April 22, 1966…A Moment In Time With Sammy Davis
April 22, 1966…A Moment In Time With Sammy Davis
This opens with a great shot of Sammy standing in front of an RCA TK41 operated by veteran cameraman Frank Gaeta. This was the fifteenth and last episode of “The Sammy Davis Jr. Show”, from NBC’s Brooklyn Studios on April 22, 1966. Notice at the end, there is a VO announcing the premier of “Sing Along With Mitch Miller”, at the same time next week.
There are some good wide shots at the end which identifies this production as coming from Studio II, as Studio I was much larger. Enjoy! -Bobby Ellerbee
from April 22, 1966. thanks to fromthesidelines and wmbrown6 for the great comments and info on this clip.
Via Kinescope…A Trip Back To April 1956 With Milton Berle
Via Kinescope…A Trip Back To April 1956 With Milton Berle
Above, we go to the live “Milton Berle Show”, from the USS Hancock in San Diego. Here’s the whole show with Elvis Presley debting “Blue Suede Shoes”, Esther Williams, Harry James and Buddy Rich filling out the bill, with Arnold Stang joining Milton for bit.
This was a color presentation, and that is why the kinescope looks a bit soft. The first five minutes of this are really fun and the Elvis intro comes around the 17 minute mark. After “Heartbreak Hotel” and “Blue Suede Shoes”, Milton becomes Presley’s twin brother, Melvin and possibly sets the stage for The Who’s, Pete Townsend by smashing his guitar. -Bobby Ellerbee
A Brief History Of The Kinescope…Historic Images & The Machine
A Brief History Of The Kinescope…Historic Images & The Machine
The first official use of the RCA Kinescope process was the week of June 21, 1948, at the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia. NBC affiliates not connected via coaxial cable or microwave would would receive the film, the next day via Rail Express.
As you will see in this video from NBC’s KNBH in Hollywood, testing had been done as early as 1938. I think this report was probably done in early 1949.
Also seen here, the kine recordings of the first broadcast using the RCA TK30 Image Orthicon cameras in June, 1946 at the Joe Lewis – Billy Conn rematch at Yankee Stadium. Near the end, we’ll get a look at RCA’s latest Kine in action. Videotape couldn’t come soon enough. – Bobby Ellerbee
Camera Rarities 1 Of 3…First NBC Tests Of The RCA TK30
Camera Rarities 1, Of 3…First NBC Tests Of The RCA TK30?
Thanks to Tom Buckley, here is a very rare photo, that I think was taken in the two week period between June 5 and June 18, 1946.
On June 19, 1946, NBC’s broadcast of the Joe Lewis-Billy Conn rematch at Yankee Stadium, was the first ever use of the RCA TK30 Image Orthicon cameras. The new truck and cameras arrived from Camden just a couple of weeks before the match.
Notice the camera art is the same as on the RCA A 500 Iconoscope cameras in NBC Studio 3H, and the RCA Model 1840 field Orthicon cameras. By the time the cameras went to Yankee Stadium, they had new NBC block letter logos, but until the new camera art could be decided on, this filled the bill.
Knowing that the Lewis-Conn broadcast would set records, and make history, I suspect NBC had the trucks out every day, field testing everything. I think that is what is going on here.
At the link is the October 1946 issue of RCA’s “Broadcast News” magazine, which introduces the TK30, and mentions 5 of them were on hand for the big fight. Enjoy! -Bobby Ellerbee
http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RCA-Broadcast-News/RCA-44.pdf
Camera Rarities 2 Of 3…Three Generations Of GE Cameras
Camera Rarities 2, Of 3…Three Generations Of GE Cameras
From 1969, here is a photo of three generations of GE’s at Fort Worth’s KTVT.
Starting with the KTVT marked camera, that is a black and white GE PC11. On the left is the GE PC25, their first color camera; this one has a four lens turret while it’s sister has a Rank-Taylor-Hobson zoom lens. The two cameras at the top are GE PE350 color cameras.
