Putting A Face To A Famous Voice, Again…Meet Apple’s Siri

Long before there was an Iphone, there was a text to speech recording session which became…you guessed it…the basis for the Apple Siri assistant. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellebee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2bTymnb1uE

Susan Bennett reveals to the world that she’s the voice behind Siri.

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Putting A Face To A Famous Voice…The Telephone Company Lady

Long before all the new computer voice sequencing programs came along, there was a lady named Jane Barbie making recordings for AT&T and The Bell Systems whose voice we have all heard a million times. Thanks to Dick Clark, we get to meet her. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2YJu3i4edI

Jane Barbie surprises audience members at her table when Dick Clark revealed that she is the famous voice behind the telephone. She performs Clark’s favorite…

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October 29, 1956…’The Huntley Brinkley Report’ Debuts On NBC

First, a note on the video clip…this is a short clip of the first pairing of this great team at the 1956 Democratic Convention. From August 13 – 17, Chet and David hosted NBC’s coverage from Chicago and were well received. The public liked them and the critics did too. Pairing them was NBC News pioneer Reuven Frank’s idea.

For many years, John Cameron Swayze had been NBC’s news face, but Douglas Edwards at CBS was beating Swayze and NBC had been thinking of a shift to new talent. Their convention success with the Huntley – Brinkley duo was a key in deciding who, but then came the question of where.

Bill McAndrew, NBC’s director of news (later NBC News president), had seen a highly rated local news program on NBC affiliate WSAZ-TV in Huntington, West Virginia, with two anchors reporting from different cities. It was his idea to put Chet in New York and David in Washington, and although Ruven Frank thought it was the dumbest idea he ever heard, it was done. The day of the debut broadcast, it was Frank that came up with the closing line…”Good night, Chet. Good night, David. And good night, for NBC News.” This exchange became one of television’s most famous catch phrases even though both Huntley and Brinkley initially disliked it. The New York segment with Huntley came from NBC Studio 3A but was moved to 8G in 1967.

As an aside, Huntley and Brinkley probably would have never even met if it weren’t for a big mistake on Brinkley’s part. Brinkley enjoyed writing as a boy, and in high school he obtained an internship at a local newspaper. His first story, according to his memoirs, was about the nonappearance of a bloom on a century plant and the crowd it drew. It was picked up by the Associated Press and printed in newspapers across the country. During World War II Brinkley moved to Atlanta to write news stories for United Press International (UPI), and he was soon transferred to Nashville to become a bureau manager. On a mistaken notion that he had been offered a CBS job in Washington, D.C., Brinkley moved to that city in 1943, but finding no job waiting for him, he landed a job as a reporter at NBC’s WRC Radio there. When NBC expanded from radio to television in the early 1950s, Brinkley became one of the first television reporters.
Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

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

The TV era dismays Adlai Stevenson but expands the following for Sen. John F. Kennedy—and for NBC’s Huntley and Brinkley.

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Speaking Of Toys…Here Is The First Ever Barbie Commercial

This is reported to have aired on ABC on ‘The Mickey Mouse Club’ in 1959. Did you know Barbie’s full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts and was from the fictional town of Willows, Wisconsin?

Me either, but unlike most YouTube posts, this one actually has some interesting and correct background information included in it’s About section. Enjoy and share. -Bobby Ellerbee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8-avPUxyno

This is the first Barbie commercial that first aired during Mickey Mouse Club! Ruth Handler watched her daughter Barbara at play with paper dolls, and notice…

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Just For Fun…A 1951 Christmas Card Gag

With all the ABC mentions today and the shot of KECA’s first cameraman (Bob King) last week, I thought you would like to see this. I don’t think this is King, but it is one of the first few cameramen there. I love the made up name, Elwood Q. Pantiltingham! Just so you know, one of our friends here is a top independent cameraman who’s email address reminds me of this…his is, focustiltpanzoom@. Enjoy, share and be good for goodness sake…Santa’s watching! -Bobby Ellerbee

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And Now, A Word From Our Sponsor…

Thanks to Sly Rose, here’s an interesting introduction to Frank Sinatra’s second and final television series…’The Frank Sinatra Show’ on ABC which aired from October 18, 1957 till June 27,1958. Notice the last panel in the ad which announces the debut show. His first series was on CBS, and was a variety show that ran from 1950 till 1952.

This series was originally slated to consist of thirteen variety episodes, thirteen dramas starring Sinatra, and ten dramas hosted by Sinatra and originated from The El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood.

Sinatra was paid $3 million for the series, and granted near total artistic freedom which turned out to be a huge mistake for ABC. Frank hated to rehearse and tried to make eleven shows in fifteen days; the series subsequently received a critical mauling and was Sinatra’s last attempt at a television series.

The drama segments of the show fared less well against the variety episodes in ratings and the final total was fourteen live variety shows, eight filmed variety shows, four dramas starring Sinatra, and six dramas hosted by Sinatra. Rather than 36 episodes for the season, ABC cut its losses and reduced the total number to 32.

It’s rare to see the old red and white ABC camera color scheme. The photo for this ad were taken at The El Capitan and are the same RCA TK10 cameras used during the day on ‘Queen For A Day’, which originated here too. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

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Jess Oppenheimer’s “Through The Lens” Teleprompter Patent

http://www.google.com/patents/US2883902
Lucille Ball liked to call Oppenheimer the brains behind ‘I Love Lucy’. As series creator, producer, and head writer, Jess was the creative force behind the show. According to Lucy director William Asher, “he was the field general. Jess presided over all the meetings, and ran the whole show. He was very sharp”.

