TV History

In The Beginning…There Was The Smith Block Thanks to John Schipp, here’s a 1965 photo showing the Smith Block in action. The editor is thought to be Peter Groom and the location, NBC New York. The first show known for extensive use of video tape editing was ‘Rowan And Martin’s Laugh In’, which debuted…

This opens on the empty stage of CBS Studio 59 which is also known as The Mansfield Theater at 256 West 47th Street. Our host, Garry Moore shows us the stage and takes us outside where we see CBS Studio 62 across the street and back into the theater via the front door with…

Remembering Ed Sullivan…September 28, 1901 – October 13, 1974 It was 40 years ago today that we lost Edward Vincent Sullivan. Gone, but not forgotten! Bobby Ellerbee Source

The First Ever CBS Television Series…’Tonight On Broadway’ There is not very much information on this show, but here’s one thing we know for sure…the CBS remote trucks in New York got a workout. Each week, it was broadcast from the theater in which the featured Broadway show was playing…not a television theater or…

A Look Inside ‘Sunday Morning’, And CBS Studio 45 This is a story I posted a few days after my visit to The CBS Broadcast Center in early May. I don’t know if this “share” will include the great comments and add on’s from the original, so I’m pasting in the link just in…

‘CBS Sunday Morning’…Seems Like Only Yesterday, And It WAS! Thanks to Craig Wilson, here’s a nice shot of yesterday’s show in CBS Studio 45 with Charles Osgood. The floor director is Mark Dicso with cameraman Allan Brown. With this in mind, the next post here today is a ‘Sunday Morning’ story I did in…

The Theater And Secrets Of…’I’ve Got A Secret’ IGAS began at CBS Studio 59, The Mansfield Theater at 256 West 47th Street, which is now the Brooks Atkinson Theater. Below are photos of the theater in the CBS days and now. Studio 59 also hosted another huge CBS hit…’What’s My Line’ and from that…

‘I’ve Got A Secret’…Backstage Video #1, 1957 This is the first of several backstage videos from IGAS that I’ll be posting here this week. It opens on the empty stage of CBS Studio 59 which is also known as The Mansfield Theater at 256 West 47th Street. By the 2:00 mark, the stage will…

Old And Rare…NBC Studio 3H, 1936 Taken in America’s first television studio, the contract for the RCA Pavillion at the 1939 World’s Fair is signed on a live broadcast. From left to right are NBC President Lenox Lohr, RCA President David Sarnoff and for the Fair Committee, Grover Whalen. In late 1935, RCA converted…

Final SNL Rarity…The 8H Announce Booth HAPPY 40TH ANNIVERSARY SNL! If you are standing on the SNL homebase stage, the announce booth would be on your right, up under the bleechers. Although the interior of the booth has changed over the years, the main occupant didn’t until last month when we lost Don Pardo.…

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…

SNL Rarities…Jim Henson’s Notes From The Debut Show It’s a little surprising and most don’t know that The Muppets were a part of SNL that first year, but they were and I guess the exposure paid off as they left the next year to start their own show. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee Source

Images From The Great RCA TK60…NBC Burbank, 1963 After posting the photo earlier today of my TK60, I wanted you to see the pictures these cameras made. This is black and white at it’s best, only rivaled by the Marconi Mark IV. We’ll see that and Mark IV images tomorrow. This 2 minute clip…

October 10…A Big Day For Color in 1950 And 1964 On this date in 1950, the FCC approved the CBS Field Sequential Color system effective November 20. CBS had promised 20 hours of color programs a week within two months. This was the opening round of a long hard fight that RCA would eventually…

More Of The Eyes Of A Generation Collection… On the left, an RCA TK42 and on the right, the last RCA monochrome studio camera, the TK60. Both have a 5 inch Image Orthicon inside. That I know of, there are only 15 TK42s left and only 3 TK43s, which is the same as the…

The Uncropped, Hi Res Version… Yesterday I changed one of the profile pictures on this page. Here is the original that shows from left to right, the nose of an RCA TK10 from WGN, an RCA TK11/31, an RCA TK60, my RCA TK41C, an RCA TK44 and up top is the Marconi Mark IV.…

The Last Joan Rivers Late Show On Fox… Below is a photo from the last night of ‘The Late Show With Joan Rivers’ which aired on May 15, 1987. The final guests were Chris Rock, Pee Wee Herman, Howie Mandel and Wendy O. Williams. Joan wore the dress she wore on the debut show.…

October 9, 1986…’The Late Show With Joan Rivers’ Debuts On Fox Here is the rare video of that first show with David Lee Roth, Pee Wee Herman, Elton John and Cher. In the story, some surprises I had never known about till now. Read on! We all know that the Fox announcement of the…

Follow Up #3… ‘Lawrence Welk Presents Top Tunes and New Talent’ In today’s first post on events that happened on this day in television history, this show is listed as debuting October 8, 1956. I’m adding this to clear up any confusion…you’ll see why as you read on. On May 11, 1951, ‘The Lawrence…