The PC and PE prefix means the PC models were built before 1965 and had tubes inside. The PE prefix means, except for the image tubes, there were transistors inside. Thanks to Martin Perry and the KTVT FB page for the photo. -Bobby Ellerbee
Camera Rarities 3 Of 3…The NBC Studio 8G Cameras
Camera Rarities 3, Of 3…The NBC Studio 8G Cameras
NBC’s official grand opening date for 8G, their second ever television studio at 30 Rockefeller Plaza is listed as April 22, 1948. Actually, television had been coming from 8G long before that, while it was still designated a radio studio.
The first show ever to come from 8G was also television’s first variety show…”Hourglass”, which debuted May 9, 1946. at the link is a good story from 1948 on “Hourglass”. https://books.google.com/books?id=WkYEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA83&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=2#v=onepage&q&f=false
At this link, you can see Studio 8G in action, during a broadcast of “Hourglass”.
Later that year, “Let’s Celebrate” was done here as a one time show on December 15, 1946 with Yankee’s announcer Mel Allen as host.
“The Swift Show” (a Swift Company sponsored game show), and “Americana” (a game show about American history) started here in 1947.
NBC knew television had to grow fast after WW II, but there were still war related shortages, like phosphorus for kinescope screens and military embargos on technology like the Image Orthicon which was used in guidance systems. Believing that new cameras would come more slowly than RCA’s October ’46 promise date, NBC engineers knew they had to have more than the Iconoscope cameras in 3H to work with.
On the sly, RCA gave them four Image Orthicon tubes, and four seven inch kinescopes for the VF and they started to work building a camera I call the NBC ND-8G. The ND was an NBC engineering code that stood for New Development.
These cameras were ready for use by the spring of 1946. “Hourglass” debuted from 8G on May 9, 1946 which was six months before the TK30 scheduled release in October. NBC got their first five TK30s in June, just in time for the Billy Conn – Joe Louis rematch at Yankee Stadium.
8G, as a radio studio, did not have built in audience seating like 6A, 6B and 8H, but it was thankfully three times the size of NBC’s only other television studio, 3H. “Radio Age” states that 8G could handle four consecutive shows, which meant the often fifteen minute, and half hour shows, with only one small set, could be staged one after the other from different walls of the studio. -Bobby Ellerbee
April 19, 1948…The Start Of The ABC Television Network
April 19, 1948…The Start Of The ABC Television Network
68 years ago today, on April 19, 1948, the ABC Television Network began its broadcasts on its first primary affiliate, WFIL-TV in Philadelphia. The debut show was “On The Corner” with host Henry Morgan, which was also the name of his radio show on ABC’s Blue Network. Until WJZ-TV signed on in August, ABC programs were carried in New York by Dumont’s WABD. Other stations carrying the initial broadcast were WMAR-TV in Baltimore, and WMAL-TV in Washington, D.C.
In August 1948, the network’s flagship owned-and-operated station, WJZ-TV in New York City, began its broadcasts. That first WJZ broadcast ran for two hours on the evening of August 10, 1948. ABC’s other owned-and-operated stations launched over the course of the next 13 months.
WENR-TV in Chicago launched on September 17, 1948, while WXYZ-TV in Detroit went on the air October 9, 1948. KGO-TV in San Francisco went on the air May 5, 1949.
In early 1948, ABC bought the Durland Riding Academy at 7 West 66th Street, in preparation for network and local program production. On May 7, 1949, Billboard revealed that ABC would spend $2.5 million to convert the old Vitagraph/Warner East Annex in Hollywood into The Prospect Studios, and construct a transmitter on Mount Wilson in anticipation of the launch of KECA-TV, which went on the air on September 16, 1949.
As the rest of ABC’s fleet of owned-and-operated major market stations, in Detroit, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles, came to life, that gave them some parity with CBS, and NBC in the important area of big-city presence, as well as a long term advantage in guaranteed reach over the rival DuMont Television Network, by the fall of 1949.
For the next few years, ABC was a television network mostly in name. Except for the largest markets, most cities had only one or two stations. The FCC froze applications for new stations in 1948 while it sorted out the thousands of applicants and re-thought the technical and allocation standards set down between 1938 and 1946.
