TeleTales #15…Setting Up For The Greatest Car Chase Ever

“The French Connection” principal car chase scene was widely considered to be the best ever put on film at the time, overtaking Bullitt (1968) for that honor.

There was no official permit from the city for the chase which was done with the help of off duty policemen. The car crash during the chase sequence, at the intersection of Stillwell Ave. and 86th St., was unplanned and was included because of its realism. The man whose car was hit had just left his house a few blocks from the intersection to go to work and was unaware that a car chase was being filmed. The producers later paid the bill for the repairs to his car.

By the way…according to director William Friedkin, the significance of the straw hat being tossed onto the shelf of the rear window in Doyle and Russo’s car was that at that time, it was a universal signal in New York City that the undercover cops in the car were on duty. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

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TeleTales #14…Tiny Men Or Giant Props?

If you look at this long enough, you begin to wonder. The props are amazingly real looking aren’t they? They are from 1957’s “The Incredible Shrinking Man”. To simulate giant rain drops, prop men filled hundreds of condoms with water…many of which never made it to the set because of frequent water balloon fights. Condoms were used because they were clear and not colored like balloons, which looked more real as they fell. Enjoy and share. -Bobby Ellerbee

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TeleTales #13…”Some Like It Hot”, 1959

Did you know that when Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon first put on the female make-up and costumes, they walked around the Goldwyn Studios lot to see if they could “pass” as women? It worked, but just to make sure, they then tried using mirrors in public ladies rooms to fix their makeup, and when none of the women using it complained, they knew they could be convincing as women. There is a scene on the train recreating this moment.

Danny Kaye and Bob Hope were considered for the roles that went to Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis. Jerry Lewis was offered the role ultimately played by Jack Lemmon, but declined because he didn’t want to dress in drag. When Lemmon received an Oscar for the role that Lewis gave up, Lewis claims Jack sent him chocolates every year to thank him. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

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TeleTales #12…World’s First SNL Photo Bomb?

Could be. By the way, in case you are not visiting this page daily, there’s a good chance you are missing about half of what I post here. Just click on the blue text in the upper left corner and poof…you’re here! Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

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“All In The Family”…Best Retrospective Ever, In Five Parts

Last week, January 12, was the show’s anniversary and many of you asked for more. MSNBC’s “Time And Again” was in itself a great show that did an excellent job of documenting media history, so here is their April 2000 look at The Bunkers. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_NFrYyqMeY Part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm9ocfgi1Qc Part 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZVhMsbXFtY Part 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4n6p2DwC-DY Part 4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL98vlLmInI Part 5

From April 18, 2000, here is a great inside look at the sitcom to end all sitcoms, “All in the Family.” This is pat of the “Time and Again” series that MSNBC…

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Dr. Lee De Forest…Pioneer Of Electronic Media; Wireless To Talkies

Lee de Forest’s entire life was devoted to the invention of media technology primarily based on sound. He supplied the missing voice to radio and film.

Here is his 1957 appearance on ‘This Is Your Life’ from what I think is either Studio 1 or 3 from the brand new NBC Burbank. There are a few interesting shots from the control room and of the studio scattered around the first prat of the video. There is even a rare appearance from Allan B. Dumont.

Following a solid Yale education in Physics and Electricity, he spent the decade between 1900 and 1910 improving the wireless telegraph, but he quickly tired of its limitations of sending coded messages. In 1906 he filed his first patent for the vacuum tube he called the Audion, describing it as a detector of sound.

By 1907 he had invented an arc-based radiotelephone transmitter and Audion receiver, and he was writing about the possibility of sending music into homes by wireless. Between 1910 and 1920 he improved his Audion as a detector, an amplifier, and later a transmitter of radio. He started several radio stations. He was an early if not the first broadcaster of entertainment-based audio, primarily opera music.

Between 1920 to 1930 he invented, patented and improved upon a system of recording a sound track on a strip of film, thus allowing accurate synchronization with the picture. Lee de Forest had invented the Talking Motion Picture. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnlMUZfPdlg

This show is about my Grandfather, Lee deForest. At the shot of his Grandchildren, I’m on the lower left. I was 9 at the time. Please enjoy! There are even s…

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TeleTales #10…Ghostbustin’

Here’s a WNBC TK76 shooting a local news segment on the movie in production and some of the traffic problems it was causing around town in 1984. Did you know that the original casting was intended to be John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy as the Ghostbusters and John Candy as Lewis/Gozier? Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

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TeleTales #9…Remember This?

