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Old 12-11-2009, 01:50 AM
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David Roper David Roper is offline
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The Electronicam itself was not something especially advanced in nature, it was simply a TV camera and film camera in one unit. It was certainly advanced as a method of preserving a live telecast on film (a bit of research indicates that The Honeymooners episodes of 1955-56 did not go out on the network live, but the Electronicam must have been designed with that technique in mind), but the development of videotape was hot on its heels. Videotape delay broadcasts began within months after the last classic 39 Honeymooners episode aired, which was pretty much the last anybody heard of the Electronicam.

Incidentally, although Ralph and Alice Kramden were introduced on a variety hour hosted by Jackie Gleason on the Du Mont network in the early 1950s, he was lured away by CBS for the similar-but-much-larger-budgeted Jackie Gleason Show in 1952. The 'Honeymooners' sketches proved so popular on that show, Gleason and CBS eventually decided to concentrate on that element alone, thus the debut of The Honeymooners on CBS--not Du Mont--in 1955. In fact, there effectively was no Du Mont network by September of that year.
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