shows that have been destroyed (1 Viewer)

[Bob Furmanek]

Sad to hear about the survival rate on IT TAKES TWO.

Both Lon Chaney and Bud Abbott made their last appearances on two shows in the early 1970's. Lon talked about the Wolfman and Bud talked of his partnership with Lou Costello.

 

[LouA]

Gray Ghost is owned by CBS and ran on the Star TV network as recently as the early 90s. The Americans is owned by NBC Enterprises so no doubt they have the film masters. Regardless, there's a complete set of them on 16mm at Library of Congress.

So there's hope for a release on DVD, even if it's only a faint hope .

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Monthy Python Flying Circus, the whole series was almost wiped out by the BBC. Eric Idle got word they were going to be erased, and phoned back and bought the tapes so that the BBC could buy some blank tapes instead.

That's not why Python was spared (the story of Terry Gilliam stealing the tapes and hiding them in his house is also untrue). If it was easy as giving the BBC money for blank tapes to keep from getting their wiped, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore's Not Only, But Also would have existed in full (they offered to buy the tapes, buy blanks or pay for storage. The BBC refused all of these offers and wiped those tapes anyway).

The true reason Python escaped being wiped was the sale to American television in 1975. Of course, the Pythons were warned beforehand that the first two series were about to be wiped, so they (illegally) has a BBC engineer record the episodes over to the reel-to-reel Philips cassettes (the only "home video" format on the market at the time) in case they got wiped. Luckily, America took an interest in the meantime, and the BBC decided that maybe there was still some commercial mileage in them yet.

 

[Vahan_Nisanain]

And here's another question, given its reappearance on GSN. What of the Jim Perry run of Sale of the Century exists? Wikipedia says what we are seeing now is all that's left of the NBC version (the last season), and the entire syndie run still exists, as per what was seen on USA way back when...now I feel old But as we know, Wiki isn't 100% foolproof.

From TvTropes:

It's rumored that while NBC stopped wiping in by Browse to Save">general in 1980, they (or perhaps Grundy's company) wiped Sale up until September 1988. However, this seems extremely unlikely and unthinkable as the entire run of Scrabble (another Reg Grundy series that aired on NBC) exists.

The claims were started by Mitt Dawson, a former Reg Grundy staff member who died recently. He also said that just before he left, there was an archive of Beta viewing/reference tapes in the office of EVERY episode, both network and syndicated, that may have survived.

The version I'm referring to is the 1983-1989 revival, not the 1969-1974 original. That one had actor Jack Kelly (replaced by Joe Garagiola in 1971) as the host. There was also a weekly syndicated edition shortly after the daytime one ended in 1973.

The original show is definitely gone, with only 9 episodes being located at UCLA. But it's not clear if the weekly syndie edition from '73-'74 still exists.

 

[The Obsolete Man]

That's not why Python was spared (the story of Terry Gilliam stealing the tapes and hiding them in his house is also untrue). If it was easy as giving the BBC money for blank tapes to keep from getting their wiped, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore's Not Only, But Also would have existed in full (they offered to buy the tapes, buy blanks or pay for storage. The BBC refused all of these offers and wiped those tapes anyway).

The true reason Python escaped being wiped was the sale to American television in 1975. Of course, the Pythons were warned beforehand that the first two series were about to be wiped, so they (illegally) has a BBC engineer record the episodes over to the reel-to-reel Philips cassettes (the only "home video" format on the market at the time) in case they got wiped. Luckily, America took an interest in the meantime, and the BBC decided that maybe there was still some commercial mileage in them yet.

Yeah, it was lack of overseas sales for the Patrick Troughton years of Doctor Who that resulted in the majority of his tenure as The Doctor being lost.

Hartnell's years, especially the first season, were spared mostly because his run sold well worldwide. and there were extra tapes and films hanging around.

