Video Rarity #1…Jerry Lewis Hosts ‘Tonight’ With TK41 Shot

This is doubly rare! First, you almost never saw the TK41s on the ‘Tonight’ show with Jack Paar or Johnny Carson, but at the 3:00 minute mark, we do! Announcer and Paar sidekick Hugh Downs is off camera in Studio 6B, but to make a point in his story, Jerry walks over to him which is where we get a good look.

Second, this Lewis appearance is one of the few surviving clips of guest hosts during the Paar – Carson transition. Jack left March 30, 1962 and Johnny took over October 1, six months later, after his ABC contact had expired. The clip itself is quite historic and entertaining. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmNF01AXI1I

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Picture Parade #6…76 Trombones And A Cameraman!

Now you know the secret. Back in the early days of portable cameras, this is how they hid the cameraman in the big parades. This Macy’s shot reminds me that The Rose Parade is just a few days away. If any of you are working that, bowl game or Times Square, send us your rehearsal and facilities check pictures. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

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Picture Parade #5…It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

The Andy Williams Christmas Specials were always great, but his weekly show was also a piece of art, in every way. There were always lots of crane shots and elevated performances, like the one seen here during rehearsal at NBC Burbank. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

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Picture Parade #1…Recognize This? Think About Jackie Gleason…

The building with the red facade is 328 Chauncey Street in Brooklyn as it looks today. Jackie Gleasen grew up here and later used the address as that of Ralph and Alice Kramden on ‘The Honeymooners’. Originally named Herbert Walton Gleason Jr., he was baptized John Herbert Gleason. His parents were Mae “Maisie” Kelly, a subway change-booth attendant, and Herbert Walton “Herb” Gleason, an insurance auditor. Enjoy and remember to visit the EOAG page or you will miss some posts! -Bobby Ellerbee

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Speaking Of Norelco Cameras…Here Is A Classic Ad For The PC70

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CBS New York, Deep Studio History…Part 2

Before we start, a word on the photo. We see three brand new Norelco PC60s…so new their CBS Color logos have yet to be applied. I think this may be in Studio 43 or 44. Can anyone tell?

The following is part of an chain of emails a few months ago between myself, Game Show Network Historian David Schwartz and CBS staffer Bruce Martin. The original question was “what were the first shows at The CBS Broadcast Center”?

Before it became the CBS Broadcast Center, it was the CBS Production Center. What would later become the studios on the second floor were giant rehearsal halls and scenery storage areas. Other parts of the building were used as offices for the shows, including Ed Sullivan’s production office.

Over the summer of 1964, 524 East 57th Street was a busy place making ready for operations and programs to begin arriving in August. The transfer from Grand Central to the Broadcast Center was done in a gradual process over the course of a few weeks. Production was rolled in slowly too, as I think only Studios 43, 44, 45 and 46 were equipped with the new Norelco color cameras. 41 and 42 are the biggest studios and as you will see, they were not put into service till November of ’64.

The WCBS Radio local news may have been the first broadcast from there, and it is possible ‘The CBS Evening News With Walter Cronkite’ was among the first network television shows to originate there from the new newsroom studio on the first floor. All the big new studios were on the second floor.

The Cronkite newsroom studio at the Broadcast Center, looked almost exactly like their newsroom studio in The Graybar Building. As a side note, I just found out yesterday in a conversation with CBS Floor Manager Locke Wallace, who was at CBS from 1955 till 1997, that ‘Douglas Edwards And The News’ had come from Studio 41 at Grand Central. When Cronkite took over, he too reported from Studio 41 until the move to The Graybar Building newsroom around 1959. WCBS local news was in the smaller Studio 42 at Grand Central. Early on, Douglas Edwards had come from the CBS HQ building at 485 Madison Avenue and later from Leiderkranz Hall. The Edwards move to Grand Central’s Studio 41 probably came around 1957.

Just to clear up any confusion, the first two CBS studios ever were 41 and 42 at Grand Central. When the move to The Broadcast Center came, it was decided as an honorarium, to name the two biggest studios there 41 and 42 after their historic predecessors at Grand Central. At GC, there was also Studio 43 and 44, but they were not productions studios…they were control and telecine facilities, but were called studios.