What was meant to be a six-month freeze lasted until the middle of 1952. Some large cities, like Pittsburgh and St. Louis, had only one station on the air for a prolonged period, and many more of the largest cities such as Boston only had two. Many sizable cities including Denver and Portland had no television service at all until the second half of 1952 after the freeze ended.
For a late-comer like ABC, this meant being relegated to secondary status in many markets, and no reach at all in some. This was the period when local stations could cherry pick shows from as many networks as they wanted, as very few stations were exclusive affiliates.
Although ABC struggled financially for the first 15 or so years, they did catch two very lucky breaks in 1947. The first one was that they beat the freeze by filing for 5 TV licenses that year, all on Channel 7, which gave them their 5 O&O major market stations.
Thier second break came when the WFIL-TV engineers went on strike in 1947. Management locked them out and began replacing them, which allowed ABC New York to pick up a strong core of top engineers for their new broadcast center on West 66th Street. The rest, as they say, is history. Happy 68th Birthday to the ABC Television Network! -Bobby Ellerbee
This Week In Sports TV History…Jackie Robinson Scores Again
This Week In Sports TV History…Jackie Robinson Scores Again
In the photo, Leo Durocher welcomes Jackie Robinson to television in the brand new Shea Stadium. On April 17, 1965, Robinson became the first black network broadcaster for Major League Baseball.
In 1965, ABC provided the first-ever nationwide baseball coverage with weekly Saturday broadcasts on a regional basis. ABC paid $5.7 million for the rights to the 28 Saturday/holiday “Game Of The Week” package. ABC’s deal covered all of the teams except the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies, who had their own television deals with NBC and CBS. The agreement called for two regionalized games on Saturdays, Independence Day, and Labor Day.
Each Saturday, ABC would broadcast two 2 PM. games in the east, and one 5 PM game for the west. ABC blacked out the games in the home cities of the clubs playing those games. At the end of the season, ABC declined to exercise its $6.5 million option for 1966, citing poor ratings, especially in New York. -Bobby Ellerbee
April 18, 1964…April 18, 2012; Remembering Dick Clark
April 18, 1964…April 18, 2012; Remembering Dick Clark
On this day in 1964, The Beach Boys performed “Fun, Fun, Fun” and “I Get Around” on “American Bandstand.” Afterward, Dick did this interview with them.
On this day in 2012, “America’s Oldest Teenager” passed away.
I had the good fortune of knowing and working with him, and once gave him a beautiful alabaster egg, for always being the “good egg” in the music business. He put it on his desk at home. There will never be another Dick Clark! -Bobby Ellerbee
Dick Clark interviews The Beach Boys on American Bandstand. License American Bandstand Clips Here: http://dickclarklicensing.com/Default.aspx?sk=DCMAq=Americ…
April 18, 1966…The First Color Oscars
April 18, 1966…The First Color Oscars
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUQRLNGRxEY&ab_channel=Oscars
Above is a photo of our friend Don “Peaches” Langford with his crane mounted ABC TK41 in front of the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, April 18, 1966.
In the linked video to the opening moments, Don’s camera gives us the first color look at the Academy Awards show. In that opening shot, you can see another TK41 at the entrance, shooting the arrival of the stars, with the late Dale Walsh at the controls.
At 1:40, you see another TK41 directly in front of the presenters podium. Two trucks and eight cameras covered the historic event. Today, two dozen or more cameras shoot the Oscars. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee
April 17, 1976…Bumped From SNL Debut, Billy Crystal Returns
April 17, 1976…Bumped From SNL Debut, Billy Crystal Returns
Exclusive Eyewitness Account…Billy Crystal & The Debut Of SNL
As SNL fans, and history buffs know, Billy Crystal was scheduled to appear on the debut show, but he didn’t, and there has always been a lot of speculation as to just exactly what happened that night. Till now…
You are about to learn the real story of why he didn’t, from someone who was there…Joel Spector, who was on the audio crew for the first 17 years of SNL.
