- Email, Brian Koller - DukeLYM 2024-08-04
- Email, J. Medjuck - Palmquist 2024-08-04
- IMBD.com:
Fay Emerson Show episode guide, 1950 - Wikipedia Faye Emerson biography
- The Evening Sun, Baltimore, Md.
- 1950-03-16 p.34
- 1950-5-18 p.32
- Daily News, New York, N.Y.
- 1950-04-01 p.21
- 1950-07-06 p.23C
- The Progress-Bulletin, Pomona, Cal.
- 1950-06-10 s.1 p.5
- Variety
- 1950-06-14 p.43
- 1950-09-20 p.22
- The Charlotte Observer, Charlotte, N.C.
- 1950-06-22 p.24-B
- Daily News, Los Angeles, Cal.
- 1950-06-30 p.44
- St. Louis Post-Dispatch, St. Louis, Mo.
- 1950-07-02 p.5G
- The Atlanta Journal-The Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta, Ga.
- 1950-07-02 p.4-B
- The Philadelpthia Inquirer, Philadelphia, Penn.
- 1950-07-02 p.A 13
- Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, Tex.
- 1950-07-05 p.31
- "Television in the Theater,"
Popular Mechanics October 1950 p.227 - Ross Reports on Television Programming
- March 19-25 1950
- June 1950
- July 23-29 1950
- September 1950
- Oct. 15-21 1950
- Dec. 3-9,, 1950
- Dec. 17-23 1950
- Dec. 22-29 1950
- Dec 31-Jan.6, 1951
- etc.
- Jeremy G. Butler
Television - Critical Methods and Applications
Fourth Edition
Routledge, New York and London p.220 - Broadcasting Telecasting
- 1950-04-10 p.16
- 1950-05-01 .10
- Television Digest
- 1950-01-14
- 1950-04-08
- 1950-06-24
- 1950-07-01
added
2024-08-12
updated
2024-08-19
When some network stations timeshifted the show due to the lack of coax cable time, the show moved to NBC briefly, then returned to CBS before its sponsor cancelled it in June. That summer, she began a Sunday evening summer replacement show, Fifteen With Faye, that ran into September and may have overlapped the beginning of the next Faye Emerson Show. The new show ran on the CBS TV network in the early evening at 7:45 Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. A profile of Ms Emerson (Newsday 1950-09-18) described her 14-hour workday, a fitting, two rehearsals and reading 7 newspapers. although in October, she was quoted as saying she didn't like to rehearse . ========================== ========================== It seems most likely the episode was filmed Monday, Oct. 30, or possibly during the preceding week, although Ms Emerson was in Detroit Wednesday Oct. 25. , since that is after the previous episode aired. The Faye Emerson Show is in t.v. schedules on the East Coast, the Midwest, and the West Coast. Some eastern and midwest stations were connected to the network with coax cable or could retransmit the show if received over the air. The show aired at 7:45 p.m. EST and was repeated at 11:00 on some network stations, but in some locations, it aired in the afternoon. Seattle - 6:45(Seattle Sunday Times, 1950-10-29) Buffalo - 2:15(Buffalo Evening News, 1950-10-31) Columbus - 7:45 (The Columbus Dispatch, 1950-10-31) Detroit - 6:45 (The Detroit Times, 1950-10-31) Washington - 7:45 (Evening Star, 1950-10-26) Omaha - 7:45 (Morning World-Herald 1950-10-26) were seemingly connected to the eastern network by cable or could retransmit it if received over the air. Eastern and midwest affiliates telecasting it at other times would have had to use film. On the west coast, the show aired at In the Midwest, it aired simultaneously at 7:45 EST on WJBK (Detroit), 6:45 MST on WTMJ (Racine) and 10:00 WHBF (Rock Island). Presumably the WJBK and WTMJ telecasts could have been simultaneous retransmissions of the 7:45 EST New York telecast, either using coax cable and rebroadcasting a signal received over the air. The show aired on the West Coast on KPIX and KTLA at 6:45 PST, 7:45 on KTTV and 11:30 on KFMB, which was only possible with using a recorded version of the show on film since AT&T's transcontinetal coax cable/microwave connection to be shared with the networks wasn't complete until late 1951. Some There is some indiation some eastern and midwestationsmay have for this evening, at 6:45, 7:45 and 11:00 PST (9:45, 10:45 and 2:00 EST). The cross-country AT&T coax cable connection was not completed until the following October, so, assuming Halloween was the only day an episode with a Halloween theme show would have aired, it must have been pre-recorded on film and shipped from New York to Los Angeles. That would have taken 8 or more hours by air.
Thomas H. Hutchinson's Here is TELEVISION Your Window to the World, revised and republished in November 1950 and available in the Internet Archive in 2024, is a reader-friendly contemporaneous explanation of how television shows were made before 1951. Hutchinson suggests a t.v. show typically used 30 or more studio personnel:- on the set, announcer, host and co-host, guests,and advettisement actor, and camera operator for each camera; on the studio floor, a floor director,a sound man to control the overhead boom microphone, stage hands, and a lighting engineer. The sound and visual signals were fed through the studio wall to a control room, where a sound engineer mixed the studio sound with recorded messages and sound effects, and a director in charge of the show controlled the camera feeds sent to a line monitor which carried the video signals to be aired. Each show would need a technical rehearsal to establish lighting levels, camera focus settings, camera angles and positions, clear pathways to move camera dollies, positioning of the boom mic to keep it out of the camera view,
, guiding Ellington likely attended the studio for rehearsals and filming of the show on October 30 or earlier. This episode aired at 7:45 and 11:00 p.m. EST on the eastern network, and in the midwest at 6:45 and 10:00 CST (7:45 and 11:00 p.m. EST). West coast television schedules show the Faye Emerson Show at 6:45, 7:45 and 11:00 PST (9:45, 10:45 and 2:00 EST). The west coast telecasts would have been the Halloween Party episode since it was time sensitive. Logistics dictate the episode must have been prerecorded, with the film shipped from New York to Los Angeles. This would have taken at least 8 to 10 hours by air in 1950, so it would have been filmed at least a day before the telecast.
