Ever see the inside of the Unitel Studios in New York, or the SESAME STREET sets at Reaves Teletape Studio 81, or WTCG’s Atlanta studios? Even if you have, you’ve never seen pictures like these from our good friend Dennis Degan! Also in this great collection of photos are production shots from Elton John’s Central Park concert, WSPA TV, WSB TV and Radio, WAGA TV, KYW TV, WIC TV, WYEA TV, the Top Of The Rock at 30 Rockefeller Plaza and more.  Be sure to notice the captions on each image when you move your mouse over the lower left corner.

Various Photos 1974 to 2007 | Flickr 

With many thanks to The University of Indiana Libraries Moving Image Archive, we are very happy and proud to be able to present an amazing piece of historic video that takes us, in two parts, first on a  technical tour of CBS Studio 50, or as it is better known now; The Ed Sullivan Theater. CBS Director of Technical Services, Bob Hammer takes us from the stage, where we get a close look the Marconi Mark IV cameras, their lenses, pan heads and pedestals and to the mics and booms, all the way into the control room and even the equipment room for the most detailed look we have ever had of this historic broadcast facility. You’ll even see lens differences and Zoom demonstrations at the camera and in the control room, special effects wipes and how the cameras are shaded.

Here is Part 1

In Part 2, CBS’s Carlton Winkler, Director of Production Services leads a discussion on what this seminar is really about…production accounting, but it is not as dry as you might think! In this part you’ll see how the planning and budgeting bring about a full set that you will see erected in real time on the Sullivan stage. You’ll get to know what “above the line and below the line” costs are and a look at how the sets were built and then erected and perfected on stage, complete with a back screen projection unit adding to the reality of the scene. You’ll also see the rigging loft, stage and lighting details as this video alternates between lecture and two scenes that show the staging elements.

Here is Part 2

Originally, when this came to us from The Indiana University Libraries Moving Image Archive, this was one long presentation but thanks to our editing pro Jack Niesi (at NBC NY), we made two parts of it and were able through considerable editing (on the first part) to maximize Mr. Hammer’s oral delivery skills.

I would like to thank Jack for the long hours he spent on this project, but most especially, I want to thank or friend Dr. Mike Conway, who is a professor of Journalism at Indiana University for his help getting permission for us to use this video, as well as for writing “THE ORIGINS OF TELEVISION NEWS IN AMERICA”, which is THE BEST BOOK I have ever read on this subject.

I also wish to thank Carmel Curtis, Moving Image Curator at The University of Indiana for advocating for Eyes Of A Generation to present this information to you and to the Director of the Moving Image Archives for approving our display.

This is part of the original 26 minute RCA presentation from 1956 that pitches color to the public. The full length version is linked below, but this it the good part if you (like me) love TK41s. It is such a rare occasion to see the great giants in action, that I thought it would be great just to cut to the chase here. ENJOY! -Bobby Ellerbee

RCA’s Version Of Television History: 1956

This is part of the first ever dramatic television broadcast called “The Queen’s Messenger” and what you are seeing in this clip below is how they shot a close up scene that concentrated on the actors hands, and what they had in them.  The experiment was broadcast by GE’s Schenectady, New York television station W2XB and radio their station WGY, on September 11, 1928. It was a radio drama adapted for television and broadcast both sound and moving pictures. These were received by televisions with screens that were three inches in diameter that were set up in various places all around the city. There were special effect props for this broadcast to enhance the actors’ performance and their sounds.

There were only four actors, these two hand actors (on the right) and two face actors…a female Russian spy and a male British diplomatic courier. Only close ups were possible and there were three light projectors in the room with six photo electric cell boxes. One light projector was for the female face actor, one for the male face actor and one for the hand actors.

By the way, this is a brightly lit reenactment for the film camera, because the studio had to be twilight dark in order for the not so sensitive photo electric cells to capture the 24 lines of light projected onto the subjects.

Just to be clear, here are the elements that you just saw in the film clip.

Also shown here is an April 1928 diagram of the GE mechanical television process that includes the broadcast and reception method. Notice that two radio transmitters were used in these experimental broadcasts. The visual image was broadcast on GE’s experimental shortwave station W2XB operating on 37.33 meters (7.7 MHz) and the sound was broadcast over their radio station WGY, operating on 379.9 meters (790 KHz).

The last image is a simplified version of the broadcast apparatus from an April 1928 Mechanic’s Illustrated.

There are two videos here. The first is a great look at the first CBS portable and wireless camera developed in 1961-62 by CBS VP of Technology Dr. Joe Flaherty with help from Ikegami. There were three prototypes with one at CBS O&O KMOX in St. Louis to test for use as an “electronic new gathering” tool, one was at CBS New York for the same and more bench testing and one was assigned to the Florida bound CBS mobile units covering the many manned space missions, at the then, Cape Canaveral.

This footage at the race tracks is a perfect example of the kind of tests they subjected the camera to, and it was also brought on stage for a live demonstration during an Ed Sullivan show, I think, just a few weeks after the Belmont Stakes with Dr. Joe and a couple of the Ikegami engineers introduced during the demo.

With reference to the top photo of The Beatles on stage during the Sullivan’s live Miami show , see the image clarity that this camera makes as he shoots Ringo from a low angle (at :32 and 1:41), just like in the photo. Nice, crisp picture, just like the TK30s are giving us as, I think, they are both using the same 3.5″ image orthicon tube. Thanks to Kevin O’Keefe for the Belmont video.