 

[Eric Vedowski]

This is a fascinating thread. So many knowledgable people here-thanks for sharing.
You can search through Dick Clark's archive-at least some of it:
https://www.dickclarklicensing.com/Search.aspx
The search is a bit clumsy.
Also-Research Media has tons of tv music and talk shows, you can't search their site other than a list of shows.
Historic Films does have a searchable site with much detail of each episode. Johnny Carson does too-you need to sign up but it's free.
Footage.net searches through quite a few collections. Again you need to sign up, free.
I also seem to remember reading that NBC gave the bulk of their videotape to the Library of Congress back in the 80s. A huge quantity that still hasn't been completely gone through. Dina Merrill supposedly paid for a seach through the NBC LoC holdings to find the complete "What Makes Sammy Run?" in 2004. A few other NBC things have turned up since then-"Junior Miss" from 1957 a DuPont Show of the Month with Don Ameche and Carol Lynley was long presumed lost but turned up at LoC. Also the 1959 "Miracle on 34th Street" with Ed Wynn. Who knows what else might be there-the color videotape of Ethel Merman doing "Annie Get Your Gun" from 1967 is missing. Jerry Orbach is in that one.

 

[CraigF]

^ Agree, I find this one of, if not the most, interesting thread here. Perverse?

 

[telzall]

Local NYC shows: Zacherle, Sandy Becker, Chuck McCann.
Shirley Temple's Storybook Theater

 

[LouA]

Local NYC shows: Zacherle, Sandy Becker, Chuck McCann.
Shirley Temple's Storybook Theater

Shirley Temple's Storybook Theater survives and some episodes were released ion DVD in Colorized versions by legend films . Add Officer Joe Bolton , Capt Jack Mc Carthy , RAy Heatherton and most of Soupy Sales NY shows to the lost list .

 

[LouA]

My Little Margie and Trouble With Father are actually Roland Reed shows, but filmed at Hal Roach Studios. Those two shows survive intact, matter of fact, MLM was distributed by Weiss Global Enterprises in the 80s and 90s. TWF is obviously in the public domain, but Topper was a John Loveton/Bernard Schubert production, but was syndicated by King World in the 80s because I've seen it then as such.

Thanks for the correction. I'l happy to hear that they survive on film. It would be nice if a small company like TGG direct, or Timeless, would take a cahnce on some of those old sitcoms.

 

[zoetmb]

Bryan^H, on 13 May 2013 - 12:54 PM, said:

'Son Of Svengoolie'. I spoke with Rich Koz(Sven) a couple years ago about the possability of his classic horror host shows coming to dvd. He said although he would have loved to see that happen, all the tapes were thrown in the dumpster after his show was cancelled. What a shame. If I were the janitor of that tv station I would have saved every last show of his.

He could have easily saved his shows on 3/4 U-Matic tapes (2 per week wouldn't have killed his budget) but didn't - lack of forsight by the "Johnny Carson of Horror Hosts".

Sorry but IMO, the "Johnny Carson of Horror Hosts" is John Zacherley (still with us at 94 years of age and still attending Chiller Theatre conventions!)

 

[zoetmb]

Local NYC shows: Zacherle, Sandy Becker, Chuck McCann.
Shirley Temple's Storybook Theater

Zach released a great DVD a few years ago that has segments from a few episodes. It looks like they were made from kinescopes, but the humor holds up amazingly well. He really had me laughing. I really did not expect to still find it funny.

It's too bad that none of the Sandy Becker or Chuck McCann stuff exits. What's really amazing about them is that at a time when TV was so conservative, these guys, along with Zach, Soupy and comics like Ernie Kovacs (and Steve Allen sometimes) were totally anarchic.

And I don't think much (or any) of Soupy Sales' various shows exist either. There's a few seconds of his variety show in the documentary "Standing In The Shadows of Motown" because one of Motown's Funk Brothers, Joe Messina, was in Soupy's band before he became a Funk Brother.