In 1950, remote stations could retransmit shows (1) received directly from the originating station by coax cable, (2) repeating a signal received over the air from the originating station, or (3) telcasting a film of the show. While the CBS coax cable network connected eastern and midwest affiliates, it wasn't until late 1951 that AT&T completed a cross-country coax cable system, so the west coast stations can only have aired the show using film shipped from the east. ().
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capturing and retransmitteing a tramsmission fromsows television networkds ould Since this show would only have played on October 31 and since AT*it could only have been played that day in California , Many t.v. shows were not recorded, but those that were, before the 1956 advent of videotape, were recorded with film, either while being telecast or while being prerecorded.
Motion picture film cameras ("movie cameras"} could be used for prerecording, but it seems a kinescope system was more common for recording shows in real time as they wre telecast, and possibly for prerecording. The kinescope system employed a large console with a small cathode ray tube ("monitor") in a housing on top. A special motion picture film camera ("recording camera"} bolted to the top of the console filmed the show from the monitor, including the audio signal to the film.
ow displayed on teh monitor, pointed at the Once source says the CRT was 7 inches in diameter, and could be masked to display a small image the shn image was more common , but the larger format film was expensive and flammable. Prerecording with normal movie cameras was expensive and the film would need to be developed, edited and have sound added. In 1950, it seems to have been more usual to use a kinescope system, either during the live show or during the prerecording. Typical shows used three t.v. cameras (at least 2 were used during this episode), with their visual signals fed via thick coax cables to a control room, where a director switched between feeds and a sound man controlled the audio feed from the boom micrphone on the set, mixing additional sound effects or messages such as commercials. Titles and credits could be added by filming slides or title cards, and commercials could be made during the show or by inserting film into the show.
The show could be telecast in real time while the telecast was simultaneously filmed with kinescope, or it could simply be recorded by kinescope. Audio was captured by an overhead ("boom") microphone in the studio, with sound effects, announcemets and commercial messages added by an editor in the control room, and added to the film as an optical sound track. The resulting film could be developed quickly and used for a rebroadcast the same day, or prints could be sent to network stations that could not retransmit the show using a coax cable hookup or a signal received over the air.
The Faye Emerson Show played on the CBS eastern network, in the midwest and on the west coast. While many east coast and midwest stations were connected to the network by cable, the west coast statons were not connected to the eastern network until October 1951, when AT&T completed its cross-country cable system. This episode can only have been telecast in California using film physically shipped from New York, the fastest way being by air, taking at best 8 or 9 hours.
Given its subject matter, this Halloween Party episode seems likely to have been what aired in California on October 31. That being the case, the episode can only have been prerecorded. A September 1950 profile of Ms Emerson described her workday while she was still doing her previous show, Fifteen with Faye, saying she held two rehearsals a day, but the Detroit Times quoted her as saying
I don't beleive in rehearsal for an ad lib show–it kills the spontaneity of hte conversation, and usually some one will sy it est when he says it fo r the first time.. A typical production crew included 30 or more personnel, and it was necessary to have technical rehearsals to ensure cameras didn't run over cabling, camera angles and focus were established, and the boom microphone did not appear on screen. There would have been a rehearsal of the performance as well, to ensure the guests knew what to expect. In summary, it seems likely Ellington was not in the studio the day of the telecast, but more likely the previous day or even one day the previous week. The newly introduced Douglas DC-6 and Boeing Stratocruiser prop-driven passenger planes cruised at 311 to 315 miles per hour, competing with the Lockheed Contellation, which cruised at 340 m.p.h. American Airlines' DC-6 service New York to Los Angeles via Chicago, inaugurated in April 1950, cruising at 310 m.p.h., took 10 hours and 5 minutes westbound Citizen-News, Hollywood, Cal. 1950-04-08 p.2 and Holyoke (Mass.) Transcript-Telegram, 1950-04-03 p.2) is approximately 2,450 air miles, non-stop flying time was between 7 and 8 hours, and additional time would be taken up by ground transportation in both cities, plus stop-over time in Chicago as noted in the Holyoke (Mass.) Transcript-Telegram, 1950-04-03 p.2a report about American Airlines' "first 300-mile-an-hour air coach service" using a DC-6.
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as planned, or show teh A description of the television industry, "", suggests any show would have a technical rehearsal and a dress rehearsal before the performnace, which in turn suggests Duke and the other participants would have which included reading --#-- newspapers and holding two rehearsals.biological , likely the Monday, but possibly the previous week. of this episode, it seems very likely the episode aired in California on October 31 was the Halloween Party In 1950, CBS used The kinescope system employed a metal box approximately six feet long, 17 or 18 inches wide, and perhaps four feet high. A cathode ray tube whose screen was perhaps seven inches in diameter served as a t.v. monitor, and was mounted in a housing atop the box. A special recording camera was bolted to the box, pointed at the monitor, and filmed the show. It appears the film also captured the optical sound signal. .
Recording a show while it was being telecast likely could only be done with kinescope system, where t.v. cameras and an overhead microphone transmitted their signals by cable to a control room. There, a director viewed the incoming signals on one or more monitors, and chose which would be used at any particular time, switched that camera feed to a line monitor. The line monitor showed what was being sent to the transmitter and telecast, and the same signal would be recorded with a kinescope system. The top of the kinescope machine housed a small cathode ray tube monitor, and had a recording camera bolted to the box to film the display on the monitor. The audio from the studio and any sound effects were probably added after the film was developed, although this has not been confirmed by the writer. A prerecording would be done either with kinescope as described or, despite the higher cost, and first used film possibly in 1953 or later, with ordinary movie cameras.
