Aussie Bloke
09-22-2006, 10:39 PM
Hi all. Been trawling the web for early colour shows on video from the late 50s to mid 60s and have been reading the posts about those Fred Astaire specials being aired on the Disney Channel some years ago.
Letting the cat out of the bag I've gotten DVD copies of all 3 specials off late last year and they look awsome, they would be of maybe 2nd/3rd generation copies but are still good and bumping the colour saturation on my telly up to max the colour looks brilliant! Wish they had the commercials in them especially the cars I seen on the trailer shown on Kris Trexler's site. Anyways I've smooth-motion converted them to PAL using AVISynth for my own viewing on my 70s Toshiba PAL colour TV. Also noting on the technical aspects of the show, I'm so amazed to see the use of chomakey way back then, I use to think that sort of effect didn't come into use til the mid/late 60s!
In regards of Robyn Astaire, here's some articles that shed light on the issue
http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,4484,00.html
http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,1331,00.html
http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/Music/9905/14/fred.astaire/
All of this came about quoting from the first article link "What got her started? She saw the video advertised in a catalog with the blurb "Fred Astaire teaches you how to dirty dance.". And the 3rd article link read the bottom paragraph which states her motive on why she is stringent with what gets released of Fred Astaire. From what I read, I can understand about her wanting to protect Fred Astaire's legacy especially with the merchandise nicknack sellout sort of stuff and the misuse edits of his footage, but for people's viewing enjoyment, his TV shows and movies should be released on DVD as afterall they are made to be watched by viewers and it's not like that will harm Fred's legacy.
Anyways onto more about early colour TV footage. As mentioned I'm looking for more early colour TV shows video recordings and colour kine recordings. Here's some of what's on my hotlist:
Basically any pre-1960 colour video recordings
Dwight Eisenhower WRC-TV speech from 21st May 1958 (earliest known colour videotape)
Any colour kinescopes of the 1954 Tournament Of The Roses parade from colour TV screen (I hear there have been some shown on TV)
Any colour kinescopes of the 1950s (been reading a few threads in this forum about some of these cropping up)
Any outdoor videotaped colourcasts done from a TK-40/41 colour camera (I would reckon some early sporting events probably still exist on colour videotape)
Dinah Shore Chevy Shows of the 50s and early 60s on colour tape
Kraft Music Hall colour recordings from 1959
Andy Williams Shows of the early/mid/late 60s
Nixon Kitchen Debate 1959 recorded in colour
Red Skelton Shows that still survive on colour video
Also in B&W:
Playhouse 90 episodes of the late 50s in videotape
Edsel Show (earliest surviving B&W TV show video recording 1957)
Some footage taken of a mountain/canyon on a moving OB van driving up the mountain (ealiest surviving B&W video recording probably dating 1956/57)
Who Do You Trust (some of these late 50s episodes exist in B&W videotape)
Looking at YouTube a lot these days I've come across quite a number of Dinah Shore TV show clips from the early 60s and for those who are interested you'll find them under this user http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=gomezparkinson . Also you'll find clips from shows like Dean Martin Show, Andy Williams Show, Hullabaloo and other shows. Also I've uploaded some blooper excerpts of Johnny Carson on "Who Do You Trust" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNM25eMkqiY dating approx 1958 which is an example of early B&W video recording which was shown on a blooper program of the early 80s "Life's Most Embarrassing Moments" hosted by the late John Ritter.
Anyways getting a close to first hand experience of what early live colour television was like back in the 50s is thrilling for me as it's like looking at reality nearly 50 years ago, it's like preserving reality in time and smooth lifelike video motion captures that reality unlike movie film. And some shows it's like you'd think they were recorded only 10 years ago when they are really recorded 30 years ago e.g. Maude and Good Times, they look more like they were recorded in the late 80s than early 70s! And the funky video effects used in the early 70s on a German rock music show called "Beat Club" are so ahead of time that you'd think that sort of thing was used more in the 80s.
Cheers
Troy
Letting the cat out of the bag I've gotten DVD copies of all 3 specials off late last year and they look awsome, they would be of maybe 2nd/3rd generation copies but are still good and bumping the colour saturation on my telly up to max the colour looks brilliant! Wish they had the commercials in them especially the cars I seen on the trailer shown on Kris Trexler's site. Anyways I've smooth-motion converted them to PAL using AVISynth for my own viewing on my 70s Toshiba PAL colour TV. Also noting on the technical aspects of the show, I'm so amazed to see the use of chomakey way back then, I use to think that sort of effect didn't come into use til the mid/late 60s!
In regards of Robyn Astaire, here's some articles that shed light on the issue
http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,4484,00.html
http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,1331,00.html
http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/Music/9905/14/fred.astaire/
All of this came about quoting from the first article link "What got her started? She saw the video advertised in a catalog with the blurb "Fred Astaire teaches you how to dirty dance.". And the 3rd article link read the bottom paragraph which states her motive on why she is stringent with what gets released of Fred Astaire. From what I read, I can understand about her wanting to protect Fred Astaire's legacy especially with the merchandise nicknack sellout sort of stuff and the misuse edits of his footage, but for people's viewing enjoyment, his TV shows and movies should be released on DVD as afterall they are made to be watched by viewers and it's not like that will harm Fred's legacy.
Anyways onto more about early colour TV footage. As mentioned I'm looking for more early colour TV shows video recordings and colour kine recordings. Here's some of what's on my hotlist:
Basically any pre-1960 colour video recordings
Dwight Eisenhower WRC-TV speech from 21st May 1958 (earliest known colour videotape)
Any colour kinescopes of the 1954 Tournament Of The Roses parade from colour TV screen (I hear there have been some shown on TV)
Any colour kinescopes of the 1950s (been reading a few threads in this forum about some of these cropping up)
Any outdoor videotaped colourcasts done from a TK-40/41 colour camera (I would reckon some early sporting events probably still exist on colour videotape)
Dinah Shore Chevy Shows of the 50s and early 60s on colour tape
Kraft Music Hall colour recordings from 1959
Andy Williams Shows of the early/mid/late 60s
Nixon Kitchen Debate 1959 recorded in colour
Red Skelton Shows that still survive on colour video
Also in B&W:
Playhouse 90 episodes of the late 50s in videotape
Edsel Show (earliest surviving B&W TV show video recording 1957)
Some footage taken of a mountain/canyon on a moving OB van driving up the mountain (ealiest surviving B&W video recording probably dating 1956/57)
Who Do You Trust (some of these late 50s episodes exist in B&W videotape)
Looking at YouTube a lot these days I've come across quite a number of Dinah Shore TV show clips from the early 60s and for those who are interested you'll find them under this user http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=gomezparkinson . Also you'll find clips from shows like Dean Martin Show, Andy Williams Show, Hullabaloo and other shows. Also I've uploaded some blooper excerpts of Johnny Carson on "Who Do You Trust" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNM25eMkqiY dating approx 1958 which is an example of early B&W video recording which was shown on a blooper program of the early 80s "Life's Most Embarrassing Moments" hosted by the late John Ritter.
Anyways getting a close to first hand experience of what early live colour television was like back in the 50s is thrilling for me as it's like looking at reality nearly 50 years ago, it's like preserving reality in time and smooth lifelike video motion captures that reality unlike movie film. And some shows it's like you'd think they were recorded only 10 years ago when they are really recorded 30 years ago e.g. Maude and Good Times, they look more like they were recorded in the late 80s than early 70s! And the funky video effects used in the early 70s on a German rock music show called "Beat Club" are so ahead of time that you'd think that sort of thing was used more in the 80s.
Cheers
Troy