A **big** window into the past... (Classic TV [audio] content)

OK, this was one of those longshots that makes it worth taking a plunge into the unknown every now and then...

I'm absolutely ecstatic to be able to announce the recovery of over 60 hours of previously-unknown audio recordings of live broadcasts from the Golden Age of Television.

The recordings were purchased as part of a private sale. Although the identity of the original New Jersey-area viewer may never be known (and there is no evidence of it on any of the original tape boxes accompanying the recordings), it is certain that they were far ahead of their time, in terms of technical skill. With only a few exceptions, all of the recordings were recorded with the tape machine wired “in-line” with the original broadcast—no external microphone was used. Additionally, for most of the musical numbers excerpted on the tapes, the 7 1/2 ips tape speed was used, resulting in recordings of startling fidelity.

Among the highlights of the collection (which I'm still cataloging), ranging from January 1, 1955 to January of 1961, with the bulk of the performances preserved between 1955-1957 are:

The first known surviving recordings of “And Here’s the Show”, Jonathan Winters’ first series, a 1955 summer fill-in for “The George Gobel Show”

The last known televised performance of the team of Abbott & Costello, from the “Steve Allen Show”, in October of 1956. The team would breakup shortly after this broadcast.

At least one previously-lost live episode of “The Jack Benny Program”, co-starring George Burns, with Spike Jones & his Orchestra.

Several editions of “The George Gobel Show”, from 1955-1956.

Additional comedy performances by Jackie Gleason, Bob Hope, Peter Lorre, Vincent Price, Garry Moore, Don Adams, Herb Shriner, Steve Allen, and more.

Musically, there are excerpted numbers from the first two seasons of “The Lawrence Welk Show”, none of which are known to have preserved by ABC, which feature jazz legend Pete Fountain, accordionist Myron Floren, and Welk’s original “Champagne Lady”, Alice Lon. Additional musical performances captured from other programs include numbers from the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra, The Glenn Miller Orchestra, The Mills Brothers, Pearl Bailey, Lionel Hampton and Steve Lawrence, among others.

In terms of program preservation, these recordings are simply the type of thing that archivists dream of... not only is the breadth of programming an absolute treasure trove, but the quality (considering the available technology of the time, and the fact that the tapes are now almost half a century old!) is unheard of... the idea that someone in the mid-1950's would have been saavy enough to wire an audio R-to-R recorder inline with their TV speaker (which is how you had to do it in the days before in/out jacks), and then manually set and control the recorder for each broadcast is... well, like I said, pretty much unheard of. And then for the tapes to have survived for almost 50 years...

Well, I'm still amazed.

And I now know more John Foster Dulles jokes than practically anyone I know.

-Kevin

 

Congratulations! Enjoy your treasure!

 

Well, I'm hoping I won't be the **only** one that gets to enjoy it, in the future...

But there are a lot of archives to contact, for now.

-Kevin