Does anybody know if a color print exists of this Dragnet episode? According to one source, it was rerun several Christmases in a row. I'm amazed someone would have allowed the original color print to get lost. As far as color TV shows from the 1950s go, this is one of my most sought after.
you're positive you're not thinking about the color remake from the later series?
shareIt is unknown if there is a surviving color print, (none are stored in any film libraries)- but it is generally known that Jack Webb especially wanted this shot in color, because it was for Christmas. The end credits bear that out, it says "color by pathe". To find a print now would be to find a REAL Holy Grail! Keep looking!!
shareWow! I can't believe I found this discussion. I, too, am in quest of the same original-TV-series Dragnet episode--"The Big Little Jesus" IN COLOR. To add to igloo_slaymate's answer to princebuster82's question, yes, as a matter of fact, "The Big Little Jesus" episode has the distinction of being the only one of the original 1950s Dragnet series shot in color. The newly perfected NTSC-approved (RCA/NBC-designed) "compatible-color" TV sets did not really go on sale for public purchase until 1954, but starting in the last few months of 1953, NBC started airing a few experimental colorcasts. These telecasts were seen in color by the handful of people lucky enough to be huddled around the few RCA prototype color sets positioned in select TV studios and viewing locations in certain parts of the country--while the rest of the nation, owing to the very "compatible" nature of the system, saw the same telecasts in living black-and-white. When it aired shortly before Christmas in 1953, "The Big Little Jesus" episode of Dragnet was NBC's first half-hour colorcast.
I have not yet seen this episode, and I prefer not to see it until I can see it in color. Indeed, to find this rare color gem would be to find a real Holy Grail--which leads me to the next question: What about all those compilations of original 1950s Dragnet episodes that are out on DVD now? I have yet to purchase any, but I notice that many of these collections--yes, I mean the 1950s series, complete with original air dates in the packaging--do include "The Big Little Jesus" from 1953...but NEVER in any of the DVDs' synopses of episodes do I see any reference to this particular 1953 episode being in color. So I wonder, has anyone out there purchased any of these DVD collections of 1950s Dragnet episodes? And is "The Big Little Jesus" in color or black-and-white? I'm reluctant to purchase a collection until I know for sure that it verifiably contains this episode in color. Can any of you provide any info therein? Thanks.
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Thanks for the update there. This is certainly not good news, but you've done me the favor of saving me a rather disappointing DVD purchase. Let's keep hoping for a video offering someday of "The Big Little Jesus" in color. The color version MUST be out there somewhere!
shareThanks for the info retromec, I had no idea this episode was shot in color. My father used to mention something to this effect, but I figured since it was remade for the later series he had it mistaken for the original. I knew about the color tests the network ran but I was never aware that Dragnet was part of that.
I'm not sure what the previous post stated since it's been deleted but I have the episode on four or five different DVD's but none are in color.
Something interesting I found:
http://www.liketelevision.com/web1/classictv/dragnet/
The episode is in b&w but the stills are color.
I know what you're referring to there, princebuster82. The downloadable version of the "Big Little Jesus" episode on THAT particular site is unmistakably in "B&W" (if you decide to purchase it), yet the stills provided on the site are in color, or so they appear. Dig around other areas of that same website, though, and check out their downloadable offerings of other old shows--including old films (e.g. 1930s Little Rascals shorts) and vintage TV shows (e.g. "Dick Van Dyke Show" episodes), things that were definitely in black-and-white--and you will notice something peculiar: the otherwise b&w stills have been colorized, i.e. liketelevision has taken material obtainable only in b&w and artificially tinted stills from it. Believe me, I got my hopes up when I first ran across that site, until I realized that I was looking at colorized stills.
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