October 4, 1956…’Playhouse 90′ Debuts on CBS
October 4, 1956…’Playhouse 90′ Debuts on CBS
Thursday nights at 9:30 eastern, television’s most distinguished dramatic anthology series was anxiously awaited in most American living rooms. Below is a full episode of the show that you will want to see...it’s full of RCA TK11s and many Television City studio shots all the way through. This is “The Comedian” starring Mickey Rooney and Mel Torme. It was written by Rod Serling and directed by the great John Frankenheimer and live ran on February 14, 1957. This is a kinescope copy of Season 1’s, Episode 20.
From it’s inception in 1956, everyone knew that this 90 minute weekly presentation was a big bite for any production schedule…even the new CBS Television City facility. So, that first year, three out of four episodes were done live with every fourth episode being done on film at another location.
Remember, the worldwide debut of video tape was in April of 1956 and it took nearly a year to get some machines built and in use, but soon after CBS TVC got theirs, they began to experiment with using them on ‘Playhouse 90’. Although the were live to tape, with no editing, having this ability helped a lot, and in early ’57, the show moved completely to videotape.
The move to tape allowed the show to keep it’s live look and best of all, it allowed them to break the 90 minute show into segments and gave them the ability to retake scenes and move sets without the urgency of the live clock against them.
In the final ’59 – ’60 season, the pressures and cost of this truly ambitious effort proved overwhelming and ‘Playhouse 90’ cut back to alternate weeks and rotated with ‘The Big Party’, which was a 90 minute celebrity talk and variety show. Enjoy and Share! -Bobby Ellerbee
I happened to catch “The Comedian” on PBS many years ago on a Saturday afternoon. At 59:15 I saw a studio cameraman getting yelled at by the director (actor) of the show. I recognized the cameraman who was Bob “Stoney” Stone who was a real cameraman on the show. The “director” in the show even used his nickname! Bob completed his career in Washington at CBS where I worked with him. I asked him about that show and he said he was asked if he would like to do be on camera. He said sure so what do you want me to say? The producer told him just make something up because if they told him what to say that meant a higher fee he would have been paid. Bob said that often after doing some of these live to east coast shows the crew would end up retreating to a local watering hole and watch their work on the west coast playback. It must have been great!
I seriously doubt people today have the talent to produce material such as this live, particularly the complex sequence that begins at 63 minutes and 12 seconds.
I recall this and so many other Plahouse 90 shows. The Iceman Cometh with a new actor, Robert Redford…..what an era…..wish HBO could show them all….
For those who want to know what real TV looks like, this is it.
CBS needs to rerun this…even if it is on black and white.
What a great performance both artistically and technically !!