Welcome to the Archives section. On these expanded and updated pages, you will read and hear untold stories and see unique images by the hundreds dating from the earliest days of television, to the present.
The content here was not widely available to the general public and contains a lot of information that was created for internal use, or as business-to-business material from broadcasters and affiliated industries. This is also home to unique, unpublished information contributed by authors, and a good example is the great AT&T Book…Connecting The Continent For Radio And Television by our friend Mark Durenberger and others.
Some of the other exclusive features of this page include my Total Color Camera Sales In The US, The Ellerbee Classic Camera Census, and First Person, An Oral History of Broadcast Television. Hundreds of new entries on a variety of television topics have been added, with more to come. -Bobby Ellerbee
Above, “Tonight” show in NBC Studio 6B at 30 Rockefeller Plaza circa 1963.
The Fearless Camera Pedestal Patent
Television’s First Camera Pedestal…November 1936
The 1937 RCA Iconoscope Camera, Patent Diagrams
The 1942 GE Iconoscope Camera…Rear View
The 1943 GE Iconoscope Camera…Front View
A True Rarity! RCA’s First Image Orthicon Prototype Camera
America’s First African American Television Star…Ethyl Waters
“Sullivan’s Cameraman” George Moses
The Great Ones…Jackie Gleason And Pat McBride
1954 Rose Parade…First West To East Color Broadcast
September 17, 1955…First College Football Colorcast
December 1950…The Debut Of The Sanner Crane
First Episode ‘I Love Lucy’ Shooting Schedule
A Rare Piece Of Equipment..The ‘Cinimobile’…
Cinema’s First Known Zoom Lens Shot…
ULTRA RARE EXCLUSIVE! View From Behind Walter Cronkite’s Desk!
History Of The CBS Eye Logo
‘Winky Dink’…World’s First Interactive Media
ULTRA RARE! ‘Your Show Of Shows’ Debut Day Schedule
