‘The Price Is Right’ A Fred Westbrook Photo
‘The Price Is Right’ A Fred Westbrook Photo
This is a rare photo taken during the early days of this show that originated from NBC’s Colonial Theater and Ziegfeld Theater. Notice that the cameras are RCA TK40s, not TK41s (no vents on the viewfinder). I think the first couple of years were from The Colonial, which is where the first TK40s went into service. In ’60 the show moved to Ziegfeld (home of Perry Como) for a year and then back to The Colonial. ‘The Price Is Right’, with Bill Cullen as the original host debuted as an NBC daytime show on November 26, 1956 and ran till September 6, 1963 there. The primetime version ran weekly from September 23, 1957 till September 6, 1963. The show moved to ABC daytime on September 9, 1963 and ran till September 3, 1965. ABC’s primetime version ran weekly from September 18, 1963-September 11, 1964. When the show migrated to ABC, production moved to The Ritz Theater at 219 W. 48th Street. The Ritz is now The Walter Kerr Theater.
Those cameras were HUGE
And Johnny Gilbert did the announcing on the ABC version. Many years before the famous phrase, “This… Is… JEOPARDY!”
is amused that the background for this version of TPIR is a simple curtain. I seem to recall that the curtain would part to reveal the larger items up for bid….requiring the contestants to turn around or observe the monitor.
The only thing good about the viewfinder hood on that camera was the ability to use your head, pressed against the viewfinder hood, as an assist during a slow on air dolly. In most other cases, a used cue card was an excellent shade for the viewfinder.
For crap’s sake, the cardboard taped over the viewfinders is embarrassing! Get it together, NBC East Coast!
On Thursday, August 2nd, 1962, I was a 10 year old kid, and my Mom took me to see the Price Is Right being taped (on a 1 day delay I believed) at the Colonial Theatre. We sat in the balcony section, and NBC had 3 color cameras for the program. Afterwards, a Producer climbed a ladder and sat near the top to answer questions, while the stagehands were moving and building sets. We were told it was in preparation for that Sunday night broadcast of The Dinah Shore Show. Of course I was mesmerized at the camera work, and how huge those 1st generation color cameras were to move around.
I saw the primetime version of the show at The Colonial with my aiunt in 1961. Sat in the balcony. Was fascinated by the TK-40’s.
I remember Bill Cullen used to call the cameraman in by name to get a closeup of something like jewelry, then you’d see the front of the big TK-40 come into the shot.
That picture is from the first show sponsored by Lever Brothers in June 1958. It was at the Colonial – they showed the marquee with the last prize, a motor home which drove up to the entrance of the theater.