Is It Hot In Here Or Is It Just Me?
Here’s an RCA TK11 with all it’s doors open to cool off. This shot is from CBS Television City from around 1956 and taken on Stage 43 where ‘Climax’ was done. It was an anthology show with different live dramas each week and was much like ‘Play House 90’ and ‘General Electric Theater’. Unlike local station cameras, network cameras were on 8 to 10 hours a day and the tubes put out more heat which could cause the viewfinder to go out.
Grenoble Winter Olympics: 1968…One Of The Few Bright Spots 1968 was a hard year in America. Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King were assassinated. Riots were everywhere after the King killing, there were riots over the war in Vietnam and riots in Chicago at the Democratic Convention. Bras and draft cards were burned, but, the […]
‘Cash And Carry’, A Fred Westbrook Photo This is network television’s first game show, and the world’s first TV game show host, Dennis James. ‘Cash And Carry’ originated from DuMont’s New York studio, then located inside Wanamaker’s Department Store. The show aired at 9PM on Thursday nights and was the only show on the air […]
Video Tape’s Unintended Consequences…Agony & Ecstasy This is a story you have never heard. It is about the advantages and headaches caused by the introduction of video tape. We’ll start on the hard part…The Agony. When video tape use began to really take off with network use in 1957, it caused what was then referred […]
“Gort! Klaatu Barada Nikto!” Just for fun, here is a rare production shot from the 1951 classic ‘The Day The Earth Stood Still’. Peeking out of the forty pound Gort costume is 7′ 7″ Joseph “Lock” Martin. Before the film rolls, wardrobe will add his visor and gloves. Martin could only handle a half hour […]
cool off the cameras and a chance to have a smoke
I read that if the Orthicons are overheated, you have a loss of picture resolution…
Same thing happened with the TK42s during a telethon in the early 70s at WBTV in Charlotte, NC. A few hours into the telethon (Jerry’s kids, I believe), the cameras all started misbehaving. We had to open the covers to keep them operating.
This happened in both studios where we had one studio with the telethon and the other with the entertainment acts.
wow
Take note of the CBS built custom viewfinder hood. CBS. like many, did not like the RCA snout VF hood. I have made one similar to this one for my TK-11B.
Still a common problem.