New NBC Marquee On 6th Avenue Unveiled This Week

In the style and tradition of the 49th and 50th Street entrances, NBC has erected the first ever 6th Avenue marquee to celebrate the return of ‘The Tonight Show’ to New York.

“The new marquee is a bold reminder that ‘The Tonight Show’ is back in New York City from historic 30 Rockefeller Plaza,” said John Wallace, President, NBCUniversal Operations and Technical Services. “Showcasing our iconic NBCUniversal programs and talent, plus improving the fan experience, are key elements of our comprehensive building redesign project.”

The placement of “The Tonight Show” marquee is part of the previously announced plan for extensive upgrades and enhancements to historic 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Ongoing renovation and restoration projects, including the Grand Stair and Mezzanine Rotunda, will be completed in the coming months. At least half of the job of replacing the GE signs atop the building is complete and a part of the updating and restoration. Thanks to Gil Muro, Geoffrey DeVoe and Brian Durr for the photos. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

By the way, yes…6th Avenue is also Avenue Of The Americas.

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Look Familiar? Did You Ever “Play Television” As A Kid? I Did…

These photos are from 1959 and show is a mighty fine store bought camera. Something I never saw before. Mine were all home made.

I’ll share my story if you share yours, OK? I remember being in the first grade and already wanting to be an announcer. Earlier that year, I had been on ‘The Don McNeil Breakfast Club’ in Chicago and that left a lasting impression. I would watch TV shows and say what the man on TV said, but then I took it up a notch and added a microphone to my act….sort of.

My mother had an Elecralux canister vacuum cleaner. The long black cord had a male plug for the wall and a female plug for the vacuum. I used the female end as a mic and could pull my cable just like the man on TV. One day, I got the bright idea of plugging the cord into the wall to do my announcing. Everything was fine till I got a little to close to the “mic” and got shocked.

I modified my technique after that, but kept on “announcing”. I still do, but now it’s for money. Tell me your story! Enjoy and share. -Bobby Ellerbee

By the way, thanks to Ken Heinemann for these pictures of a cardboard camera he sent away for. The lenses had red, blue and green gel on them so this must have been a “color” camera.

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Look Familiar? May 1940…In Front Of The Ed Sullivan Theater

Built in 1927 as The Hammerstein Theater, CBS took a long term lease on the dark venue in 1935 and converted it to a large radio theater. In 1950, they converted it to a television theater with the designation, CBS Studio 50.

This is a publicity photo for the movie ’20 Mule Team’ starring Wallace Berry that debuted in New York on May 3, 1940. When I saw this I thought that the 1952 television series ‘Death Valley Days’ may have spun out from this, but much to my surprise, this 1940 movie is based on the ‘Death Valley Days’ radio show that started in 1930 and ran there till 1945.

On TV, the show began in 1952 as a syndicated series, with reruns and updated new narrations continuing through August 1, 1975.

The radio and TV series was sponsored by the Pacific Coast Borax Company (20 Mule Team Borax, Boraxo) and hosted by Stanley Andrews (1952-1963), Ronald Reagan (1964-1965), Robert Taylor (1966-1969), and Dale Robertson (1969-1972). Hosting the series was Reagan’s final work as an actor; he also was cast in eight episodes of the series. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

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Look Familiar? I Thought So…You Were Not Alone!

In reviewing the comments from yesterday’s story on Rosie, I noticed some conversations about drawing pictures of cameras and studios as kids, so…I thought we’d take a trip down memory lane. As it turns out, a lot of us that went into the field did this and here are over two dozen works of art from around the country. Enjoy and share! Oh, and add your pix too if you can find them! -Bobby Ellerbee

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November 22, 1963…Television Coverage, Assassination Day

The only silver lining to one of our darkest days was the local media. The Dallas/Ft. Worth stations were well equipped and on the scene for a big day and were pooling coverage which would become invaluable over the next few days.

It started in Ft. Worth with a televised breakfast. Since WBAP (an NBC affiliate using RCA TK30s) was located there, they covered the event while WFAA (an ABC affiliate using Marconi Mark IVs) covered the arrival at Love Field. KRLD (the CBS affiliate with GE PE20s) was at the Dallas Trade Mart for the luncheon.

By 1:40 ET, the networks were involved. Walter Cronkite did a voice only bulletin over a slide at CBS. Less than an minute later, Don Pardo delivered a voice bulletin over a slide at NBC. Soon after, Cronkite was on the air live from the newsroom…the cameras had been taken out that morning for maintenance and were quickly rushed back into service, already warm, but not quite up to speed.

NBC went live from Studio 5HN, the headline news studio on the 5th floor with Frank McGee and Chet Huntley aided by Robert McNeil at Parkland hospital with live phone reports. McNeil had called on a line that was not a broadcast line and McGee had to relay his reports. NBC techs brought out a telephone mic, but there was too much feedback.

ABC was caught totally by surprise and news coverage there started with a radio newsman on camera with no set and a stage hand helping. After that first live phone report, Ron Cochran finally rushed in from lunch down the street and took over. All expect one of the these photos is from Friday, November 22. More on the photos. -Bobby Ellerbee

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By The Way…Happy Thanksgiving Week!

