CBS Television City TK41's and others
 

Here's another Life picture archive series. This one is huge and shows numerous behind the scenes photos of CBS Television City in Hollywood. Included are several rare shots of their TK41 camera. One shows what looks like a couple of calibration rigs that are lit and cameras pointing at them. Another looks like a TK40 next to a TK41.

Some of these photos were printed in the magazine and/or have already made it around. But, some haven't. Keep scrolling as there's a lot of pictures, probably over 1,000!

http://images.google.com/hosted/life...466a547f3.html


http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/391...a547f3_landing
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/22b...61def8_landing
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/f89...dda964_landing
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/918...3f9e96_landing
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/afe...f9535d_landing
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/d3e...8c2ae1_landing
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/374...aace11_landing

Here's some more:
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/e3b...42d1f2_landing
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/3bd...18c708_landing
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/2a9...4cc076_landing
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/6b5...3aa09e_landing
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/062...ad7960_landing
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/2e5...20cc8b_landing
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/11e...21cbdb_landing

awesome

John,

Great sequence of early CBS TK-40/41 color studio photos. Thanks for sharing. I am posting another version, in color, of the "CBS Color Girl" as the engineers set up the color cameras.

-Steve D.

I'm sure Robb appreciates the compliment.

Geesh!

John,

With all apologies,

-Steve D.

No problem :thmbsp:

Red Skelton liked to see his shows broadcast in color.

Was a date given?
Researching the bumper set up on the Dodge, I came up with 57 or 58.
Phil

I'd LOVE to have a TK-41... Dunno whatheheck I'd DO with it, I have the technical skills of a turtle, precious little extra room, I think my wife would FINALLY put her foot down-No, she'd put it UP my Heinie-If I drug one of THOSE beasts home..

Fascinating series of photos when working in television was a lot more fun and creative than it is now. A lot of people were required to put on those programs back in the day. But the shows were much more creative and enjoyable and most of all, the bean counters had not taken over yet! I've seen some of these pictures before, and I believe I read somewhere that the pictures of all the Mopar cars in the studio was the Chrysler "Shower of Stars" program.

Gilbert

Looks like a variant of the TM-15 in the first group. Pic #4. Square screw-on bezel and a different knob pattern. Then again it is CBS.

I saw Nanette Fabray and Johnny Ray in some of the pics, so I researched it. There was an every so often show that ran on CBS called Shower of Stars, and the November 1, 1956 episode starred Nanette Fabray, Johnny Ray, Jack Benny, and Bill Lundigan, Rory Calhoun, and Bob Crosby. Lundigan was known as the voice of Chrysler in the mid 50's and they sponsored it.

Funny thing is nothing on IMDB or anywhere else says it was done in color. But, the kinescope of that show is on youtube and Lundigan says at the beginning, "Live and in full color." I haven't watched it yet, but here's a link to it: http://youtu.be/szptfW5QKbI


Edit: After watching a little I realize the announcer in the opening isn't Lundigan. I think it was Art Gilmore, who was the other voice of Chrysler until the late 60's.

I bought a DVD set a few years ago at Big Lots that included a bunch of early kinescopes including the Cavalcade of Stars depicted here. I watched it a couple of times. I was particularly amused by Bill Lundigan's flub live during the commercial for Chrysler's "New Look for 1957" when the cars were for the next model year. He apologizes at the end of the show!

John's 2nd posted photo of The Bob Crosby Show on CBS. I found this L.A.TV Guide listing from Dec. 1954. This may be the color telecast depicted in the photo which shows a TK-40 color camera. CBS rotated their live color broadcasts to include several shows as they gained experience in color tv.
The Crosby show originated from CBS TV City in Hollywood. Color shows were in short supply in those days. TV Guide had started using the "COLOR" icon earlier in 1954.

-Steve D.