‘Today’ Show…Recycling At It’s Best!
‘Today’ Show…Recycling At It’s Best!
Dave Garroway was not the only one that needed a little optical help. News man Frank Blair needed some help too, but his reading glasses were useless when it came to reading the prompter.
In search of a solution, the engineering department went digging for a fix. They found it on the front of a 1948 Pilot Model 37 home television receiver. The tiny picture tube in the Pilot looked a lot bigger with the aid of the magnifying glass accessory available for an additional $11. If it worked there, it should work on the teleprompter, and it did.
On the left is the modified glass on Blair’s news camera. In the center, the Pilot set with magnifier, and on the right, the original ‘Today’ team. In that photo, Blair is on the left, Garroway and J. Fred Muggs are center and Jack Lescoulie is on the right.
Frank Leahy was a great coach, but he couldn’t read the prompter either. We tried lot’s of things, including thick glasses and putting the camera right in front of his nose. These were the days of paper roll prompters, and the low contrast of typing on yellow paper never really worked that well. Maybe Frank had macular degeneration, but nobody knew what this was at the time. This was CBS-Chicago, late ’60’s.
Innovation!
Ha! I wish I had a screen like this for my TV in my bedroom, made to my eyeglasses prescription. Than I could watch TV in bed at night without my glasses. When I do this, frequently I fall asleep with my glasses on (TV cuts off with timer) and I knock them off, roll over on them, etc. Lots of trips back for repair/adjustment! Somebody please invent/develop for consumer use!