Some of you will be off, and some working overtime on parades and football, some doing news and some are in Neverland with Peter Pan, but where ever you are and what ever you are doing, enjoy the holiday! -Bobby Ellerbee

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The Final Seconds Of Camelot…51 Years Ago Today, Dealey Plaza

Today’s remembrance of the assassination of President Kennedy is marked here by some rare, not often seen photos from that day. The sequence of pictures begins with the motorcade’s turn onto Elm Street at Dealey Plaza. Except for the last one, all of these photos were taken between 12:30 and 12:31 PM CT that day. I’ll add a few notes to the photos that I hope you will share. -Bobby Ellerbee

Where were you that day we’ll never forget? Tomorrow, the television pictures.

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By Request: A Look At NBC Burbank, Studio 1…1963

The first :45 seconds of this pilot for ‘Let’s Make A Deal’ gives us a nice wide angle shot Studio 1, which would later become Johnny Carson’s home. Notice the RCA TK41 still has three cables and is mounted on the old Houston Fearless TD 1 pedestal and it’s fitted with a Zoomar Studio lens. Thanks to Ed Mitchell for requesting this. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvNXm_5kLmo

This 37 minute pilot, produced on May 25, 1963 with Monty Hall as host and Wendell Niles as announcer/sidekick, led to the premiere of Let’s Make a Deal on N…

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Just For Fun…Can You Guess What Famous Star Is Wearing These?

The actor in question had to wear these wooden lifts to get him to eye-level with his female co start while shooting a film that has become a classic, that we all know and love.

Here are some hints…he was 5′ 8″ and named America’s greatest actor by The American Film Institute. He was a wicked chess player, an avid reader, had a yacht named Santana and as a baby, appeared in a national advertising campaign for Mellin’s Baby Food. He once said ” The trouble with the world is that it’s always one drink behind”.

Jarbas Jam Mesquita was the first with the correct answer…Humphrey Bogart. He wore these while filming ‘Casablanca’ to get him eye level with Ingrid Bergman. Thanks to Gay Linvill for the picture. Enjoy, share and good luck! -Bobby Ellerbee

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Behind The Scenes At The White House…

In case you were wondering what the live broadcast configuration of speeches delivered from the East Room look like these days, here’s your answer.

Just behind President Obama is the main head-on pool camera, and to the left of it is a backup camera, which is always provided in case there are technical problems with the main camera. I’m not sure what the camera to the right is for, but suspect it is there for archival purposes. You can barely see it, but there’s also a small camera directly below the main teleprompter, which is the camera for the webstream on the White House website. Thanks to CNN’s Andy Rose for the pix and details. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

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November 21, 1980…Who Shot J. R.? The Big Reveal

On this day in 1980, 83 million people tuned in to television’s popular primetime drama ‘Dallas’ to find out who shot J.R. Ewing, the character fans loved to hate. J.R. had been shot on the season-ending episode the previous March 21, which now stands as one of television’s most famous cliffhangers. The plot twist inspired widespread media coverage and left America wondering “Who shot J.R.?” for the next eight months. The November 21 episode solved the mystery, identifying Kristin Shepard, J.R.’s wife’s sister and his former mistress, as the culprit.

The CBS television network debuted the first five-episode pilot season of ‘Dallas’ in 1978; it went on to run for another 12 full-length seasons. The first show of its kind, “Dallas” was dubbed a “primetime soap opera” for its serial plots and dramatic tales of moral excess.

That summer, the question “Who Shot J.R.?” entered the national lexicon, becoming a popular t-shirt slogan, and heightening anticipation of the soap’s third season, which was to air in the fall. After a much-talked-about contract dispute with Larry Hagman was finally settled, the season was delayed because of a Screen Actors Guild strike, much to the dismay of fans. When it finally aired, the episode revealing J.R.’s shooter became one of television’s most watched shows, with an audience of 83 million people in the U.S. alone—a full 76 percent of all U.S. televisions on that night were tuned in—and helped put ‘Dallas’ into greater worldwide circulation. It also popularized the use of the cliffhanger by television writers.

The shooting of J.R. wasn’t “Dallas'” only notorious plot twist. In September 1986, fans learned that the entire previous season, in which main character Bobby Ewing had died, was merely a dream of Pam’s. The show’s writers had killed the Bobby character off because Duffy had decided to leave the show. When he agreed to return, they featured him stepping out of the shower on the season-ending cliffhanger, and then were forced the next season to explain his sudden reappearance.

The last premiere episode of ‘Dallas’ aired on May 3, 1991. A spin-off, ‘Knots Landing’, aired from December 27, 1979 until May 13, 1993. ‘Dallas’ remains in syndication around the world. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_iwxkaKhnE

The reveal of Who Shot JR in US Soap/Drama Dallas. First Transmission : November 21st 1980 R.I.P Larry Hagman (1931-2012) Enjoy! Please comment, like and sub…

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This was a January 1956 storm that hit the California coast with huge waves. The surfers may have loved it, but KTLA lost a camera covering the event…don’t know if it was this one or another, but this cameraman is about to get a big surprise. Thanks to David Zoning fro the pix. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

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