Sylvia Anderson

I think we're all aware of the personal difficulties between Gerry
Anderson and Sylvia Anderson towards the end of their association.

But having watched the Captain Scarlet documentary on the DVD, I was
amazed that she never even got a mention let alone be interviewed.

It was good watching the documentary but it felt a bit like watching
a documentary about Morecambe and Wise with no mention of Wise.

Having grown up on the Anderson series from Supercar through to Space
Precinct, I've always felt that as they both kept(and are still
keeping) several generations of children and adults entertained that
I could never bring myself to take sides in their falling out.

AS one is new to the Behind the scenes aspect of The Anderson Old Empire;
Could someone tell me why Jerry and Sylvia fell out? Were they divorced? what
happened to the control of the copywrites' to the series ect?

Many Thanks

TMN


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> Could someone tell me why Jerry and Sylvia fell out?

Professional jealously? Affairs? Didn't get along?
I don't think there's a whole lot written on the subject,
and even so there's a difference between "Gerry's version"
and "Sylvia's version".

> divorced?

Yes, they separated after Space:1999 year one. That's
why Sylvia didn't produce Space:1999 year two.

>what happened to the control of the copywrites' to the series ect?

I've heard stories that they sold off their rights to the show, but I'm
not sure if that's correct since I would think that they never had the
rights in the first place -- I mean, it was Lew Grade's company that
provided the money for the shows, not Gerry and Sylvia.

Marc (who's not an expert on this subject)

The rights to the various series were sold but not by the Anderson. The
rights were owned by ATV. When the company was taking over in 1983-4 by a
corporate raider named Rupert Holmes-Accourt, he sold off all of ATV holdings which
were vast including the rights to all TV series, merchandising and Studios,
theaters and EMI Recording and all its music copyrights(this is how Michael
Jackson bought the copyright to all the Beatle songs).

James K.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

In a message dated 9/26/2003 6:52:54 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
[hidden email] writes:
>>.I've heard stories that they sold off their rights to the show, but I'm
not sure if that's correct since I would think that they never had the
rights in the first place -- I mean, it was Lew Grade's company that
provided the money for the shows, not Gerry and Sylvia.

Marc (who's not an expert on this subject) <<,
But who is well informed, Thanks Marc!

TMN


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[hidden email] wrote:
> AS one is new to the Behind the scenes aspect of The Anderson Old
> Empire; Could someone tell me why Jerry and Sylvia fell out? Were
> they divorced? what happened to the control of the copywrites' to
> the series ect?
>

You might track down a copy of "The Man Who Made Thunderbirds
Go", Gery's biography. Interesting reading.

>You might track down a copy of "The Man Who Made Thunderbirds
>Go", Gery's biography. Interesting reading.

I need to get that... I've got Sylvia Anderson's "Yes M'Lady"... in it, she
devotes a chapter to the problems between her and Gerry. According to her,
the problems started in 1965 during "Thunderbirds", as she began to get
public attention. Gerry could not accept this and became resentful. I
guess he wanted 100% of the credit for these shows, even though to me it
was obviously a team
effort which involved a lot of talented people (even that biography title
"The Man Who Made Thunderbirds Go" tries to make it sound like it was all
Gerry's doing).

The relationship was stormy even back in the mid 1960's. They had trial
separations, infidelities, and eventually went their separate ways after
Space:1999 year one. The divorce was official in 1981. Gerry then married
one of the secretaries working on Space:1999, just like he married his
former secretary Sylvia back in 1960 after divorcing his previous wife
Betty.

Marc