G'day all.

It looks like this fantastic colour videotape footage of Dwight Eisenhower's dedication to WRC-TV May 22nd 1958 has finally been somehow leaked out into the public, I have been searching for a copy of the this presentation in any form for a while and I saw a DVD copy go on Ebay which the auction ended, but with a little more Googling I found the entire presentation on the video site Veoh.com on this page http://www.veoh.com/browse/videos/category/news/watch/v191020606nr3MbJG , and it gets better, if you install Veoh Web Player, you can download the whole presentation which so happens to be in DVD MPEG 6000kbps variable bitrate quality interlaced. I did that and put it to disc and watched it on my telly in fantastic quality, it was thrilling to watch and see how fantastic colour television looked way back in the 50s, the quality is compariable to 70s/80s plumbicon pictures, the colours were nice and rich too.

Also on YouTube someone has uploaded the colour videotape recording of Richard Nixon and Nikita Khrushchev Kitchen Debate from July 24th 1959 which can be viewed here:
Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7HqOrAakco
Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6RLCw1OZFw

I have to admit I was a bit cagey in telling you's about it as I understand that it is heavily copyrighted material that somehow got leaked out and Ed Reitan whom had a major role in the restoration of this presentation might be concerned knowing about this because of the copyright, but you's would of came across the video sooner or later anyhow and seeing I'm the first to find it, I'm the one to inform you's so anyways the video is up on Veoh for everyone to download for their own enjoyment of the feel of 50s living colour and the presentation! :)

Lastly as a side note a lot of this copyrighted archive footage does get leaked out to the public all over the globe, whilst it infringes the copyright laws, it's good that this wonderful footage is made available to those who want to see it as for stuff like this to be commercially be released would be unpredictable and could take probably take years or decades or may not at all get released at all due to low public demand as it is acquired taste material. This was the case with Soul Train, Don Cornelius was pissed off that bootleg copies of the show were going around worldwide on VHS tapes and DVDs getting sold on Ebay, however it was a good thing for all those who loved classic Soul Train and wanted to see those great shows again including myself, in recent years Don has sold the rights to MAD Entertainment and they are planning DVD releases of classic episodes by public demand http://www.soultrain.com/ .

Hi,
I was very pleased that all can now see this historic videotape. This is the earliest known surviving 2-inch color videotape.

The tape was restored by Don Kent and Ed Reitan (myself) under the auspices of the UCLA Film and Television Archive (Dan Einstein). We used the process I developed, during the "Evening with Fred Astaire" restoration, for playing the earliest color recordings, . The recordings used a color recording process developed by RCA Labs. RCA Labs created the first Color videotape recorder by making significant modifications to a baseline Ampex b&w Videotape recorder. The RCA Labs process preceded the eventually adopted "Low Band Color" standard. My modification involved 10 boards in an AMPEX AVR-1 (the greatest 2-inch recorder ).
It was a joy to see the gorgeous color that the TK-41 camera and TK-26 slide camera could produce - it looks like Technicolor. As Sarnoff said "We want everyone in the world to see America in its true and natural colors".

Hi Ed.

Glad to hear you're happy that this historic footage is available to all to see :).

And thank you so much for your all your work in the restoration of these early colour videotape recordings with your innovative electronic modifications to the AVR-1 to play these tapes and my thank you also goes to Don Kent and whoever else is involved in restoring all of this historic footage!!! :)

It's amazing how 2 inch videotape recordings can last for over 1/2 a century, makes me wonder if they can outlive DVDs lol even though the stated life expectancy of a DVD is supposedly 100 years.

Even I was thinking too colours produced from the TK-41s looked like a Technicolor movie but in fluid motion, personally I am so amazed on the quality of colour television in the 50s in general as I'm so use to seeing 16mm B&W kinescope recordings of programs from that era.

Anyways I'm glad to finally see this wonderful footage and thank you once again Ed and Don for the restoration work on preserving this historic recording :).

