TV History

Even More ‘Match Game’ Follies…The Oldest Trick In The Book As we all know, if nothing else works…banging on the side of the TV, or even the camera usually does it! Enjoy and share! – Bobby Ellerbee https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1FDyV8kYSE A behind-the-scenes look at how Christina the cameraman keeps Camera 3 working with a bang during…

UPDATE 2021: Be sure and see the comments below…she replied and thanks to Christina for a number of other great photos she sent us! I think this lady’s name is Christina but I don’t know her last name…anyone know? Also, is that Hector Rameriz behind them? Hector has been nominated for more Emmy Awards…

‘The Match Game’ Follies…Gene Attacks The Camera In this clip, Gene decides to direct the show “manually” as he tries to persuade the cameraman to give Charles Nelson Reilly a bit more time to prepare his answer “costume”. Enjoy and share! – Bobby Ellerbee Source

Meet Earl…The ‘Match Game’ Answer Board Operator This is part of the reason Gene Rayburn and ‘The Match Game’ were such a perfect match, and hit! More clips from the show to come today! Stay tuned, enjoy and share! – Bobby Ellerbee https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Up_ONDV22E Gene Rayburn provides the audience with a rare glimpse of Earl.…

Classic Letterman! Entering 6A From Backstage…February 1982 This great clip is from the second week of the show and is a beautifully shot hand held entrance from Dave’s point of view. For long time fans and NBC vets, there will be many familiar faces here! Enjoy and share! – Bobby Ellerbee https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_-EUjOEFr8 An interesting…

A Special 4 Star Whammy…Carson And Three Top Cartoon Voices First off, the lead segment of this 1955 kinescope of ‘The Johnny Carson Show’ on CBS is some of the best quality I’ve ever seen. The last part with Johnny as a reporter is more typical of kine quality, or lack there off. Johnny’s…

Ultra Rare! ‘Rocky & Bullwinkle’….Recording Session Tape In all of broadcast history, there has never been a show quite like this…not before or or after. What we have here is a one of a kind trip behind the scenes into this one of a kind show. For the next 16 minutes, we’ll be in…

‘Late Night With David Letterman’…NBC Debut, February 1, 1982 In honor of yesterday’s 21st Anniversary of the show’s move to CBS, here is more of Dave’s history…this is how it all started. The embedded clip is the first of three parts that are available online and is the show’s “grand opening”. In part two…

Meet The Voices Of Rocky And Bullwinkle…June Foray and Bill Scott All you have to do is watch and the magic will unfold so I don’t need to say more, except this….tomorrow, I’ll have more from them and the whole cast! It’s a rare recording that fans will love! Enjoy and share! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieOGZtGUjRQ This…

Who Knew? The Untold Story Of The ‘John And Marsha’ Commercial Some of us remember this Snowdrift Shortening commercial from our childhood, others may remember it from seeing it used in ‘Mad Men’, but I’ll bet NONE of us knew THIS! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qITSBcLZvrs&ab_channel=jukejointjohnny48 Surprised? Me too! I had no idea the the award winning commercial…

The First Live Videotape Delay System… When videotape was introduced in 1956, the phrase “time shift” entered the broadcasters lexicon. The original meaning of “time shift” was more of a production management term in that now, a week of game shows and the like could be taped in a day or so and even…

Ultra Rare…David Brinkley’s Washington Studio Location This is the only photo I have ever seen of either Huntley’s or Brinkley’s desk sets in the studio. As the “other half” of ‘The Huntley Brinkley Report’, David Brinkley was stationed in Washington at NBC’s WRC TV studios. This is his set with one Vizmo screen in…

‘Devil’s Canyon’…The First 3D Western In Movie History In the photo, we see two Technicolor cameras in a custom housing. They are facing each other to share a single lens and optical system. It would be interesting to see this thing on a dolly…I don’t know if a tripod could handle this kind of…

ABC’s Legendary ‘General Hospital’…The Production History There is more detail on these rare photos from our friend Brett Henry, so please click on them individually, as I don’t want that to get lost in this article from 1989. This is a detailed look back at the whens and wheres ‘General Hospital’ was done over…

Remember This? This was the night Johnny went from his set in Studio 1, across the hall to Studio 3 where Don Rickles was taping. The cameras are RCA TK44Bs. Enjoy and share! – Bobby Ellerbee https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mj2S2n64DeQ Johnny Carson tracks down Don Rickles on the set of “C.P.O. Sharkey” to see if Don broke…

Life After Letterman…What’s Next For Paul Shaffer? Dave and Paul have been together since day one, and although there is no earth shaking news here, there are some hints that after that party ends there will me more to come from both of them. Life After ‘Letterman’: Paul Shaffer on Show’s Final Music and…

August 28, 1922…The First Radio Commercial Airs On WEAF Would you believe that AT&T invented radio advertising? It’s true, and their first and only involvement with broadcast radio left a lasting legacy. It’s only fitting that the story be told here by radio, and this five minute NPR piece tells it in detail using…

The Final Days Of ‘Tonight’ With Johnny Carson… This clip ran in Johnny’s last week on the air. I have seen a version of this from the show and in his intro, he said what we all know to be true…that he allowed very little coverage of the backstage elements of the show, which…

A Tribute To ‘Captain Kangaroo’ You’ll Want To Read, HEAR And Share! Today is the first time I ever knew the name of this show’s famous theme song, much less, heard the full 2:43 version of “Puffin Billy”. At this link is the original full version. The ‘Captain Kangaroo’ theme we heard on television…