At some time during this process the audio signal and added sound effects would be recorded on the film., between camera feeds If the show was pre-recorded, a kinescope sytem employing t.v. cameras was normally used due to cost, although movie cameras could be used instead. , the latter employing a kinescope machine. Superficial research seems to indicate t.v. cameras and kinescope were preferred due to cost, although movie cameras were used for the "I Love Lucy" sitcom in 1953. the primary were used until 1953, and remained the primary or later, but this has not been confirmed. Where the show was recorded during a live telecast, it seems it would use t.v. cameras and kinescope. A kinescope was a large machine with a small t.v. cathode ray tube monitor built into the top of the housing. A special recording camera pointing to that monitor would film the show as it played. mounted on the machine and pointing at the monitor would record the show as a movie. film the show. bolted to the mouinted at the top of its housing. , about likely that could only be done with a kinescope system, whereby the audio signal and sound effects and the visual signal from t.v. cameras would be mixed by a director in a control room, . Where the show was filmed during a live telecast, it would use t.v. cameras and a microphone feeding their signals into a control room, where a director would choose the feed to be transmitted. The result would be aired and simultaneously fed to a small monitor mounted on the top of a kinescope machine, with a special movie camera bolted to the housing to film what was displayed on the monitor. r With the latter, several The episode was recorded on film, and played twice that evening. It may have been filmed during the first telecast, but it seems more likely to have been prerecorded on film not later than the day before it aired. Ellington and the other participants probably attended technical and dress rehearsals before the filming.
It does not appear to have been filmed with ordinary movie cameras, but it was more likely, in 1950, to have been filmed with a camera mounted on a Kinescope recording system, wherein t.v. cameras and a boom microphone signals were fed to a control room, mixed by a director and his crew, and fed to a Kinescope recording system. A director would decide which camera feed would be displayed, directing the signal to a line monitor and to the Kinescope machine. The machine would display the signal on a small cathode ray tube monitor to be recorded by a special film camera mounted on the machine.
The show aired on the west coast as well. Given its subject matter, it seems likely this episode would only have been broadcast on October 31. The technology of the day would have required the film produced by the Kinescope would have had to be shipped to the west coast. If shipped by air, that would have taken 8 or 9 hours at a minimum, meaning it would have had to be filmed early on the telecast day, or more likely, not later than the day before.
See the history of Ms Emerson's show in our supplementary web page The Faye EMerson Show and see an explanation of Kinescope in our supplementary web page Kinescope nothe day before. , which would have taken It seems likely this episode would system played the and audio signals cameras and a boom microphone may have been filmed d to be and most likely not later than the day before since , and was filmed, either during the first telecast or more likely with movie cameras or more likely with t.v. cameras feeding into a tiny a recording motion picture camera mounted on a Kinescope machine. It isn't clear when Ellington and the others actually performed in this episode. Had the show not been telecast October 31 in California, it might have been either was actually in the studio. actually performed. Since the show had a Halloween theme, it was time sensitive. The Faye Emerson Show aired on both coasts, and if this was the episode aired October 31 in California, it has to have been recorded on film and shipped to Los Angeles since there was no transcontinental coax cable / microwave connection until a year later. It seems likely the show was prerecorded kely was recorded early in the day of the telecast, or, given that shipping the film to Los Angeles by air would have taken several hours, more likely recorded previously with the film footage couriered to Loa Angeles in time for the first telecast at 6:45 p.m. PST. This episode aired at 7:45 and 11 pm EST in the east, at 6:45 and 10 CST in the Midwest, and, assuming it was the same episode, at 6:45, 745 and 11 PST on the west coast. At the time of writing, it can be seen in the Internet Archive. It seems likely the show was pre-recorded a day or more beforehand, and that Duke may have had to attend a technical and/or a dress rehearsal. Background. Technology The show was recorded, if for no other reason than each episode aired twice. Until the 1956 advent of videotape, t.v. shows were either not recorded or were recorded on film, either in real time or prerecorded. Real time recordings were made with two or more t.v. cameras and audio microphones feeding their signals through a control room to tiny monitor at the top of a kinescope machine. A recording movie camera mounted on the machine and aimed at the monitor, filmed the display. Pre-recorded shows were either made with ordinary motion picture cameras or using t.v. cameras and the kinescope system. Videotape was not yet used until 1956, so it was recorded on film, either with ordinary motion picture cameras or, more likely, t.v. cameras feeding their signals to a control room, where a director would switch between feeds sent to a kinescope film recording camera. It seems more likely kinescope was used, because the use of movie cameras to prerecord the I Love Lucy situation comedy attracted industry attention in 1953. According to -------- , shows usually used three or more t.v. cameras and a microphone suspended from a boom. Technical rehearsals were needed to ensure the microphone wouldn't appear on screen and so camera angles and focus could be established. Their signals were fed to a It clearly used more than one camera, as the back of one camera operator momentarily is caught during a scene change. It seems likely the show was pre-recorded, possibly early in the day on October 31st, but more likely October 30th or even the previous week. Since the signal could not be received directly from the studio by some stations because coax cable time was not available, they telecast the show using film. The producers, dissatisfied that some stations telecast it at different times and even on different days, took it to the NBC network in the spring. It returned to CBS in the late spring but was dropped by its sponsor in June. In June, Ms Emerson began a Sunday night summer replacement, Fifteen with Faye, which carried on into September, perhaps overlapping with her new Faye Emerson Show. This new Faye Emerson Show is the one Ellington appeared on. It ran at 7:45 pm and again at 11 p.m. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays on the CBS network until December, when sponsor Pepsi-Cola moved it to ABC. While on CBS, it played on the east coast and on Midwest stations connected to the network by coax cable. It also played on the west coast at 6:45, 7:45 and 11 pm, which was only possible by transmitting a recording of the show since AT&T did not complete its coast-to-coast coax cable system until late 1951. Was the episode pre-recorded? Until the 1956 advent of videotape, the only way to record a t v. show was on film. This could be done with motion picture cameras or with t.v. cameras used in concert with a kinescope system. A show could be transmitted in real time with the director controlling which camera feed was aired, and simultaneously feeding the signal to the kinescope. If it was precorded with movie cameras, the film would have to be developed, edited and have the sound track added. It is clear the show was recorded, since a copy of this episode can, at the time of writing, be viewed in the Internet Archive. hat was the only way a television show could be recorded in 1950 (videotape came along in 1956), it played twice each telecast day in each market, and at the time of writing, can be viewed in the Internet Archive. Assuming the Halloween Party episode was telecast October 31 on the west coast, it must have been pre-recorded.
