Behind The Scenes at THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW…Part 3 (of 7)
The RCA TK31 Era: This third part features the RCA TK31 Studio Cameras that came out in May of 1952. These look like TK30s with chrome handles. Most of these images are dated 1958, but CBS was using the TK31s as early as 1953 at studio 50. NOTICE…the last 3 photos here show an update to the theater including new RCA big screen projection system for the audience and new audio system. (THE TOAST OF THE TOWN ran from 1948-1955 when the name changed to THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW).
These historical images are from the CBS Photo Archives available through Getty Images and are presented here to assist researchers and television historians in identifying the television equipment in use over the decades and is offered here in a purely educational/instructional forum.
NEW YORK – JANUARY 12: January 12, 1958 James Arness on set of THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW. (Photo by CBS via Getty Images)
NEW YORK – JANUARY 12: January 12, 1958 James Arness talks with Ed Sullivan on THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW. (Photo by CBS via Getty Images)
NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 21,1958: Ed Sullivan interviews Edward R. Murrow. (Photo by Steve Oroz/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
American film actor Gregory Peck (1916 – 2003) sits on a stool with his hands clasped at rehearsal on Ed Sullivan’s CBS variety show, New York, August 17, 1958. (Photo by CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images)
NEW YORK – JULY 9: CBS Television Studio 50 (1697 Broadway at West 53rd Street, New York, NY.) Photo taken after recent installation of microphones, speakers and television equipment. This space is later known as The Ed Sullivan Theater. Image dated July 9, 1958. (Photo by CBS via Getty Images)
NEW YORK – JULY 9: CBS Television Studio 50 (1697 Broadway at West 53rd Street, New York, NY.) Photo taken after recent installation of microphones, speakers and television equipment. This space is later known as The Ed Sullivan Theater. Image dated July 9, 1958. (Photo by CBS via Getty Images)
NEW YORK – JULY 9: CBS Television Studio 50 (1697 Broadway at West 53rd Street, New York, NY.) Photo taken after recent installation of microphones, speakers and television equipment. This space is later known as The Ed Sullivan Theater. Image dated July 9, 1958. (Photo by CBS via Getty Images)
What does the Orson Wells classic radio drama “War Of The Worlds” have in common with Dr Peter Goldmark’s mechanical color tests? The answer is CBS Radio Studio 1 at their first headquarters building, 485 Madison Avenue. That was where Wells and company preformed their weekly “Mercury Theater of The Air”. Around the start of […]
In case you have never seen it, here is the very first sketch of the RCA TK42 camera, the successor to RCA’s TK41 line. This is a scan of the master drawing that I have. It was given to me by RCA’s Harry Wright who designed this, the TK44 and most of RCA’s Telecine equipment. […]
An Exclusive From The Eddie Brinkmann Archives…Part 4 As you will see in the post below this one, Ed Sullivan had a largely unknown soft side. To most, he seemed temperamental and easily angered and frankly, the best advice for staff and crew was to keep your distance. As stage manager, Eddie Brinkmann was not […]
Picture Parade #6…The Real, Original Bozo The Clown…Pinto Colvig It’s time to set the record straight! Larry Harmon may be a Bozo, but he’s not the original Bozo, even though he’s claimed otherwise. If Bozo has a father, that man is Alan Livingston, former president of Capital Records, who created ‘Bozo At The Circus’ in […]