This is one of several posters MAD artist Jack Davis did for Ampex. These were usually given out at NAB conventions in the early 70s. I have been asked many times if there are hi res versions, but not that I can find. Anyone have better images? Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

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TeleTales #8…Remember These?

Back before everything became “disposable” (meaning there was no one to fix it if it broke), there were men that would come to your house to fix your TV set. These little cases were full of tools and tubes, and if you had a pro…he had a mirror too. Click Like if you know why.

Old times gone, but not forgotten. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

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TeleTales #7…For Queen And Country, But Not On A Dare

I get queeze just looking at this, and we only see about half of what looks to be about a 40 foot platform without a rope or rail in site. This is CBC cameraman in Halifax, Nova Scotia covering the 1959 royal visit from Queen Elizabeth. Enjoy and share, but don’t tell OSHA. -Bobby Ellerbee

By the way, I’m picking up the numbering that I left off with yesterday, so you didn’t miss six TeleTales today, but if you missed them yesterday, please always visit this page…just click the blue text in the upper left corner.

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TeleTales #6…NBC’s Gemini 5 Co-ordination Plan, August 1965

Here is a rare mapping of how all the dozens of elements of the multi-day broadcast would lay out. Notice ground zero is Studio 8H and just to the right, we see Studio 5H…the breaking news studio we talked about in the post just before this, which was later renamed 5HN for headline news. Thanks to Gady Reinhold for this treasure! Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

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TeleTales #5…Ultra Rare Photo of NBC Studio 5HN, Breaking News Desk

On the day President Kennedy was killed, this was where Chet Huntley, Frank McGee and others broke the news. Then named 5H, this was a permanent news setup studio that could be used if news broke before the evening newscast set could be readied.

On that day, the cameras were not hot, or always on, but after that day there was always a live camera in 5HN ready to go. This is the only photo I have ever seen of the studio and I think this is from the mid 1970s. By 1969, most of the 30 Rock studios had RCA TK44s, but with plenty of TK41s in storage, they put one to good use here.

Sometime in the late 60s, WNBC began using this studio for it’s five minute overnight local news briefs and continued there until this studio was done away with. Behind one of these walls are windows that look out over 49th Street. In the comment section, you can see the space as it looks today as an editing area. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

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TeleTales #3…In Case You’ve Never Seen A Naked TK41

Here’s a spread eagle shot of the color beast open for inspection. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

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TeleTales #2…If It’s Cardboard, It’s Got To Be New York

I have often commented on the cardboard viewfinder hoods on the NBC TK41s in New York and the custom made VF hoods at NBC Burbank. CBS did the same thing though…in New York, they too used a lot of cardboard while at CBS Television City, they had custom VF hoods. Maybe it’s something in the water. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

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TeleTales #1…Ever See One Of These Before?

I think it was January of 1954 when RCA introduced this tri-view set. Notice the remote jack box for the ear pieces that gave you isolated audio on the screen you were most interested in. The speakers are in the bottom two panels and behind the top panel is a radio and turntable. They didn’t sell many of these and no, this is not the one LBJ had in his office…that was a custom job. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

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Congratulations To ‘The Bold And The Beautiful’…7000 Episodes

On January 23, CBS will air a tribute to the show in it’s regular time slot. This special milestone episode will break format and feature a retrospective documentary that showcases the most iconic moments and the history of the show’s creation, commentary from the cast, fashion throughout the decades, unforgettable guest stars, original screen test footage and more.

In addition, CBS Television City dedicated Studio 31 to the show’s executive producer and head writer Bradley P. Bell this past Wednesday, January 14. The eight-time Daytime Emmy winner of the most watched daily dramatic serial in the world has been with the show since it was co-created by his parents, William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell in 1987.

TBTB premiered on March 23, 1987 and is now in its 27th season on the CBS. Thanks to Chuck Snitchler, here is a time lapse video of Studio 31 being dress for the show. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kIJYrkmgF0

http://www.boldandbeautiful.com The Bold and the Beautiful’s time-lapse video of The Bradley P. Bell Stage 31 at CBS Television City in honor of 7,000 episod…

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