Color kinescopes?

[iowegian2]

The listings for Atlanta from 1957 note the game show "Tic Tac Dough"
in Color. Given there were occasional NBC color broadcasts back to
1954, I was wondering if any color kinescopes exist for any programs
in that transitional period between '54 and about '58, when color
videotape was introduced.

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

There may have been some cases, both before and after the invention of color videotape, where a color TV program was preserved as a kinescope recording on color film.

However, there was also during this period "lenticular film". Supposedely, it was a special black-and-white film with microscopic "lenses" on the surface. A film camera and projector using lenticular film would both have special filters in front of the shooting and projecting lens, respectively.

The idea was that a kinescope recording shot on lenticular film would, when projected with a proper filter, show (either projected on a screen or broadcast into a color film chain and seen on a color-TV set) the image in color.

Supposedely, the quality (especially color) wasn't that good.

One other note: RCA's first color videotape recorder (circa 1958) had a color recording system very different from later 2" quadraplex reel-to-reel VTR's. A tape recorded in color on these early RCA machines could only be played back in black-and-white on later color quad VTR's.

Supposedely in the late 1980's, some NBC videotapes from 1958 were discovered, including the dedication of a new studio for NBC's Washington D.C. facilities (including an appearance by President Dwight Eisenhower) and a Fred Astaire special. The story I heard was that when these tapes were first screened, they were in black-and-white. Someone had the bright idea of modifying a quad VTR to the 1958 RCA color recording/playback system. After the modifications were made, it turned out that those two tapes had been recorded in color.

Sometime around 1959, AMPEX developed a superior color recording system for their VTR's, which became the industry standard until later tape formats replaced the huge 2-inch-wide reel-to-reel tapes.

 

[MCarney]

Don't know about kinescopes, but NBC had a habit of saving filmed color shows (mostly news & variety) in black & white for replay and somehow losing the color prints. That's why there are mostly B&W prints for "Hulaballo" and all of Shari Lewis's 1st show from the late 50s-early 60s.

 

[KeithE]

> Don't know about kinescopes, but NBC had a habit of saving
> filmed color shows (mostly news & variety) in black & white
> for replay and somehow losing the color prints. That's why
> there are mostly B&W prints for "Hulaballo" and all of Shari
> Lewis's 1st show from the late 50s-early 60s.

Surviving copies of the World Series through at least 1968 are in black & white, although I believe NBC had always broadcast them in color since they got the national MLB contract in '66.

 

[oldiesfan]

> Don't know about kinescopes, but NBC had a habit of saving
> filmed color shows (mostly news & variety) in black & white
> for replay and somehow losing the color prints. That's why
> there are mostly B&W prints for "Hulaballo" and all of Shari
> Lewis's 1st show from the late 50s-early 60s.

I don't have a solid rememberance of by which media the
Shari Lewis Show was recorded on, however Hulaballoo was
done in color on videotape.

The B&W prints you refer to are indeed kinescopes which
are all that remains of some episodes as the original tapes
were erased, destroyed or otherwise lost.

I believe NBC in the mid-60s was still archiving some programs
via kines; there were also some affiliates who, for whatever
reason, could not either clear certain shows "live" or tape-delay
them as needed, and had to rely on 16mm film prints and kines
bicycled around to stations by NBC for airing one, two or even
three weeks late. The 16mm prints of color film shows were
at least in color--and were likely the backups used by New York
and Burbank to the 35mm originals when aired on the network.
A live or taped show was kinescoped with B&W still being the
prevalent film stock used.

 

[ccmfan]

> > Don't know about kinescopes, but NBC had a habit of saving
>
> > filmed color shows (mostly news & variety) in black &
> white
> > for replay and somehow losing the color prints. That's why
>
> > there are mostly B&W prints for "Hulaballo" and all of
> Shari
> > Lewis's 1st show from the late 50s-early 60s.
>
> I don't have a solid rememberance of by which media the
> Shari Lewis Show was recorded on, however Hulaballoo was
> done in color on videotape.
>
> The B&W prints you refer to are indeed kinescopes which
> are all that remains of some episodes as the original tapes
> were erased, destroyed or otherwise lost.
>
> I believe NBC in the mid-60s was still archiving some
> programs
> via kines; there were also some affiliates who, for whatever
>
> reason, could not either clear certain shows "live" or
> tape-delay
> them as needed, and had to rely on 16mm film prints and
> kines
> bicycled around to stations by NBC for airing one, two or
> even
> three weeks late. The 16mm prints of color film shows were
> at least in color--and were likely the backups used by New
> York
> and Burbank to the 35mm originals when aired on the network.
>
> A live or taped show was kinescoped with B&W still being the
>
> prevalent film stock used.
>

Supposedly in the late 70's NBC destroyed a lot of tapes from earlier years, including most daytime shows and the early years of The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. When he retired, all that was available for his final show from the first show was some audio and still photos. This is probably what happened to color tapes of other shows as well.<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by ccmfan on 07/10/05 07:50 PM.</FONT></P>

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

Keith Elster wrote:

> Surviving copies of the World Series through at least 1968
> are in black & white, although I believe NBC had always
> broadcast them in color since they got the national MLB
> contract in '66.

NBC began broadcasting the World Series on TV in 1947 (although in the early years, it was produced by Gillette and simulcast on other networks). NBC first broadcast the World Series in color in 1955, and every World Series game since (except for games of the 1957 and 1958 World Series played in Milwaukee) has been televised in color.

As far as I know, the earliest complete games World Series to survive as color tapes were from the 1969 Series. I believe all five games of the '69 Series exist as color tapes.

I think one or two games of the 1970 Series exist as black-and-white kines, but the rest of the games (and all World Series games since) do exist as color tapes.

NBC also broadcast in color the opening ceremonies of the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo (the first-ever color TV program fed live-by-satellite from overseas back to the United States), but only a black-and-white kine exists of that as well.

NBC also began to cover some special news events in color during the mid-sixties (such as the 1964 Election Night, and space launches from June, 1965-onwards). Many of those news events (and most broadcasts of the "Huntley/Brinkley Report" from 1965 until Huntley retired in 1970) that still exist (many do not) only exist as black-and-white kines. Although NBC broadcast all-day color coverage of the 1965 inauguration of President Lyndon Johnson, color tapes only exist for the inaugural parade. The swearing-in, inaugral address, and inaugral balls, although originally broadcast in color, exist only as black-and-white kines.

A shame that NBC did not keep color tapes over the years. What a find it would be for TV and pop-culture historians (and for news and sports events, historians in those fields).