OMG Ed! That was just incredible!

Thank you for a magnificent effort to bring this to all of us.

Can you give us some idea of how involved it was to get the old Ampex machine up and running and to make the mods to color? How long did this project take? Where was the equipment located? Etc.

Please tell us the rest of the story.

Ed, thank you for your efforts in this project. I have seen the short clip of the "Evening With Fred Astaire" that is available on the net that you helped bring back to life, and I was wondering if the entire broadcast, including the Chrysler Corporation references I see in the clip, has ever officially been made available for purchase? It would be a fascinating artifact of the 1950s.

That was just an awesome tape:thmbsp: I would love to get a DVD copy of this tape if that's possible-thanks:yes: I collect and research vintage and historical TV programs as well.

That was just an awesome tape:thmbsp: I would love to get a DVD copy of this tape if that's possible-thanks:yes: I collect and research vintage and historical TV programs as well.

You can mate. All you have to do is download Veoh Webplayer so you can watch the program in full, then on the page of the video there is a download button which you click on and the original video will download and it so happens to be in SP DVD quality interlaced picture and is 6000kbps variable and you can with your DVD authoring tools put it to disc and watch it in great quality. That's what I done and the picture is fantastic when watching it :)!!!

Amazing....Simply amazing ! Like maybe going for a ride in the 1886 Benz "Patentmotorenwagen" or somesuch...

OMG Ed! That was just incredible!

Thank you for a magnificent effort to bring this to all of us.

Can you give us some idea of how involved it was to get the old Ampex machine up and running and to make the mods to color? How long did this project take? Where was the equipment located? Etc.

Please tell us the rest of the story.

Hi Bob,

The entire restoration of the Astaire Specials took some three calendar years.
It is surreal to see color video from the 1950's that looks so live (unlike film kinescope recordings). The Emmy award we received was for "Outstanding Achievement in Engineering Development; 1988-1989 Emmy Awards".

We used a late 1970's era Ampex AVR-1 for playback of these precious tapes. The AVR-1 is the last and the greatest performing two-inch vtr. It was then operational at KTLA, Hollywood and is still fully operational today in CBS Jurassic Park at CBS Television City.

I designed modifications to allow the AVR-1 to play the RCA Labs Color Format. I was able to get original schematics of the RCA Labs design from one of its original engineers, modeled it using computer circuit analysis software, and then designed and implemented the modifications for the KTLA AVR-1.

The Library of Congress contacted us as they had heard of our underway Astaire Restoration. We did play their two-inch of the Eisenhower Dedication. The LOC Eisenhower tape had been greatly damaged because of their many attempts to play it (the recordings are gibberish when the Low-Band Standard is used).

So I searched down and found the second two-inch copy at the Eisenhower Library. Dan Einstein arranged its transfer to UCLA. The tape was virgin and apparently never been played.

Transfers were made by Don Kent to the digital D-2 format (the Sony digital vtr machines were so new, they came directly from the floor of the NAB Convention). Post editing was done at AME, Hollywood (the first digital edit!). The resulting digital masters are deposited at the UCLA Film and Television Archive.

The final edited D2 recordings are many steps above what you saw - we wanted to preserve it just as we saw it coming off the two-inch machine. The color resolution of Eisenhower's ruddish face is amazing. But the color from the Burbank TK-41's for "An Evening with Fred Astaire" is even better.

The three Astaire specials were restored and preserved at the UCLA Film and Television Archive. They have never been available on DVD and face many seemingly unsurmountable rights issues.

Thanks for your interest and appreciated comments.

Ed Reitan

The audio on the Eisenhower dedication, from what I've read on this site (http://quadvideotapegroup.com/EiesnhowerQuadRestoration.htm), was 5 kHz telco audio - which would not be surprising, given its being recorded in Burbank. As for that sound, I've learned from this page (http://www.broadcasting101.ws/abctones.htm) that the frequency response - or if you prefer, "bandwidth" - was 50 Hz - 5 kHz. In any event, it sure looked good for something 51 years old. And the picture looked rather coming from the TK-41, from what I've read of the varying quality from studio to studio.

