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and later became a frequent collaborator with the Monty Py ...

. In addition to the release of the comedy album of Amnesty's 1981 show, the label also released the music album of that show which became a major chart success in the UK and the US. The album featured Sting,

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English Rock music, rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s l ...

Jeff Beck Geoffrey Arnold Beck (24 June 1944 – 10 January 2023) was an English musician. He rose to prominence as the guitarist of the rock band the Yardbirds, and afterwards founded and fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, ...

Phil Collins Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and later became the lead singer of the rock band Genesis (band), Genesis and had a successful solo career, ac ...

Bob Geldof Robert Frederick Zenon Geldof (; born 5 October 1951) is an Irish singer-songwriter and political activist. He rose to prominence in the late 1970s as the lead singer of the Irish rock band the Boomtown Rats, who achieved popularity as part ...

and

Donovan Donovan Phillips Leitch (born 10 May 1946), known mononymously as Donovan, is a Scottish musician, songwriter and record producer. He emerged from the British folk scene in early 1965 and subsequently scored multiple international hit singles ...

. ''The Comic Strip'' album achieved some attention owing to the strong language used by the performers, which prompted the label to place a parental advisory sticker on the front cover. It also attracted attention because of its long duration – with a total running time of over 69 minutes on a single 12" disc – considerably longer than the customary 40 minutes per album. The label was dormant for several years and then in the early 1990s released a series of albums distributed in the UK by Castle Communications which included reissues of previous successes such as ''The Comic Strip Album'' and the first-ever releases of extended two-volume editions of two of Amnesty's comedy galas 1976's '' A Poke in the Eye'' and 1981's ''The Secret Policeman's Other Ball''. In the USA, Springtime produced and distributed with

Rhino Records A rhinoceros ( ; ; ; : rhinoceros or rhinoceroses), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant taxon, extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates (perissodactyls) in the family (biology), famil ...

a British comedy compilation titled ''Dead Parrot Society''. In the late 1990s, Springtime albums were distributed by Music Collection International and releases included three volumes of ''Private Eye'' recordings including the first-ever release of Private Eye's notorious album ''Ho-Ho Very Satirical!'' recorded in 1971 but refused release at the time by all major record companies because of its controversial content.

Music videos

Springtime produced music videos for comedy records such as Alexei Sayle's ''Ullo John! Gotta New Motor?'' (1982), the Comic Strip's ''Pop-Up Toasters'' (1981) and the Portsmouth Sinfonia's ''Classical Muddly'' (1981). In 1984/1985 the company's Martin Lewis produced four music videos featuring Julian Lennon: ''Too Late For Goodbyes'' and ''Valotte'' (both directed by Sam Peckinpah); ''Jesse'' and ''Stand By Me''. In 1985 Springtime co-produced the music video for

Wham! Wham! were an English pop duo formed in Bushey in 1981 consisting of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. They were one of the most successful pop acts during the 1980s, selling more than 30 million certified records worldwide from 1982 to ...

's ''Freedom'' single, co-directed by Lindsay Anderson and culled from footage of

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. Regarded as a pop culture icon, he is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling rec ...

and

Andrew Ridgeley Andrew John Ridgeley (born 26 January 1963) is an English musician, best known for his work in the 1980s in the musical duo Wham! consisting of Ridgeley and George Michael. Associated with the MTV-driven Second British Invasion of the US, th ...

shot by Anderson during the pop duo's April 1985 tour of China which was filmed by Springtime for George Michael and CBS Records. The company has also produced or co-produced music videos related to movies. These included

Eric Burdon Eric Victor Burdon (born 11 May 1941) is an English singer and songwriter. He was previously the lead vocalist of the rhythm and blues, R&B and Rock music, rock band The Animals and the funk band War (band), War. He is regarded as one of the Br ...

's version of " Sixteen Tons" from the 1990

Tom Hanks Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...

/ Meg Ryan film '' Joe Versus the Volcano'',

Bryan Ferry Bryan Ferry (born 26 September 1945) is an English singer and songwriter. He became known as the frontman of the band Roxy Music and also launched a solo career. His voice has been described as an "elegant, seductive croon". He also established ...

's "Kiss and Tell" from the 1988

Michael J. Fox Michael Andrew Fox (born June 9, 1961), known professionally as Michael J. Fox, is a Canadian and American actor and activist. Beginning his career as a child actor in the 1970s, he rose to prominence portraying Alex P. Keaton on the NBC sitcom ...

film '' Bright Lights, Big City'',

The Pretenders The Pretenders are a British rock band formed in March 1978. The original band consisted of founder and main songwriter Chrissie Hynde (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), James Honeyman-Scott (lead guitar, backing vocals, keyboards), Pete Farndon (ba ...

' "If There Was a Man" from the 1987

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

film '' The Living Daylights'', The Turtles " Happy Together" from the 1986 John Malkovich/ Ann Magnuson comedy '' Making Mr. Right'', a full-length version of Dooley Wilson's version of " As Time Goes By" for a reissue of ''

Casablanca Casablanca (, ) is the largest city in Morocco and the country's economic and business centre. Located on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Chaouia (Morocco), Chaouia plain in the central-western part of Morocco, the city has a populatio ...

'' in 1998. In 2010, Springtime's Lewis produced the music video of Aaron Johnson performing one of the first songs recorded by

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

and

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Culture ...

– " In Spite of All the Danger" – for the 2010 film ''

Nowhere Boy ''Nowhere Boy'' is a 2009 British biographical drama film, directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson in her directorial debut. Written by Matt Greenhalgh, it is based on Julia Baird's biography of her half-brother, the musician John Lennon. ''Nowhere ...

''.

Films, TV and home-video

Springtime produced and released Alexei Sayle's first home-video show ''The Alexei Sayle Pirate Video'' in 1983. Springtime produced or co-produced music documentaries such as ''Stand By Me: A Portrait Of Julian Lennon'' released in 1985 in the USA by

MCA Home Video Universal Pictures Home Entertainment LLC (UPHE) is the home video distribution division of Universal Pictures, an American film studio owned by NBCUniversal, the entertainment unit of Comcast. UPHE is the home video distributor for all of the ...

and in the UK by Virgin Vision and ''Foreign Skies:

In China'' directed by Lindsay Anderson released worldwide in 1986 by CBS Records Video. Springtime co-produced multiple theatrical, TV and home-video compilations for the US market drawn from

's '' The Secret Policeman's Balls'' series of films. These include the 1982 US theatrical version of ''The Secret Policeman's Other Ball'', the 1983 TV special ''The Secret Policeman's Private Parts'', the 1984 special ''The Secret Policeman's Rock Concert'', the 1985 special ''The Secret Policeman's Private Party'', the 2009 DVD ''The Secret Policeman Rocks!'' and the 2010 DVD ''The Secret Policeman's Private Party (30th Anniversary Edition)'' – both released by Shout Factory.Secret Policeman's Ball: The Secret Policeman Rocks! : DVD Talk Review of the DVD Video
Dvdtalk.com.

References

{{reflist Entertainment companies of the United States