The Lyons Group (alternatively known through copyright and trademark as Lyons Partnership L.P.) was a video production group founded in 1988. Currently retaining ownership through copyright, it produced Barney & The Backyard Gang alongside its successor Barney & Friends.
History[]
Beginnings[]
The Lyons Group traces its origins to when Sheryl Leach proposed a preschool video series, which eventually would be Barney & The Backyard Gang, to DLM, Inc (Developmental Learning Materials). At the time Sheryl Leach was working at DLM, Inc. as a writer. The board she proposed to turned her down. Owner of DLM, Inc., Richard C. Leach, who was Sheryl's father-in-law, agreed to back her with the project with $700,000 of his own money,[9] but $1 million in total was provided for the video project.[5] The Lyons Group was formed by Richard C. Leach under DLM, Inc., to help market Barney.[5] The company was named after Richard's mother,[10] Bernice Lyons Leach.[11]
Ownership & Copyright[]
DLM, Inc. changed its name to RCL Enterprises, Inc. in 1992 due to it divesting itself of Developmental Learning Materials and selling its instructional materials to Macmillian/McGraw Hill and its assessment materials to Riverside Publishing, a subsidiary of Houghton Mifflin.[11] Around this time The Lyons Group began using their alternative name, Lyons Partnership, L.P. through copyright and trademark, which continues to be used today. As The Lyons Group was growing around this time, The Walt Disney Company, was looking to buy the company. Michael Eisner, who was CEO of The Walt Disney Company at the time, offered to make Barney as big as Mickey Mouse if the company was sold to Disney. Leach refused. Jeffrey Katzenberg, who was a part of The Walt Disney Company at the time, laid out plans he envisioned for Barney if involved with Disney. Again, Leach refused as he liked the idea the company was independent.[12] In 1994, RCL Enterprises, Inc. was moved to its parent company, Lyrick Corporation. Lyrick Corporation formed the subsidiary Lyrick Studios which held the Lyons Group unit.
Logo[]
History[]
In The Backyard Show, the background music was a track of a toy piano playing the first three notes of "I Love You" with the voice of Sandy Duncan saying "Love you!" whilst in the later Backyard Gang videos, the track changed to a synthesized string and a synthesized flute track.
Variants[]
Trivia[]
- The Lyons Group original headquarters was 300 East Bethany Road, Allen, Texas 75002 United States, as mentioned in a few Barney & The Backyard Gang videos, but eventually moved to Richardson, Texas.
- "The Lyons Group" logo was last seen in 1991 at the end of Rock With Barney, the final Barney & The Backyard Gang video, but some 1992 VHS prints of some Barney & the Backyard Gang videos without any previews also have this logo. The name continued to be used in the end credits for its successor Barney & Friends until season eleven in 2007 while the name was also used on VHS titles until 1998.
- The earliest known duplicator for the Lyons Group was Cassette Productions in Salt Lake City, where the earliest documented case of Barneyphobia took place courtesy of a young employee who became frustrated with having to do quality check on Barney & The Backyard Gang videos on a regular basis and recounted his experience in a Reddit comment.
References[]
- ↑ | Third Show Scheduled For Barney
- ↑ LYONS STICKING WITH BARNEY STRATEGY
- ↑ | CREATING A MONSTER
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 | Why Young Children Scream
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 | DUMPING THE LITTLE DINOSAUR THAT COULD
- ↑ | EXECUTIVE TURNTABLE
- ↑ | What's not to like about Barney?
- ↑ The Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection Retrieved March 17, 2023
- ↑ | Barney's big success breeds some equally big problems
- ↑ | Vatican II in living color, filled with promises
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 | Richard Leach - Database: Christian Educators of the 20th Century - Biola University
- ↑ What Happened to Big Idea? (Part 6
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