First Color Shows "PASSWORD"

[julianburke]

This clip shows one of the first color shows of "PASSWORD" but watch this one in particular of a commercial intertwined in it. "PASSSWORD" went color in September of 1966.

Anyone familiar with the production of these early shows? Since Password was CBS, was this a GE camera? (looks like color from a PE250) Apparently this show moved to California from (I assume) New York hence going color at that time.

The show with Barbera Bain and Brian Keith was the first PASSWORD color show.

[David Roper]

Wanna see the clip?

This is by no definition one of the first color shows (except for first of Password ) as there were very few shows that hadn't gone color by fall of '66.

[Big Dave]

I think the camera would have been a GE. This version of Password did to to CBS Television City for occasional visits (mainly the nighttime version). The daytime version went to Television City when they were getting the New York studio ready for color. Otherwise the CBS Password originated in NY.

I do believe NBC was all color by this time and CBS and ABC were color for primetime. CBS daytime, with the exception of Password, was still in black and white. CBS was not all color until the fall of 1967.

When Password was cancelled in 1967, the color episodes were syndicated. All sponsor tags and the CBS color ident were removed. Unfortunately, this was done with the original masters. The DVD set shows this. I did not watch the whole clip, so another intact copy may be around.

The ABC Password was the first version to air from California in its entirety.

[David Roper]

With the conversion to color of Concentration NBC did become the first network with 100% color programming, but that happened a couple months after this password ep aired.

[julianburke]

I know very well when color shows originated. I am strictly speaking of the gameshow "PASSWORD" as this is their 3rd or 4th "PASSWORD" in color. I said nothing of any other shows. There is an "s" that doesn't belong in the title and I cannot edit that out as I was composing the text.

Password was a very low budget gameshow and was B&W far longer than many other shows. Their props and backdrops were nothing to speak of; even into the color shows as were their prizes.

Here is PASSWORD's "FIRST" color show (aired 9/66) and Allen Luden even makes reference to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLC0FskNF_8

I believe the cameras being used were GE PE250's as the color shown in these videos are very consistent with same. I was hoping someone on the list was there or had inside info. This is also the same color rendition as the Joey Bishop Show which were GE's as shown here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdyDRjpPftU

[colortrakker]

Those cameras would have to be from CBS's original fleet of Norelco PC-60s, a couple years after they converted Television City to color. CBS had Norelcos there and in NY. Why they'd use GE, no idea.

[aerials]

Watching the taping of the cavett show in 1970 in NYC, i was in love with the GE pe250 cameras. They rolled across the stage with ease and the camera design was functional and simple. I do remember Regis Philbin the co-host and Jim croche sang his new hit songs. back in chicago Wbkb later to be Wls tv used Ge cameras as well as Wttw. Can someone please let us know what cameras were used for Dark Shadows. I think it was Ge. but may be incorrect. thanks Hey more great cameras at Eyes of a generation.com

[colortrakker]

If Dark Shadows taped their color seasons in NY, they were most likely GE. If they taped in LA, which I think they did, they were probably Norelcos.

ABC used GE cameras in their NY studios for quite a while - until at least the late '70s, I think. Meanwhile, in LA, ABC used Norelcos until the mid '70s when they switched to Ikegami cameras.

[SDA SRS 1.2]

Originally Posted by colortrakker

If Dark Shadows taped their color seasons in NY, they were most likely GE. If they taped in LA, which I think they did, they were probably Norelcos.

ABC used GE cameras in their NY studios for quite a while - until at least the late '70s, I think. Meanwhile, in LA, ABC used Norelcos until the mid '70s when they switched to Ikegami cameras.

Dark Shadows ('66-'71) taped at ABC Studio 16 at 433 W. 53rd St. in NYC. Behind the scenes photos show Norelco cameras.

[Greg B.]

Originally Posted by julianburke

This clip shows one of the first color shows of "PASSWORD" but watch this one in particular of a commercial intertwined in it. "PASSSWORD" went color in September of 1966.

Anyone familiar with the production of these early shows? Since Password was CBS, was this a GE camera? (looks like color from a PE250) Apparently this show moved to California from (I assume) New York hence going color at that time.

The show with Barbera Bain and Brian Keith was the first PASSWORD color show.

Thank you for posting this link. Password was an interesting show. Allen Ludden was a bit of an acquired taste and unlike many other game show hosts, but I quite enjoyed his style and intellect. And this has the exquisite Barbara Bain, at the height of her beauty and sexiness.

One thing I notice is that the video has some vertical lines or shadows on the left edge of the screen. I remember seeing this quite often back then. Was this a function of the cameras, the early videotape equipment, or something else?

[W.B.]

Originally Posted by SDA SRS 1.2

Dark Shadows ('66-'71) taped at ABC Studio 16 at 433 W. 53rd St. in NYC. Behind the scenes photos show Norelco cameras.

Those were PC-60's all right. The small Norelco logo in black on the (possibly stainless steel) belt on the right and left sides of the camera body tell the tale. Early PC-70's also had what Chuck Pharis called the "round applied edges," but the "belt" was darker and had a larger Norelco logo plate, as later production model PC-70's with the "square molded edges" had. ABC's 66th Street studios used PC-70's (as I saw from behind-the-scenes pictures of WABC's Eyewitness News in the '70's).

The 58th Street TV-15 studio, for many years, had General Electric PE-350's, used throughout Dick Cavett's run, as well as on The $10,000 / $20,000 Pyramid. Apparently the picture from the PE-350's wasn't half bad, as this model was used throughout Pyramid's ABC run.

In Hollywood, the only studio I could tell to use PE-250's was 1313 North Vine Street (to quote Ed Reitan, the PE-250's at that studio "never worked properly"), while the ABC Television Center at Prospect and Talmadge had Norelco PC-60's and -70's. It was on Vine Street that Joey Bishop's ill-fated talk show was based.

Now, would anyone know which of their studios and facilities used which film chains? I read somewhere that Prospect & Talmadge had RCA TK-26 film chains, dating back to the early '60's, while New York studios would have had GE PE-24's. Or is that part of the story?

Meanwhile, CBS did use GE's - in their telecine suites, on both coasts. 4-V PE-24's, and possibly some PE-240's (if purchased after 1966).

The only other color camera CBS used in the latter half of the '60's, besides Norelco PC-60's and -70's, was the Marconi Mark VII - and there, on a very limited basis, evidently for a short time. Pictures of this camera as used by CBS can be found here, and here.

(In some instances in the mid-to-late 1960's, what cameras local CBS O&O's used varied wildly. KNXT, now KCBS, in Los Angeles used Mark VII's while WCAU in Philadelphia used the "hated" RCA TK-42's - hated not only in terms of longtime rival RCA, but also the cameras themselves.)

[Dave1384]

Fascinating link.

[wkand]

What I wonder is how the YouTube "poster" got the video. Any ideas?