Boy, do I wish I could have one owned one of these three Marconi Mark IV cameras from WCNY-TV!

Why? What’s so special about them? Well, aside from the fact that Mark IV cameras are very rare, these three cameras have a very interesting history. In the Camera section, where these cameras are also shown, I gave a clue: “Studio 50.” Can you guess?

Before you scroll down for the answer, here are three more photos of these historic cameras in action at WCNY, a PBS affiliate in Syracuse, NY circa 1969.

Read this before you see the images below!

Did the “Studio 50” clue ring a bell?

Here is another clue…”toast of the town.”

Got it yet?

Well, believe it or not, these are the same cameras that first showed 73 million Americans  The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show at 8 pm on February 9, 1964! And that’s just one of the thousands of legendary names whose images they captured.

Jackie Gleason also used these cameras in Studio 50, as you’ll see below. I don’t know how many Marconi cameras were used in the theater, but when RCA cameras were in use there, there were always at least five TK10s or TK11s – four on stage and one at audience level. I’m guessing there were at least four, maybe six, of the Marconis there.

These three cameras were donated to WCNY by CBS after Studio 50, also known as The Ed Sullivan Theater, was temporarily closed to prepare for color telecasting. The show moved to Television City in Hollywood for six weeks while the Norelco PC60s and new lighting were installed. The first colorcast from Studio 50 happened on my 15th birthday, Halloween night, 1965.

CBS was pretty consistent in donating its old equipment through the years. A lot of it wound up at colleges, educational stations and churches, including the Catholic Broadcast Center run by the Brooklyn archdiocese. That’s where my TD-1 pedestal was rescued from, thanks to “Cardinal” Paul Beck in Boston.

I have quite a soft spot for the Sullivan show and all things associated with it. I’d kill to have owned one of these cameras and would love to know if anyone has any idea where the WCNY Marconis wound up. I have been in contact with the station, but they have no recall. I am fortunate to have one artifact from the Ed Sullivan Theater though, and thank John Smith for giving me the backstage announce microphone he rescued during the Reeves Teletape years in the theater.

I also have a Norelco PC 60 from CBS Studio 52, which at one time was linked by a passageway to Studio 50, but during the Letterman renovation that was bricked up. Wonder if my Studio 52 camera ever worked next door on Sullivan? I’m pretty sure it was used on Captain Kangaroo, which originated from CBS 52 in the late ’60s.

By the way, after Studio 52 was closed and sold by CBS, it became the infamous New York nightclub Studio 54…the “54” comes from its location on 54th Street. No longer a disco, it’s become a playhouse again.