Matinee at the Bijou

Overview

Before television, moviegoing could last hours and include many short films alongside a feature. Each episode of Matinee at the Bijou had only 90 minutes to replicate an authentic theater program, so the serial chapter was usually shortened to about half its length and the feature was edited to about an hour. During the first season, 16mm film prints were physically cut and spliced; later seasons used video technology. The show relied on public-domain content to avoid high licensing costs from major studios.

All short subjects, serials, and features were in the public domain except one: a first-season broadcast of Bulldog Drummond's Bride (1939), which was withdrawn after the producers discovered the literary rights to the character Bulldog Drummond were still protected; it was replaced with a Pinky Tomlin musical. Betty Boop served as the official mascot, and many Betty Boop cartoons appeared. Later seasons included Soundies, three-minute musicals that never played in theaters.

The theme music, titled "At the Bijou," was performed by Rudy Vallee and composed by Rich Mendoza. In 1995, TV Matters, Inc. bought broadcast rights and, with the producers, remastered 52 episodes for re-release to PBS affiliates and overseas markets.

Scheduling

Matinee at the Bijou was a fringe-time program, with episodes provided to PBS member stations for scheduling at their discretion. Most affiliates aired it on weekend mornings or afternoons, while some, like KCET in Los Angeles, ran it daily. One West Coast station found success by broadcasting it Saturday nights at 10:00 p.m., using it as a lead-in to Saturday Night Live. First-run episodes earned national Nielsen ratings mostly between 4.0 and 5.7, which was considered unprecedented for a non-prime-time PBS fringe-time series.

Hosts and producers

For the first three seasons, the series was hosted by actor Scott DeVenney. In 1983, the host was dropped and a Sneak Previews-style opening was used to reduce editing needed to fit content into the 90-minute slot. Co-creators and producers Bob Campbell and John Galbraith presented their concept to PBS in 1979 and received a green light. Galbraith left the series in 1982 along with DeVenney; Campbell continued as executive producer and producer for the following two seasons and the 1995 re-release.

Funders

In 1980, when Matinee at the Bijou was first licensed by PBS, national programs were chosen by program managers of member stations through a series of voting preference rounds. The series made the cut for five consecutive seasons but was not picked up in 1985 due to diminishing programming dollars and the need to spend available funds on core series like Nova, Mystery!, and Masterpiece Theatre. The Dick Cavett Show, another popular series not critical to the PBS core mission, had been eliminated the year before.