Sunday Matinee #1…GREAT WEST COAST TV HISTORY VIDEO

In this KTLA 40th Anniversary presentation, there are so many firsts, they are nearly impossible to list, but Bob Hope, Steve Alan, Dinah Shore, Betty White, and many others do a remarkable job of narrating this 2 hour show. Filled with rare film and kinescopes, this is the story of how television developed on the west coast, and includes not just KTLA’s history, but other early stations there too. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

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August 19, 1906…The Father Of Electronic Television Was Born

110 years ago today, Philo Taylor Farnsworth was born in Beaver, Utah. By age 14, he had worked out the principles for the Image Dissector tube which occurred to him while plowing back and forth on the family farm.

The video at this link was done by his great granddaughter, Jessica Farnsworth and is full of rare color film of some of Philo’s first demonstrations in San Francisco and Philadelphia and is well worth the ten minutes it takes to watch.

The photo below was taken after Farnsworth’s only appearance on the technology he created. In June of 1957, he was a guest on ‘I’ve Got A Secret’ and this clip is loaded to start at the beginning of his segment. http://youtu.be/3cspYZyGp1A?t=13m21s

The lady is his wife and assistant, Pem Farnsworth. Enjoy and share! – Bobby Ellerbee

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August 19, 1949…First CBS Color Test Footage Shot

The day before this, CBS did their first experimental color broadcast in Washington, D.C. for the FCC using the system they were building for Smith, Kline & French which was to be used in operating rooms for medical teaching.

The next week, on August 25, RCA announced their Dot Sequential color system which is the one we used today. CBS was making color with a system that used a spinning red, blue and green color wheel on the cameras and receivers, so the CBS system was mechanical where the RCA system was all electronic. For more of the chronology on the early days of color systems, here is a link to Ed Reitan’s great research. https://www.earlytelevision.org/Reitan/index.html

Below is three minutes of the oldest known color recording (on film, but not a kinescope) of a CBS Field Sequential color television test featuring a lady holding colorful scarves. A small low quality sample of this footage has been on the web for many years, this version is full 3 min worth in HD. Thanks to Troy Walters in Australia for bringing this to us. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

#t=15″ target=”_blank”>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5tf6SQjFlQ #t=15

Link to order this clip: http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675075009_color-television-broadcast_Columbia-Broadcasting-Systems_Color-Television-Monitor-Tube…

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Come Play Along With A Special Episode Of “To Tell The Truth”

Can you guess which one is the real Ken Whalen? I’ve read his book and I couldn’t guess, so play along, and there is a surprise for Gary Moore at the end.

Ken was a director and associate director in the Golden Age and worked with Ed Sullivan, Jackie Gleason, Red Buttons, Gary Moore, Perry Como and lot of early game shows like “Strike It Rich” and many more.

His book “How the Golden Age of Television Turned My Hair to Silver: The Mad Memories of an Ex-Television Director”, is a must read. It is loaded with behind the scenes memories, bloopers and very interesting stories of live television in the 1950s.

Thanks to Barry Mitchell for sharing the link. Let us know if you guess the right one. Peggy Cass has some great questions, as do most of the panel members. Enjoy! -Bobby Ellerbee

In the 2nd half of this episode of To Tell the Truth, we get a partial reunion of several cast members from Garry Moore’s old variety series the Garry Moore …

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August 18, 1948…Vine Street Studios Debut

Did you know this was originally the home of The Don Lee – Mutual Network? Or, that this is the first place Johnny Carson ever went on network television? This was also the home of “The Dating Game”, “The Joey Bishop Show”, and more.

The building, at 1313 Vine Street in Hollywood, was constructed in 1948 as a radio and television studio facility at a cost of $3 million. The dedication of the Don Lee-Mutual Broadcasting building was held on August 18, 1948. It is the oldest surviving structure in Hollywood that was originally designed specifically with television in mind. As you can see from the layout image, it was huge and very well planned.

