Just For Fun…One Of Television’s First “Mishaps”

In the late 1930s, when TV was just a baby, there were bloopers and blunders everywhere because it was all new, but this little gem is a bit different! It’s a story I was told on my recent visit to NY and happened in NBC’s studio 3H around 1939.

Sets were pretty flimsy back then but with such low resolution and few viewers, that was OK. The scene being done was between two actors and required one man to go to a wall safe, retrieve a pistol and shoot the other man. The safe’s cover was a piece of cardboard attached to a flat with a hole in it and behind the flat was a stage hand with a blank pistol.

Things had not gone well in rehearsal as the “shooter” had an ego and was being a bit difficult. Human nature being what it is led to an interesting scene in the live broadcast. When the “shooter” went to the wall safe, it opened just fine. Then, the actor stuck his hand in for the gun, but was handed a peeled banana. He quickly tried to hand it back to the stage hand, but instead, four stage hands behind the wall all shook his hand with vigor.

After having his hand in the “safe” for nearly a minute, they finally handed him the gun. The actor immediately shot four times into the hole in the wall and then turned the gun on his fellow actor and pumped the final two shots into him.

I’m sure the audience didn’t know what the hell was going on, especially with all the laughter coming from behind the cameras and the wall. Enjoy and share!

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