Picture Show (A thread for interesting photos from the world of movies and TV)*

Ever wonder how whenever they show drivers in cars on TV shows, the lighting is often very even and looks terrific, even though that never happens in real life? Here's a couple of shots from NBC's Adam 12 cop show from the early 1970s showing how they ran 2 (and sometimes 3) cameras on the front of the police cruiser:





I believe those are three Mitchell BNCR cameras attached to the hood of the car ("A", "B", and "C" camera, left to right). By using three simultaneous cameras, they could get a 2 shot of both actors and a close up of the stars when necessary. Microphones were hidden in the visors or were aimed from underneath the dash. The black platform on top of the cameras helps the windshield avoid glare and hot spots from street lights and other stray reflections. The extra wires are for power, remote on/off of the cameras (from the camera car pulling the "picture car" behind it), plus a 2-way walkie talkie so the director could talk to the actors and vice-versa. [Pix courtesy of my pal Randy West on Facebook.]

 

And here's a terrific 1990 behind-the-scenes production shot of the FX crew shooting the climactic train crash and the Delorean in Back to the Future III, using miniature recreations shot in slo-mo:


[picture courtesy of Mark L. Pederson from the Pictures in History group on Facebook]

 

I love this thread, Jozefk thanks for starting it, I look forward to it every week! And Vidiot, your contributions are priceless!

 

I love Alan Silvestri's music for that train scene in Back to the Future 3: I was visiting the Warner Bros. sound department the day they were recording the 120-piece orchestra on the Clint Eastwood Scoring Stage, and I got to hear them rehearsing it. My WB friend giving the tour asked me what I thought, and I said, "this sounds like it's going to have a train in it." He was surprised because we hadn't seen any film projected yet, and I replied, "well, I'm pretty sure I caught a brief homage to 'Casey Jones' in the melody." The recording engineer nodded and said, "yep, this is for the big train crash scene." Really well done -- Silvestri does fantastic work.

That was recorded on the old Mitsubishi X800 digital 32-track reel decks, which are very obsolete nowadays.

 

Spoiler

Errol Flynn at age 14

 

And yet another terrific 1988 behind-the-scenes shot from Die Hard, this one of Alan Rickman's climactic fall off the building, shot on I believe a Pellicle Reflex Camera (I'm guessing at 120fps for slo-mo). Rickman appears much brighter in the shot than he does in the final film, done to get good exposure on the film negative for VFX. This was shot on a Fox soundstage on Pico Boulevard not that far from the real-life "Nakatomi Plaza" in nearby Century City...

 

Back after a break: FRIDAY NIGHT BOYS: FRIDAY NIGHT BOY COOL #478
And the selected five from that bunch:


Not B. F. Pierce, but H. Pierce...

 

@antonkk From The Daily:

Twitter

 

Here's a rare behind-the-scenes shot from the CBS quiz show What's My Line, I'm guessing from around 1961-1962 (based on the look of the B&W TV cameras and the Zoomar lens on the left). The monitor shows a close-up of actor/comedian Joey Bishop, who was part of Frank Sinatra's Las Vegas "Rat Pack" throughout the 1960s. Although videotape was available during those years, it was often aired live, which is a tough thing to imagine. It was broadcast Sunday nights around 10:30PM, so one explanation as to why the panelists were formerly dressed in lavish outfits and tuxes is on the theory that they just stepped after seeing a big Broadway play in the neighborhood.



[Photo courtesy of Terry Wilkie on the Randy West Appreciation Group on Facebook.]

 

Not quite the same, but two great artists:

 

Proper titles on the name plaques too; Miss Kilgallen, Mr. Bishop...

 

I remember watching this show each week with my Mom.
Dorothy Kilgallen, Joey Bishop, Arlene Francis, Bennet Cerf. Host John Daly (not in photo)

 

Thanx. I don't think I saw that one. Shows how tough the shooting was. Minus 20 at best, minus 40 at worst.

 

Ingmar Bergman, Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullmann on the set of Persona with cinematographer Sven Nykvist. Below is another, without Sven.

 

Monica Vitti and Alain Delon doing publicity for L'Eclisse (1962) with Delon's girlfriend actress Romy Schneider. Below are Vitti and Delon with director Michelangelo Antonioni.

 

Jeanne Moreau in La Notte (1961), with Antonioni and Monica Vitti looking on. Below are Moreau and Vitti.

 

Bette Davis with director William Wyler, with whom she had a rather involved affair. Below is Davis with a break on set.

 

On set for The Misfits (1961). Montgomery Clift, Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable, Eli Wallach, Arthur Miller and John Huston.

 

Clark Gable and Joan Crawford on set for The Possessed (1931). Gable and Crawford had a notorious affair during this period.

 

Hitchcock on the set of Suspicion with Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine. Below also of Hitch with Joan Fontaine is from the set of Rebecca with Laurence Olivier.



Below is him on the set of Rear Window with James Stewart and Grace Kelly.

 

Yup, the clock in the upper left corner reads 10:45pm, great pic of television in much simpler days!

 

Obviously Dorothy's stand in. I met Jerry (middle Lollipop kid) at a "Lunchkin with the Munchkins" about 20 years ago.