Mark VII Limited was the production company of actor and filmmaker

Jack Webb John Randolph Webb (April 2, 1920 – December 23, 1982) was an American actor, television producer, director, and screenwriter, who is most famous for his role as Sgt. Joe Friday in the ''Dragnet'' franchise, which he created. He was a ...

, and was active from 1951 to his death in 1982. Many of its series were produced in association with

Universal Television Universal Television LLC (abbreviated as UTV) is an American television production company that is a subsidiary of Universal Studio Group, a division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It serves as the network television production arm of NBC; a predec ...

; most of them aired on the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters ...

television network in the U.S. Coincidentally, NBC and Universal are today part of the same company. The estate of Jack Webb now owns the full rights to the company's library, with the exception of the original 1954 feature film version of '' Dragnet'' (originally released by

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

, but now owned by

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

), and the films '' Pete Kelly's Blues'' and '' The D.I.'' (which are controlled by original distributor Warner Bros.). However, Webb's three seminal series, '' Dragnet'' (the 1967–1970 incarnation), ''

Emergency! ''Emergency!'' is an American action-adventure medical drama A medical drama is a television show or film in which events center upon a hospital, an ambulance staff, or any medical environment. Most recent medical drama (film and television) ...

,'' and ''

Adam-12 ''Adam-12'' is an American television police procedural crime drama television series created by Robert A. Cinader and Jack Webb. The series follows Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers Pete Malloy and Jim Reed as they patrol the stre ...

,'' are now available on DVD from either Universal or

Shout! Factory Shout! Factory is an American home video and music company founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases include previously released feature films, classic and contemporary television series, animation, live music, and comedy ...

, the first two under license from the Webb estate, the latter in-house since Universal was reassigned the ''Adam-12'' series copyright. The

MeTV MeTV, an acronym for Memorable Entertainment Television, is an American broadcast television network owned by Weigel Broadcasting. Marketed as "The Definitive Destination for Classic TV", the network airs a variety of classic television program ...

and

Antenna TV Antenna TV is an American digital television network owned by Nexstar Media Group. The network's programming consists of classic television series, primarily sitcoms, from the 1950s to the 1990s. Antenna TV's programming and advertising operatio ...

Television Networks also air episodes of the Mark VII Limited shows.

Programs produced by Mark VII

All series aired on NBC except as noted. *'' Dragnet,'' 1951–1959 *''Noah's Ark,'' 1956–1957 *''

The D.A.'s Man The D.A.'s Man is an American television crime drama, produced by Jack Webb, that aired on NBC from January 3, 1959, to August 29, 1959. The central character, who went by the single name Shannon, was a private detective who worked for the Manhat ...

,'' 1959 *'' Pete Kelly's Blues,'' 1959 *''

GE True ''GE True'' (also known as ''General Electric True'') is a 33-episode, American anthology series sponsored by General Electric. Telecast on CBS, the series presented stories previously published in ''True'' magazine. Articles from the magazine ...

'', 1962–1963 ( CBS) *''

Temple Houston Temple Lea Houston (August 12, 1860 – August 15, 1905) was an American attorney and politician who served from 1885 to 1889 in the Texas State Senate. He was the last-born child of Margaret Lea Houston and Sam Houston, the first elected presi ...

'', 1963–1964 *'' Dragnet,'' 1967–1970 *''

,'' 1968–1975 *'' The D.A.,'' 1971–1972 *'' O'Hara, U.S. Treasury,'' 1971–1972 (CBS) *''

,'' 1972–1977 *'' Hec Ramsey,'' 1972–1974 *'' Escape,'' 1973 *'' Chase,'' 1973–1974 *'' Sierra,'' 1974 *'' Mobile One,'' 1975 ( ABC) *'' Little Mo,'' 1978 TV movie *'' Project U.F.O.,'' 1978–1979 *'' Sam,'' 1978 (CBS) Mark VII's final production was ''The 25th Man,'' an unsold

television pilot A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other dis ...

that aired on NBC in 1982.

Production logo

Mark VII Limited was known for its famous

production logo A production logo, vanity card, vanity plate, or vanity logo is a logo used by movie studios and television production companies to brand what they produce and to determine the production company and the distributor of a television show or fi ...

attached to the end of its productions. The logo, in use in one form or another for much of the company's existence, showed the hands of Jack Webb's construction foreman Harold C. Nyby holding a stamp against a sheet of metal. As a

timpani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a membrane called a head stretched over a large bowl traditiona ...

roll played, he struck two blows on the stamp with a hammer and then removed both tools to reveal the Roman numeral VII indented into the sheet. The origin of the name "Mark VII" is unclear. One source said the name meant nothing, and that it was made up over coffee one day. Another source says Webb just liked the look of the Roman numerals. The Mark VII production logo is one of the more recognizable logos of its time and has become iconic, with many instances of filmmakers and production companies paying homage to it in various ways, most notably Williams Street Productions of

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as dult swim'' and often abbreviated as s'') is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programmed by its in-house ...

/ Cartoon Network programming, whose logo utilizes the same drumroll/hammer clinks soundtrack seen on the 1967 Mark VII logo. The Mark VII Limited logo was also spoofed at the end of the 1954

Woody Woodpecker Woody Woodpecker is an animated character that appeared in theatrical short films produced by the Walter Lantz Productions, Walter Lantz Studio and distributed by Universal Pictures, Universal Studios between 1940 and 1972. Woody, an anthropom ...

cartoon ''Under The Counter Spy''. In this spoof, the man accidentally hits his thumb with the hammer and yells "OUCH!", then pulls the hammer away to reveal the ending title card. The man's voice was supplied by

Daws Butler Charles Dawson Butler (November 16, 1916May 18, 1988) was an American voice actor. He worked mostly for the Hanna-Barbera animation production company where he originated the voices of many familiar characters, including Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Ho ...

. The 1955 Three Stooges' short '' Blunder Boys'' not only was a parody of ''Dragnet'', but ended with Larry being stamped with "VII 1/2 The End" on his forehead. Gunther-Wahl Productions used a similar card at the end of its cartoons. The logo was remade multiple times during the company's history. It is reported that the early logos featured Jack Webb's hands but the later logos featured Ivan Martin's. Ivan was the director of studio operations for 20th Century Fox at the time of his retirement but worked in the studio's visual effects department during production of the logos. In an episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show, Rob Petrie references the "Mark VII " logo to a police officer when referencing the end of a case where his dining room table had been stolen. Filmmaker

Spike Lee Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced more than 35 films since 1983. He made his directorial debut ...

pays homage to this famous logo in the logo for his own production company ''

40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks is the production company of Spike Lee, founded in 1979. The company name is a reference to the phrase most often used to refer to the early Reconstruction period policy and episode of events, in which certain rec ...

''. In addition, the sound of the hammer striking the stamp was used in the intro to the

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and var ...

entrance music of wrestler Greg "The Hammer" Valentine.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mark Vii Limited Defunct film and television production companies of the United States Entertainment companies based in California Companies based in Los Angeles Defunct companies based in Greater Los Angeles Entertainment companies established in 1951 Mass media companies established in 1951 Mass media companies disestablished in 1982 1951 establishments in California 1982 disestablishments in California American film studios