Meanwhile, I was marveling at the replication of the color slides courtesy of the TK-26 film chain. I've understood that not even their 1960's TK-27 came close to this level, but GE's PE-24 and later PE-240 did that decade.

That was great, Thanks for the links! I just downloaded and watched the program on the Roundie.

That was great, Thanks for the links! I just downloaded and watched the program on the Roundie.

How cool is that? Great...

Something I've often noticed is how much BETTER color TV pictures looked than corresponding B&W ones did...Even the earliest ones like this, seemed so much more "stable", & less prone to overloading from light sources, reflections, etc, & didn't have that harsh, stark, "Copy of a copy of a copy of a copy" look to them.. and no, I don't think its that B&W was for the most part recorded on "kinescopes", either... It's a subtle thing,& kinda hard to describe...

Something I've often noticed is how much BETTER color TV pictures looked than corresponding B&W ones did...Even the earliest ones like this, seemed so much more "stable", & less prone to overloading from light sources, reflections, etc, & didn't have that harsh, stark, "Copy of a copy of a copy of a copy" look to them.. and no, I don't think its that B&W was for the most part recorded on "kinescopes", either... It's a subtle thing,& kinda hard to describe...

As has been discussed somewhere else on the forum, a good part of this is due to running the image orthicons "below the knee" in the color cameras plus using gamma corrector circuits in the color cameras.

Black and white cameras depended on an approximate gamma correction from the effect of secondary electron redistribution in the image orthicon, which resulted in bright objects being surrounded with a dark halo, and dark objects having a washed-out central area away from the edges. This wouldn't do for color, because, for example, a red object would have a cyan halo. This same kind of charge redistribution occurred in early Xerox machines, hence the "copy of a copy" look.

There were some illustrations of image orthicon halo in this thread:
http://www.videokarma.org/showthread.php?p=2365603&highlight=orthicon+knee#post2365603
but the attachments seem to have disappeared.

Thanks ! That "'splains" it...I'd kinda thought it was just me...Its REALLY evident in images from the JFK assasination/funeral, along w/obvious optical distortions, people look "pulled" or "squashed"....Funny, you didn't see the "optical" artifacts when color came along, either...I never recall seeing the "edges" of the lens in a colorcast like you do so often in the old B&W work...

What a great treasure!!

Thanks for sharing this with us

Funny, you didn't see the "optical" artifacts when color came along, either...I never recall seeing the "edges" of the lens in a colorcast like you do so often in the old B&W work...
Actually, a few colorcasts did have "optical" artifacts, though by and large they weren't nearly as commonplace (as you noted) as when B&W was king:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWarSBAE3FM (at points 0:09 and 1:03, sort of emerald greenish, courtesy one of the Norelco PC-70 cameras*)
* One of WABC Channel 7 New York's Ikegami HK-312C cameras, as of 1983, had similar artifacts, only magenta-ish; that was on a 1983 Eyewitness News opening teaser that has since been taken off YouTube.

Actually, a few colorcasts did have "optical" artifacts, though by and large they weren't nearly as commonplace (as you noted) as when B&W was king:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWarSBAE3FM (at points 0:09 and 1:03, sort of emerald greenish, courtesy one of the Norelco PC-70 cameras*)
* One of WABC Channel 7 New York's Ikegami HK-312C cameras, as of 1983, had similar artifacts, only magenta-ish; that was on a 1983 Eyewitness News opening teaser that has since been taken off YouTube.

OK, in all that smear, oversaturation, tape artifacts and MPEG artifacts, what emerald greenish artifact do you mean? Are you pointing out the forehead highlight that is clipping and turning greenish, or something else?

