In 1957, entertainer Bob Hope was America's ambassador of laughter to the world,the USO's most beloved volunteer, NBC's King of Comedy, and Chevrolet's highest paid salesman.
Hope, who had been a major star in vaudeville,musical theater, films and radio, was now conquering television. His monthly specials on NBC-TV, sponsored by General Motor's Chevrolet Division, were always among the highest rated programs of the year.
Posted below, you can watch a 1957 excerpt from NBC-TV's BOB HOPE CHEVY SHOW , which features Old Ski Nose ( as Hope was nicknamed )and his guests , singer Rosemary Cloney, comic actor Wally Cox, and silver screen siren, Lana Turner.
You'll notice that the clip showcases a number of full-length,Chevrolet commercials, which proclaim the 1957 model as winner of the first "auto decathelon," and that the audience applauds at the end of the Chevy spots.
The show opens with some rough-hewn video trickery that was state of the art in mid-fifties. The clip comes from Doug Quick's You Tube site,Enjoy!!!!!
In 1939, America had emerged from the Great Depression and was just months away from fighting World War II, but David Sarnoff and the research team at RCA, had their eyes firmly fixed on the future and they saw it on a small grainy, television screen.
RCA introduced the world to electronic television at New York's 1939 World's Fair. Sarnoff's empire already included NBC's Red and Blue Radio Networks, the NBC Owned and Operated Radio Stations, the RCA Victor Record labels, plus RCA Victor Radios and Phonographs. Television would be his new frontier.
In 1939, NBC-TV was producing daily, experimental telecasts from its headquarters at New York's 30 Rock. Parent company, RCA, was selling four lines of television receivers. Their prices ranged $199.50 to $600 and were considered expensive. In this case the affluent, early adopters purchased the sets and became television's first, core audience.
Below is a rare film, produced by RCA, that helped to explain the vision and values of a magic box that could bring the world into your living room. Enjoy!!!!!
Today, two people of iconic stature in entertainment and popular culture passed away.I suspect, that in their respective journeys, both were aware of the passions and pain of living a life on stage.
Michael Jackson was only 50 years and a preliminary diagnosis indicates that he died from cardiac arrest. The news of his loss moved around the globe at the speed of light.
Farrah Fawcett, the epitome of 1970's glamour and sex appeal, lost her long, arduous battle with cancer , today , at the age of 62.Her finals days were documented by television cameras.
If you are native to this planet, I don't really need to provide much context about the extraordinary and controversial lives of these two eccentric artists. We've witnessed their most painful chapters played out in the harsh light of media scrutiny.Both had been viewed as having lost touch with reality, but not with their myriad talents or their deeply devoted fans.
At KINESCOPE HD, we try not to value judge the performer, but choose to celebrate professional legacy. Television is our chosen field, so let's look back upon their lives on stage and screen, through the filter of vintage video.
MICHAEL JACKSON
Below, is a clip of the Jackson 5, as America began its love affair with precocious MJ, from a 1970 edition of CBS-TV's, renowned ED SULLIVAN SHOW. Enjoy!!!!
Next is a vibrant moment in American television, as MJ moonwalks while performing Billie Jean on NBC-TV's, exuberant MOTOWN 25 special. Enjoy!!!!!
Below is a rare, 1987 , LIVE recording of MJ performaning Human Nature, in Brisbane , Australia. Enjoy!!!!!
FARRAH FAWCETT
One of the first times American television viewers saw FF was a 1975 commercial, promotion the new Mercury Cougar. This was shot before she began affecting the distinctive,feathered hairstyle that became a trademark. Enjoy!!!!!
Next is the role that made FF a global star. Here is a rare clip from the pilot film for ABC-TV's classic, CHARLIE'S ANGELS. Enjoy!!!!!
Here is a clip from the 2006 EMMY AWARDS SHOW,in which FF is reunited with co-stars Kate Jackson and Jaclyn Smith , to honor their uber-producer, the late Aaron Spelling.Enjoy!!!!
Entertainer, broadcaster, aviator, pitchman and consumate comic straightman, Ed McMahnon died in Los angeles, this morning. Cancer was among many maladies that took his life. He was a voluble plresence on and off the air, and a man who partied like it was 1959.
Here is his obituary, as it aired when word of his passing was reported on NBC's Today program by Matt Lauer and NBC News correspondent, George Lewis.
A personal observation about McMahon's influence on contemporary culture.
I stood , one day, in the NBC Experience Store at 30 Rock.
They were displaying ancient Carnac bits from a "Best of Carson DVD" on a wall of monitors.
It was odd, but , there were about five or six men ... no women ... standing there,transfixed, watching late night icon, Johnny Carson and faithful straightman/ sidekick, Ed McMahon do a 30 year old, comic routine.On the vintage 1970's excerpt, McMahon says "Here is the next envelope, Oh Great One."
Carson looks at it and says to the camera: "ZIS.BOOM. BAH"
McMahon repeats: "ZIS.BOOM. BAH."
