I know that CBS, at the outset of going color starting in 1965, used Norelco PC-60 cameras which were the first major color cameras to use Plumbicon tubes instead of vidicon or image-orthicon. Mr. Gleason's show also used these cameras. (PC-70's were introduced in 1967.) Then, I.I.N.M., the tape equipment used was Ampex VR-2000 - the first "hi-band" Quadruplex videotape recorders/players. I seem to recall that such equipment, when ordered by CBS, had some custom modifications thereto. A "wisenheimer" remark about the network at the time was that its initials stood for "Can't Buy Standard." On one level, the main attractive features of the PC-60 and VR-2000, from CBS's P.O.V., was that they weren't manufactured by RCA. (Over the three years prior - after 1963, generally - their B&W cameras were Marconi Mark IV cameras, which they got for the same reasons - better picture, manufactured by someone other than RCA. Such cameras were used on the episodes of The Ed Sullivan Show on which The Beatles guested.) Last week (the 4th) on GSN, I saw a 1967 episode of the daytime To Tell the Truth (guest-hosted by Mark Goodson who subbed for Bud Collyer) where the picture, and tape quality, were equally top-notch and fresh.
By contrast, NBC used (almost) all-RCA equipment at the time - TK-41 video cameras (their studios refused to upgrade to TK-42's because the engineers at the network knew how bad the picture quality from those newer cameras were; it wasn't until 1969 when the three-tube Plumbicon TK-44A was on the market that NBC began replacing their venerable TK-41's), and TR-22 Quad video recorder/players (low- to medium-band; around 1967 RCA began offering a higher-band machine, the TR-70). Over at ABC, their camera equipment was all over the map - TK-41C's, PC-60's and General Electric PE-250's (and that's just their color cameras; their B&W cameras by then were RCA TK-60's), and RCA TR-22 VTR's. I.I.N.M., Mr. Cavett's shows used PE-250's.
Then there was the matter of the tapes being well kept at Mr. Gleason's vaults.
Might these answer your questions about why Gleason's shows offered such a good picture compared to other programs of the same era?
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wilsons926
17 years ago
when did they stop using film, and what tv shows still use film today
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shandy8
16 years ago
I don't know about the OP, but I appreciate the info. I always wonder why certain shows still look crisp and clear, and other (many even more recent) look fuzzy and dark. Thanks again.
"I love corn!"
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W.B.
15 years ago
There are some updates to the info about some of the equipment since I typed the last message here. A website mentioned that they used rebuilt VR-1000's that were re-equipped with the capacity to record and edit in high-band color (but not play back, alas); photos of these machines were also shown. These rebuilt VR-1000's were from the remote unit of Miami's then-CBS affiliate, WTVJ (Ch. 4), and were also used whenever Mike Douglas hosted shows in Miami in the early-to-mid 1970's.
I also verified (from seeing some 1969-70 Color Honeymooners episodes) that they used PC-60 cameras; the center of the camera body had a metal "belt" on which small Philips and Norelco logos were printed in black ink. Both CBS and ABC had this kind of camera. When the PC-70 was first introduced in early 1966 (not 1967 as has been led to believe), the first months' worth of cameras in that series had the same round applied handles (as per the wording of Chuck Pharis) as the PC-60, but by late 1966 the PC-70 body had taken on the square molded handles on the top. The big difference, though, in spotting a PC-60 vs. an early PC-70 was that early PC-70's had the same dark-colored center "belt" with large metal "Norelco" logo plate as PC-70's with the square molded handles that turned up starting in late 1966. I.I.N.M., early PC-70's also had the same two large cable connections as PC-60's, unlike later PC-70's with just one large cable connection.
In addition, Gleason's American Scene Magazine, from its debut in 1962, used Marconi Mark IV's from the get-go (based on a rehearsal shot of one of the rare "Honeymooners" sketches from the show's early months on the air). Apparently, it took about a year or two for CBS studios to fully replace their old RCA TK-10/30 and TK-11/31 cameras with the Marconis (which were marketed in the U.S. by Ampex).
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