Images From The Great RCA TK60…NBC Burbank, 1963
Images From The Great RCA TK60…NBC Burbank, 1963
After posting the photo earlier today of my TK60, I wanted you to see the pictures these cameras made. This is black and white at it’s best, only rivaled by the Marconi Mark IV. We’ll see that and Mark IV images tomorrow.
This 2 minute clip is the opening of a Bob Hope special shot in what I think is Studio 1 at NBC Burbank. At 1:40 we get to the backstage shots including a TK60. Notice that there are RCA TK41s in the background. This is because Bob Hope, who produced his shows for NBC on his own dime, found it cheaper to shoot in black and white.
The shots of the audience from the stage are as crisp and clear as you could ask for from a tube camera. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee
http://aliquippa.tumblr.com/post/34261758536/behind-the-scenes-at-nbc-burbank-1963
Aliquippa • Behind the scenes at NBC Burbank, 1963.
Behind the scenes at NBC Burbank, 1963.
I did a lot of shows with Bob….all the shows we did were in Studio 1. It was designed by Bob. When he stood on the monologue mark(a star) on the stage he could see every face in the audience. For Bob’s 50th anniversary salute they somehow crammed the Les Brown orchestra along with about 250 celebrities into that studio. Great fun!
It’s a shame that there is no web video format that accommodates interlaced video. The “presence” of the video was lost every time there was a pan. But an interesting thing is that this “highly produced” bit is the precursor of all the “behind the scenes” skits that guest hosts often perform in on SNL. Even, occasionally on a satiric way, the singing.
We had tk60s in college. Nice cameras. One of our student cameras had a burn on the target which never got replaced as long as I was there due to tube cost. They did produce good pix when properly shaded
My first love…the TK-60. First camera I ever ran in Rockford, IL at WCEE in 1969 at 19 years old. I was a rookie and the crew would not let me touch the TK-43 for a few weeks. When our 43 crashed to the floor one night we did the news for days in BW until a spare 43 arrived from RCA. I was the only one that could run the TK-60 on the air. Our very clever director covered lens racks with sponsor slides otherwise I just dollied all over the set live. Last I heard, it went to WMAQ in Chicago and was in storage…years ago.
Love the “safe” demographic portrayed in the audience members.
Why would Hope pay for his specials on his dime? It must have meant a huge profit for him.
According to one of my old tech books– 3″ IO could produce 300 vertical lines of resolution, 4.5″ could do 450. Just to point out–the target on a 4.5″ tube was the same size as a 3″, though the tube was a lot bigger.
That large format IO tube sure makes pretty pictures. It’s easy to understand why RCA put one inside their TK-42/43 too (even though that camera ended up with some issues.)