TV History

Picture Parade 3…You Mean They Weren’t Really On The Runway? Spoiler Alert: NO. The ‘Casablanca’ scene on the runway was shot in a studio, and just out of sight is the paper mache airplane waiting for them. One reason for all the fog was to help hide the not-so-hot looking, half scale plane. A…

Picture Parade 1…Tis The Season To Be Jolly! Here’s ‘Today’ show host Dave Garroway pushing a camera sled around the ice rink at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. He hosted for nine years, from the show’s start in 1952, till 1961. Thanks to John Schipp for the photo. Enjoy and share. -Bobby Ellerbee Source

December 12, 1896…Marconi’s First Public Demonstration Of Radio During his early years, Marconi had an interest in science and electricity. One of the scientific developments during this era came from Heinrich Hertz, who, beginning in 1888, demonstrated that one could produce and detect electromagnetic radiation…generally known as “radio waves”. At the time these were…

December 12, 1980…’Magnum P.I.’ Debuts On CBS Here are some little known facts about the show I thought you may find interesting. Did you know that Orson Welles had agreed to play the roll of the illusive Robin Masters when they finally revealed his persona on camera in a 1985 episode? Unfortunately, he died…

Picture Parade 3…Roy And Dale, 1961 At The Wisconsin State Fair I didn’t bother with the last names in the headline…you can tell from just the hat who this is. For those old enough, you have to admit two things, Roy and Dale were great, and second…going to a big state fair in those…

Picture Parade 2….1960 Election Coverage, NBC Studio 8H Here’s the great team of Chet Huntley and David Brinkley covering the race between Nixon and Kennedy. I think this was the first time they used this “crows nest” set up with the anchors on the 9th floor balcony. It’s still odd to me to the…

Picture Parade 1…’Bob And Ray, Jane, Laraine And Gilda’, 1979 For some still unknown reason, this spacial ran in place of SNL on March 15, 1979. SNL was in it’s white hot fourth season, but in it’s place that Saturday night, we got this paring of long time stars Bob and Ray with Jane…

December 11, 1985…GE Buys RCA, A Dark Day For America Begins Why this headline on the sale of RCA to GE? Because on the grander scale, this was the first big corporate media take over…the kind that, until Ronald Reagan became president, would have not been allowed under anti trust laws. Since then, media…

In Loving And Living Memory Of KTTV…Jim Diaz Restorations I just got the pictures in from our friend Jim Diaz in California. He has a passion for KTTV’s history and in the process of writing a book on the station’s history, but in the mean time has restored one of his TK 31s as…

Picture Parade 2…A Rare Carter White House Photo Although the lens is covered, here’s a Norelco PC70 in the Oval Office which probably means CBS is handling the pool coverage on this night.. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee Source

Picture Parade 1…A Great Idea With Little Follow Through I have often wondered why so few ever used the Mole-Richardson boom platform for a camera platform. It’s perfect for studio and location work. Big tires, easy to steer, adjustable height and relatively light weight. The only other incident of this I’ve seen, is in…

Tour Of Duty…Remembering Roy Holm, NBC Burbank Last week when the ‘Elvis’ comeback special story ran here, Roy Holm was pictured in that photo array. Our friend David Crosthwait posted more pictures of Roy that I am sharing here. He was one of NBC’s top cameramen and a multiple EMMY winner. More on the…

In Case You Missed This…’New Price Is Right’ Syndication Pitch This is a film copy of the syndication pitch for ‘The New Price Is Right’ with Mark Goodson and his choice for host, Dennis James. It was shot in February of 1972 and I have a strong feeling it was done at NBC NY,…

The Big Show That Almost Wasn’t…’Price Is Right’, Pilot Pitch Problems Do the names ‘The Auction-aire’ [sic] and Bob Stewart ring a bell…or a buzzer? Either way, that’s where ‘The Price Is Right’ all started. Stewart was a director at WRCA (now WNBC) in New York. On his lunch break one day, he happened…

A 1982 Behind The Scenes Look At…’The Price Is Right’ Continuing with today’s ‘Price Is Right’ theme, here’s a quick look at the show in production in 1982. When this was shot at CBS Television City’s Studio 33, Norelco cameras had been around for 17 years and Bob Barker had been the host for…

Rare…’Price Is Right’ Color Photo And NYC Studio Locations Since we are on the ‘Price Is Right’ path today, I think we’ll stay there for a while with this, and more PIR stories to follow. The daytime version of ‘The Price Is Right’ began in black and white from NBC’s Hudson Theater (which was…

Time Capsule…1960 ‘Price Is Right’ Technical Director’s Script Thanks to our friend Gady Reinhold, here is part of the July 4, 1960 script for ‘The Price Is Right’, from the Colonial Theater in New York. First thought, take a look at this cool shot of one of the Colonial’s original prototype RCA TK40s in…

Picture Parade 5…Seasons Greetings From The ‘Kukla, Fran & Ollie’ Crew Thanks to John Schipp, here’s card from the men that brought the nation one of the top shows of the day, live from WMAQ in Chicago. I think Bruce Berquist is on Camera 3 in the top left corner. This was one of…