Although the TV show aired on NBC from 1950 – 1961, it was a CBS radio show when this very casual demo was shot. Notice Groucho is wearing a sport shirt, and techs are adjusting the mics like it was only radio. Here is a bit of background on the show you will see below, and some very interesting production notes.

During a radio appearance with Bob Hope in March 1947, Marx ad-libbed most of his performance, which gave the show’s producer an idea. John Guedel, the Hope program’s producer, formed an idea for a quiz show and approached Marx about the subject. After initial reluctance by Marx, Guedel was able to convince him to host the program after Marx realized the quiz would be only a backdrop for his contestant interviews and the storm of ad-libbing that they would elicit by trying to get them to ‘say the secret word’. Guedel also convinced Marx to invest in 50% of the show, in part by saying that he was “untouchable” at ad-libbing, but not at following a script.

A year before ‘I Love Lucy’ started with three film cameras on the set, Groucho was shooting with eight! Eight 35mm cameras were used, duplicated in pairs, in four locations. While one set of cameras shot the program with 10-minute reels, the other set were re-loaded and put into action as the reels ran out.

Reportedly, the reason why this show was prerecorded for broadcast was because the network was afraid that Groucho Marx’s ad-libs would run afoul of the censors. In reality, the main reason was to condense the interviews to fit the allotted time with the most entertaining material. All the shows were done in front of studio audiences and those sessions were usually from 35 to 40 minutes long for them.

Although the popular impression is that Groucho Marx entirely improvised his jokes, in reality the show also had gag writers who interviewed the contestants beforehand and prepared questions and comments for Groucho to use in addition to his own improvisations. To feed them to him subtly, a Tele-Score bowling alley projector, located stage left and out of camera range, was used…ever notice him ‘looking off into space’? He was probably looking at the Tele-Score screen.

Source

Since I saw this photo, I’ve been mesmerized by it. I’ve asked all the experts to weigh in on exactly what we are seeing here in the demonstration of the CBS VideoScene technology and before we enter the Rube Goldberg photo phase, here is some background on what the process is.

OK, now that we know more, we also need to know that NBC’s Chroma Key works in color, but this CBS VideoScene only works in monochrome, or black and white. Well then what are the RCA TK41 color cameras doing in the middle of this? The technology required the use of 2 of the TK41’s tubes to pull it off, so…here we go in explaining what we see here.

The only thing we know for sure in this photo is that we see either an RCA TK40 or TK41A color camera in the foreground. Note that is mounted on an electronically controlled pan head, that was designed to be slaved to another, or other units. On the lens turret, the bottom lens (the taking lens) is shooting into/through a 45 degree mirror box. It looks like to the right of the mirror is a light source and possibly a transparency of a static miniature set (see the article for this) OR…the box on the right side of the mirror is a tiny rear screen projector pushing a live image from another slaved camera here so that the cameramen can match the movements of the actor and the background. For now, we’ll call this TK41, Camera 2 and call the other TK41 (not shown, but necessary) Camera 1.

BUT…that’s not all! It appears that on the left side of the photo there is a camera mounted on a Panoram dolly…but this is NOT a camera! It is a Grey Telop projector. AND, that on the tech cart just behind the cameraman (where an oscilloscope would usually be), there is an RCA TK11 mounted there with TV33 cable coming out the back.

What it is doing there is just as big a mystery as what the projector is doing on a dolly. None of my 3 experts have any idea why this is BUT…I am going to guess here.

It could be that the large projector (on the dolly) is feeding a televised image of a live miniature set it is receiving from the second TK41 (Camera 1) into the TK11 electronically, and that the TK11s black and white image is being fed to the lightbox on the TK41 we see (Camera 2). If that light box on the TK41 really is a small rear projector, maybe the only way they had to step it down was with this convoluted rig we see, which we’ll call Camera 3.

OH, BY THE WAY…what the heck is in the top hole of the turret? It is a Watson-Barnett Diascope which was the best way to do camera setups and with this process, camera matching would have been critical. BTW, this is what the compiled image looked like, as we see in a shot from WBBM’s Magic Door program.