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Bruce Martin wrote:

When I first arrived at the CBS Broadcast Center in August,1964, here were the studio assignments:
Studio 41 – Election set and light for Campaign ’64 that did not air until November 3rd.
Studio 42 – basically dark until the end of November when ‘Love of Life’ and ‘Secret Storm’ came over from Leiderkranz Hall.
Studio 43 – ‘Captain Kangaroo’ and ‘Mr. Mayor’
Studio 44 – ‘Search for Tomorrow’
Studio 45 – ‘Guiding Light’
Studio 46 – WCBS-TV local news, some commercial tapings, and there was a 10:00 am Mike Wallace local news show. Also, ‘Sunrise Semester’ was here.

Outside Studios:
Studio 50 – Sullivan/Gleason/Candid Camera/Gary Moore prime time
Studio 52 – Line/Secret/Truth/Password/Ted Mack/Alumni Fun/Jack Benny when visiting
Studio 61 – ‘The Edge of Night’ – see below, it obviously came over a little later.
Studio 65 – ‘As the World Turns’

I believe World Turns and Edge both started at the DuMont TeleCenter Studios at 205 East 67th Street both on April 2, 1956. Edge moved to Studio 72 after Verdict moved to Hollywood and World Turns moved to Studio 65 around 1963. Studio 65 was reserved for a weekly Judy Garland show, but in April, 1963 she decided to do all her shows at CBS Television City in Hollywood.

Edge moved to Studio 61 after some David Susskind drama specials left. Sometimes, “Candid Camera” and “On Broadway Tonight” aired there until the end of the summer, 1965. Edge moved there in the fall of 1965. Bruce
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David Schwartz wrote:

Studio 57 was called The Peace Theater, 1280 Fifth Avenue at 109th Street. CBS used it for the original Field Sequential color broadcasts in 1951. The color shows ended in October 1951. It was used by Mike & Buff, The Egg and I, Valiant Lady, Red Brown & the Rocket Rangers and Hotel Cosmopolitan (1957-58). That appears to be the last time I find a show originating from there. Mike & Buff may have also come from another studio (there is an overlap in shows there in 1952-53)

Studio 58 was the Town Theater, 851 Ninth Avenue. It later became a studio for WNET, then Unitel. Fred Waring and Vaughn Monroe did their shows from there, as did Mama and Playhouse 90. Later Sesame Street called it home, and later it was used by Jane Pratt in the 1990’s and Emmerill Live for the Food Network. There are probably other shows that I don’t know about yet.

Studio 72 was home to The Verdict is Yours. That show was moved to Los Angeles in the summer of 1960 and I found no other shows coming from that studio. It later became Reeves Teletape, then Conran’s Dept. Store and Staples. David Schwartz

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Just to clarify things a bit, there were other CBS theater studios in use and continued for a few years after the Broadcast Center opened, namely Studio 52 and 50.

I want to add a little to the Studio 72 conversation. This was the only CBS color facility on the east coast. It had 4 RCA TK41s and 1 TK40. It went into service in the fall of 1954 after extensive remodeling of the old vaudeville theater was completed. Several color specials were done there including ‘Cinderella’ and ‘Jack And The Beanstalk’. By around 1956, CBS had cut its color programming to next to nothing from the east coast and the little color done was from Television City. Believe it or not, the studio got little use, and even when it did get used, the color cameras and tape machines there shot the a few specials and overflow shows in black and white. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

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Speaking Of Howdy Doody…Here’s A Little Something Extra!

You never know who you’ll meet here at EOAG, and this morning I found this fun video in a message from Barry Mitchell, who many of you will recognize. Here, Barry visits Buffalo Bob Smith in his home and we get a look at one of the real and original Howdy Doody puppets who lives with Bob.

Barry also visits with Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney, Sheri Lewis’s daughter Mallory Lewis and Lamb Chop, Jimmy Nelson and Farfel, and Jim Henson’s daughter, Cheryl Henson. From Barryfunny.com.
Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfuGKnkyt3c

Barry Mitchell proves he’s no dummy while hanging out with Mallory Lewis and Lamb Chop, Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney, Buffalo Bob Smith and Howdy Doody, J…

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December 27, 1971…’The Sonny And Cher Show’ Debuts On CBS

It was a 1971 guest spot on the ‘The Merv Griffin Show’ that convinced CBS programming head Fred Silverman that Sonny and Cher could be the network’s next big thing.

When ‘The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour’ debuted on CBS the first day of August in 1971, it was a trial run…a five-week summer replacement series but it was an immediate ratings hit.

CBS was looking to regain the young audience they lost when they canceled ‘The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour’ two years earlier – Sonny and Cher proved to be the show the network was looking for, and with good reason. The producers, Allan Blye and Chris Bearde and the writers were all Smothers Brothers’ alumni. Tommy Smothers once remarked, “I turned on the TV one night and there was our show. Only it starred Sonny and Cher!”