Thanks ! That "'splains" it...I'd kinda thought it was just me...Its REALLY evident in images from the JFK assasination/funeral, along w/obvious optical distortions, people look "pulled" or "squashed"....Funny, you didn't see the "optical" artifacts when color came along, either...I never recall seeing the "edges" of the lens in a colorcast like you do so often in the old B&W work...

B&W cameras would often be run overscanned even on the air. Overscanning was used to prevent burning a raster into the image orthicons. However, image orthicon color cameras weren't pristine out to the corners either, as can be seen if you look at the color Howdy Doody show on a 16x9 set, which shows the complete 4x3 picture with nothing hidden in overscan on the left or right.

OK, in all that smear, oversaturation, tape artifacts and MPEG artifacts, what emerald greenish artifact do you mean? Are you pointing out the forehead highlight that is clipping and turning greenish, or something else?
I'm referring to the top- and bottom-most edges (at left and right) of the screen in those time positions (circular in nature, probably the edge of the lens; reminds me of circular edges of camera lens in B&W TV cameras where there's black on the "outer" part of the frame). B.T.W., the "oversaturation" may've been attributable to its having been recorded off the air at home. Professionally recorded (i.e. at the station) material would've had color as subtle as that 1958 WRC studio dedication.

And here's what I mean (with arrows pointing to the areas in question):

Oh - OK, does look like overscan. The HDK1000 studio hi-def camera we had in the 90's used a built in slide for automatic alignment, which always resulted in scanning within the physical limits of the faceplate. Since the raster was perfectly aligned every time, there was no chance of seeing the edge of a "worn" area either.

Actually, a few colorcasts did have "optical" artifacts, though by and large they weren't nearly as commonplace (as you noted) as when B&W was king:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWarSBAE3FM (at points 0:09 and 1:03, sort of emerald greenish, courtesy one of the Norelco PC-70 cameras*)
* One of WABC Channel 7 New York's Ikegami HK-312C cameras, as of 1983, had similar artifacts, only magenta-ish; that was on a 1983 Eyewitness News opening teaser that has since been taken off YouTube.

I couldn't help but notice news anchorman Jim Hale has a striking resemblance to that Ron Burgundy character from Anchorman, I bet any money the directors of that movie based the looks of Ron Burgundy off Jim:lmao:.

found the entire presentation on the video site Veoh.com on this page http://www.veoh.com/browse/videos/category/news/watch/v191020606nr3MbJG , and it gets better, if you install Veoh Web Player, you can download the whole presentation which so happens to be in DVD MPEG 6000kbps variable bitrate quality interlaced. I did that and put it to disc and watched it on my telly in fantastic quality, it was thrilling to watch and see how fantastic colour television looked way back in the 50s, the quality is compariable to 70s/80s plumbicon pictures, the colours were nice and rich too.

Does anyone have the DVD mpeg? I tried Veoh but even installing the Veoh Player (various versions) wouldn't let me download. Would love to actually see this with it's original "Video-tape" look as it's a pretty momentus ocasion in history.

I have it hosted on my private web host.
Please PM me if you would like the link to download.

Thank You Aussie Bloke for the links. I had long heard of the legendary Kitchen Debate, but had never read the transcript, let alone seen the actual recording. I'll play it for a nephew who is fluent in Russian to get a better handle on the Russian.
Kevin

That was great, Thanks for the links! I just downloaded and watched the program on the Roundie.

That Zenith is sweet! How old? Model number please?

Here is a press photo of Ike being shown the control room at WRC on the day he did the color dedication.

A huge thank you to all who made this possible! Acknowledgement and acclaim are earned in spades here. What I took away, after the shiny 1958 cars and gleaming tower gave way to the speeches, was two words General Sarnoff said: "Fellow workers". All the years I've studied Sarnoff, I had the impression he was a hard, heartless man, described to a T in PBS' "Empire of the air". I actually felt a little heart-warmed when he addressed his employees that way. Next was Ike, beaming with pride at America's technological superiority of the moment, smiling and chatty after having spoken. Lastly, was the voice of a younger David Brinkley, whom, at the same time, beamed though the Bendix in my parents' humble rented half-duplex on Seattle's then totally un-hip Capitol Hill. Unlike many of you, I remember where I was when I learned of Ike's untimely passing. Thank you again for a job well done!