Was it a last minute thing, or did it come earlier in the week? Did he appear in the dress rehearsal? In later years, Billy had talked about the disappointment of being bumped, but never went into the details. Thanks to Joel, we’ll hear what really happened. Here is his account…
“This is the real story. Billy did indeed appear in the dress rehearsal and got big laughs. I was at the post-dress rehearsal production meeting. For this week only, every staff and crew member attended this meeting, held right in the middle of the studio.”
“There were three “new young comedians” scheduled to appear that week, in addition to host George Carlin. They were Andy Kaufman, Billy Crystal and Valri Bromfeld. Lorne announced that the show was very long and that only two of the three new comedians could be on the air show: Andy (with two spots) worked to recorded music, which couldn’t be cut.”
“Billy was set to do his “Late Show” routine, in which he did all of the sounds for the typical late movie show on a local station, complete with badly spliced film hiccups. He said that he had been doing this routine for some time, and that it had already been refined to be “just right.” “I understand that this might rule me out,” he said.”
“As Lorne had promised, Billy returned on April 17, 1976 on Season 1’s, 17th Episode, which was hosted by President Ford’s Press Secretary, Ron Nessen with musical guest Patti Smith.” -Joel Spector
Thanks to Joel, we now know that it was only after the dress rehearsal that Crystal was cut. Till now, that part had never been known. By the way, that same night, a classic sketch was born…Dan Aykroyd’s, Super Bassomatic 76. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HKTx5WFcs0&ab_channel=DavidGarrett
Many thanks to Joel for this missing piece of history and to the many that share similar first hand information on this page.
In the photos below we see our friend Joel Spector at the 8H audio board, Billy from that April 17th show, and the debut advertisement for SNL. – Bobby Ellerbee
April 17, 1967…”The Joey Bishop Show” Debuts On ABC
April 17, 1967…”The Joey Bishop Show” Debuts On ABC
Above, we see the opening of the show with, a wide shot of the GE PE 250 cameras on the stage at 1313 Vine street. There is more on these great facilities in the photos, so click on them.
Joey’s announcer and sidekick was Regis Philbin, and this was the first time Regis had national exposure. Joey and Rege were up against Carson on NBC and Merv on CBS and only lasted 33 months.
The show ended on December 26, 1969 with Bishop leaving after his monologue, declaring that this was the last show. Philbin was left to finish the final episode. The time slot was filled by “The Dick Cavett Show” from New York. -Bobby Ellerbee
A Story Of TV History Treasure…LOST
A Story Of TV History Treasure…LOST
For a year and a half, on what was then WRCA, Bill Cullen hosted a local (New York) fifteen minute television show called “Inside NBC”. Here is a description of just a few of the shows. It would be fantastic to see all of this backstage stuff, BUT…sadly, as far as I know, all of this is gone. If you know more, please tell us.
Monday, December 12, 1955 [DEBUT] Bill Cullen hosts this 15-minute program which spotlights NBC’s personnel, history, features, and entertainment. NBC cameras pick up rehearsals in progress, previewing shows to appear the same evening or later that week.
Monday, December 19, 1955 Viewers see a “Playwrights 56” rehearsal in action. Bill Cullen interviews producer Fred Coe, director Arthur Penn, and stars Kim Stanley and Louis Jean Heydt.
Friday, December 23, 1955 Bill Cullen visits David Aiken as he is made up for his role in Sunday’s “Alcoa Hour” production of “Amahl and the Night Visitors”. The cameras also pick up a rehearsal of “Babes in Toyland” to be seen on Max Liebman Presents.
Monday, December 26, 1955 Bill Cullen tours the “Home” show studios. Guest: Dick Linkroum, Home’s exec. producer.
Friday, December 30, 1955 Bill Cullen’s guest, Mary Martin, discusses the forthcoming “Peter Pan”.
Friday, January 6, 1956 The operation of the NBC news department is explained through interviews and films. The cameras pick up a rehearsal Ken Banghart’s news program.
Monday, January 9, 1956 Bill Cullen visits NBC’s special effects dept. to show how fog, rain, snow, etc. are made for TV.
Friday, January 13, 1956 Les Colodny, director of NBC’s comedy development program, explains and tells of plans for ’56. He introduces an act by some new talent.
