Behind The Scenes In The Early Days Of ‘Today’

Until recently, I had always wondered where this ramp on the first ‘Today’ show set went and why they kept it instead of covering it over. Now I know…this was the short cut to the control room in the basement, but there is an interesting story about the ramp.

Charlie Andrews was one of the original writer/producers for ‘Today’ and tells a funny story about one of the show’s creators Abe Schecter. “Abe was actually the first producer of the show and a hard news kind of guy. He was a wild, profane and tough little guy that was about five feet tall and when he sat, his feet barely touched the ground”.

Andrews sat next to Abe in the control room and when a shot was too long or from the “wrong” camera, he would start to scream about it and would run up the ramp. There was a monitor at the top of the ramp and usually before Abe would get half way up, the shot had changed and he came back to the control room. The crew called this frequent occurrence “‘The Schecter Ramp Dance”. Now you know.

Source