TV History

More SNL Rarities…The Original SNL With Howard Cosell You may be surprised to know that the original “Saturday Night Live” on ABC had more in common with SNL than just the name! It also had “The Prime Time Players” which were Bill Murray, Brian Doyle-Murray, and Christopher Guest! As we celebrate the 40th Anniversary…

Just For Fun…Some Of The Slickest Video Edits And Effects Ever! Zack King has been doing these for a while, but if you have never seen his work, be ready to be AMAZED! Really! Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10153077956897943Il top delle illusioni Source

TeleTales #74…Rare Video NBC Burbank Studio 1, Bob Hope Special This is the opening of a 1963 “Bob Hope Chrysler Special”. As you will see, it was shot with RCA TK60 black and white cameras in the usually color, Studio 1. When you see the TK60, notice the TK41 color camera behind it. Hope…

Even More From NBC Burbank…Yet Another Singing Tour, 1959 This is the opening of a Gene Kelly special. It begins in one of the two main hallways that provided access for the huge studios. I’ve been told that the wall at the end of the hallway is Studio 1 and that about two thirds…

More From NBC Burbank…A Great Singing Tour, With UPDATES Some wonderful soul has inserted a present day video trip down the same path of Steve Allen’s original 1958 singing stroll through the halls of NBC Burbank. The original clip was part of an Allen special taped there and is performed to an Allen composition,…

February 11, 1960…Jack Paar Walks Off The “Tonight” Show On February 11, 1960, Jack Paar turned television upside down with a remarkable act of integrity. That I know of, this short audio recording is the only version of the departure segment in its entirety, starting with the NBC announcement at the beginning of the…

TeleTales #72…Speaking Of Johnny Carson And Studio 1 Here’s a nice color shot of the set with an RCA TK44 in the shot, probably a tour group stopping in. Notice the star on the floor…Johnny’s monologue marker. I don’t think this is the ’72 set, so this pix may be from around ’76. Please…

TeleTales #71…NBC Burbank Studio 1: If These Wall Could Talk I would venture to say, that between 1952 and 2013, every major personality in America has been on this stage at one time or another. Between Bob Hope and Johnny Carson’s shows here…well, the list of guests boggles the mind. Enjoy and share! -Bobby…

TeleTales #70…NBC Burbank Studio 1: The Start Of Something Big As NBC’s new Color City was coming to completion, CBS was in the final stages of completing Television City. In September, David Sarnoff announced that Burbank would go on the air earlier than planned. He said the new start date would be October 4,…

TeleTales #69…NBC Burbank Studio 1: A Star Is Born Here’s the studio under construction in 1952. The legend is, Bob Hope helped design this studio and may have been responsible for the massive audience area and it’s steep incline so that no seat had an obstructed view of the stage. Enjoy and share! -Bobby…

TeleTales #68…NBC Burbank Drive By, 1958 It looks like today is Burbank day, so lets take it all in! Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

ULTRA RARE 2! NBC Burbank, Studio 1…360 Degree Video This is where Johnny Carson’s “Tonight” show came from. Now, it is the “Access Hollywood” stage, but this is not that set which has four sides. This has only three and you can see the audience seating on the open wall. By the way, you…

ULTRA RARE 1! Inside NBC Burbank Studio 3…360 Degree Video Just the other day, someone asked about the seating in Studio 3, wondering if it was like the huge Studio 1 audience area. Well, here’s your answer. There’s a lot of history here as this was home to “The Dean Martin Show”, “The Jerry…

TeleTales #67…A HUGE Beatles SURPRISE! CBS sent one of their prototype hand held video cameras from Cape Kennedy to Miami to get shots for the February 16, 1964 Beatles appearance on Ed Sullivan. The man responsible for their creation, Dr. Joe Flaherty, who’s still Senior VP of Technology at CBS, told me a few…

From last year’s big 50th Anniversary coverage, here is my story on how to tell which scenes are from which shows, which were all taped the same day. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee Beatles 50th Sullivan Anniversary Count Down…15 Days Today, A Primer In: How to tell which performance is which. With the anniversary…

TeleTales #67…The Art Of Shooting Live Drama Before videotape, there were only kinescopes, so shows had to be done live. Just take a moment and study the photo below from Television City…that’s tight in every way. The floor camera is shooting the actor on top (Edmond O’Brien), the crane is shooting the other, the…

TeleTales #66…NBC Chicago Class Picture With Chicago on my mind from the ABC story, I wanted to share this picture from around 1950. There are a lot of familiar faces and names here that went on the New York. Among those that did, but are not seen here are Hugh Downs, Mrs. Francis from…

TeleTales #64…Speaking Of The EMI 2001 Cameras Here is a followup on the BBC remote story from yesterday that showed us the EMI 2001 cameras in the field. Thanks to Andy Rose for the find. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGvO29NQ8xs EMI 2001 Broadcast Camera Training Video 1970’s (BBC) Source

February 9, 1953…The REAL Beginning Of ABC! That was the day United Paramount, led by Leonard Goldenson, came to the rescue and saved the company from bankruptcy. On October 12, 1943, Edward John Noble, the owner of Life Savers candy, the Rexall drugstore chain, and the radio station WMCA in New York, bought NBC’s…