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‘I Love Lucy’ 3 Headed Monster…Came From ‘Truth Or Consequences’

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Eyes Of A Generation.com

‘I Love Lucy’ 3 Headed Monster…Came From ‘Truth Or Consequences’

In researching the story I posted just before this on the first television game show with a live audience to be shot on film, I came across this interesting fact. The excerpted paragraph below is from ‘I Love Lucy’ editor Dann Cahn on the problem of editing film from 3 cameras and how the solution came from Ralph Edwards’ earlier pioneering efforts in this area.

“The amount of footage overwhelmed editors at the time, and they located a cutting-edge device that had been created for the quiz show ‘Truth Or Consequences’. When it was delivered to Desilu, Cahn called it a “monster” because it wouldn’t fit into the editing room so they put it in the prop room. “It was a Moviola with four heads — three for picture and one for sound,” Cahn told Editors Guild Magazine in 2006.”

This information is sadly from Mr. Cahn’s obituary with is at the link below. -Bobby Ellerbee

http://deadline.com/2012/11/dann-cahn-dead-editor-of-i-love-lucy-multicamera-tv-pioneer-376730/

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5 responses to “‘I Love Lucy’ 3 Headed Monster…Came From ‘Truth Or Consequences’”

  1. David Breneman

    I had always imagined that to edit a show like this, you could run the film on three film chains, pick your shots with a video switcher, then edit the negative based on the kinescope you’d produced in that process. This looks more meticulous but also more difficult.

  2. Jack Gallagher

    One of the elements missing in several areas of broadcasting today is the creativity of geniuses like Mr. Cahn. I thought I had it bad cutting and splicing films for time and inserting commercial breaks.

  3. Tim Stepich

    The hardest part of using a Moviola is learning how to edit for the large screen for pacing. One went through a true apprenticeship when learning how to edit during the first half of the 20th century.

  4. Neil Bobrick

    Just looking at that thing scared me out of 10 years growth. I think I’m going to kiss an Avid.

  5. Chris Li

    That had to be a noisy room.

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