TV History

Rare Indeed! The Color Photo + The Video! ‘This Is Your Life’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=de00c3ggHLw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqhLOhLruQI Thanks to Jim Early’s father, who took this from the audience, we see ‘This Is Your Life’ host Ralph Edwards with guest Francis Farmer on January 29, 1958. This show started in 1952 at NBC’s Radio City West at Sunset…

Speaking Of Bob Hope…NBC Burbank Studio 1, Behind The Scenes Short but sweet. Here is a 2 minute video clip from what I think is the beginning of an episode of ‘Bob Hope Presents The Chrysler Theater’ from 1963. We’ll see great shots of Studio 1 (Carson’s home base) and oddly, a TK60 with…

Happy Birthday WQED TV…Born April 1, 1954 WQED was the first community-sponsored television station in the United States as well as the fifth public television station. They were the first station to telecast classes to elementary school classrooms when Pittsburgh launched the Metropolitan School Service in 1955. WQED has been the flagship station for…

Studio 6B…Time Lapse Remodeling For ‘Tonight’ Return To NYC If you look closely, you can see that at the start, the column that was forever behind Carson’s homebase set is still there, but not for long. You can see the side entrance and back stage scenery doors being widened too. A busy bee hive…

Joan Rivers Follow Up…1986 Joan & Johnny Remember Her Debut Joan’s first ‘Tonight’ appearance was February 17, 1965…exactly 49 years later to the day, she made a cameo appearance on the debut of ‘The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon’. In this clip from ’86, she and Johnny discuss those early days. Here you get…

Hang Onto Your Hat! Joan Rivers Returns To ‘Tonight’! In case you missed it, here’s Joan’s return that’s almost “too hot to handle”. The pro that he is, Jimmy handles this with grace (and a red face). The band and Russel Crowe, not so much…they’re in hysterics. This is true must see TV! After…

The Great Kate Smith…Some Unusual Video Clips In two of these, she performs with cameras as props, including a TK41. In the third…a real rarity, Jackie Gleason conducts the orchastra as Kate sings his theme song “Melancholy Serenade” which he also wrote. FYI, these are not from her NBC days, but from the early…

Me And Rosie…My RCA TK41C November 16, 2006 was one of the happiest days of my life. On that day, I finally had an RCA TK41 of my very own. I think I had wanted one of these since 1961 when I was 11 years old and just becoming fascinated with television. If you…

A Game Show Debut 50 Years Ago Today? What is Jeopardy!? Below left is a very rare photo of Jeapordy’s first birthday. Bringing the cake is creator Merv Griffin. On the left, announcer Don Pardo is shaking hands with host Art Fleming (who bears a striking resemblance to Hugh Downs). On the right, a…

For You To COPY & PASTE…NBC Studios Thumbnail List Many have asked for this and I wish I could post the PDF version, but Facebook won’t do PDF files. The best way I know to save this is to copy it and paste it into either an email to yourself, or into Corel or…

Just For Fun…Bob Newhart Roasts Don Rickles It’s hard to believe that Don Rickles had any friends, but in real life, he and Newhart were indeed dear friends and, with their wives took many trips abroad. This is funny! Enjoy and share. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MCdlgPZFJ4 Source

Even after all these years, this picture is still a shocker for all of us that grew up watching ‘Howdy Doody’. To see Clarabell (Bob Keeshan, above) taking off his makeup is like “seeing mommy kissing Santa Claus”. I can’t imagine what that little boy is thinking but feel fairly sure that he grew…

‘Snap Judgement’, NBC Studio 8H…10, 11 & 12 of 12 Thanks to Bob Batsche, here are the final photos from ‘Snap Judgment’ hosted by Ed McMahon taken in early 1969. Above, we see the floor director in position with Ed at the helm. In the center is cameraman Peter Basil taking a look at…

Behind ‘The Admiral Broadway Revue’ Debacle… Yesterday, in discussing the history of NBC’s International Theater, we discovered that despite high ratings, Admiral had pulled the plug on it’s own ‘Admiral Broadway Revue’ starring Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca which debuted on January 29, 1949. Out of curiosity, I dug a little deeper into Admiral…

‘The Price Is Right’…Come On Down! Late last year, we discovered that the cameras in CBS Television City Studio 33 are now wireless…no more cables there. An interesting experiment that seems to be working. This photo, sent by our friend David Mackey, shows Drew Carey’s ‘Dancing With The Stars’ professional dance partner Cheryl Burke…

‘Snap Judgement’, NBC Studio 8H…7,8 & 9 of 12 Thanks to Bob Batsche, here are more photos of a game show hosted by Ed McMahon taken in early 1969. Above, a photo that is almost a duplicate of one from ‘The Match Game’. We see cameras 2, 3 and 4 in place with the…

‘Snap Judgement’, NBC Studio 8H…4, 5 & 6 of 12 Thanks to Bob Batsche, here are photos of a game show hosted by Ed McMahon taken in early 1969. On top, host Ed McMahon. In the center, three of the four cameramen take a break…L-R, Peter Basil, Art Graham and BJ Bjorkman. Bottom, cameraman…

NBC Introduces Kinescope Recording…June 1948 Press Release The Kinescope dominated TV recording for time delay in the early 1950’s. A Kinescope recorder was basically a special 16mm or 35mm film camera mounted in a large box aimed at a high quality monochrome video CRT. All things considered the Kinescope made high quality and respectable…

NBC 6B, Nat King Cole Nexus of “Unforgettable’ Duet By Natalie Earlier I mentioned Nat King Cole’s ground breaking show from NBC’s 6B. Even with no sponsors due to “Madison Avenue’s fear of the dark”, NBC carried the show for over a year. In this clip, you will see the start of a project…

Here’s Something You Don’t See Every Day… While posting the Studio 3A and 3B story, I thought about our friend Frank Merklien (right) who worked with the author of the first hand story in that post, Frank Vierling. It’s not often that cameramen have their own pictures taken, but this is one of those…