The Vinten Heron Crane: 1955
The Vinten Heron crane was developed for the BBC, which bought models for its London and regional studios. The biggest innovation in the crane was it’s ability to crab, thus allowing it to move freely in any directions, giving it the flexibility of a pedestal with increased height range and speed. This shot is from Radio Canada and there were a few in use at CBC and some here. I think WFAA in Dallas had one. Wonder where they all went? Anyone know of a survivor?
A Brief History Of Liederkarntz Hall, Pre CBS And Beyond… This incredibly ornate building was constructed around 1890 as the “clubhouse” for a German social club, and was specially built for musical performances. By 1927, the building was sold and RCA Victor began recording here. About ten years later, CBS Radio bought the property for […]
The Rank-Taylor-Hobson Zoom Lens By far, this was the most popular zoom for RCA TK41s and TK60s. The Zoomar was also very popular, but that was seen mostly on black and white cameras in use prior to the mid 60’s introduction of this lens. This is often refereed to as the Varotal III and Varotal […]
NBC Studios History…ULTRA RARE OPERATIONS LOGS, 1947 These pages were copied at the Library Of Congress a few years back by our friend David Schwartz. These are some of the earliest known program relics of those early post war days when the NBC Television Network was basically then, just New York, Philadelphia and Schenectady. On […]
‘Camel News Caravan’ Debut…NBC’s 1949 Press Release On February 16, 1949 John Cameron Swayze delivered the first edition of this show live from Studio 3H. ‘Camel News Caravan’ was preceded a year earlier by NBC’s first news program called ‘NBC Television Newsreel’ which was all voice on film. Some have Fox Movietone News as the […]
I think one is still in Montreal in storage at Radio-Canada. To my memory, the serial number was very low, meaning that it was one of the first delivered in Canada
KRLD-TV in Dallas also had one.
Belle bête; Il y en a une à Télémétropole je crois…
Pierre, nous avons retapé et remis en service ce crane pour “Un air de famille” et Prière de ne pas envoyer de fleurs” au 42.
Qui l’opère Sylvain ? Surement pas Raymond T. Fortin ??? 😉
Tu savais, que selon la rumeur, le légendaire R.T. est un oncle de la non moins légendaire famille Riopel ?
# de série 51, Pierre
Merci Sylvain, presque le même numéro de série que toi et moi !!!
So for you guys, I just had confirmation that the serial number of that crane in Montreal is #0000051 . But the way it was just put back to service on a couple of new variety shows for this coming season !!!
( It was just… put back in service)
A Revival! Hallelujah! Rare that a great piece of equipment makes a return!
Next week end, i will send some pictures of our crane in action.
I remember craneman’s name on that picture : Gaetan Campeau. He became cameraman few years after that picture was taken and we worked together until he retired ( Gaetan…not the crane…) around 1990.
Effectivement, ça ressemble à Real. Un des grand caméramans que j’ai connu et qui fut un des mes professeurs.
Sylvain je tient à rectifier un fait….. RT n’est pas mon oncle, il a été le mari de ma défunte tante, c’est bien différent.