Carson tears the end off of the envelope and says:
"WHAT IS THE LAST SOUND YOU HEAR BEFORE A SHEEP EXPLODES?"
There was a thunderous laugh on the tape.
And in the store, in front of the monitor wall, five or six guys, randomly gathered, from every point on the compass, erupt in gales of cascading laughter. It was that impish attitude and inspired lunacy that endeared McMahon to a generation of viewers.
McMahon was a protean broadcaster, a polished entertainer and a pioneer of local television, starting at Philadelphia's WCAU-TV in the post- World War II years.
He helped formulate the foundation of television programming as we know it , today.
Ed McMahon will be missed.
His legacy lives on in decaying audio reels, canisters of faded film, and endless reels of preserved videotape.
Below is a classic Carnac sketch from 1974. Enjoy!!!!!
Below is a vintage , LIVING COLOR clip of McMahon and Frank Sinatra, from 1968. Durign the late 1960's, they were teamed as commercial spokesmen for Budweiser Beer. Enjoy!!!!
Today, as NBC Universal perfects product placement while sending cross-promotion to new and Olympian heights on TODAY, here is a clip from a 1956 episode of CBS's endearing and urbane game show, WHAT'S MY LINE?, that offers a glimpse into what was then,current and clever, network news promotion in the Eisenhower Era.
This 1956 edition of the durable quiz program originated from Chicago, site of the Democratic Convention and features the CBS News team that was about cover the political conclave for the Tiffany Network. Here, Walter Cronkite , Douglas Edwards,Charles Collingwood, Eric Severeid and Robert Trout share the honor of serving as joint mystery guests. Enjoy!!!!!
In the 1950's, Jackie Gleason was America's Sultan Of Saturday Night Television.He vanquished most of his key competitors.Shows hosted by Perry Como, Sid Caesar and Lawrence Welk were either moved to other timeslots, or shifted to different nights on the broadcast schedule. Some of their shows were cancelled. Gleason reigned supreme on the Saturday TV schedule.
The volatile funnyman gained fame and fortune hosting a lavish, Saturday evening, comedy-variety program on the CBS Television network. THE JACKIE GLEASON SHOW was the creative incubator for his unique portfolio of beloved characters ranging from The Poor Soul to Reginald Van Gleason III to his true alter ego, Brooklyn bus driver and devoted husband, Ralph Kramden.On that New York-based, Black & White series, he cultivated a legendary performing partnership with comedic virtuoso, Art Carney.
In the 1955-56 season,the variety hour gave way to his beloved sitcom,THE HONEYMOONERS,in his trademark, Saturday night timeslot. After one season , during which the Kramden's comic adventures failed to attract an audience commensurate with his variety series, The Great One returned to star in a Saturday night, variety series.
As the ratings declined and Gleason's interest in the arduous task of starring in a 60 minute series eroded , he moved to host an abortive game show , called YOU'RE IN THE PICTURE . That show was replaced,in a matter of days, by a loosely constructed talk format that failed to showcase Gleason's manifold talents.And then ,saying he was exhausted and in search of a new creative challenge,Gleason simply retired from weekly television...
Until...
The Fall of 1962, when the voluble and vibrant showman , who felt food, fun and spirits were meant to be enjoyed to excess , returned to the CBS network, to produce and star in JACKIE GLEASON'S AMERICAN SCENE MAGAZINE, an opulent , Broadway-style, comic revue with music, airing each week, in Gleason's original ,Saturday night timeslot.
Here, Gleason got belly laughs satirizing life at the dawn of the Kennedy-era, brought on world class guest stars and created a stable ofnew characters, including Frank Fontaine's opinionated bar-fly with operatic pipes, Crazy Guggenheim.It was a ratings and critical success.Gleason was at the pinacle, both, as a respected performer and as a larger than life personality.In 1964, the series was, at The Great One's insistence, and at CBS's expense, moved to Miami Beach.That decision was made, largely, so that Gleason , an inveterate golfer, could live and play at Florida's vaunted Inverarry County Club.
The show was reformatted as a weekly,book musical-comedy and the title shortened to simply THE JACKIE GLEASON SHOW. Before it's run ended in 1970, Gleason revived THE HONEYMOONERS , with co-star Art Carney,as the musical adventures of the Kramdens and Norton's touring the globe, after winning a contest.The so-called COLOR HONEYMOONERS are still seen in syndication, today.
As his audience aged, as Gleason failed to recruit younger viewers and as CBS chose to invest in urban-oriented shows, with relevant social themes, The Great One was cancelled. While he went on to star in films and return to musical theater, he never again appeared on a weekly television series. However,his extraordinary legacy endures to this day.
Below is a clip from the NYCRETROGUY site on YOU TUBE, displaying the CBS-TV debut of JACKIE GLEASON'S AMERICAN SCENE MAGAZINE on September 29, 1962. Enjoy!!!!!
Below is a vintage sketch from JACKIE GLEASON'S AMERICAN SCENE MAGAZINE, also from the NYCRETROGUY YOU TUBE site, featuring Gleason as Joe The Bartender and Frank Fontaine, as lovable lush and barroom gossip, Crazy Guggenheim.Enjoy!!!!!