I remember too--our teacher had set up one of the school's two Bakelite GE consoles in the classroom so that we could all watch a new show show called Sesame Street but instead the channel supposedly carrying it was showing Ike's funeral coverage. Boo!

Another thing to marvel at is Ike's use of an apparently stock 1958 Caddy 75 limo, rather than the ugly rolling bomb shelter presidents have to use nowadays. I wonder if the building, brand-new in '58, is still there & still in use ?

It is still there, it is still WRC NBC4.

Another thing to marvel at is Ike's use of an apparently stock 1958 Caddy 75 limo, rather than the ugly rolling bomb shelter presidents have to use nowadays. I wonder if the building, brand-new in '58, is still there & still in use ?

Sandy, there might have been some mild armoring such as steel plates inserted in the panels and trunk to surround the back seat, but for the most part it was probably stock. The White House used a lot of stock cars before the Kennedy assassination, especially for short distances that weren't deemed a threat.

Even the Lincoln X-100 that Kennedy was shot in had limited armoring. And, many times on trips he and Johnson were driven around in stock Continentals borrowed from local dealers so they didn't have to get the big car out, even on their trip to Texas. That changed after November 22, 1963.

Here's some articles on a '55 Cadillac limo that was modified for parade use:
http://blogs.wsj.com/drivers-seat/2011/08/26/auctions-america-to-sell-former-eisenhower-limo-next-week/
http://www.carbuzz.com/news/2012/12/24/Eisenhower-Presidential-Limousine-up-for-Auction-7712189/

A funny story about Ike and cars: when he was getting ready to leave office in 1961 he realized that he'd forgotten how to drive. He hadn't driven a car since he became NATO commander in '51. Those 10 years and the stroke he had in '57 made him forget how. He worried that retiring to his farm in PA he needed to learn to drive again. So, some Secret Service agents thought it'd be easy since cars now had automatic transmissions, power steering and brakes. They took him to the WH garage and after a couple of hours he just couldn't get the hang of it. Finally, he got out of the car, blurted some cuss words, and said, "I guess Mamie will have to drive me around!" He then ordered her a new Plymouth Valiant.

Hehehehe... I like the- Probably apochrophal- story that LBJ, being a Texas Redneck after all, was whooping it up on the LBJ Ranch in a new 1964 Lincoln convertible. He jumped a ditch, which caused the car's front end to collapse-They WEREN'T meant to do THAT- He called up Henry Ford 2nd & proceeded to bawl him out...

I don't doubt it a bit. LBJ was a real piece of work.

You might get a kick listening to this. It's legit, a real recording of LBJ on the phone trying to order some pants: http://youtu.be/S3GT9UN7nDo

He was. There was ANOTHER story that part of the modifications Hess & Eisenhardt had to do to X-100 after the assassination was repair the trunk lid, which LBJ had put a big dent in after he'd tried to jump/vault over the rear end of the car. I've had my '67 Lincoln convertible since '83, I was a LOT younger then, but I NEVER had a desire to try to "Jump/vault" over it...

Wow!

To bring all this back to TV's, Lady Bird Johnson owned a TV station in Austin. For years LBJ pressured the FCC to not grant any other licenses for Austin so they could have a monopoly. It was CBS primary and NBC secondary affiliate. He would call up the networks and threaten to switch which news they showed if one did a story he didn't like.

LBJ also strong armed RCA and told them not to see broadcast TV equipment to ANY other Texas TV station. Otherwise he would have the government pull all of their RCA contracts, which would have effectively killed the company. That is why in most pictures of TV stations in Teas you see GE, Marconi, Dumont and other brand of equipment not RCA.