A Pioneer In Every Way…Ernie Kovacs

Below is a screen shot from one of his last appearances before his death in a car crash in January of 1962. Beginning in April ’61, Kovacs hosted regular specials on ABC which were considered his best works ever and won an Emmy for his innovative special effects using electronic cameras and video tape. Kovacs got his television start in in 1951 at Philadelphia’s WPTZ (now KYW) and with that two hour morning show (7-9 AM), proved that viewers would indeed watch a show at that hour…a point well taken by NBC’s Pat Weaver who created ‘The Today Show’ a year later. Kovacs was one of only six shows to run on all four networks. At Dumont, he did a late night talk show. At NBC he did several shows including a weekly prime time half hour, a daily late morning show and filled in as a summer replacement for Caesar’s Hour. At CBS, he did two years of mornings at 8:30 -9 and later did six months of a weekly primetime show there. There were times when he was on two networks at once, but back then, so were others like actress Fay Emerson. FYI, the other five shows that aired on all four networks were ‘The Original Amateur Hour’, ‘Pantomime Quiz’, ‘Down You Go’, ‘The Arthur Murray Party’, and’ Tom Corbett, Space Cadet’. The camera is an RCA TK10 with a Zoomar lens painted in ABC’s classic red and white. The lead weights on the pan handle are to balance off the Zoomar.

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