- Brian Koller:The Faye Emerson Show was a 15-minute program televised by CBS [recte CBS, NBC and ABC} between 1949 and 1951.
She had a Halloween party episode in 1950. You'll never guess the identity of Mr. E on piano.
Ellington plays piano throughout, but I recognize- Sophisticated Lady
- In A Sentimental Mood
- I'm Beginning To See The Light
- Love In Bloom (vocal by Kitty Carlisle)
Ellington can hold a conversation and play at the same time. -
was in the CBS TV studio at airtime with the show being recorded at the same time it aired, or if the episode was pre-recorded earlier, on October 31 or even previously.
Thomas H. Hutchinson's https://archive.org/details/hereistelevision00hutcrich/page/n5/mode/1up>Here is TELEVISION Your Window to the World dexcribes how TV shows were made in 1950, before the technical changes that took place in 1951 and later. Videotape was not used before 1956 so until then, TV was recorded on motion picture film, either with regular film movie cameras or with a kinescope recording film camera. Hutchinson suggests there would normally be a rehearsal to ensure all the camera placements were established before the show was recorded so they didn't run into the thick coax cables used to connect them to the studio control room nor catch the boom microphone used to capture the sound. Pages 8 and 11 confirm TV cameras did not record sound and the operators viewed what they were shooting through small "kinescope" screens in the camera housing. , so a microphone on a moveable boom captured the dialogue overhead, out of the cameras' fields of vision. Cameras were connected to the studio control room with thick coax cables. Cameras that moved had to avoid the cables and not catch the overhead microphones, so the director had to plot everything in advance and give directions to the cameramen before they started shooting. moved to eras had no film but electronic viewing screens in the upper part of their housing and it was usual to use three or more cameras, all of which used coax cable to send their visual signals to the adjacent control room. Pp. 22-25 and 35 tells us sound us sound was picked up by boom and sometimes stationary mics, or sometimes from other sources in or out of the studio, and is controlled by a sound man in the control room or elsewhere in the studio. He seems to control the sound that is transmitted via the line monitor. ) He may also have had to attend a rehearsal. - Dr. Joe Medjuck:
It's possible that the show was broadcast live and what we have is a kinescope which was often used with live shows. When tv came to Fredericton in 1956 we weren't on the network. Everything that wasn't local was a kinescope of something that had been live a day or so before.
Medjuck [after more information was provided]:This makes me think that the show was pre-filmed. They might even have done more than one show at a time.
- Dr. Lewis Porter;
... a kinescope was simply a 16mm film of what was broadcast on TV, in fact filmed from a TV monitor with one camera.
If they knew in advance that a show would be re-broadcast, they either made a kinescope as it was first broadcast, or recorded the show BEFORE broadcasting, either on 16mm or on 35mm movie film. If the latter, this could be WELL before the first broadcast (days, sometimes weeks), so there was no issue of "rushing" it to California etc.
It's not so different from radio programs etc--there was no urgent need to broadcast non-news programs so quickly!
...Most shows that were never intended to be repeated were simply broadcast and never preserved. When the show was intended to be shown again, it was pre-recorded with ordinary movie cameras and film. No Kinescopes!
THEN, the program was shown on a TV monitor, and filmed with a kinescope, which used special film cameras to shoot directly off a TV screen. ONE kinescope. - Palmquist analysis:
I mostly agree with Mr. Medjuck and Mr. Porter. The question is when was Ellington in the studio? The show was recorded, and If the show was recorded simultaneously with its initial transmission or if it was prerecorded is unresolved.
Without documentary evidence, it is necessary to understand the nature of the show and how television shows were recorded in 1950. -
Faye Emerson Show
From September to December, a new "Faye Emerson Show" sponsored by Pepsi Cola ran on CBS Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 7:45 p.m. in New York and again at 11 p.m. In the Midwest, it aired simultaneously at 7:45 EST on WJBK (Detroit), 6:45 MST on WTMJ (Racine) and 10:00 WHBF (Rock Island), presumably from New York via coax cable. The show aired on the West Coast on KPIX and KTLA at 6:45 PST, 7:45 on KTTV and 11:30 on KFMB, which was only possible with using a recorded version of the show on film since AT&T's transcontinetal coax cable/microwave connection to be shared with the networks wasn't complete until late 1951.
In December, it moved to ABC. While CBS and NBC shows were recorded with Kinescope, ABC prerecorded it with conventional movie film, increasing Pepsi's access from 12 markets to 50 (Ross Report Dec.17-23, 1950 Table 10).. ABC may have used film because its main Kinescope facilities were in Chicago, while the other networks had their main Kinescope facilities in New York.
The camera shown in this still from the Faye Emerson Show appears to be a t.v. camera since it doesn't have a film magazine. The several rapid camera angle shifts in the Halloween Party episode indicate multiple cameras were used, and a second camera operator's back is seen about 12 1/4 minutes into the show.
The shading in the upper corners of the video screen seems to confirm Kinescope was used, and Ross Report, March 19-25 1950, confirms it was on NBC:moves from WCBS-TV to WNBT and 2 Sta E Net; also 2 kinesc;...
(emphasis added).
A show pre-recorded with motion picture cameras would result in film footage to be developed, have sound added, and spliced to include opening credits, footage from other sources, etc. The final version of the film could be sent to the tranmitter for broadcast or copies could be sent to affiliated stations. 35mm film was flammable, more expensive than 16mm film and more expensive to ship than the smaller film, so the latter was preferred.
Thomas H. Hutchinson's Here is TELEVISION Your Window to the World, revised and republished in November 1950, is a contemporaneous reader-friendly explanation of how television shows were created before 1951.
