A-MAZE-ING: Live Television
This NYC shot is a stark contrast to the way live production changed once bigger studios, like the ones at Television City, allowed horizontal staging…sets, all in a row that allowed crews and cameras to move side to side on the stage.
This photo could possibly be from the newly converted CBS Studio 50, which is now home to David Letterman. It was converted from radio to television in 1950 and this shot from the catwalk shows three RCA TK10s within 6 feet of each other ready to shoot three different scenes on this maze like set. The production is the 1950 “Studio One’ presentation of ‘The Scarlet Letter’. In 1950, ‘Studio One’ won an Emmy for Best Kinescope.
Notice the low camera in the top left is shooting into the rear of a fireplace opening and soon, will give us an image of one of the characters putting wood on the fire from inside the fireplace, but first the camera on the other side of the wall has to move. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee
The cameraman on the camera at the bottom of the picture has removed his snout view finder hood in order to see what he is shooting. It looks like his pedestal is all the way up and with the hood in place, he couldn’t see the VF. AT TVC, CBS made their own custom hoods that were just a light shade with no bottom. You can see these on the YouTube presentation of the Playhouse 90 production of “The Comedian.”
Didn’t realize there was a “Best Kinescope” award back then.
Back then, a lot of scenes would be shot with one camera and the set would only be as wide as the shot. I worked in a studio that we would now consider an insert stage and back in the day they did prime time dramas in it.