That I know of, these are the only two remaining camera cards from the wonderful era of THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JACK PAAR. These were mounted on an easle in the studio and during the show, one of the RCA TK41 color cameras in NBC Studio 6B would shoot this full screen when the show went to, and returned from commercial breaks. Network spots rolled over this and often, there were only a couple of network spots in the break and then time for local spots, which would also play over this, BUT there were times when smaller market stations didn’t have spots sold, SO the locals would return to these cards and the audio of the band, which was led by Jack’s army buddy, pianist Jose Melis. The band would play under it until the end of the stop set and the show resumed. Next stop set, differnt card.

I am very pleased to have these in my collection and wish to thank Gary Morgan in New York, for donating these. Gary acquired both of these in 1964 while attending the RCA television school in New York City. Seems that one day, one of the NBC art department people came to guest lecture and brought these cards with him. By now, Johnny Carson was hosting so there was no more use for these little gems.

By the way,  when Paar’s show became a smash hit, NBC renamed it “The Jack Paar Tonight Show”. When he moved to prime-time in 1962, NBC called his show “The Jack Paar Program” and as these say “show”, there may be some confusion as to which Paar program we are talking about. To clear things up, after 1959 (2 years into Paar’s Tonight Show hosting) the program became commonly reffered to as The Jack Paar Show, even at NBC.

Not long ago, I came across some excelent historical images of television’s first experiments into shadow box technology and precursor elements to telecine and telop technology. I knew that the experts at The Museum of Broadcast Technology in Woonsocket, Rhode Island would be the key to explaining what we were seeing, so I asked our friends there to write this up. Tom Spraigue, Paul Beck, Jay Ballard and Pete Fasciani are MBT’s core and ALL have amazing backgrounds, and I have long been impressed by their work and mission. In this case, Paul Beck took the lead and brings to life how these great images show the transition from imagination to real world capability in an industry that had to be made up as you went along. THANKS to Paul and The Museum of Broadcast Technology for thier help. -Bobby Ellerbee

As your Editor In Chief of Eyes of A Generation, I pride myself on trying to display the best, most interesting images of our industry in action, but AT FIRST GLANCE, this series of pictures BLEW MY MIND! No one in their right mind would try to cover a football game with a Chapman Electra studio crane on the sidelines, EXCEPT – if there was a paved running track on the sidelines, which…there is here. In another rarity, CBS is using RCA TK41s (instead of Norelcos) to cover the event and odds are, they are using KTLA’s mobile units for this event. The same RCA built units that Red Skelton owned in the early ’60s. This is the 16th Annual NFL Pro Bowl at Los Angeles Memorial Coliesum in January of 1966. Enjoy! -Bobby Ellerbee

About six months ago, I met a character named Joe Maltz somehow. Turns out that in 1961, Joe was the Supervisor of Engineering Maintenance for ABC in New York and had a GREAT STORY to tell! In a nutshell, Joe was put in charge of developing a handheld camera that was better than the one the engineers at ABC Prospect in Los Angeles had just developed.

To set the stage and I need to add some history for perspective, broadcast history and ABC west coast and east coast history. First, the broadcast history; in 1950, NBC had built the first handheld camera, two years before RCA introduced their version (1952) and both were Vidicon cameras. By 1956, RCA had developed a wireless version of the camera and they were used at the political conventions that year and had once been used on the sidelines at a football game in New York state, but only that one time for some reason. FYI, CBS engineering head Dr Dan Flaherty was working with Ikegami on a handheld camera too and the first known used of it was in February of 1962 during the Mercury flights at NASA.

On the ABC Los Angeles history side:  Roone Arledge had just been hired (1960) and his job was to get ABC more deeply involved in sports broadcasting, and HE DID!  Inside the company, managers began trying to forecast what kind of new technology would be needed and at ABC Prospect in Los Angeles, an engineer named Don McCroskey had an idea. He wanted to build a handheld camera using a full-size Image Orthicon tube. As luck would have it, he had two retired GE PC 7 Image Orthicon cameras on the lot, and they were the sacrificial lambs that would supply the parts for two portable cameras. Aiding Don were engineers Dean Cannon, Bob Bleiwiess and Jerry Buchi who helped refine the camera.

Below is Jim Angel behind one of the GE cameras testing the tubes before they were wheeled into the Prospect lot’s engineering garage for surgery…they were having their yokes “transplanted”.