Most studios used three or more television cameras (as opposed to movie cameras) and a microphone on a boom. TV cameras did not use film; instead they transmitted images through coaxial cable to a control room, which either had a single preview screen and a line monitor or preview screens for each camera feed and a line monitor. In both systems, a director controlled which camera feed was fed to the line monitor; the line monitor carried what would be transmitted.
At this point it appears the finalized signal for a live telecast could be sent to a transmission antenna off-site for immediate broadcast, as well as to other t.v. stations that could receive the live signal either by coax cable or by micro over the air. and to other tv stations connected to the originating studio by coax cable or microwave. If the show was to be recorded during the live telecast, the signal could also be sent to a very small monitor on a kinescope machine, where a 16 or 35 mm movie camera mounted on top of the kinescope and pointed at that small monitor would film it. If the show was to be prerecorded, it simply wouldn't be sent to the transmission antenna or to the affilated/connected stations.
the feeds from thethe signal the director wished to air would be directed to a live monitor. A director decided which feed would be aired; he switched the feeds
showed the feeds from all the camera, and the director controlled which camera feed went to the line monitor. The other system had several preview screens, each one with the feed from a different camera. Again, the director controlled which feed would go to the line monitor. Regardless of which system, at this point, the signal fed to the line monitor would either have been transmitted live by coax cable (NBC, CBS and DuMont) or relay radio link (GE) to the transmitter at the offsite antenna, for broadcast to the audience, or possibly sent to the tiny screen on the kinescope machine, to be filmed by the recording camera atop it.
the industry worked before the advent of . , reader-friendly summary of . Pp.8 and 11 confirm t.v. cameras had no film but did have electronic viewing screens in the upper part of the housing. Their signals were transmitted to the control room by coax cable. Pp. 22-25 and 35 tell us sound was picked up by boom and sometimes stationary mics, or sometimes from other sources in or out of the studio, and is controlled by a sound man in the control room or elsewhere in the studio. He seems to control the sound that is transmitted via the line monitor. )
In any event, it is likely there would have been a rehearsal for the benefit of the director who would have had over all responsiblity for ensuring the cameras and microphone boom were placed properly.
- The show may have aired in real time while being simultaneously recorded with Kinescope, or it may have been prerecorded. Prerecording might have been earlier that day or even the day before. Despite switching between cameras, the show runs smoothly, suggesting a rehearsal beforehand (but in May, The Evening Sun described the show as unrehearsed).
- The show aired at 19:45 and 23:00 EST in New York, and in the Midwest at 19:45 EST on WJBK (Detroit), 18:45 CST on WTMJ (Racine) and 22:00 CST in WHBF (Rock Island). These Midwest airings coincide with the East Coast telecasts and were probably retransmitted from coax cable feeds.
- West Coast t.v. schedules have it on KPIX and KTLA at 18:45 PST, 19:45 on KTTV and 23:30 on KFMB, corresponding to 21:45, 22:45 and 02:30 EST. Apparently the coast-to-coast microwave/cable sytems weren't complete in 1950, so this might indicate recording Monday and couriering a reel of Kinescope film to the West Coast overnight or Tuesday morning. If it was transmitted by cable when broadcast out west, the Kinescope film would have had to be developed, edited, and redeveloped for retransmission to the California stations within 1 3/4 hours after the New York telecast ended.
- Regardless of the time, unless it was pre-scripted, Ms Emerson's mention of the New York Horse Show opening "today" (confirmed) would seem to indicate the show was recorded on October 31.
Television recording technology changed between 1950 and the advent of videotape in 1956. A show could be aired in real time and aired from the originating station's transmitter and simultaneously from other network stations connected to the originating station by coax cable. By 1950, coax cable connected several east coast stations and extended to the midwest. Stations on the west coast were connected to each other but would not be connected to the east coast network until late 1951, when AT&T finished decveloping a coast-to-coast coaxial cable to be shared by the networks.
- Wikipedia Faye Emerson biography
- Variety
- 1950-06-14 p.43 (re Fifteen With Faye)
- 1950-09-20 p.22 (re Pepsi sponsorship of FES)
- The Charlotte Observer, Charlotte, N.C.
- 1950-06-22 p.24-B (ad for Faye Emerson Show)
- Daily News, Los Angeles, Cal.
- 1950-06-30 p.44 (plug Faye Emerson Show)
- 1950-07-06 p.23-C44 (announce new Faye Emerson Show)
- St. Louis Post-Dispatch, St. Louis, Mo.
- 1950-07-02 p.5G (plug Faye Emerson Show)
- Newsday Suffolk Edition, Hempstead, N.Y
1950-09-18 p.30 (column) - The Detroit Times, Detroit, Mich.
1950-10-26 p.22-C (column) - Citizen-News, Hollywood, Cal.
1950-04-08 p.2 (re flight time)
"Halloween Party" episode of CBS Television's "Faye Emerson Show," which may be viewable at https://archive.org/details/faye-emerson-halloween_cb-450 (if the Internet Archive has been restored after an October 2024 cyberattack)
- The Evening Sun, Baltimore, Md.
- 1950-03-16 p.34
- 1950-5-18 p.32
- Daily News, New York, N.Y.
- 1950-04-01 p.21
- 1950-07-06 p.23C
- The Progress-Bulletin, Pomona, Cal.
- 1950-06-10 s.1 p.5
- The Atlanta Journal-The Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta, Ga.
- 1950-07-02 p.4-B (t.v. log)
- The Philadelpthia Inquirer, Philadelphia, Penn.
- 1950-07-02 p.A 13
- Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, Tex.
- 1950-07-05 p.31 (t.v. log)
- "Television in the Theater,"
Popular Mechanics October 1950 p.227 - Ross Reports on Television Programming
- March 19-25 1950
- June 1950
- July 23-29 1950
- September 1950
- Oct. 15-21 1950
- Dec. 3-9,, 1950
- Dec. 17-23 1950
- Dec. 22-29 1950
- Dec 31-Jan.6, 1951
- etc.
