The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum / Earliest Surviving Colour TV Broadcast Restored

**Posted by paterson1** April 30, 2024 3:08 pm

UCLA has restored the earliest copy of a colour broadcast. The return of the Kraft Music Hall with host Milton Berle has been released by the university. Bill Brioux has the background and the complete show from October 8, 1958 broadcast on NBC. There is a bit of jumping around during the first few minutes and credits.

Interesting in Berle's opening monologue he actually makes fun of RCA and their lack of colour TV sales and jabs his home network NBC. From brioux.tv..https://brioux.tv/blog/2024/04/30/ucla-restores-earliest-surviving-colour-tv-broadcast/

**Posted by Skywave** April 30, 2024 5:17 pm

It's a rather stunning restoration, and they have managed to removed much of the colour banding which was prevalent in the early days.
A rather interesting fact is that the original Ampex VR1000, while having enough bandwidth, was not capable of recording colour. RCA had been doing its own research to develop a machine, and had developed and patented a method for recording colour. The two companies agreed to a patent exchange whereby RCA had access to the quadruplex recording technology, and Ampex got the colour recording technology. The result was that by late 1957, Ampex introduced the VR1000B which was capable of colour, and hence this historic recording.
The colour saturation of the restored recording is somewhat deeper than the would have been produced by the massive RCA TK41 cameras, but they did have excellent resolution thanks to the use of three 3" diameter image orthicon tubes. The camera itself weighed 250 pounds and require an electric motor driven pedestal. NBC kept those cameras in service until the late 1960s, refusing to use two later and different designs (nothwithstanding RCA's ownership), until the TK44 was introduced in 1968.

**Posted by SpinningWheel** April 30, 2024 9:14 pm

What amazing quality. And even though it was recorded 2 months after I was born, I recognize the voice of Don Pardo.

**Posted by paterson1** April 30, 2024 10:37 pm

It is interesting that those RCA TK-41 cameras or at least one of them on the program had a zoom lens. This would have been rare for studio cameras in 1958. Turret lenses like the camera shot in the article were more the norm.

Also the Kraft commercials during the show with the different shots of the meals you could make with Kraft products were always popular. Little known fact that CFTO TV years later would produce those Kraft studio commercials for NBC and Kraft's ads for Canadian TV. Some of these commercials eventually went 90 seconds or longer to show the how the dishes were made. Joel Aldred voiced the Kraft ads for years.

**Posted by Skywave** May 1, 2024 6:56 am

The voice-overs were done by Bruce Marsh. Similar basso profundo to Joel Aldred, but it was definitely Bruce. They actually wheeled a portable announce booth onto the studio floor. And the hands preparing the recipes were always those of the same faceless woman.

**Posted by Hansa** May 1, 2024 7:12 am

The colour is great but the show is pretty bad.

**Posted by mace** May 1, 2024 8:01 am

The Berle hosted version of the Kraft Music Hall aired Wednesday nights at 9pm. It had a strong lead in with #2 Wagon Train and #11 Price Is Right. I guess the ratings weren't great because Perry Como became the host in 1959. His version of the series ran weekly until 1963, then monthly until 1967.

**Posted by Hansa** May 1, 2024 8:53 am

mace wrote:
The Berle hosted version of the Kraft Music Hall aired Wednesday nights at 9pm. It had a strong lead in with #2 Wagon Train and #11 Price Is Right. I guess the ratings weren't great because Perry Como became the host in 1959. His version of the series ran weekly until 1963, then monthly until 1967.

And Berle's gig after Kraft was hosting a bowling show.

**Posted by RadioActive** May 1, 2024 9:15 am

Hansa wrote:
mace wrote:
The Berle hosted version of the Kraft Music Hall aired Wednesday nights at 9pm. It had a strong lead in with #2 Wagon Train and #11 Price Is Right. I guess the ratings weren't great because Perry Como became the host in 1959. His version of the series ran weekly until 1963, then monthly until 1967.
And Berle's gig after Kraft was hosting a bowling show.

His later showbiz career after the heights of Kraft was pretty checkered. But in the early days of the medium, he was such a sensation that he became known as "Mr. Television" and "Mr. Tuesday Night," with movie theatres noticing fewer customers on the night he was on.

In 1951, NBC made the mistake of offering him a so-called "lifetime contract" worth $200,000, a fortune by today's standards. It paid him for the next 30 years. So even when his popularity inevitably waned, NBC would try to find shows for him to justify the money. Which may explain how he wound up on a bowling show. Although it's fair to say bowling, like wrestling and boxing, was a huge sport on early network TV.