Monday, January 23, 1956 Tex Antoine explains the preparation of his weather programs. Bill Cullen interviews Henry Salomon, producer of Circle Theater’s “Nightmare” in Red, to be repeated tomorrow evening.
Friday, January 27, 1956 Bill Cullen takes viewers behind the scenes of radio’s “Monitor”. Guest will be Gene Rayburn.
Monday, January 30, 1956 The NBC Technical Operations Department demonstrates the transmission of a TV picture from coast to coast. Cameras pick up a rehearsal of Milton Berle’s show from Hollywood.
Friday, February 3, 1956 Host Bill Cullen and Maurice Evans discuss this Sunday’s “Hallmark Hall of Fame” production of “The Good Fairy”, starring Julie Harris. Chet Huntley of the NBC News Department previews “Outlook”, a news program which debuts this Sunday. Special guest: J. Fred Muggs.
Monday, February 6, 1956 Bill Cullen visits Sid Caesar at his office and studios.
Friday, February 10, 1956 Bill Cullen reviews the first NBC telecast, April 30, 1939. This was the NBC special events pickup of the opening of the World’s Fair at Flushing Meadows.
Monday, February 27, 1956 The cameras switch to Hollywood to pick up a rehearsal of Tuesday’s Matinee Theater production, “A Tall Dark Stranger”. Its star, Zsa Zsa Gabor, and host John Conte are guests. Bill Cullen, in New York, does a feature on the early days of NBC news coverage.
Friday, March 2, 1956 The cameras switch to the RCA Hall of Progress in Camden, N.J., which holds electronics equipment developed during the past century. Bill Cullen hosts.
Monday, March 5, 1956 Guest: Stockton Hellfrich of NBC’s Continuity Acceptance Dept. Bill Cullen shows “The Martha Raye Show” in rehearsal, via film.
Friday, March 9, 1956 Host Bill Cullen highlights NBC’s coverage of the Presidential campaign. He also interviews Laurence Olivier.
Monday, March 12, 1956 Ike Kleinerman, film editor of Wednesday’s “Project 20″ production, explains how the film was procured and edited.
Friday, March 16, 1956 Host Bill Cullen discusses the presentation of the TV “Emmy Awards” show.
Monday, April 16, 1956 Bill Cullen conducts a remote program with WRCA-TV’s new mobile unit.
Monday, May 7, 1956 Host Bill Cullen and his special guest, Lee Ann Meriwether, conduct a quiz show. Contestants are the five finalists of the “Miss NBC” contest.
Friday, May 18, 1956 Bill Cullen is host to Thomas B. McFadden, general manager of WRCA-TV and Ray Owen from the reporting staff of WRCA’s Pulse. Owens discusses Pulse’s technique for covering news.
That is a pretty amazing trove of treasure…and only a small sample of the “Inside NBC” shows Cullen hosted. I think these are all gone but hope someone knows if they survive. – Bobby Ellerbee
Below, Eddie Cantor hosting “The Colgate Comedy Hour”.
April 16, 1962…Walter Cronkite Takes Over “CBS Evening News”
Be sure to read the text uner the photos for some interesting details on the production process, and the location of the show over time.
Above, Walter at his Graybar Building desk with staff in the fishbowl office watching the broadcast. The fishbowl office was in the same place when the show moved to the Broadcast Center.
On the left, legendary CBS News producer Don Hewitt
When the show moved to the Broadcast Center, this newsroom wall was replicated, but instead of the chalk board and clock, it was lined with teletype machines, and adorned with the famous world map, that is now a part of the “CBS Morning News” set.
Only two cameras could fit into the Graybar newsroom and the same was true for the Studio 33 newsroom.
I am not sure, but I think this small control room was built on the 29th floor, near the newsroom and fed the 2 cameras to Production Control room 43 or 44 downstairs in the main studio complex
Below, a shot of the main control room. From here, all the news film and cut-ins could be added.
Below, though that open hall behind the man at the desk, there was another area of the TV newsroom as big, or bigger than this one where a few dozen other reporters worked.