- Jeremy G. Butler
Television - Critical Methods and Applications
Fourth Edition
Routledge, New York and London p.220 - Broadcasting Telecasting
- 1950-04-10 p.16
- 1950-05-01 .10
- Television Digest
- 1950-01-14
- 1950-04-08
- 1950-06-24
- 1950-07-01
What is Kinescope?
Before videotape (1956), television shows were recorded on film either with ordinary movie cameras or by t.v. cameras feeding their signals to a Kinescope machine. Where a single t.v. camera was used, it may be the signal could be aired in real time while the show was also being recorded. It seems unlikely this would work with a multiple camera setup.Windows Copilot artificial intelligence describes the Kinescope process:
In October 1950, CBS TV used kinescope to record live broadcasts. The process involved filming the live broadcast directly from a television screen using a film camera. When multiple camera feeds were used, each camera's feed was recorded separately onto film. After the live broadcast, the films from each camera were developed. The kinescope recording served as a "workprint," which editors used to synchronize and combine the footage from the different cameras. The higher quality 35mm film from each camera was then edited in a traditional film style to match the kinescope workprint. This process was quite labor-intensive and required precise editing to ensure that the final combined film accurately represented the live broadcast.
With Kinescope, the visual signal(s) from the t.v. camera(s) goes to a five-inch monitor on top of the machine, where it is filmed with a 16 or 35 mm recording camera bolted onto the machine - see illustration. In 1952, a "hot kine" process fed film from the recording camera into an attached processing machine, allowing a 30-minute film to be developed in about 6 minutes. This could then be retransmitted to the West Coast where it would presumably either be aired as the signal was received or be recorded on another Kinescope for a delayed telecast. In 1953, Popular Mechanics described Kinescope film processing for projection on movie house screens. The film could pass from the recording camera through a developer, a washer, a fixer, another washer, and a drier to a theatre projector in one minute.
While it isn't clear if a multiple cameras required separate Kinescopes in 1950, Butler says a director typically would edit a version of the show while the feeds were being recorded during the production stage, switching the camera feeds to produce a line cut used by the show editors as "a rouigh guide while they cut the recorded camera feeds."
Either way the film from the recording camera had to be developed to create a new film which included the sound track, and it in turn would have to have been processed. The finished program could then be fed back into the television transmitter or the film reel (i.e., hard copy) could be shipped to affiliated stations to air when they chose. In a "bicycling" system, the same film passed from station to station, resulting in poorer quality telecasts from the later stations as the film wore out.
Tuesday
Halloween
6th floor
Stork Club building
3 East 53rd Street at Fifth Avenue
Ellington appeared on CBS TV's Faye Emerson Show, an early evening network talk show. This episode can be seen at https://archive.org/details/faye-emerson-halloween_cb-450.
- Brian Koller:The Faye Emerson Show was a 15-minute program televised by CBS [recte CBS, NBC and ABC} between 1949 and 1951.
She had a Halloween party episode in 1950. You'll never guess the identity of Mr. E on piano.
Ellington plays piano throughout, but I recognize- Sophisticated Lady
- In A Sentimental Mood
- I'm Beginning To See The Light
- Love In Bloom (vocal by Kitty Carlisle)
Ellington can hold a conversation and play at the same time. - It isn't clear when Ellington actually performed in this episode. Since the show had a Halloween theme, it was time sensitive. There was no transcontinental coax cable / microwave connection until a year later, so if this episode was the same one telecast in Los Angeles on Halloween, it likely was recorded early in the day of the telecast, or, given that shipping the film to Los Angeles by air would have taken several hours, more likely recorded previously with the film footage couriered to Loa Angeles in time for the first telecast at 6:45 p.m. PST.
was in the CBS TV studio at airtime with the show being recorded at the same time it aired, or if the episode was pre-recorded earlier, on October 31 or even previously.
Thomas H. Hutchinson's https://archive.org/details/hereistelevision00hutcrich/page/n5/mode/1up>Here is TELEVISION Your Window to the World dexcribes how TV shows were made in 1950, before the technical changes that took place in 1951 and later. Videotape was not used before 1956 so until then, TV was recorded on motion picture film, either with regular film movie cameras or with a kinescope recording film camera. Hutchinson suggests there would normally be a rehearsal to ensure all the camera placements were established before the show was recorded so they didn't run into the thick coax cables used to connect them to the studio control room nor catch the boom microphone used to capture the sound. Pages 8 and 11 confirm TV cameras did not record sound and the operators viewed what they were shooting through small "kinescope" screens in the camera housing. , so a microphone on a moveable boom captured the dialogue overhead, out of the cameras' fields of vision. Cameras were connected to the studio control room with thick coax cables. Cameras that moved had to avoid the cables and not catch the overhead microphones, so the director had to plot everything in advance and give directions to the cameramen before they started shooting. moved to eras had no film but electronic viewing screens in the upper part of their housing and it was usual to use three or more cameras, all of which used coax cable to send their visual signals to the adjacent control room. Pp. 22-25 and 35 tells us sound us sound was picked up by boom and sometimes stationary mics, or sometimes from other sources in or out of the studio, and is controlled by a sound man in the control room or elsewhere in the studio. He seems to control the sound that is transmitted via the line monitor. ) He may also have had to attend a rehearsal. - Dr. Joe Medjuck:
It's possible that the show was broadcast live and what we have is a kinescope which was often used with live shows. When tv came to Fredericton in 1956 we weren't on the network. Everything that wasn't local was a kinescope of something that had been live a day or so before.
Medjuck [after more information was provided]:This makes me think that the show was pre-filmed. They might even have done more than one show at a time.
- Dr. Lewis Porter;
... a kinescope was simply a 16mm film of what was broadcast on TV, in fact filmed from a TV monitor with one camera.
If they knew in advance that a show would be re-broadcast, they either made a kinescope as it was first broadcast, or recorded the show BEFORE broadcasting, either on 16mm or on 35mm movie film. If the latter, this could be WELL before the first broadcast (days, sometimes weeks), so there was no issue of "rushing" it to California etc.
It's not so different from radio programs etc--there was no urgent need to broadcast non-news programs so quickly!
