In the 1950s, Screen Gems (the television subsidiary of Columbia
Pictures) produced a number of TV series, including "The Adventures Of
Rin Tin Tin", "Circus Boy", "Ivanhoe", "The 77th Bengal Lancers",
"Casey Jones", "Jet Jackson" (aka "Captain Midnight") and "Jungle
Jim". Does anyone know whether Columbia-Tristar (a division of SONY)
has renewed copyrights to these series? How do I contact
Columbia-Tristar to inquire?

Hello kingcolly,

Thank you for your question.

I could find no information online in regards to Sony and/or Coulmbia
Tristar renewing these copyrights. Even search results for copyright
renewals on theme songs and music for these shows produced little
information.

For example:

Searching Circus Boy copyright renewal, I found the following page and
information showing the themes have not been renewed:

http://www.classicthemes.com/50sTVThemes/themePages/circusBoy.html
Theme: "Circus Boy Theme Song"

    [verified as both the Main and End Title THEME, by George Cahill,
who plays "Mr. GreenJeans" on the "All New Captain Kangaroo Show."]

     Composers: Harold S. ("Hal") Hopper (ASCAP), with lyrics by
                Victor McLeod (ASCAP)

     Original Publisher: [unknown]
     1978 Publisher: Colgems EMI Music, Inc. (ASCAP)
     1999 Publisher: Colgems EMI Music (ASCAP), of
                     New York, NY

     Copyright Date: April 29, 1957, Eu 475 763.
                    [copyright info courtesy Tom Perrone]	
     Renewal Date:
     Recording:

Similarly searching: "adventures of rin tin tin" copyright renewal
produced a single result:

http://www.classicthemes.com/50sTVThemes/themePages/rinTinTin.html
Where many musical title show no recent renewals of copyright.

A search for Screen Gems copyright renewals produced no pertinent
results as well.


I also had a great deal of difficulty even finding contact information
for the Columbia Tristar division of Sony, however, I uncovered the
following contact information as you requested:

COLUMBIA TRISTAR TELEVISION
PHONE (310) 202-1234
FAX (310) 244-2626
WEBSITE http://www.spe.sony.com/
9336 W. Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232

John Feltheimer President,Columbia Tristar TV
Andrew J. Kaplan Exc. VP Columbia Tristar TV


Additionally, the Senior Management Team at Sony Pictures, the parent
company consists of:

Jeff Blake Vice Chairman, Sony Pictures Entertainment 
Amy Pascal Vice Chairman, Sony Pictures Entertainment 
Yair Landau Vice Chairman, Sony Pictures Entertainment

Sony corporate offices are located at the following locations:

Sony Pictures Entertainment
10202 West Washington Blvd. 
Suite 3900
Culver City, CA 90232-3195 
(310) 244-4000 


Sony Pictures Entertainment
550 Madison Avenue, 7th Floor
New York, NY 10022 
(212) 833-8500

I hope this contact information leads you to the definitive answers
you desire.

Please do ask if anything above can be clarified.

Best regards,

-=clouseau=-