HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM KINESCOPE HD - ENJOY THE ANDY WILLIAMS HOLIDAY SPECIAL!!!!:)

We LOVE the Holidays at KINESCOPE HD.

Like most  tenacious television viewers, we prefer the white, fluffy snow that falls from the sky at the Yuletide season , to  the electronic kind that says you've lost your cable connection.

Around Thanksgiving, here at KINESCOPE HD MASTER CONTROL, we rush to the cable guide to look for the  latest holiday offerings from MICHEAL BUBLE or a classic film like WHITE CHRISTMAS.

One nostalgic, vintage video tradition that we celebrate, each year, is to watch one of the vibrant, upbeat, ANDY WILLIAMS HOLIDAY SPECIALS, produced at NBC's cavernous studios in Burbank,Ca.in the 60's.

Shot in LIVING COLOR ,through the warm, rich prism of RCA TK-41cameras, and mounted with vivid,meticulous production values, these shows offer a stylish frame for the wholesome portrait of a lyrical Family Christmas that Williams painted, in league with his Children, Siblings ( The Williams Bros.) , Guest starts and even his Parents.

So, here is a present of sorts to you, our few and loyal followers, proffered with our sincere thanks!!!

From the DEIDRE WILSON YOU TUBE site, a sampler of the very best ANDY WILLIAMS CHRISTMAS SHOWS. Enjoy!!!

HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND  HAPPY, HEALTHY 2014!!!!!:)

PATTI PAGE IN A ROCKET 88, 50'S GROOVE - THE BIG RECORD - CBS-TV - CIRCA NOV. 27,1957

Miss Patti Page was the "singing rage" in 1950's America.

Celebrated for her hit recording of THE TENNESSEE WALTZ, Patti Page was sweet as a mint julep on a sultry, summer day, with a pert crown of blond hair and an incandescent smile.

Patti Page had a husky singing voice that was tinged with honey.

Aquiline and approachable , she wasn't "the girl the next door," but she was the kindly, inviting, suburban neighbor that folks adored.

Combine those characteristics with a high octane vocal power  and you can see why the venerable Oldsmobile Division of General Motors sponsored her CBS-TV series, THE BIG RECORD.

The monochrome, musical variety hour was mounted as direct competition to NBC's long-tenured YOUR HIT PARADE, which had been presenting the USA's favorite tunes since it debuted on radio in the 1930's. While YOUR HIT PARADE gauged the popularity of a song by tracking sales of records and sheet music plus radio airplay, THE BIG RECORD wanted to strike a more contemporary chord. It focused on hit, 45 RPM singles from a wide range of artists.

The Wednesday night songfest ( airing at 8PM EST) lasted only one year on the Tiffany Network, in the 1957-58 Television Season. Oldsmobile gave Patti Page a lift to ABC for another year of THE OLDSMOBILE SHOW STARRING PATTI PAGE.

One footnote : Video Visionary Gary Smith, who would, with producing partner Dwight Hemion, go on to create some of the most amazing and memorable variety programming in television history, served as scenic designer for THE BIG RECORD. Enjoy!!!!

OUT OF THIS WORLD WITH FRANK - SINATRA - CBS-TV - CIRCA 11/05/1969

What better way to start the holiday season than spending Friday with Frank?

As Sinatra swung through the Sixties, his frequent specials were truly event television.

His February 1969, CBS  COLOR concert, simply titled SINATRA, offered  Old Blue Eyes in his musical prime.

Here, in a clip from the EliaIglesias1121 YOU TUBE site, is the Chairman of the Board musically presaging the Apollo 11 lunar landing, backed by Don Costa and the big band on FLY ME TO THE MOON.

Enjoy!!!

SINATRA ROCKIN' RAI - RARE ITALIAN TV PERFORMANCE - RAI-TV - MAY 28, 1962

Frank Sinatra was the King of The World , before Earth's continents were digitally connected.

His voice could be heard anywhere on the planet, long before the age of global media.

That sound, textured by Jack Daniels, lived between the grooves of a vinyl disc, in the waves emanating from a hometown Radio outlet, or embedded in the scan lines of a local TV Station.

Sinatra was Show Biz Royalty and Italy was his ancestral home.

During a 1962 global tour in support of Children's charities, Old Blues did a monochrome concert on RAI-TV, then Italy's primary television network.

The Chairman of the Board's singing voice , in this studio session backed by pianist Bill Miller's sextet, is unmistakable, exhilarating and authentic.

The same cannot be said for the scratchy baritone who dubbed his few spoken lines into Italian.

Frank does 12 standards , in abridged arrangements by Neil Hefti , who composed the scores for such eclectic video efforts as THE ODD COUPLE and BATMAN.

Here from the HONEYBEE7700 YOU TUBE site is FRANK SINATRA IN ITALY.

