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Concept
Century 21 Organisation
Summary
The Century 21 Organisation was a group of companies founded by Gerry Anderson in the early 1960s to expand on his television production company, AP Films (APF; later Century 21 Productions). In addition to APF, the group included:
a property licensing company, AP Films (Merchandising) – established in 1960 as an APF subsidiary, later Century 21 Merchandising;
a record label, Century 21 Records (established in 1964) – a joint venture with Pye Records, producing soundtracks and tie-in audiobooks;
a toy manufacturer, Century 21 Toys (established in 1966) – formed by Century 21's acquisition of toymakers J. Rosenthal;
a publishing company, Century 21 Publishing or Century 21 Publications (established in 1966). In partnership with City Magazines, it created the comics titles TV Century 21 and Lady Penelope, among others. It also published tie-in novels through Armada Books.
Most of the companies' activities were marketing of products created by Century 21 Productions — in particular the TV series Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons and Joe 90, although some spin-off media were based on characters and machines from other media franchises, often connected to Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment.
The various "Century 21" brands predate Century 21 Productions — immediately following completion and the first TV screening of Thunderbirds, AP Films was renamed Century 21 Productions to align it with its growing merchandising sister companies Century 21 Merchandising, Century 21 Toys, Century 21 Records, and Century 21 Publishing.
By the beginning of 1969, Century 21 Productions had become financially over-stretched. Within a few months, they had disbanded their three warehouse-sized studios on the Slough Trading Estate.
From 1965 to 1969, Century 21 Publishing partnered with the published City Magazines to produce weekly comics titles based on Anderson's Supermarionation properties. Century 21 packaged the comics, hiring the editors, writers and artists, which were then printed and distributed by City Magazines.
Official source
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