Sharp indeed…he also held 18 patents, including this one linked above. Although teleprompters were not used during the filming of the main body of the ‘I Love Lucy’ shows, Lucy and Desi did use them when filming the opening commercial spots. From the show’s start in 1951, they used the paper roll model mounted above the camera lens, but Oppenheimer did not like the way that looked on camera.

The first reported use of this “through the lens” system was by Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, for a filmed Philip Morris cigarette commercial which aired on ‘I Love Lucy’ on December 14, 1953 in the second year of the show.

As you can see in the diagram, there is a small projector atop the rig which sent televised images of the copy to a transparent reflective surface in front of the lens. At first, copy was typed and loaded on a regular RCA paper roll teleprompter with a television camera shooting that and feeding it via coax to Oppenheimers device.

Later, a system was developed that used regular, long teleprompter paper on a horizontal moving belt under a small TV camera and fed via coax to one or more prompters in the studio. Thanks to Chris Clementson for the patent info. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

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‘Time And Again’…Excellent Johnny Carson Special

On October 23rd, Johnny would have been 89 years old. There have been several very good specials on Carson in the past few years, but this 2005 tribute is about as good as is gets. Here, in five parts is the MSNBC tribute that runs around 42 minutes. Part 1 is embedded here and here are links to the other four parts. Enjoy and Share! -Bobby Ellerbee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jJXwoC1yFs Part 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UywC19jL3xE Part 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iK2ErB9sn1w Part 4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-bV-5vi6BE Part 5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKrEH4BjJR8 Part 1

From Jan.of 2005, here is a special “Time and Again” program from MSNBC, on the career of legend Johnny Carson. This is part 1.

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Ultra Rare! ‘Garry Moore Show’…Rundown Sheet, December 1, 1959

This rare piece of history comes to us from our friend David Schwartz. This is from the second season of the second version of ‘The Garry Moore Show’ which was a one hour, weeknight version and originated from CBS Studio 50 – The Ed Sullivan Theater.

The original version was a daily half hour show that ran mid afternoons on CBS from 1950 till 1958. That show came from CBS Studio 59 – The Mansfield Theater which is where Garry’s other show, ‘What’s My Line’ came from.

As you see at the bottom of the second sheet, the show was taped live at 7PM on Friday nights, but it aired on Tuesday nights at 10PM.

The FAX abbreviation here is short for Facilities Check, which is basically camera rehearsal and includes full sets, props and the actors on stage as well. At 10:30 Friday morning, we see a pre-record with singers and orchastra. This was most likely Diahann Carroll singing with the orchastra on stage with her, which would eliminate a live move of the orchastra from the pit to the stage and back.

I don’t know where Rehearsal Halls G and F were at Studio 50, but it’s possible they were in the basement where the control rooms are now. Anyone know? Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

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Behind The Scenes With Fox Sports…Putting The NFL On The Air

This is great stuff, but one of my favorite shots is about a minute in when we see the two headed monster…the dual platform Chapman sidelines rig. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_V8IlitveE

The NFL’s most exciting game isn’t played on the field. It happens behind the scenes, as hundreds of cast and crew come together to turn a football game into…

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Follow Up…NBC Studio 3H, A Better Perspective

Early in the week, we saw a lot of video of this historic television studio in action in the the 1930s. With this photo, and today’s earlier posting of the original 1933 floor plans of the third floor, I hope to give you a clearer understanding of where everything was in television’s first studio.

In this 1937 photo, we are looking at the north wall of the studio. The top window is the control room on the 4th floor. The control rooms on this floor were all accessed by an employees only corridor behind them and against the outside wall of the building. Thirty feet feet behind this control room window is West 50th Street.

Behind the wall on the left, the west wall, there is a staircase and corridor from the 3H control room to the 3H studio floor and the door to that corridor is to our immediate left (not shown). 6th Avenue is on the other side of this wall.

On the right is the wall that separates 3H from 3F, and inside that wall is another set of stairs and a corridor from the 3F control room to the 3F studio floor. This is the wall that would be taken down in 1955 to merge these two studios (H and F), into NBC’s first inhouse color studio, 3K which debuted with a broadcast of ‘Howdy Doody’.

Directly behind us is the small third floor client viewing booth and over our heads is the large fourth floor visitor gallery window. Today, you enter the studio from here…the south wall, which opens into the main hallway. Back then, NBC tours bought in thousands of people each day and the tour groups used these main hallways…that’s why the backstage corridors were created, so techs and actors could move quickly from one place to another. There were also staff elevators but sometime before 1965, those elevators were taken out and became cable shafts. I find this history fascinating and hope you do too! Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

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A Very Rare Photo…Future Home Of CBS Blackrock & MORE

Thanks to Rick Scheckman, here’s a photo from around 1956 that yielded more than we thought. This was probably taken out of a window of the RCA building at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, and here’s what we see.

Starting at the very bottom and working our way up, we see the rooftop and air conditioning system at Radio City Music Hall. Just above that is West 52nd Street and on the left is 6th Avenue. The parking lot we see is between 51st and 52nd and is now where the headquarters building for CBS sits.

In the aqua oval are two New York landmarks…one the left is a small building that was torn down and replaced by a larger one that is now home to The Paley Center For Media. Just to the right of it, with the awning, is the famous restaurant and bar, “21”. Is that Jackie Gleason headed there in that cab?

At the top of the picture in the yellow circle, we see the home of ‘The Perry Como Show’…The Ziegfeld Theater at the corner of 6th Avenue and West 54th Street. This is one of only a few photos of The Ziegfeld, and the only one like this anywhere. A lot of famous people have walked around this area, and still do! Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

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Vertigo Alert…A View From The Top

I don’t care how much money you offer…I wouldn’t go here! The crews that work on this antenna atop The Empire State Building have one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. Several people have asked to see this again, so here you go. By the way, this is the site of the first television antenna. I think NBC put it up in 1938. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

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