Beatles 50th Sullivan Anniversary Count Down…10 Days
Beatles 50th Sullivan Anniversary Count Down…10 Days
Up close and personal! Looking at how close the crane is in these shots is an interesting reminder that the Studio 50 stage is only 29 feet deep and 37 feet across with a very shallow stage right. There was a 10 foot crane ramp, but without the use of a zoom lens, you have to get in to get the close ups. As you will see in the next post, the Zoomar lens was used on the Sullivan show as early as the late 50s, but the Marconi Mark IV could not take the standard Zoomar because of the iris control motor in the center of the turret. I have heard that the first Mark IVs arrived at CBS in mid 1963. The only zoom lenses that would fit this, the RCA TK60 and the EMI 203 (all of which had iris motors on the turret) would be a huge Angenieux box lens and the Varitol III which NBC was using on many TK41s.
As I mentioned to Bobby Ellerbee in our conversation yesterday, we who worked the show affectionately called the crane”the Houston.” Perhaps it’s the manufacturer’s name. We were quite impressed with its versatility.
Then I used those cameras up there Mike. WCNY was my first job in television!
The Sullivan cameras ended up at WCNY, Syracuse. Two of them were fitted with Rank-Taylor-Hobson 10X1 zooms.
As nearsignted as John was, even he could see this camera!
while watching the DVD of this performance, I noticed that when the crane camera moves closer in on Ringo, the drum audio rises in volume. was there a mic attached to the unit ?