Color TV episode?

[shimp scrampi]

During the 1954-1955 TV season, Bill Paley had a number of shows film single episodes for broadcast in color, long before that became the industry standard later in the sixties. I had always known Burns and Allen did one of these, which was very costly at the time. I've never seen the full thing, but you can catch a clip of the color footage from a CBS anniversary special in a segment on Paley here (The B&A clip starts at 7:40). This is probably some of the ONLY color footage of Gracie known to exist, but the episode was always syndicated with a black and white copy.

According to this Lucy Fan site, the March 6, 1955 ("Jack Takes the Beavers to the Fair") was also originally done as part of this color broadcast test program. Is this information accurate? And, if the B&A color footage still exists, might the Jack Benny show in color exist too? That would be a great addition to an eventual official DVD release of the show (and B&A too!) ... (sigh) someday!

[shimp scrampi]

I checked the New York Times TV listings for March 6, 1955. The show was indeed broadcast in color. There's even an ad for an RCA color TV set (21 inch screen, $895!) announcing Jack's show as an upcoming broadcast in color.

We need to find this one! I bet it looked great, with the balloons, and carnival setting. You can see why they chose this as a good script for a color broadcast, much as Burns and Allen's color episode revolved around a costume party to take advantage of the medium.

Scour the vaults!

[Maxwell]

I checked the New York Times TV listings for March 6, 1955. The show was indeed broadcast in color. There's even an ad for an RCA color TV set (21 inch screen, $895!) announcing Jack's show as an upcoming broadcast in color.

We need to find this one! I bet it looked great, with the balloons, and carnival setting. You can see why they chose this as a good script for a color broadcast, much as Burns and Allen's color episode revolved around a costume party to take advantage of the medium.

Scour the vaults!

Things to find out: Was it a live episode or filmed? If live, there wouldn't be any color footage.

[shimp scrampi]

Oh, it's definitely done on film rather than live. I've seen the black and white copy. I should check the end credits to see if it was one of the ones done by George Burns' McCadden productions, with the crew that would have been familiar with the color strategic issues (a BIG deal for a TV production in those days). Because Jack did so few filmed shows in the first half of the fifties, it would be an interesting thing to sit down and figure out where each got produced. Or, I could just wait for 39 Forever vol 3

[shimp scrampi]

I just checked the credits, it was indeed a McCadden production (this was George Burns' company - kind of the George and Gracie equivalent of Desilu). Most of their stuff was filmed at the General Service Studios.

Edited to add: This would be an interesting thing to ask Harry Shearer about, as this is one where he appears as one of the Beavers. Color was such a technical and cost challenge then that I imagine there was perhaps extra tension or expectation on the set.

[LLeff]

You know, I've got to say that I didn't know this show was originally filmed in color. I learn new stuff too! Thanks!

[shimp scrampi]

Laura, any idea where the original film elements from these shows might exist? I know UCLA and others have 16mm copies, but I'm talking about the 35mm camera negatives or other "master" elements... I would think MCA, but who knows if they have that color film.

I'm curious to know where CBS got that Burns and Allen color footage as well. I'm guessing that Sony, through their purchase of Columbia/Tri-Star owns the B&A film elements now.

[LLeff]

Laura, any idea where the original film elements from these shows might exist? I know UCLA and others have 16mm copies, but I'm talking about the 35mm camera negatives or other "master" elements... I would think MCA, but who knows if they have that color film.

I get asked once in a while where the "masters" are of the Benny shows, and unforunately, the 16mm copies in UCLA/AHC seem to be the best source. MCA does have a copy of that show and included it in their syndication package (although they don't own the copyright to it), but it was a B&W copy. The other copy is at AHC, so I'd have to pull my inventory to double-check whether theirs is color or B&W. But when they screened their copies of some of the specials to check for me, they found (much to all our dismay) that they were in B&W as well.

Knew we needed another mystery now that the "Sunshine Boys" screen tests had been found...wonder if CBS might have a copy...

[shimp scrampi]

Just a few observations and musings ...

Clearly any show done live would only exist as a 16mm kinescope - it was a 16mm format, so we can't expect anything better from those.

However, MCA/Universal's line of Jack Benny VHS tapes from the late '90s were all obviously from 35mm elements. They are far too sharp and clear to come from 16mm sources. So, good elements/"masters" for at least those shows existed somewhere as of around 10 years ago, probably with MCA.

So, if UCLA/AHC is the "best" source - do you mean that they have a more complete collection of shows, beyond the syndication package, or that the quality is better than whatever MCA ... now I guess NBC/Universal has?

It would be a real downer if the camera negatives for most of these were gone forever. I guess never say never though.

A DVD from 16mm can look passable - they did an OK job with the black-and-white Petticoat Junction discs from Paul Henning's own 16mm prints, but it isn't a touch on what a quality 35mm source looks like. The difference is night and day.

[Yhtapmys]

Evening of Trouble Is Ahead for Benny
[Syracuse Herald-American, March 6, 1955]
FROM ALL INDICATIONS it will be a wild evening for the veteran showman, Jack Benny. His trouble begin at 7 on WFBL when he teams a major studio plans to film the story of his life. Scheduled to star in the movie is Danny Kaye. Jack is granted a small role in the film—he'll portray his father.
No sooner is he out of this predicament than the comic appears on WHEN-TV. He is bringing with him his famous radio Beverly Hills Beaver Patrol. The gang will appear at a carnival. Tonight's show is being transmitted at
7:30 in compatible color. A summary appears in the TV key highlights.