...Most shows that were never intended to be repeated were simply broadcast and never preserved. When the show was intended to be shown again, it was pre-recorded with ordinary movie cameras and film. No Kinescopes!
THEN, the program was shown on a TV monitor, and filmed with a kinescope, which used special film cameras to shoot directly off a TV screen. ONE kinescope. - Palmquist analysis:
I mostly agree with Mr. Medjuck and Mr. Porter. The question is when was Ellington in the studio? The show was recorded, and If the show was recorded simultaneously with its initial transmission or if it was prerecorded is unresolved.
Without documentary evidence, it is necessary to understand the nature of the show and how television shows were recorded in 1950. -
Faye Emerson Show
Television personality Faye Emerson's pioneering "Faye Emerson Show" began in New York as a Monday late night WCBS television talk show in October 1949 and bacame a CBS eastern network show The Evening Sun, Baltimore, Md. 1950-03-16 p.34. The sponsor moved it to NBC in April because CBS' coax cable was unavailable at air time and the producer disliked it being shown at different times or days Television Digest 1950-04-15 s.II but returned it to CBS in late May The Evening Sun, Baltimore, Md. 1950-05-18 p.32 or late June Daily News, New York, N.Y. 1950-04-01 p.21 before dropping it in the summer Television Digest 1950-07-24 p.3. A summer version ith a new sponsor ran on NBC in New York on Wednesday nights called "Fifteen with Faye" Variety 1950-06-14 p.43 and Thursdays on some stationsThe Charlotte Observer, Charlotte, N.C. 1950-06-22 p.43 and an episode was previewed in Los Angeles on June 30 Daily News, Los Angeles, Cal. 1950-06-30 p.44. In St. Louis it aired Wednesday via coax cable from New York, in Fort Worth, presumably by coax, and in Atlanta it aired Thursday, presumably by kinescope.St. Louis Post-Dispatch St. Louis, Mo. 1950-07-02 p.G; The Atlanta Journal-The Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta, Ga., 1950-07-02 p.4-B; Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, Tex. 1950-07-05 p.31.
From September to December, a new "Faye Emerson Show" sponsored by Pepsi Cola ran on CBS Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 7:45 p.m. in New York and again at 11 p.m. In the Midwest, it aired simultaneously at 7:45 EST on WJBK (Detroit), 6:45 MST on WTMJ (Racine) and 10:00 WHBF (Rock Island), presumably from New York via coax cable. The show aired on the West Coast on KPIX and KTLA at 6:45 PST, 7:45 on KTTV and 11:30 on KFMB, which was only possible with using a recorded version of the show on film since AT&T's transcontinetal coax cable/microwave connection to be shared with the networks wasn't complete until late 1951.
In December, it moved to ABC. While CBS and NBC shows were recorded with Kinescope, ABC prerecorded it with conventional movie film, increasing Pepsi's access from 12 markets to 50 (Ross Report Dec.17-23, 1950 Table 10).. ABC may have used film because its main Kinescope facilities were in Chicago, while the other networks had their main Kinescope facilities in New York.
The camera shown in this still from the Faye Emerson Show appears to be a t.v. camera since it doesn't have a film magazine. The several rapid camera angle shifts in the Halloween Party episode indicate multiple cameras were used, and a second camera operator's back is seen about 12 1/4 minutes into the show.
The shading in the upper corners of the video screen seems to confirm Kinescope was used, and Ross Report, March 19-25 1950, confirms it was on NBC:moves from WCBS-TV to WNBT and 2 Sta E Net; also 2 kinesc;...
(emphasis added).
A show pre-recorded with motion picture cameras would result in film footage to be developed, have sound added, and spliced to include opening credits, footage from other sources, etc. The final version of the film could be sent to the tranmitter for broadcast or copies could be sent to affiliated stations. 35mm film was flammable, more expensive than 16mm film and more expensive to ship than the smaller film, so the latter was preferred.
Thomas H. Hutchinson's Here is TELEVISION Your Window to the World, revised and republished in November 1950, is a contemporaneous reader-friendly explanation of how television shows were created before 1951.
Most studios used three or more television cameras (as opposed to movie cameras) and a microphone on a boom. TV cameras did not use film; instead they transmitted images through coaxial cable to a control room, which either had a single preview screen and a line monitor or preview screens for each camera feed and a line monitor. In both systems, a director controlled which camera feed was fed to the line monitor; the line monitor carried what would be transmitted.
At this point it appears the finalized signal for a live telecast could be sent to a transmission antenna off-site for immediate broadcast, as well as to other t.v. stations that could receive the live signal either by coax cable or by micro over the air. and to other tv stations connected to the originating studio by coax cable or microwave. If the show was to be recorded during the live telecast, the signal could also be sent to a very small monitor on a kinescope machine, where a 16 or 35 mm movie camera mounted on top of the kinescope and pointed at that small monitor would film it. If the show was to be prerecorded, it simply wouldn't be sent to the transmission antenna or to the affilated/connected stations.
the feeds from thethe signal the director wished to air would be directed to a live monitor. A director decided which feed would be aired; he switched the feeds
showed the feeds from all the camera, and the director controlled which camera feed went to the line monitor. The other system had several preview screens, each one with the feed from a different camera. Again, the director controlled which feed would go to the line monitor. Regardless of which system, at this point, the signal fed to the line monitor would either have been transmitted live by coax cable (NBC, CBS and DuMont) or relay radio link (GE) to the transmitter at the offsite antenna, for broadcast to the audience, or possibly sent to the tiny screen on the kinescope machine, to be filmed by the recording camera atop it.
the industry worked before the advent of . , reader-friendly summary of . Pp.8 and 11 confirm t.v. cameras had no film but did have electronic viewing screens in the upper part of the housing. Their signals were transmitted to the control room by coax cable. Pp. 22-25 and 35 tell us sound was picked up by boom and sometimes stationary mics, or sometimes from other sources in or out of the studio, and is controlled by a sound man in the control room or elsewhere in the studio. He seems to control the sound that is transmitted via the line monitor. )
In any event, it is likely there would have been a rehearsal for the benefit of the director who would have had over all responsiblity for ensuring the cameras and microphone boom were placed properly.