**Posted by Hansa** May 1, 2024 9:54 am

Of the 50s variety shows I've seen on YouTube (and sometimes rerun on TV), I think Gleason and Your Show of Shows were much better. I don't know if Jack Benny counts as a variety show or sitcom (it was a bit of a hybrid) but I think his show was consistently excellent from what I've seen. Berle was a big hit early on but audiences grew tired of him by the mid 50s.

**Posted by SpinningWheel** May 1, 2024 10:40 am

RadioActive wrote:
In 1951, NBC made the mistake of offering him a so-called "lifetime contract" worth $200,000, a fortune by today's standards. It paid him for the next 30 years. So even when his popularity inevitably waned, NBC would try to find shows for him to justify the money. Which may explain how he wound up on a bowling show. Although it's fair to say bowling, like wrestling and boxing, was a huge sport on early network TV.

FYI: Berle's contract was a little more than $200 K according to Television Academy's site.

"Berle was signed to an unprecedented $6 million, 30-year exclusive contract with NBC in 1951, guaranteed $200,000 per year in addition to the salaries from his sponsors. Renegotiated in 1966, his annual payments were reduced to $120,000, though Berle could work on other networks."

**Posted by paterson1** May 1, 2024 10:49 am

Skywave wrote:
The voice-overs were done by Bruce Marsh. Similar basso profundo to Joel Aldred, but it was definitely Bruce. They actually wheeled a portable announce booth onto the studio floor. And the hands preparing the recipes were always those of the same faceless woman.

Thanks Skywave, you are correct it was Bruce Marsh. Do you remember the ads that Joel Alred did for US TV? He was a mainstay here but I know he also did voiceovers for ads in the US. Didn't he voice ads for GM at one point for Oldsmobile? His voice was on the commercials for Du Maurier cigarettes in Canada I believe.

Last edited by paterson1 (May 1, 2024 10:49 am)

**Posted by RadioActive** May 1, 2024 11:02 am

SpinningWheel wrote:
RadioActive wrote:
In 1951, NBC made the mistake of offering him a so-called "lifetime contract" worth $200,000, a fortune by today's standards. It paid him for the next 30 years. So even when his popularity inevitably waned, NBC would try to find shows for him to justify the money. Which may explain how he wound up on a bowling show. Although it's fair to say bowling, like wrestling and boxing, was a huge sport on early network TV.
FYI: Berle's contract was a little more than $200 K according to Television Academy's site.

"Berle was signed to an unprecedented $6 million, 30-year exclusive contract with NBC in 1951, guaranteed $200,000 per year in addition to the salaries from his sponsors. Renegotiated in 1966, his annual payments were reduced to $120,000, though Berle could work on other networks."

Thank you for the clarification. My source only quoted the $200,000 figure, but yours makes far more sense. Either way, he was very highly paid, an investment I'm sure NBC came to regret.

**Posted by albertaboy4life** May 1, 2024 11:14 am

Joel Aldred? Bruce Marsh?

I thought it was Len Carlson who voiced the Kraft spots.

**Posted by paterson1** May 1, 2024 11:32 am

albertaboy4life wrote:
Joel Aldred? Bruce Marsh?

I thought it was Len Carlson who voiced the Kraft spots.

He likely did as well. The Kraft ads were produced for decades, some live and others on videotape. They would have produced hundreds and Len likely was the voice talent who became the voice of Kraft for a time, along with Bruce Marsh and others.

**Posted by mace** May 1, 2024 3:23 pm

Hansa wrote:
mace wrote:
The Berle hosted version of the Kraft Music Hall aired Wednesday nights at 9pm. It had a strong lead in with #2 Wagon Train and #11 Price Is Right. I guess the ratings weren't great because Perry Como became the host in 1959. His version of the series ran weekly until 1963, then monthly until 1967.
And Berle's gig after Kraft was hosting a bowling show.

Yes. It was called Jackpot Bowling. Although Berle only hosted the third and final [1960-61] season.

**Posted by RadioActive** May 1, 2024 3:31 pm

mace wrote:
Hansa wrote:
mace wrote:
The Berle hosted version of the Kraft Music Hall aired Wednesday nights at 9pm. It had a strong lead in with #2 Wagon Train and #11 Price Is Right. I guess the ratings weren't great because Perry Como became the host in 1959. His version of the series ran weekly until 1963, then monthly until 1967.
And Berle's gig after Kraft was hosting a bowling show.
Yes. It was called Jackpot Bowling. Although Berle only hosted the third and final [1960-61] season.