TV History

The location of the three studios was inside New York City’s Wanamaker’s Department Store. Here is the announcement in a few magnified parts and a couple of photos of the huge main studio it’s control room. Source

January 16, 1949…KNBH Television Signs On; Exclusive Photos These two black and white photos are the only ones I know of that were taken on that first day of broadcasting. The young lady in both is Peggy Lee, who I think was the mistress of ceremonies that night for the stations first live show,…

January 14, 1990…’America’s Funniest Home Videos’ Debuts On ABC Here is the first episode with what I think was the best host ever, Bob Sagget. Bob hosted the original show which aired as a special in November of 1989. It was such a hit, ABC had it on the air on Sunday nights in…

January 14, 1993…David Letterman Announces His Move To CBS In the video, you can see the announcement at the CBS press conference…it’s “pure Dave”. At this link is a very good write up from the next day’s New York Daily News on all the details. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/letterman-takes-40-million-deal-move-nbc-cbs-article-1.2060913 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xkV68YpvM0 In 1993…

January 14, 1952…The First Moments Of ‘Today’ With Dave Garroway This is the opening segment of the debut show, 63 years ago today. Dave takes us on a very complete tour of the set and explains what the show is all about. Thanks to the vision and courage of Pat Weaver, American television took…

January 14, 1952…’Today’ Debuts On NBC…First In More Than One Way Today, was network television’s first ever morning show, and is where some of the state of the art technology was first used. First, I am sure this is the first time the new Houston Fearless TD 3 counter-weighted pedestals were ever used. There…

Picture Parade #6… “Klaatu Barada Nikto” Here’s a rare behind the scenes shot from the 1951 classic ‘The Day The Earth Stood Still”. Coming down the gangway is 7’ 7″ Lock Martin in one of two Gort costumes. Martin was the doorman as Gruaman’s Chines Theater in LA. To give the appearance of seamlessness…

Picture Parade #5…A Tribute To Ernie Kovacs: Hole In The Head Sketch As mentioned in the previous post, we lost this television and comedy pioneer 53 years ago today. Here is another legacy he left us. Before there was chromakey, there was black and white matting which is the process used here for Ernie…

Picture Parade #4…A Tribute To Ernie Kovacs: The Dovetonsil Lens Today in 1962, comedian Ernie Kovacs died in a car crash in west Los Angeles, 10 days before his 43rd birthday. In remembrance of his pioneering comedy which often involved technical innovation, here is the rare lens he helped create for his most famous…

Rare Color Home Move…WRVA ‘Sailor Bob Show’, Early 1960s This was just sent in by Tom Griggs, son of ‘Sailor Bob’ Griggs who hosted this kids show in Richmond Va. for many years. Yesterday, January 12, was the 56th Anniversary of him taking to the air as Sailor Bob on the WRVA TV Schooner.…

Picture Parade #4…Followup Photo, Kukla, Fran And Ollie I couldn’t wrap up today’s posts without including this rare shot of the man that started it all…the great Burr Tillstrom. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee Source

Picture Parade #3…Followup Photo, Kukla, Fran And Ollie I finally found the photo that shows the band I had mentioned in the network debut anniversary story earlier today. Part of the show’s success was due to the adults that watched, and the laughter from the crew and band was always there. Like ‘Beany And…

Picture Parade #2…Followup Photo, Kukla, Fran And Ollie This is an amazingly rare 1947 photo of ‘Junior Jamboree’ at WBKB in Chicago, starring “The Kuklapolitans with Fran Allison”. This was the first embodyment of the show on television and this aired locally Monday thru Friday, from 6 to 7 pm Central Time. In case…

Picture Parade #1…Followup Photo, Kukla, Fran And Ollie This is the KFO studio at WNBQ in 1951, three years after their network debut on this day in 1949. From left to right: Beulah Zachary, producer (seated); Harry Glyer, boom operator; Jack Fascinato, composer (at piano); John Kinsey, stage manager; Bruce Berquist, cameraman; Kukla and…

Here’s A BIG SURPRISE! The First Time I Have Every Heard Of This! When Bud Yorkin presented ‘An Evening With Fred Astaire’ October 17, 1958, he used the entire NBC Burbank facility….all four color studios and control rooms and all 16 TK41 cameras were used to fed the show live to the east coast…

January 12, 1949…’Kukla Fran And Ollie’ Debuts On NBC Network Before we get to the history, a comment on this rare kinescope. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFo–Kmctsc&ab_channel=Kukla%2CFranandOllie In the clip, we see Dave Garroway visiting with KFO just before their trip to RCA’s Wardman Park Hotel experimental color studio, where on October 10, 1949 they did a special…

January 12, 1966…’Batman’ Debuts On ABC There are a several rare video pieces here for you to see including this embedded clip (no audio) of a location shoot of a scene from the first episode with Frank Gorshin and Bert Ward. In this clip, we see the competing casting of the two teams of…

January 12, 1967…’Dragnet 1967′ Debuts On NBC After an eight year break, ‘Dragnet’ returned to television with this episode. In updating the story lines, Webb was particularly aware of the wave of teenage drug use, and a fair number of episodes have a “narko” theme. To differentiate it from the earlier Dragnet series, the…

In Case You Missed This…The Restoration Of ‘The Wizard Of Oz’ This is a follow up on the Oz picture posted yesterday and a reminder that here at EOAG…the comments are the MOST AMAZING you will find anywhere! If you are not paying attention to them, you are missing A LOT! Many comments are…

On Several Levels…One Of The MOST INTERESTING Videos I’ve Seen You are in for some big surprises! More than I can account for here in the text, so I urge you to just see for yourself. This is a whole episode of ‘Steve Allen’s Music Room’ that ran in syndication from ’84 till ’86.…