The First All Electronic Television Broadcast by RCA & NBC, July 7, 1936 

The Television History Part 

The video here was shot by a Pathe film camera on July 7, 1936…the day that RCA’s all electronic experimental television system was first demonstrated to an audience of people other than RCA and NBC engineers. Although the 225 invited guests this day were licencees of RCA and radio station owners that were NBC affiliates, they were still people that had only heard about this new thing called television. A news report described it this way: At David Sarnoff’s request for an experiment of RCA’s electronic television technology, NBC’s first attempt at actual programming is a 30-minute variety show featuring speeches, dance ensembles, monologues, vocal numbers, and film clips.

Just one week earlier, on June 29, 1936, television broadcast station W2XF began operation in the Empire State Building on an experimental basis for public reception. Although the signal was broadcast to the public, they had no way to receive the pictures since only RCA engineers had all of the 80 plus receivers in their homes and offices. 

Further down, I’ll go into detail of who we are seeing and hearing in the film of that first day of broadcasting from Studio 3H, but first a little on what they actually saw when they looked at the screens of the 80 or so receivers in the 67th floor viewing room at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. 

NBC chief engineer O.B, Hansen and his men were having serious noise problems in the amplifiers until just a few hours before the big July 7 broadcast, when they managed to solve the problem. Since white phosphorus was not yet available to use in picture tubes, these guests were seeing green phosphorus images on 9 inch round tubes with 5 by 7 inch masks…too small for most, but that’s what they had. The images were 343 line resolution “high definition” pictures on sets with 33 tubes and 14 controls. 

Notice the announcer identifies the station as W2XF and not W2XBS. RCA’s earliest experimental TV transmitter was located at the Van Cortlandt Park research facility and in 1928 was designated W2XBS. The transmitter and the W2XBS designation moved to the New Amsterdam Theater on 42nd Street in 1930. The first tests on that transmitter from both locations featured the famous Felix The Cat image broadcast via the Nipkow Disc mechanical system. 

The W2XF license belonged to Western Electric and Bell Labs, which early on became part of RCA. When the Empire State Building transmission facility came online 1935, that set of call letters was used, but within a couple of years, the calls went back to W2XBS and eventually became WNBT and is now WNBC.  Many thanks to Frank Decker for his research into this area which you can see more of at http://w2xf.com/

What We See Here 

As we get our first ever recorded look inside television’s very first all electronic studio, we see a single RCA Iconoscope camera most likely manned by NBC’s first cameraman, Albert W. Protzman. His utility man (kneeling) may be the great Heino Ripp. 

On the set, on the right of course is RCA president David Sarnoff and on the left is General James Harbord who was then chairman of the board of RCA and remained so until 1947. 

The next man to sit with Mr. Sarnoff is NBC president Lennox Lohr and the conversation turns to the new coaxial cable from 30 Rockefeller Plaza to the new transmitter atop the Empire State Building and to the viewing party about to start on the 67th floor. 

Here we cut to film shot atop 30 Rock that same day with the new antenna in the background on the Empire State Building. As these men are introduced, remember that Mr. Sarnoff has invited the radio station owners, who are all NBC affiliates, because he wants them to immediately begin their applications for television licences for their city…to get ahead of the crowd. 

(FYI, aside from the portion mentioned above, I have edited most of the other Pathe film inserts out of this to concentrate on the historic live performance in the studio. Television’s First!)

When the fashion show starts, you will hear the voice of television’s first ever female announcer…Betty Goodwin. Betty had been a newspaper reporter in Seattle, but moved to NYC in the depths of the depression to take a job in radio with NBC. After working as a production assistant at the 1936 political conventions, she was reassigned to kind of the same position in the new Television Department, which at the time was very hush-hush.

When RCA set up the experimental Studio 3H in 1935, they had kept it under wraps as competition for tech secrets was fierce. By July of ’36, RCA had decided to go public with their project, and on July 7, their first public broadcast was made from this studio for a group of radio station owners, which were NBC affiliates, watching on the 62nd floor of 30 Rock. 

Next, we see the first people of color ever to appear on television. Eddie Green, a popular stage, radio and screen comedian and George Wiltshire, a well known straight man to many entertainers. 

Next up, a trio of the Radio City Music Hall dancers, The Rockettes, perform a specially choreographed tap dance number. 

They are followed by Broadway star Henry Hull recreating a scene from “Tobacco Road”. Hull’s greatest success as an actor was on Broadway in his portrayal of Erskine Caldwell’s Jeeter in “Tobacco Road,” which still ranks among the longest-running dramas in the Great White Way’s history, opening on December 4, 1933, and closing on May 31, 1941, after 3,182 total performances.

The singing girls that follow Hull were southern belles from Georgia, taught to harmonize by their mother. Their father, a wealthy cotton broker, loved to accompany them on piano. In the early 1930s, they moved to New York’s Park Avenue and became involved in New York, Long Island and Newport Society. A search was on at the time to find female trios to compete with the popular Boswell Sisters. The Pickenses were spotted at a party and quickly landed both a radio deal and a recording contract.

Their radio shows ran from 1932 through 1936 and they appeared in several films and in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1936.

Finishing off the broadcast is Ed Wynn, who seems slightly befuddled with the whole thing as there is no audience to play to. He is accompanied by the famous NBC radio announcer Graham McNamee. 

Winn was an accomplished vaudeville comedian before he became a fixture on NBC radio when he hosted the popular radio show The Fire Chief, heard in North America on Tuesday nights, sponsored by Texaco gasoline. Like many former vaudeville performers who turned to radio in the same decade, the stage-trained Wynn insisted on playing for a live studio audience, doing each program as an actual stage show, using visual bits to augment his written material, and in his case, wearing a colorful costume with a red fireman’s helmet. He usually bounced his gags off announcer/straight man Graham McNamee; Wynn’s customary opening, “Tonight, Graham, the show’s gonna be different,” became one of the most familiar tag-lines of its time; a sample joke: “Graham, my uncle just bought a new second-handed car… he calls it Baby! I don’t know, it won’t go anyplace without a rattle!”