TV History

COOL! This is a :43 second time lapse video of 2 cameras shooting a college basketball game between Western Kentucky University and Florida International University. Notice one of the cameras has a program monitor attached. Good idea. Tonight’s time lapse from the beautiful US Century Bank Arena on Florida International University’s campus as WKU…

The Marconi BD 848 Color Camera, Rare Video In a recent conversation with Chuck Pharis, I discovered that RCA had sold Marconi the rights to make their own version of the TK30 which became the Marconi Mark I. I suspect they also sold them the rights to make a TK41 as well, which became…

Sunday Night Show Fall 1964, ABC CBS NBC Wagon Train, My Favorite Martian, 20th Century, My Living Doll, Joey Bishop Show, Candid Camera, Profiles In Courage, Walt Disney Wonderful Of Color, Bill Dana Show, Bonanza, The Rouges, and more are remembered here is promo clips. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuIeQA1d0D0 What you would’ve watched on a typical Sunday…

The One And Only…NBC Camera Limousine I’ve shown you this car before, but thanks to Troy Walters in Australia, here’s another look at it from a magazine of the day. http://coldwar-c4i.net/TV/EE0353-276.html Television Mobile Unit for 1953 Presidential Inaugural Parade Mobile TV Unit for 1953 Inaugural Parade Source

The Ones and Onlys…Bob And Ray Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding began as radio announcers (Elliott a disc jockey, and Goulding a news reader) in Boston with their own separate programs on station WHDH-AM, and each would visit with the other while on the air. Their informal banter was so appealing that WHDH would…

Fresh, Out Of The Box…RCA TK11s This photo is thought to be a 1955 photo from the first days of television at The University of Iowa. New everything…how cool! Source

The Amazing Adventures Of Klaus Landsberg, Landsberg was the director of experimental television station W6XYZ when it went on the air in 1942. Under his guidance, it became the first commercially licensed television station west of Mississippi when it became KTLA Television on January 22nd, 1947. Here is the story of how Klaus and…

A Real Oddity…The EMI 10678 From 1956, this camera used by the BBC is one of the oddest looking things I’ve ever seen. The metal lens hood covered the four turret lens with 3,4 8 and 12 inch Dallmeyer lenses. This is possibly a good idea for rainy days in the field, but not…

Two True Rarities… Rarity One…the striped banding on the RCA TK11/31s. This was fairly common on the TK10/30 at CBS and this was actually a quick grey scale adjustment for cameras. The TK11/31 handle in front of the grey bars diluted their purpose, so they quit using the bars on the TK11/31 cameras soon…

TREASURE!!! Must See! Jerry Lewis…The Cameraman June 26, 1956, The Today Show is live at the Sands Hotel’s 500 Club in Atlantic City. Jerry Lewis takes over a TK30 at around the 44:30 mark as Dean Martin sings. Although his camera work is clownish, don’t be fooled…he knows exactly what to do. Notice the…

Bosch KCU 40s In Action With Sammy Davis… This video of Sammy’s ‘Candy Man’ song is probably from around 1973 and appears to be from Europe…possibly Germany. The KCU 40 debuted in ’69 and was a 3 Plumbicon color camera from Bosch. Thanks to Juan Leal for the clip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iIraEbr6NE http://www.squidoo.com/numberonesongsof1972videoshowcase His number one…

If This Stage Could Talk…Studio 50, The Ed Sullivan Theater Ed Sullivan is center stage with ventriloquist Rickie Layne and Velvel at the Sunday afternoon rehearsal. In the background, Ed’s cameraman…George Moses with a TK11. I’m very happy that David Letterman is so appreciative of the theater’s history and has done such a great…

Back By Popular Demand…1976 Ampex NAB Poster For more on the anniversary and one of the origial VRX 1000s, take a look at this link. http://www.historyofrecording.com/ampexvrx1000aniv.html Source

Thursday Night Shows Fall 1959, ABC CBS NBC Included here are show intro clips from The Gail Storm Show, Donna Reed Show, Real McCoy’s, Pat Boone Show, Untouchables, Take A Good Look with Ernie Kovaks, To Tell The Truth, Betty Hutton Show, Johnny Ringo, Zane Grey Theater, Playhouse 90, Law Of The Plainsman, Bat…

1952…First Nation Wide Political Convention TV Coverage Here’s an artists animation of the NBC set up. CBS and NBC went all out to televise the Democratic and Republican National Conventions which both came from The International Amphitheater in Chicago. The new transcontinental coaxial and microwave system was completed in 1951 and this would be…

Jerry Lewis Gooses Letterman Cameraman Dave Dorsett Since Dave Dorsett worked for CBS for 40+ years, this must be from Letterman’s early days at CBS. The tale in in the tape…enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqMKaRFc4ZA Jerry Lewis gooses a cameraman during a lap around the studio. Source

Open Wide! In case you have never seen this feature, here it is. The Marconi Mark IV could be cranked up with the small crank on the lower front corner to give access to the Image Orthicon tube. Great camera and well engineered. Source

AT LONG LAST! A Camera Retirement ‘Party’! The fine folks at WPEN in Green Bay, Wisconsin were thoughtful enough to give their HK 357s a fond farewell after 22 years of faithful service! I’ve never seen anything like this, have you? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eZRjoFRWGc&feature=youtu.be Andy Moore: “See this? It’s a camera. But not just any camera.…