December 22, 1963…The Judy Garland Christmas Special
Our friend George Sunga was the production supervisor on Judy’s series. This show was shot with the new Marconi Mark IV black and white cameras in Television City’s Studio 43. The video and audio is exceptional…state of the art for 1963. This also includes the original commercials.
Two songs which are now seasonal classics, one first sung by Judy, and the other, by guest Mel Torme, are included here (“Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” and “The Christmas Song”). The final song is Judy’s emortal “Rainbow”. This is first rate from start to finish! Enjoy and Happy Holidays! -Bobby Ellerbee
And to think that was done during one of America’s most dark and bleak periods. I’m sure Judy had difficulty getting thru it all. Thanks for posting.
Amazing how long CBS held off from shooting in color. Sour grapes over the CBS/RCA color conflict?
If you were going to be monochrome – then this was the best monochrome ever.
The past was so weird.
YES, Tom. William Paley didn’t want to help RCA sell color TV sets by scheduling daily or weekly color telecasts on CBS from 1960 through ’65 {“I’ll be damned if I’m going to let the General [David Sarnoff] do that!”, he said on one occasion} Occasionally, there WAS a color special, under “special circumstances” [including their yearly telecasts of “The Wizard of Oz”]….it wasn’t until the fall of ’65 that CBS scheduled at least half of their prime-time lineup in color. The “war” was over.