Below is ABC’s first handheld cameraman Mike Friedman, one of their TOP operators for years before this photo was made of him shooting Jim McKay for WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS. Mike went on to directing on WIDE WORLD.

Below is ABC’S first portable camera “demonstrated” by our great friend DON “PEACHES” LANGFORD, who, as a firsthand witness to this history, also contributed to this article. Oh, and the bald wig Don is wearing is a tribute to his boss, Mike Friedman, who sported the look many years before it was a “thing.”

Below is a 2016 photo of Don Langford with the camera he used in the mid 1960s at ABC, the one you see him with in the photo above. When the two cameras were retired in the 70s, ABC LA manager Robert Trachinger made sure they were not lost to history and these two are still in his care.

Below is one final photo of the Los Angeles version in use in 1963 at The University of Virgina.

NOW TO THE EAST COAST ABC HISTORY AND THE “ABC PRESS ORTH CAMERA” DEVELOPMENT. Below is a photo of that rarity.

When Joe Maltz began to tell me about this, he kept mentioning the “press orth” and I had no idea what he was talking about, so I finally asked him what a press orth was. To my surprise he said that was the name of the camera! TWO EVEN BIGGER SURPRISES came when I was on the phone with Don “Peaches” Langford in LA fact checking this article. 1st, When I told him about the press orth name, he said “Yeah, that’s what we called ours too, but we were first, and New York just added the city name to the Press Orth name.” 2nd, their first press orth in LA was cabled directly the carcass of one of the GE cameras, minus the viewfinder! That must have been an odd sight. There was 50 feet of cable between the new camera head (basically the GE’s yoke assembly) and the old camera head with 50 more feet of cable to the truck. On their second version, they managed a better workaround. Oh, and Peaches did know Joe Maltz as he had covered many events in NYC too. I love to be amazed!

Here is part of the story Joe Maltz told me:

The engineers at ABC’s Los Angeles operation had, in order to give the cameraman more maneuverability, created a small hand-held camera by separating the television pickup tube assembly from the bowels of a GE television camera, extended the cable harness, added an optical viewfinder and created what I believe was ABC’s first broadcast hand “hand-held” camera. The “Creepy-Peepie”, as it was dubbed, was tethered to the carcass of the camera by the cable harness.

There were two problems. The concept was great, but the quality left much to be desired. The second problem was, considering the rivalry between the ABC East Coast and West Coast operations, the “Creepy-Peepy” was an NIH (Not Invented Here) creation. The New York Operations Group was jealous. This situation had to be rectified.

During this period, I was the Supervisor of Engineering Maintenance in New York. I had the reputation of being an innovator. Merle Worster, the Director of Technical Operations for the East Coast, asked me if I could come up with New York alternative for the Creepy Peepy. I agreed and did some research as to what would be required for a suitable hand-held camera. The unit had to have the following features:

1. Light enough to be easily carried and operated by a single cameraman.
2. The camera cable had to be extended to at least 200 feet and had to be able to operate with a 200-foot cable
3. An electronic viewfinder would be required.
4. The operating controls had to be easily accessible.
5. The electronics would have to be compatible with the existing Camera Control Units.

After six weeks of design and construction, with the help of Harold Gordon and Bill Wagner, the camera, with all of the above features was used for the first time on an ABC Wide World of Sports television program. I dubbed the camera, the “New York Press Orth”.

I designed the NY version and Harrold Gordon built it. The electronic viewfinder was created from CRT tube from Philco Safari portable TV with tube facing front of camera with 2 bending mirrors for the eyepiece. Interior of both (2 units built in NYC) cameras were made of TK31 parts as many were smaller than the TK30 components. – Joe Maltz  

Below are pictures Mr Maltz sent that show some of the features of the camera and showing it in action…this first image is at the Liston–Clay fight (Ali had not yet changed his name from Cassius Clay), on February 25, 1964 in Miami Beach, Florida.

Here is the shoulder harness that became a real necessity as soon as the camera was tested.

And finally, this is the auxiliary unit for the ABC Press Orth camera.

Below is one of the NYC Press Orths in use at the 1964 Olympics in Innsbruck