COME ON DOWN!!!!...FOR THE FIRST TIME !!!! - THE NEW PRICE IS RIGHT - CBS-TV - CIRCA SEPTEMBER 4,1972

( the First Bullseye Game from a 1972 episode)

The four people called to the stage of THE NEW PRICE IS RIGHT for the September 4th 1972 debut episode, truly were, as avuncular announcer Johnny Olson used to intone, THE FIRST FOUR CONTESTANTS FOR THE NEW PRICE IS RIGHT!!!!!

Watch the vintage clip, posted below,showcasing the CBS daytime debut of THE NEW PRICE IS RIGHT and while it's virtually identical in format, faces and fun, it's not the show you know.

This version is low voltage by comparison to the mega-watt energy viewers have come to expect from the studio audience, the contestants,and the game, itself.

No surprise there, because the hundreds of people assembled in Studio 33 at CBS's sprawling, Television City complex in Hollywood to enjoy the show, had no expectation of what was to come. They could only offer polite applause in anticipation of the program unfolding before their eyes. A huge difference from the high decible, excitement demonstrated by today's audience members.

They knew and liked affable host,Bob Barker, from his years of helming the riotous TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES on NBC-TV and in syndication. They knew the original, more sedate version of THE PRICE IS RIGHT, which had been mounted as a price tag-oriented , panel show, hosted by the genial Bill Cullen on the NBC & ABC Television networks.



The vibrant game show,and media phenomenon, that we know as THE PRICE IS RIGHT would evolve over many years of production, promotion and publicity. The tone of the beloved show is still engaging and enthusiastic , even as viewers observed the transition from the polished professionalism of Bob Barker to the warmth and wit of Drew Carey.

Here from the Antdude YOU TUBE site , is the debut of THE NEW PRICE IS RIGHT STARRING BOB BARKER. Enjoy!!!!!




And as a bonus, from the GSN93 YOU TUBE site, here is Bob Barker's 1956 debut as host of NBC-TV'S TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES. Ralph Edwards, originator of the show, introduces Bob to NBC's daytime audience.Bob replaced previous host, Jack Bailey, who moved on to great success as emcee of ABC-TV's QUEEN FOR A DAY. Bob looked smooth from the start.ENJOY!!!!!

FRANK & DINAH'S DAZZLING DUET - THE DINAH SHORE CHEVY SHOW - NBC-TV - CIRCA 12/09/62

Nothing could be finer than Frank swingin' with Miss Dinah... in living color.

There is little for KINESCOPE HD to offer as narrative or context for the superlative, mischievous, vibrant performance that two legends of American popular music, Sinatra and Shore, presented to viewers of THE DINAH SHORE CHEVY SHOW on Sunday evening, December 9, 1962.

Ms. Shore's 60 minute, musical/variety/comedy series, sponsored by the Chevrolet Division of General Motors, was lavishly mounted, technically innovative, highly rated and award winning. It was a wholesome,welcome,family viewing experience for over a decade on the NBC Television Network.


Austere in staging, yet sophisticated in execution, the brassy duet is, in my humble opinion, an archetypal variety show segment from the immediate, post-Eisenhower-era.A time when television's primetime, network, tv schedules were replete with studio-based music and comedy

Here, from the DONGEHRINGER YOU TUBE site, are Dinah Shore and Frank Sinatra, singing and swinging on a Sunday night for Chevrolet.Enjoy!!!!! :)

MONOCHROME MEDIA MILESTONE - 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF NBC TELEVISION - WNBT-TV - CIRCA APRIL 30, 1949

Most of us who care about media think of 1949 as the dawn of American commercial television broadcasting. In the immediate, post World War II era, people living in major cities. modest towns and sprawling suburbs were, largely, video virgins.Yet, with only a few hours of programming available each day, our national love affair with the amazing, magic box in the living room was heating-up.

In 1949,at NBC's Rockefeller Plaza headquarters ,in New York City, Milton Berle held sway with America's favorite, primetime comedy hour, TEXACO STAR THEATER in studio 6B. In cavernous Studio 8H, KRAFT THEATER was presenting some of the nascent medium's earliest,and most sophisticated, "LIVE" drama.

But, at 8pm ET on April 30th, 1949, in the confines of the network's first TV stage, Studio 3H,the venerable Ben Grauer hosted a program produced by the network's flagship, local station, WNBT-TV. This early B&W special celebrated the 10th anniversary of NBC's entrance into television.


RCA's vibrant, video experiment had begun with a LIVE broadcast , on then Experimental Station W2XBS, from the 1939 World's Fair in Flushing Meadows, NY. RCA's patriarch, David Sarnoff, welcomed a handful of viewers to witness the modern miracle of television.

Regularly scheduled broadcasts continued until World War II erupted, when the federal government conscribed the materials used to make broadcast equipment and home receivers for the war effort.

After the end of the war, television exploded as a window on the world for the baby-boom generation and beyond.


The three vintage clips, posted below, from the MUSICOM67 YOU TUBE site, comprise the energetic, if primitive, special program from 1949. Enjoy!!!!!



PART 1



PART 2



PART 3

VIEWERS APPLAUD CAESAR'S PROGRESS - VIDEO VIRTUOUSO SPOOFS JAZZ MUSICIANS - NBC-TV - CIRCA 1957

Sid Caesar was a video visionary and a pretend polyglot.As a linguistic acrobat,he could double-talk in almost any ersatz dialect of any known language. He proved it, repeatedly in military camp shows, in Borscht-belt hotel ballrooms, on the Broadway stage, and on the hundreds of times he stood before NBC television cameras starring in his two landmark comedy/variety series,YOUR SHOW OF SHOWS(1950-1954) and CAESAR'S HOUR (1954-1957).

Both series were imbued with Caesar's comic sensibilities and propelled by the erudite observations of a legendary, writing team that included Neil Simon, Larry Gelbart and Mel Brooks.Any member of that comic crew could have served as the laugh-maker laureate of the United States.



The incomparable Caesar, his protean writers, plus versatile, vibrant performers Carl Reiner, Howard Morris and Imogene Coca brought stylish satire to Saturday night,at a time when television comedy was largely a reflection of vaudevillian values.

Their work was multi-dimensional in it's comedic context.Sophisticated sketches about foreign films, suburban sprawl and the ancient battle of the sexes brought a post-modern perspective to post WWII America.

A gifted musician, Caesar explored the emergence of Jazz and Be-Bop from smokey , urban nightclubs and spartan, campus coffee houses into mainstream media and onto the global stage. Caesar and his team created the character of Progress Hornsby,a jazz master and a hapless hipster who blew a hot sax, but whose thinking process was a bit lax.

Here , from the MONKEY PEAS YOU TUBE site,is an excerpt of a sketch from CAESAR'S HOUR, featuring Sid Caesar as Progress Hornsby and Carl Reiner as an Edward R. Murrow "knock-off" interviewing the sultan of sax.Enjoy!!!!!