On this day, June 12, 2009 , American broadcasters made the long anticipated technological transition from analog to digital television transmission, facilitating enriched standard definition and enhanced high definition programming.
For media professionals, equipment manufacturers and government regulators, today's digital switch signaled the culmination of years spent planning and preparing, plus hundreds of millions of dollars invested.
For the majority of American viewers, the DTV conversion has offered elevated video fidelity and audio quality. The Digital Switch was not without incident.For many who, after months of invasive publicity and pervasive promotion, were unaware of today's historic media modification, there was stress and static.
The digital age of television is in full effect. One can only wonder what's next, as media futurists ask when 3-D imagery will supplant High Definition television. I thought it would be fitting and fun, on this day, to remind ourselves of television's nascent steps.
Below is a vintage, 1945 station identification for America's first television station, the RCA/NBC owned, New York flagship, WNBT-TV. At that time, the station, which is now known as WNBC-TV and is seen on channel 4. was telecasting on VHF Channel 1. The announcer you hear is the legendary Ben Grauer, a longtime star of the NBC Radio networks. Enjoy!!!!!
In 1953, after an expensive and vitriolic battle between RCA/NBC and CBS, the Federal Communications Commission approved RCA's compatible system for LIVING COLOR television transmission.
In September of 1957, just before an episode of the long-running, musical variety show,YOUR HIT PARADE, NBC-TV debuted one of American media's most enduring logotypes, the original NBC Peacock.
It was created in 1956 by NBC-TV's, design director John J. Graham., seen above in a photo from THE BIG 13 wesbite.
Below is a clip showing the original NBC Peacock .Again, the voice you'll hear, is the respected, NBC stalwart, Ben Grauer.Enjoy!!!!!
THE BIG BOSS WITH THE BIG, HOT SAUCE- THE TEENAGE LEADER- THE GEATOR WITH THE HEATER
Jerry Blavat is a Philadelphia, Rock Radio phenomenon, a show biz survivor and a force of nature. Born to an Italian Mother and a Jewish Father in blue collar, rowhouse, South Philly, he was an adolescent dancer on AMERICAN BANDSTAND when it was a local show on Philadelphia's WFIL-TV ( now WPVI 6ABC) and before Dick Clark was named host of the teenage dance party.
He came into his own as a broadcaster in the late 1950's on WCAM radio, the renegade R&B station that was owned by the City of Camden , New Jersey and was located in city hall. Against formidable competition, like the late Hy Lit on WIBG, the market's blowtorch, Top 40 station, the self anointed Geator (morphed from Gator ) cultivated a large, loyal and lasting audience, to whom he referred as Yon Teens ( and are now dubbed Yon and Beyond Teens), that has stayed with him for five decades.
The Geator's greatest foray into video came in the mid-1960's when WCAU-TV, then Philadelphia's CBS Owned & Operated Station, customized a weekly, nationally syndicated, teen dance show , called THE DISCOPHONIC SCENE ,to Blavat's high energy, high profile, talents.
After two years, WFIL-TV lured Blavat , quite literally, across the street ( even now , the two stations sit face to face on Philadelphia's City Line Avenue). There, his weekly, teen, dance-fest evolved into JERRY'S PLACE, a daily talkshow with live musical performance, aimed at a young demo.
To this day, The Geator rocks local radio on his own station, WPGR- GEATOR GOLD RADIO, and emcees dance parties at clubs across our region.He always signs-off with his signature salutation:
"Keep on rockin'...'cause you only rock once!"
Below is a clip showcasing the Geator's television history in our market, from a film by Ben Vaughn that is posted on You Tube. Enjoy!!!!
Before news partnerships, multi-platform content sharing strategies,and local management agreements blurred the lines between who produced journalistic content and who distributed that programming, the news divisions of the original, Big 3 networks ( NBC, CBS & ABC )retained all editorial and creative control of the newscasts, special coverage and documentary programming they produced.
Posted below is vintage animation that was, for many years,aired at the end of all programs produced under the aegis of NBC News. It was NBC's way of telling the viewers that it was prepared to accept the accolades and the consequences for the work presented.
You'll notice that it, visually, focuses on revealing the short-lived NBC "N" logo.Enjoy!!!!!
My name is Paul Gluck ( aka PAGEONE ) and while I have been working in Television for over 30 years, I have watched Television for my entire life.From the very first, monochrome images of Dave Garroway on the TODAY SHOW that I saw flickering across the screen of my parents 21",blond wood, Zenith console TV, to the vibrant video of SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL blazing across the LCD flat panel in my living room, I have always loved television. I have worked as a production assistant,a writer, an assignment editor, a producer,an executive producer, an executive editor,a news director and a station manager. My fascination with the medium , the programs we create and the people who produce that content, grows with each & every day. KINESCOPE HD is a site dedicated to classic television, creative content production and vintage performances on video. I hope you share my love of television.If you do, share your thoughts on the programs we post.Enjoy!!!!!