Cadillac dealer Don Lee got into broadcasting to stay competitive with his friend Earle C. Anthony, a Packard dealer, who bought radio station KFI as a method of appealing to his customers. Lee bought KFRC in San Francisco and KHJ in Los Angeles, ultimately building the chain to 12 West Coast stations. Though named for him, Lee, who had died 14 years earlier, never saw this building.

The building was the original home of Los Angeles Channel 2, which is now KCBS-TV, through the 1950s. KCBS-TV is one of the oldest television stations in the US. It was signed on by Don Lee Broadcasting, and was first licensed by the FCC as experimental television station W6XAO in June 1931. The station went on the air on December 23, 1931, and by March 1933 was broadcasting programming one hour each day only on Monday through Saturdays.

During World War II, programming was reduced to three hours, every other Monday. The station’s frequency was switched from Channel 1 to Channel 2 in 1945 when the FCC decided to reserve Channel 1 for low-wattage community television stations. The station was granted a commercial license (the second in California, behind KTLA) as KTSL on May 6, 1948, and was named for Thomas S. Lee, the son of Don Lee.

Don Lee’s broadcasting interests were placed for sale in 1950 following the death of Thomas S. Lee. General Tire and Rubber agreed to purchase all of Don Lee’s stations, but General Tire chose to sell KTSL, and the building at 1313 Vine Street to CBS. On October 28, 1951, KTSL changed its call-sign to KNXT to coincide with CBS’ Los Angeles radio outlet, KNX (1070 AM). In April of ’84, it became KCBS.

These are the studios where Johnny Carson’s earliest mid-’50s television appearances, including “Carson’s Cellar” and “The Johnny Carson Show” were done.

ABC bought the building from CBS around 1967, installed GE color cameras and produced shows like “The Joey Bishop Show”, “The Dating Game” and “The Newlywed Game” from 1313 Vine Street.

Today, it is the home of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science’s Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study. It was dedicated in honor of legendary silent film actress Mary Pickford in 2002. Pickford was one of the founding members of the Academy. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

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If It Sounds Funny…You Can Thank Treg Brown!

For all of us that grew up with the great cartoons of the 40s, 50s and 60s, here’s a nice story on the man behind the silly sounds, that were such a big part of the fun. The two videos in the attached artilce are full of thing’s you’ve heard all your life…now you know who to thank. Enjoy! -Bobby Ellerbee

http://www.neatorama.com/neatogeek/2016/02/11/The-Sound-Effects-Genius-Behind-The-Looney-Tunes-And-Merrie-Melodies/

Back in the good old days of showbiz, sound effects were created by foley artists who made a racket and recorded their sounds right on the spot, without any digital help or enhancement. And when it came to cartoon sound effects there was one man who made that madcap racket we all know and love from t…

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Since around 2006, this is the third or fourth time this has happened. Somehow, the Little League World Series playoffs have become he most dangerous place on earth for a home plate camera. You would think by now, someone would have added a Plexiglas shield to shoot through. If you’ve never seen a picture shot through a broken lens, you are about to. -Bobby Ellerbee

Jack Hopko Shatters Camera Behind Plate

Jack Hopko hits a foul ball that shatters the camera positioned behind home plate in the bottom of the 3rd inning
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Time Machine! 25th Anniversay Issue, RCA Broadcast News

This October 1956 issue gives us stories, all the way back to the first issue in October of 1931, with tons of “new” stories too, on color television, new TV studios for several stations, and much more.

For many of our viewers, this will be a real education as in some articles, they can see parts of television operations they may not be familiar with, like the telecine rooms (film chains) and too much more to even try to list, so click the link, and enjoy the trip back in time!
-Bobby Ellerbee

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August 12, 1968…The Last TV Performance Of “Over The Rainbow”

48 years ago today, Judy Garland appeared on “The Mike Douglas Show”. No one knew this would be the last time she would sing her beloved classic on television, but this is the last rendition the viewing public got to see.

