TV History

Hiway Patrol: Flashback I always loved the look of this car…the 1955 Buick Century. As a kid, I watched this show every week. If it’s ‘been a while’ for you too, take a look at this full episode. Source

Politicians and Teleprompters go Way Back Here’s a shot from under the podium at the 1952 republican convention. This prompter script is not for television talent…it’s for the politicians delivering speeches to the delegates. This is probably one of the first times teleprompters were used for this purpose. Source

Here’s a shot from the 1952 Republican National Convention in Chicago showing the 3 lens version of RCA’s new portable, wireless back pack camera. It could pitch a signal half a mile to the base station. Trying to do this with color took a lot longer and a lot more knee surgeries for the…

NBC’s Mega Mobile Unit: 1952 This is quite a step up from the unit in the photo below this and probably can handle up to 6 cameras. I think this unit was finished just in time for the 1952 political conventions which were both held at Chicago’s International Amphitheater. The republicans were there July…

More Design Influence From John Vassos Even here, on this early RCA Mobile Unit, his style is present. The art decco chrome bands on the side and mudflaps are a Vassos touch. This 1947 shot from Times Square has a couple of TK30s on top of one of RCA’s first few remote trucks that…

Well, What Have We Here? Revised This Reeves Teletape TK47 is a VERY UNUSUAL! Having never seen one with the row of adjustment knobs (far left) on the rear panel, I did more research. My conclusion is that only the TK47 EP (Enhanced Performance) model had these. The EP model came out in 1980.…

A Kukla, Fran and Ollie Surprise In yesterday’s photo, you could not see the band, or the real surprise…a Zoomar Super Field lens at work in the studio. This is the only production I’ve ever seen that uses this 27 element lens inside. Source

Does This Curtain Look Familiar? If you are a Jack Benny fan, it does! The open and close was done in front of these for many years at Television City. The man in the glasses, under the boom, is the director, Ralph Levy who also directed many episodes of I Love Lucy (including the…

Ever See One Of These? I believe this is an RCA set from around 1968. There is a record player behind the top center panel and it looks like the black box is for ear bud audio. LBJ would have loved this. Source

Zoomar VS Varotal It would be interesting to see the difference. Here, two Pye cameras, which may be 1″ Videcon models, shoot side by side with the left camera using a Zoomar Field Zoom and the other using a Varotal Mark II zoom circa 1959. Source

1936 Telefunken Camera 1 of 2 The cameraman is Walter Bruch and he’s shown here at the 1936 Berlin Olympics operating one of two Telefunken cameras at the event. As you will see in the companion photo, one of these two Telefunken cameras (Fernseh also had a camera there) has a huge lens attached.…

1936 Telefunken Camera 2 of 2 This is without a doubt the largest ‘made for television’ lens I’ve ever seen on a camera. This is one of 3 cameras used at the 1936 Summer Olympic Games in Berlin, and is made by Telefunken. This is possibly the same camera as shown in the companion…

President Eisenhower’s Funeral I think what we see here is CBS preparing for coverage of the final memorial service in Abilene, Kansas with the Eisenhower Presidential Library in the background. The cameras look like GE PE 350s. On March 28, 1969, Eisenhower died of congestive heart failure at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington,…

Kukla, Fran and Ollie Here’s a nice shot from home base, WNBQ, Chicago. Burr Tillstrom was the creator and only puppeteer on the show, which premiered as the hour-long ‘Junior Jamboree’ locally on WBKB in Chicago, on October 13, 1947. The program was renamed ‘Kukla, Fran and Ollie’ and transferred to WNBQ (the predecessor…

Varotal Mark III Field Lens This is quite a big boy and I would imagine it took a bit of lead weighs on the pan handle to help balance this. A lot of operators mounted these upside down so they could move the zoom control to the left side of the camera, as the…

Varotal Mark I Field Zoom Many of us are familiar with the Varotal Mark III lenses, but here is the Mark I mounted on a Marconi Mark II camera in 1953. Varotal is a product of Rank Taylor Hobson. Source

On June 20, 1948 ‘The Fred Waring Show’ debuted on CBS. It is believed to be the first weekly one hour music show, however, the show was cut to a half hour in ’52. For the first few years, it aired just after the Ed Sullivan Show, at 9 on Sunday nights. Below is…

Republican National Convention: 1940 This is an RCA Iconoscope camera from experimental station W3XE (now KYW) covering the RNC in Philadelphia for NBC in June of 1940, where Wendell Willkie was chosen to run against FDR. The channel 3 facility in Philadelphia is one of the world’s oldest television stations. It began in 1932…

ULTRA RARE: May 1949, Sid Caesar’s First Series ‘The Admiral Broadway Review’ Caesar began his television career when he made an appearance on Milton Berle’s Texaco Star Theater. In early 1949, Sid and producer Max Liebman met with Pat Weaver, president of television at NBC (and father of Sigourney Weaver), which led to Caesar’s…

‘Time For Beany’ Below, Cecil (Stan Freburg) and Beany (Daws Butler) entertain an audience of all ages in 1950, while just on the other side of the wall, two KTLA TK10s capture the fun. Even Albert Einstein admitted that he watched the show. The original puppet show version aired from Feb 49 till late…