Enjoy!!!!

THE ROAD TO LAREDO IS PAVED WITH LAUGHS- LAREDO - NBC-TV - 11/4/65

American television viewers have always loved cowboys.

Especially the gunslingers who could fire off one liners with the same speed and accuracy as a six-gun.

From Hopalong Cassidy and Hoss Cartwight to Bat Masterson and  Bret Maverick  we like our gunsmoke tinged with giggles.

In the mid to late 1960's, as the nation faced what was ,perhaps, the greatest social upheaval since the Civil War, TV audiences rode off to the Old West in search of escape.

Shows like BONANZA, GUNSMOKE and THE BIG VALLEY offered a  rare respite from the daily angst of American life, as portrayed on Network News.

At NBC, there was a sense that viewers wanted a Western that offered cowpokes who could lasso big laughs between barroom brawls.

And so was born LAREDO, a fast, furious, funny , two fisted Old West adventure, focusing on a quartet of Texas Rangers, who were wrangled by their long-suffering Captain.

Neville Brand, who made his reputation playing Al Capone on THE UNTOUCHABLES, evidenced a great gift for comedy, starring along with  Peter Brown, William
Smith and Phillip Carey as their Captain.

Produced by  UNIVERSAL STUDIOS  and RONCOM FILMS , LAREDO was spun off on NBC-TV from its long running hit, THE VIRGINIAN.

The LIVING COLOR series lasted only two seasons, and didn't have enough episodes to meet the threshold for successful syndication. But it leaves a great legacy in action and laughter.

Here from the MORERADIOFILM AND TV YOU TUBE SITE,  here is the November 4, 1965 episode of LAREDO, entitled THE GOLDEN TRAIL.

Enjoy!!!

WHAT TIME IS IT , BOYS & GIRLS?? NO, IT'S ASTAIRE TIME - NBC-TV - CIRCA SEPTEMBER 25, 1960

Network Television in 1960, occasionally, offered optimism and elegance among the endless array of cops and cowboys.

As we entered the kinetic sixties, there were  approx.52,000,000 TV sets in a country with a population of 179,323,175.

While weekly Prime Time took us to courtrooms and  crime scenes , the sheriff's office and the surgical suite, some special programming could meet the standards of excellence set by video visionaries like Frank Stanton and  Pat Weaver.

CBS would showcase Leonard Bernstein's NY Philharmonic concerts for young people.

ABC offered the innovative, if  Kafka-esqe ,comedy of Ernie Kovacs.

NBC's Chet Huntley and David Brinkley guided voters and viewers  into President John Kennedy's Camelot.

But the apex of  television as an art form ,that year, was a vibrant, captivating  hour of song, dance, music and comedy in LIVING COLOR called , simply ,ASTAIRE TIME.

The sophisticated hour was the third and final installment in a trilogy of terpsichorean fun
starring and produced by the legendary star of stage, screen, radio and nightclubs,  Fred Astaire.

His first effort, 1958's AN EVENING WITH FRED ASTAIRE, won every major accolade and was the first musical program to be shot in filmic style and edited on  COLOR videotape.

The 1959 sequel , ANOTHER EVENING WITH FRED ASTAIRE was also celebrated by viewers , professionals and critics, alike.

1960's ASTAIRE TIME, featured Astaire's dance partner, Barrie Chase, plus Jazz legends Count Basie and Joe Williams.

It was directed  with a by iconic,  producer/director Greg Garrison, whose career credits include THE BUICK-BERLE SHOW and THE DEAN MARTIN SHOW.

Choreographer Hermes Pan , one of Astaire's favorite collaborators in cinema, brought a deft and sweeping look to dance numbers.

Here, from the AMPOPFILMS YOU TUBE site, is ASTAIRE TIME.

Enjoy!!!

LEGENDS OF LAUGHTER IN PRIME TIME - GROUCHO ROASTS JOHNNY CARSON - NBC-TV - CIRCA 1968

In the "swingin' sixties," the creative team at NBC's KRAFT MUSIC HALL decided to offer viewers something hipper than the than country-western balladeers, Broadway crooners and recipes for caramel apples that were a staple of the long running, high budget, weekly hour of music & comedy.

They struck a deal to bring a sanitized, but star-studded version of the FRIARS CLUB's off the record and off color "roasts" of the most famous and infamous names in show business.

In 1968, Johnny Carson, at the zenith of his TONIGHT SHOW career, and spending more time in divorce court  that most lawyers, was the target and one of his own  comic heroes: the one, the only Groucho Marx, took lethally funny aim.

From the BERNIE OWEN YOU TUBE site, here is an excerpt of THE FRIARS ROAST JOHNNY CARSON on  THE KRAFT MUSIC HALL.

Enjoy!!!