Based on the success of the summer show, ‘The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour’ was back on the air December 27, 1971, replacing ‘The Chicago Teddy Bears’ Friday nights at 8:00.

By the fall of 1972, in its Wednesday night at 8:00 time slot, the show became a consistent top-ten winner. Below is a funny outtake that shows us the kind of magnetism their personalities had in attracting audiences. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOfU5iwyL6E

I pissed my self laughing

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‘Howdy Doody’ Color Control Room…NBC Studio 3K, 1955

This is the only known photo of the control room for NBC’s first in-house color facility, Studio 3K, which went live the afternoon of September 12, 1955. The first colorcast from 3K was ‘The Howdy Doody Show’. NBC had color at The Colonial Theater and in Brooklyn, but this was the first color studio inside 30 Rock.

Studio 3K was created by combining television’s first working studio, 3H with radio studio 3F. Although the studio was bigger, the control room stayed the same size and as you can see, was packed full of gear. These days, 3K is one of two third floor studios occupied by MSNBC. The other is 3A. Thanks to our friend Gady Reinhold for this rarity. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

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‘Howdy Doody Show’…The Unforgettable Clarabell Goodbye

Until those awful days in Dallas in 1963, September 24, 1960 was television’s most memorable moment…at least for us kids who watched ‘Howdy Doody’ every Saturday morning.

The show debuted with Iconoscope cameras December 27, 1947 but by early April new RCA TK30 Image Orthicon cameras were in 3H. Although the show went color on September 12, 1955 from Studio 3K, this is the only color footage of the show I have ever seen. For many years, this tape was lost but was finally found and restored.

The final episode was a special hour long show and in this ultra rare clip, we see the beginning and end, and even hear audio from the control room crew at the very top as they prepared for Episode 2,343…the grand finale. Notice on the ending promos, ‘The Sheri Lewis Show’ was the replacement for Howdy.

Lou Anderson, the third and final actor to play Clarabell, has a surprise for us, and that was the episode title…”Clarabell’s Big Surprise”.

Just as I remember where I was on November 23, 1963, I remember this moment too. I was 10 years old, laying on the couch in our Atlanta home, still dressed in my pajamas. I cried at the end. What about you? Where were you and how did you feel that morning? Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ6ybvlsb4s

Broadcasted on September 24, 1960. The hour-long episode was mostly a fond look-back at all the highlights of the show’s past, but in the midst of it all, Cl…

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December 27, 1932…Radio City Music Hall Opens

In the embedded video below from 2007, we see some rare footage from opening night and a quick shot of none other than David Sarnoff, who’s RCA/NBC building next door would lend to the name of the grand new showplace. 30 Rockefeller Plaza was still under construction and would open the next November.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6_YKYNmNGo
At this link is a in interesting look behind the scenes with a rare look at the secret apartment which is still there. Enjoy and share! Bobby Ellerbee

By the way, the first Rockettes Christmas show was the next year, in 1933.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW6QQvZWPwI

I did this film for Radio City Music Hall’s Christmas Spectacular. It was a quick history of the 75 years of Radio City and the Rockettes. It’s a fascinating…

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Behind The Camera With Mark Stacy…NBC Sunday Night Football

Here’s short but sweet look at how Mark shoots Sunday Night Football. Although the trucks are marked NBC, they are owned by NEP. I think that is John Howard in the TD position with the cap. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=879344075451886&set=vb.112955302090771&type=2&theater

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Elton John…The Central Park Concert, September 13, 1980

We don’t see the RCA TK46 often, but thanks to John Senuta’s recent email of this great shot of Elton, it’s time to take another look. The other photos here are from our friend Dennis Degan, who I think was still working at Reeves Teletape at the time. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

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ABC, Color College Football…Texas Tech, 1971

Back in the TK41 days, brute strength was part of the requirement for assignment to the sports trucks. The camera weighed about 260 pounds and the viewfinder, another 60 for a total of around 320. And then there is the cable, but at least these are single cable TK41s…on the original three cable models, the cables weighted over three pound per foot.

Here’s what the day before the game looked like back then. This was a two truck shoot with 6 TK41s on the camera truck and the second truck had four or five huge quad video tape machines inside. The third truck is the utility truck and doubled as the graphics studio with a black and white TK60 shooting score cards in the back of it. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

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