NBC’s First Cameramen…Albert Protzman And Don Pike
NBC’s First Cameramen…Albert Protzman And Don Pike
The man without glasses is NBC’s first ever cameraman, Albert Protzman. The second camera hire was Don Pike who is seen in this beautiful color closeup of an RCA A500 Iconoscope camera in NBC Studio 3H. Pike went on to become either the first or second ever technical director in television.
The dark umber gray cameras were the first models and went into service in 1935 when 3H was converted from an NBC radio studio to an RCA experimental television studio that year. By 1937, there was a better Iconoscope tube and I think the cameras were refitted with the new tube and at the same time, painted silver to reflect some of the heat from the studio lights.
The last photo of the RCA TK10 is I think Albert Protzman as lead cameraman on the 1951 production of ‘Ahmal And The Night Visitor’ in Studio 8H. I think Protzman stayed behind the camera for many years but later became a technical director also. By the way, NBC legend Heino Ripp was also on this crew as a utility man and sometime camera man and later, TD supreme! Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee
Hey Russ, I’ll take ur contacts now!
Yep. That’s Amahl. Watched it every year.
And the camera is in a “Dutch” position. many pan heads include that feature today.
Bobby….. where did you find the name Al Protzman?
I remember Al Protzman from my tech school days. He would always come over to the school and look for promising students to bring to NBC for “summer relief” positions to fill the gap when staff tech people were on vacation. At that time, Al was in what they called “personnel” now known as human resources. Al was a real gentleman and a nice man. I guess he liked me…..