Preparing the teleprompter script
April 16, 1962…Walter Cronkite took over the anchor chair from Douglas Edwards. At the time, the show was still only 15 minutes, but that changed on September 22, 1963 when CBS became the first to go to a half hour evening news show.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjZV2UDEG2A
At the link above is Scott Pelley’s tribute video that shows a new set for Walter’s debut with bank of monitors. At 1:58, those photos are of his first rehearsal on that set in Studio 42 at Grand Central. When the show went to half an hour, Walter began reporting from the CBS News Room on the 29th floor of The Graybar Building, which adjoined Grand Central.
These photos are from the first week of the new half hour show in the Graybar offices. Occasionally, a mad dash to the studio via catwalks over the Grand Central lobby are mentioned…that time period, when news was rushed to the set, was between April ’62 and September ’63 when Walter reported from Studio 42. His work desk was in the newsroom in the Graybar.
In late 1964, the show moved to the new CBS Broadcast Center to a first floor studio called Studio 33. It looked exactly like the Graybar newsroom set, except the wall you see here with a chalk board was replaced by a wall lined with teletype machines. There was even a glassed in producer’s office in the same place it had been at Graybar,,,it was called the fishbowl, and during the broadcast, staff would go there to watch it live. You can see that in the first photo.
There is more on each photo, so click through them. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee
April 15, 1946 & 1955…Big Days For Dumont, Gleason And Lewis
April 15, 1946 & 1955…Big Days For Dumont, Gleason And Lewis
This is a two part story, of two April 15th news making days for Dumont; one in 1946, the other in 1955.
Part 1, The Glory Days: This big photo was taken April 15, 1946 and shows the inaugural broadcast from the new Dumont studio at Wanamaker’s department store in Manhattan. The telecast was fed to Dumont’s W3XWT (WTTG) in Washington for broadcast there, and in Washington, some FCC officials making congratulatory comments were fed back to New York and viewed by the audience here.
Before this, Dumont’s limited local broadcasts on it’s WABD, had come from a small experimental studio at their 515 Madison Avenue headquarters,
Part 2, A Dying Breath Brought New Life To Video Assist: In the very last days in operation as a network, Dumont introduced the Electronicam.
By late ’54 the handwriting was on the wall…in February of 1955, Dumont executives realized the company could not continue as a television network. It was decided to shut down network operations and operate WABD and WTTG as independents. On April 1, 1955, most of DuMont’s entertainment programs were dropped.
April 15, 1955, nine years to the day after opening their studio at Wanamaker’s Department Store, the company introduced the 35 and 16mm versions of the Dumont Electronicam. The hope was that this new video and film production tool would help save the company, and after all, the end result was much better than the kinescope.
In September of ’55, Jackie Gleason began production of the new half hour “The Honeymooners” show for CBS. It was shot at Dumont’s Adelphi Theatre on 54th Street, with three 35mm Electornicams.
On a visit with Gleason at The Adelphi in 1956, Jerry Lewis saw the Electronicam, and never forgot that.
’56 was the year he and Dean Martin split, and Lewis did a few solo movies for director Hal Wallis, but became involved in the production as well.
By ’60, Lewis was on his own and began writing, directing and starring in his own movies with Paramount as a partner. All the while the Electronicam process was on his mind, and by the early 60s, he had begun the process of developing a true video assist technology.
By ’66, he had created “Jerry’s Noisy Toy” which included instant video and audio tape playback capacity using an RCA vidicon cameras interlinked with Mitchell BNC cameras, and one inch Sony videotape. -Bobby Ellerbee
The History Of The Moving Image
From the Thraumatrope to the Video Walkman, the milestones are all here, in a brilliant 24 page creation from our friends at The American Museum Of The Moving Image.
The Dawn Of Tape
An in-depth look at the development of videotape as we know it. This 24 page article is one of the best I’ve seen on the history of videotape.
NBC’s Chimes History, 1950-1978
From NBC’s internal files, here are documents on NBC’s iconic signature sound as it has changed and endured over the years.
“Radio Age,” 1948-1950
A 290 page collection of RCA’s in-house journal of advances in mass communication technology from 1948-1950.
