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Long Forgotten Production Tricks…

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Eyes Of A Generation.com

Long Forgotten Production Tricks…

Back in the early days of television, most local stations didn’t have the money for expensive “extras” like pedestals and dollies. Instead, they mounted cameras on wheeled tripods that they could use in the studio or in their remote unit, if they had one.

Among the early staples of local daytime television were home and cooking shows. Since you can’t elevate a tripod to see the top of the counter or stove, overhead mirror systems like this were used.

I am told there were larger versions of this mirror system in use when broadcasting another staple of early local programming…wrestling. Anyone have any more old tricks up their sleeve?

By the way, this is KOTV in Tulsa in 1953. They may not have had pedestals, but the did spring for an RCA Electa Zoom lens. More on zoom lenses in today’s next few posts. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

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24 responses to “Long Forgotten Production Tricks…”

  1. Robert Ambrico

    used at abc ny on all my children to give height as though looking out a window from a roof window

  2. Alan Maretsky

    I remember KTTV (Los Angeles) back in the 60s, early 70s did their morning shows with one camera on a ped with a zoom lens.

  3. Sam Kee

    Remember David Wade?

  4. Charlie Huntley

    At WUNC-Tv we used a mirror and reversed the sweep to shoot a piano keyboard
    This was in 1967-71 when I was a student in Chapel Hill
    We did statewide in-School
    But never cooked anything.
    We gave way to Julia for that.

  5. Mark West

    This is how they used to shoot the ”Wheel of Fortune.” Might still… Don’t know.

  6. Stefanie Rodham Malone

    I love the woman operating the camera, with those great heels she’s wearing 🙂

  7. Karen Bradford McCartney

    Overhead mirrors were also used in delivery rooms to afford mother a view of her child’s birth.

  8. Charles MacDonald

    The Galloping Gourmet used a mirror to show the prep area.

  9. Thomas Dooley

    In the 70’s I did a few disco shows and used a lot of mirrors for overhead and ultra low angle shots.

  10. Tom Edwards

    The studio periscope.

  11. Joel Ruffin

    My Dad, Bill Ruffin, sold forklifts. Perry Como was fond of an opening shot where he started with the mast fully extended and floated down singing his theme song. In the day the trucks were used on Como, Gleason & Steve Allen shows. When Champ developed Tri-stage masts the trucks were used extensively on golf tournaments.

  12. Bernie Hoffman

    The second mirror was needed to reverse the picture or her right hand became a left hand.

  13. Debra Oliver

    In the 80s and 90s I worked at an ABC and PBS station also that we used these mirrors for the cooking shows.

  14. Steve Dichter

    At KTLA-TV we used an overhead mirror to show trick shots on a pool table.

  15. Daniel R Gannon III

    Try to follow your cooking show with a live Romper Room btb…

  16. Dave Dillman

    For the Maggie Daly show bumpers, director Sam Ventura had a front surface mirror on the floor that reflected a convex store security mirror in the grid. Made a cool fisheye shot of the set and guest panel.

  17. Mary Palmer

    Interesting!

  18. Jorge Ramon

    Eso mismo hacíamos en los 50 en Cocina al Minuto.Un doble espejo para hacer tomas aéreas y que Nitza no apareciera como zurda.

  19. Skip Dresch

    NBC Brooklyn studios , we used this type of mirror system on “Another World”. We called it the ” guillotine “

  20. Thomas Dooley

    And, if the were really smart they would put the mirror over and behind the cooking island so that they could really get a “cook’s eye view.”

  21. Rick Bozeman

    Used overhead mirrors at WEDU and WTVT in Tampa.

  22. David S. Deutsch

    Oh yes! Used mirrors a lot in “Educational” Television. With black & white cameras one could reverse the sweeps so that the TV picture would not be a mirror image.

  23. Bob Storck

    For Wrestling show we would set up a scaffold and using an electric hoist, lift one camera to the top of it for the semi-downward looking shot. Same station, same time frame. Videotaped the show on Wednesday nights and played it back on Saturday.

  24. Bob Storck

    A similar technique using a large mirror suspended above the counter/island gas range that allowed the bird’s-eye view of the recipe of the day.
    This was at WBTV in Charlotte, NC in the 60s. The Betty Feezor Show

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