TV History

Answer To An Interesting Question… A while back, someone asked me how the signals from NBC’s many studios around NYC got back to 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Microwave or coaxial cable? Turns out it was usually coaxial cable. The one exception was NBC’s Uptown Studio at 106th Street. Most of the other theaters, like the…

“Colored Television”… Did you know that up till about 1932, the pictures on cathode ray tubes were green…like an oscilloscope screen? Me either, but there it was in an article on the history of the Empire State Building antenna from 1967. Quoting the article; “At that time, the tubes had green fluorescent screens, since…

‘The Honeymooners’…The Classic 39 The first Honeymooners sketch was done live, October 5, 1951 as part of Dumont’s ‘Cavalcade Of Stars’ show which Jackie Gleason had become the host of in June 1950. It was only six minutes long, but started something that lasts till this day. Gleason’s Dumont show did quite well and…

Life With Jackie Gleason…Joyce “Trixie Norton” Randolph Interview This is a tight, well edited 12 minute piece on what life was like on ‘The Jackie Gleason Show’, ‘The Honeymooners’, and more! It starts with how Joyce got the part on Gleason’s Dumont show and goes all the way till the end and it’s fascinating!…

Rare Classic! Ed Sullivan Taping Holiday On Ice With TK41s Be aware there are two video links in this post. The embedded link (at the bottom of this post) is great home movie footage of the taping at Madison Square Gardens in 1967. This link is to the air version of the show on…

Television’s First Major League Baseball Game The first ever Major League Baseball game was televised on August 26, 1939 on experimental station W2XBS, which is now WNBC. With Red Barber announcing, the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Cincinnati Reds played a doubleheader at Ebbets Field. The Reds won the first, 5–2 while the Dodgers won…

‘The Bob Crosby Show’…CBS Daytime, 1953-1957 In the photos, we see RCA TK40s and 41s on the Crosby Show which was done Monday thru Friday from Television City’s Studio 33. Like most TVC shows, it was usually done in black and white, but every couple of months or so, they would broadcast a day…

Newhart And Television… In the photo, we see Bob with an RCA TK41 at NBC Burbank. Notice the lens turret handle on the back of the camera is at a kind of 2 o’clock position which is an easy way to “cap” the camera to save the three very expensive IO tubes inside. There…

Classic! Bob Newhart…How He Became His Own Straight Man In the clip, you’ll see Bob doing what made him famous…being his own straight man in one of his famous one sided telephone calls. In the photo we see Bob at Chicago’s WGN in 1959. Chicago native, Bob Newhart was drafted into the Army and…

Happy Birthday! Judy Garland…Born June 10, 1922 Francis Gumm would have been 92 today, but she lives on in millions of hearts around the world. Although the video quality is not great, here is a classic appearance by Judy with Jack Paar on ‘Tonight’ early 1962 in NBC’s Studio 6B. As always, she is…

Backstage At ‘The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson’ In the final two weeks of Carson’s thirty years as host, they did a lot of things they had never done before, including this first and only look at how the show is put together. This segment aired on the final show and part of it…

The Tony Awards Opening…’Let’s Go To The Hop’ At the link is a quick backstage look at the end of host Hugh Jackman’s opening number, a hopping tour of Radio City Music Hall. The whole thing was beautifully shot by Steadicam operator Tore Liva with help from his trusty utility man. In the photos,…

Happy 80th Birthday Donald! “Born” June 9, 1934 http://youtu.be/A5dowCyaP7I?t=1m58s At the link is Donald Duck’s debut! His first ever screen appearance came on the date of this ‘Silly Symphony’ cartoon called ‘The Little Wise Hen’ from Walt Disney Studios. It’s cued to his entrance. The Donald Duck character was created by Walt Disney when…

A Great Look Inside ‘Today’, NBC Studio 1A…Viera Sendoff Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwtAScZzhFg At the link is a clip from Meredith Vieira’s last day as a ‘Today’ co host. As Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” plays, a single camera goes with Merideth, first from the studio downstairs into the 1A control room and then up and out…

Some Little Known Early History Of ABC Radio & Television The address on this letterhead is not the only surprise you are in for! I had heard that ABC had offices and facilities at NBC’s headquarters, but now we have a piece of that history thanks to Steve Finkelmeyer. As mentioned in today’s first…

Ed Sullivan’s Last Show…Clearing Up Some History Over the past week, several sites have reported that Ed Sullivan’s last show was on June 6, 1971. This is partly true, but is not the whole story. Here’s the rest of that very sad tale. As I understand it, CBS announced the cancellation of the show…

Letterman Takes Over WNBC ‘Live At 5’ Weather With Al Roker While Jack Cafferty and Company are fresh on our minds from the last post, here’s a rare clip of Dave walking over from 6A to 6B and having a hard time getting in. Once inside, the old weather man in Dave takes over…sort…

You’ve Probably Never Seen This, And Will Probably Never Again! Ever seen a newscast with a live announcer? We’ll get ready! Oh…and this is not just any live announcer…it’s Don Pardo! You’ll see Don at the start, again at 1:18 where he has a rare bit of a stumble and again at 6:57 at…