- The show may have aired in real time while being simultaneously recorded with Kinescope, or it may have been prerecorded. Prerecording might have been earlier that day or even the day before. Despite switching between cameras, the show runs smoothly, suggesting a rehearsal beforehand (but in May, The Evening Sun described the show as unrehearsed).
- The show aired at 19:45 and 23:00 EST in New York, and in the Midwest at 19:45 EST on WJBK (Detroit), 18:45 CST on WTMJ (Racine) and 22:00 CST in WHBF (Rock Island). These Midwest airings coincide with the East Coast telecasts and were probably retransmitted from coax cable feeds.
- West Coast t.v. schedules have it on KPIX and KTLA at 18:45 PST, 19:45 on KTTV and 23:30 on KFMB, corresponding to 21:45, 22:45 and 02:30 EST. Apparently the coast-to-coast microwave/cable sytems weren't complete in 1950, so this might indicate recording Monday and couriering a reel of Kinescope film to the West Coast overnight or Tuesday morning. If it was transmitted by cable when broadcast out west, the Kinescope film would have had to be developed, edited, and redeveloped for retransmission to the California stations within 1 3/4 hours after the New York telecast ended.
- Regardless of the time, unless it was pre-scripted, Ms Emerson's mention of the New York Horse Show opening "today" (confirmed) would seem to indicate the show was recorded on October 31.
Television recording technology changed between 1950 and the advent of videotape in 1956. A show could be aired in real time and aired from the originating station's transmitter and simultaneously from other network stations connected to the originating station by coax cable. By 1950, coax cable connected several east coast stations and extended to the midwest. Stations on the west coast were connected to each other but wouldnot be connected to the east coast network until late 1951, when AT&T finished decveloping a coast-to-coast coaxial cable to be shared by the networks.
- Email, Brian Koller - DukeLYM 2024-08-04
- Email, J. Medjuck - Palmquist 2024-08-04
- IMBD.com:
Fay Emerson Show episode guide, 1950 - Wikipedia Faye Emerson biography
- The Evening Sun, Baltimore, Md.
- 1950-03-16 p.34
- 1950-5-18 p.32
- Daily News, New York, N.Y.
- 1950-04-01 p.21
- 1950-07-06 p.23C
- The Progress-Bulletin, Pomona, Cal.
- 1950-06-10 s.1 p.5
- Variety
- 1950-06-14 p.43
- 1950-09-20 p.22
- The Charlotte Observer, Charlotte, N.C.
- 1950-06-22 p.24-B
- Daily News, Los Angeles, Cal.
- 1950-06-30 p.44
- St. Louis Post-Dispatch, St. Louis, Mo.
- 1950-07-02 p.5G
- The Atlanta Journal-The Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta, Ga.
- 1950-07-02 p.4-B
- The Philadelpthia Inquirer, Philadelphia, Penn.
- 1950-07-02 p.A 13
- Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, Tex.
- 1950-07-05 p.31
- "Television in the Theater,"
Popular Mechanics October 1950 p.227 - Ross Reports on Television Programming
- March 19-25 1950
- June 1950
- July 23-29 1950
- September 1950
- Oct. 15-21 1950
- Dec. 3-9,, 1950
- Dec. 17-23 1950
- Dec. 22-29 1950
- Dec 31-Jan.6, 1951
- etc.
- Jeremy G. Butler
Television - Critical Methods and Applications
Fourth Edition
Routledge, New York and London p.220 - Broadcasting Telecasting
- 1950-04-10 p.16
- 1950-05-01 .10
- Television Digest
- 1950-01-14
- 1950-04-08
- 1950-06-24
- 1950-07-01
What is Kinescope?
Before videotape (1956), television shows were recorded on film either with ordinary movie cameras or by t.v. cameras feeding their signals to a Kinescope machine. Where a single t.v. camera was used, it may be the signal could be aired in real time while the show was also being recorded. It seems unlikely this would work with a multiple camera setup.Windows Copilot artificial intelligence describes the Kinescope process:
In October 1950, CBS TV used kinescope to record live broadcasts. The process involved filming the live broadcast directly from a television screen using a film camera. When multiple camera feeds were used, each camera's feed was recorded separately onto film. After the live broadcast, the films from each camera were developed. The kinescope recording served as a "workprint," which editors used to synchronize and combine the footage from the different cameras. The higher quality 35mm film from each camera was then edited in a traditional film style to match the kinescope workprint. This process was quite labor-intensive and required precise editing to ensure that the final combined film accurately represented the live broadcast.
With Kinescope, the visual signal(s) from the t.v. camera(s) goes to a five-inch monitor on top of the machine, where it is filmed with a 16 or 35 mm recording camera bolted onto the machine - see illustration. In 1952, a "hot kine" process fed film from the recording camera into an attached processing machine, allowing a 30-minute film to be developed in about 6 minutes. This could then be retransmitted to the West Coast where it would presumably either be aired as the signal was received or be recorded on another Kinescope for a delayed telecast. In 1953, Popular Mechanics described Kinescope film processing for projection on movie house screens. The film could pass from the recording camera through a developer, a washer, a fixer, another washer, and a drier to a theatre projector in one minute.While it isn't clear if a multiple cameras required separate Kinescopes in 1950, Butler says a director typically would edit a version of the show while the feeds were being recorded during the production stage, switching the camera feeds to produce a line cut used by the show editors as "a rouigh guide while they cut the recorded camera feeds."
Either way the film from the recording camera had to be developed to create a new film which included the sound track, and it in turn would have to have been processed. The finished program could then be fed back into the television transmitter or the film reel (i.e., hard copy) could be shipped to affiliated stations to air when they chose. In a "bicycling" system, the same film passed from station to station, resulting in poorer quality telecasts from the later stations as the film wore out.
added
2024-08-12
updated
2024-08-19