At the start of this clip, you can see Mike and Judy reminiscing over some rare photos of her, but this video is set to start where Douglas asks her to sing one of the greatest songs of all time. We still love you Judy! -Bobby EllerbeeFrom The Mike Douglas Show, aired in August of 1968. (Part 4 of 4) In the final part of the interview Judy talks about some of her movies, her children’s rea…

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August 12, 1881…Cecil B. DeMille Was Born, And With Him: “Epics”

DeMille was one of the greatest film directors and producers of all time. His name was synonymous with the word “epic” and he brought some of the biggest films ever made to the screen. In the photo, we see him talking with Charlton Heston, as Moses, on the set of “The Ten Commandments”.

Here is one of the many great stories, some true-some not, told about “Mr. Epic”.

DeMille once directed a film that required a huge, expensive battle scene. Filming on location in a California valley, the director set up multiple cameras to capture the action from every angle. It was a sequence that could only be done once.

When DeMille yelled “Action!,” thousands of extras playing soldiers stormed across the field, and riders on horseback galloped over the hills. Spears and arrows by the thousand flew, catapults fired, and battle towers loaded with soldiers came toppling down. The whole sequence went off perfectly. At the end of the scene, DeMille yelled “Cut!”

It was then that he was then informed, to his horror, that three of the four cameras recording the battle sequence had failed. In Camera #1, the film had broken. Camera #2 had missed shooting the sequence when a dirt clod was kicked into the lens by a horse’s hoof. Camera #3 had been destroyed when a battle tower had fallen on it. DeMille was at his wit’s end when he suddenly remembered that he still had Camera #4, which he had had placed along with a cameraman on a nearby hill to get a long shot of the battle sequence.

DeMille grabbed his megaphone and called up to the cameraman, “Did you get all that?” The cameraman on the hill waved and shouted back, “Ready when you are, C.B.!”. -Bobby Ellerbee

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STOP THE PRESSES! WHAT DO WE HAVE HERE? A UNICORN?

Now THIS, is INTERESTING! Behind RCA’s Dr. Paul Weimer, with his Tri-Color camera (foreground), there is something behind him I have never seen before.

UPDATE: January 2021, new photos shed new light on this camera at this link https://eyesofageneration.com/a-primer-on-rcas-earliest-compatable-color-cameras/

It is similar to the first generation of RCA color cameras, but is not one of the two built for testing in the RCA/NBC Wardman Park Studios in Washington DC. Those cameras are in the other photos here and have vents on the doors, a different lens housing on the front, exhaust blower on top, and do not have any kind of control knobs that we see at the rear of the lens housing here. Nor do they have aluminum “color” badges on their sides (just behind Weimer’s shoulder, you can see the “color” badge).

This perplexing photo, sent in by Barry Mitchell, is from a 1953 RCA publication on color television, and the only mention of the photo refers to the Tri-Color technology. I suspect this photo was taken at RCA in Camden.

As for just what this is…I’m not exactly sure, but here is my best guess. Before I go there though, let me say that I have heard that the Wardman cameras were returned to Camden when the WDC color test were concluded in 1950, and testing moved to NYC in ’51.

I think this may be one of the Wardman cameras that has been modified inside and out as a possible “go-between” lab model that tries to bridge the gap between the Wardman cameras and the second generation of color camera, which were the “coffin” cameras used in NBC Studio 3H in NYC after the Wardman experiments were concluded.

I know that having the optical system in the box on the front of the camera was never something they liked, because of the fixed focal length, which meant you had to move the camera back and forth for long shots or close ups. I suspect the controls on the back of the optics box is a newly added attempt to adjust the “back focus” into the red, blue and green filter mirrors that were in this box.

Since the turret had been introduced on the RCA TK30, in 1946, just after the Wardman cameras were built, I think one reason this mock up failed to be used was because it still had little ability to vary shots, that a turret offered.

The John Vasos designed “Television” badge on the lab model is now joined by a “Color” badge, which was also a Vasos touch. One further refinement Vasos suggested to RCA was to round the top of the viewfinder, making the first application (on the “coffin” cameras), similar in appearance to the gentle curves we came to admire on the TK40 and 41.

I’m sure there were refinements to the interior electronics, but have no idea what those may have been, but the color optics system moved inside on the “coffin” cameras which improved the image out.

Anyone have further thoughts, or ever seen this rare camera “missing link” before? Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

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