Blue RCA TK-41 camera

[julianburke]

This was a CBS camera. They never left the factory painted this color. CBS hated RCA and when they had to use an RCA, it was immediately stripped of all logos and painted blue. Unusual to see the RCA logos. BTW, All Jack Webb's later shows were filmed at Universal Studios (Hollywood) and was mostly aired via CBS so explains the blue cameras on that episode. You can see that episode on Youtube. Earlier Dragnet shows were not owned by Webb until he formed his own Mark VII productions in the later part of the '50's.

Also I have the Mitchell BNCR movie camera #244 that was purchased new by Jack Webb in 1959 (Mark VII Productions) and filmed all of his TV shows till 1983 when he died. Universal also used it for filming other shows of the '60's to include "The Munsters". All of the Dragnet series and others were shot entirely on 35mm. The "I Love Lucy" shows were shot entirely with 3 Mitchell BNCR cameras as 90% of all Hollywood produced shows were shot with this model camera. My camera still has the property tags for Universal and CBS.

[W.B.]

Originally Posted by julianburke

This was a CBS camera. They never left the factory painted this color. CBS hated RCA and when they had to use an RCA, it was immediately stripped of all logos and painted blue. Unusual to see the RCA logos. BTW, Jack Webb was filmed at Universal Studios (Hollywood) and was aired via CBS so explains the blue cameras on that episode. You can see that episode on Youtube.

Also I have the Mitchell BNCR movie camera #244 that was purchased new by Jack Webb in 1959 (Mark VII Productions) and filmed all of his TV shows till 1983 when he died. Universal also used it for filming other shows of the '60's to include "The Munsters".

First off, all of Mr. Webb's Dragnet shows (from his 1952-59 series to Dragnet 1967 / 1968 / 1969 / 1970) were originally aired on NBC - which in those days was owned by RCA. The TK-41 class was definitely considered better than the infamous TK-42 or even the TK-43, to the point where NBC's O&O's kept the 41's in service in all their studios up to 1969-71 when they were replaced with TK-44A/B's. The "blue" cameras may've been props for use in episodes like that.

Secondly, when NBC purchased Norelco PC-70's for use in several of their remote units in 1968 (prior to the introduction of the TK-44A), on some such cameras they did exactly what CBS had done to the old RCA TK-40/41's - strip the logo off. In the PC-70's case, it was evident that the Norelco logo plate was taken off because of small holes in certain places where the logo plate had been.

And CBS's aforementioned hatred of RCA was such that practically the only reason they truly committed to color after 1965 was the introduction of Norelco's first Plumbicon color camera, the PC-60, followed by General Electric rolling out their PE-24 (and later PE-240) color film chains/slide scanners. (Though four of CBS's five O&O's - the exception being New York's WCBS-TV - used RCA TK-27 chains, and one of those four - Philadelphia's WCAU-TV - even went with the aforementioned RCA TK-42.) And that's not counting their 1962-63 purchase of Marconi Mark IV B&W cameras, when the ancient TK-10/30's and TK-11/31's came up for replacement.

[markmywords]

Originally Posted by julianburke

This was a CBS camera.

WRONG! This is an old NBC camera. I can tell by the extra baffle on top of the high voltage area door...see it just above the lens turret? It was an NBC only custom mod used to block the sound of the fan from the boom mics. It's just a simple sheet metal add on. but worked great.

Secondly, Julian, if it is blue (hard to tell...looks like the regular silver to me ...just very dark footage), that only reinforces the NBC origin. NBC Burbank and NYC used to paint their mobile unit cameras a medium blue.

They never left the factory painted this color. This part is TRUE!

CBS hated RCA TRUE and when they had to use an RCA, it was immediately stripped of all logos and painted blue. FALSE...they were painted GREY by oreder of CBS President Frank Stanton. Unusual to see the RCA logos. BTW, All Jack Webb's later shows were filmed at Universal Studios (Hollywood) and was mostly aired via CBS so explains the blue cameras on that episode. You can see that episode on Youtube. Earlier Dragnet shows were not owned by Webb until he formed his own Mark VII productions in the later part of the '50's.

Also I have the Mitchell BNCR movie camera #244 that was purchased new by Jack Webb in 1959 (Mark VII Productions) and filmed all of his TV shows till 1983 when he died. Universal also used it for filming other shows of the '60's to include "The Munsters". All of the Dragnet series and others were shot entirely on 35mm. The "I Love Lucy" shows were shot entirely with 3 Mitchell BNCR cameras as 90% of all Hollywood produced shows were shot with this model camera. My camera still has the property tags for Universal and CBS.

these comments and revisions in BOLD were made by BOBBY ELLERBEE of EYES OF A GENERATION.