 

[Mark Y]

Well, I wasn't sure how much Bozo WGN had saved. I thought that it was more than just a token amount. I seem to recall seeing an anniversary show for Bozo and it seemed to be loaded with clips from several different years of Bozo. I guess not.

You might be thinking of the 25th anniversary special back in 1986. I remember watching that special live the night it aired, before I knew anything about WGN's archives, and I agree, the use of clips on that special made it appear they had a vast archive to choose from. Later, I learned what actually exists from the 1960s -- one complete daytime Bozo's Circus show from 1968, one Big Top from 1967 (an evening version of the show which ran for a couple seasons once weekly with taped highlights) and a third tape with an hour or so of segments from various shows. The Big Top tape has four guest act performances. Together with a few home tapes from the 1970s and 1980s, and the tapes from the then-current season (which presumably were erased not long after) it looked like they'd saved everything!

 

[DVDvision]

That's not why Python was spared (the story of Terry Gilliam stealing the tapes and hiding them in his house is also untrue). If it was easy as giving the BBC money for blank tapes to keep from getting their wiped, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore's Not Only, But Also would have existed in full (they offered to buy the tapes, buy blanks or pay for storage. The BBC refused all of these offers and wiped those tapes anyway).

The true reason Python escaped being wiped was the sale to American television in 1975. Of course, the Pythons were warned beforehand that the first two series were about to be wiped, so they (illegally) has a BBC engineer record the episodes over to the reel-to-reel Philips cassettes (the only "home video" format on the market at the time) in case they got wiped. Luckily, America took an interest in the meantime, and the BBC decided that maybe there was still some commercial mileage in them yet.

Really? That's not what they say in the documentary. Maybe it was a conjunction of the two?

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Really? That's not what they say in the documentary. Maybe it was a conjunction of the two?

John Cleese confirmed the sale to American TV is what saved Python from the bulk eraser. You can read more here: http://www.imdb.com/news/ni1086821/

 

[JMFabianoRPL]

Shirley Temple's Storybook Theater survives and some episodes were released ion DVD in Colorized versions by legend films . Add Officer Joe Bolton , Capt Jack Mc Carthy , RAy Heatherton and most of Soupy Sales NY shows to the lost list .

Still wondering about Sally Starr?

 

[Vahan_Nisanain]

JMFabianoRPL, did you read my post on $ale of the Century? Please go back and read it.

 

[Brian Himes]

You might be thinking of the 25th anniversary special back in 1986. I remember watching that special live the night it aired, before I knew anything about WGN's archives, and I agree, the use of clips on that special made it appear they had a vast archive to choose from. Later, I learned what actually exists from the 1960s -- one complete daytime Bozo's Circus show from 1968, one Big Top from 1967 (an evening version of the show which ran for a couple seasons once weekly with taped highlights) and a third tape with an hour or so of segments from various shows. The Big Top tape has four guest act performances. Together with a few home tapes from the 1970s and 1980s, and the tapes from the then-current season (which presumably were erased not long after) it looked like they'd saved everything!

Yep, I believe that was the special that I saw. And yes, it did look like they saved just about everything. Those clever editors.

 

[LouA]

Zach released a great DVD a few years ago that has segments from a few episodes. It looks like they were made from kinescopes, but the humor holds up amazingly well. He really had me laughing. I really did not expect to still find it funny.

It's too bad that none of the Sandy Becker or Chuck McCann stuff exits. What's really amazing about them is that at a time when TV was so conservative, these guys, along with Zach, Soupy and comics like Ernie Kovacs (and Steve Allen sometimes) were totally anarchic.

And I don't think much (or any) of Soupy Sales' various shows exist either. There's a few seconds of his variety show in the documentary "Standing In The Shadows of Motown" because one of Motown's Funk Brothers, Joe Messina, was in Soupy's band before he became a Funk Brother.

There's a Soupy Sales wen site, where you can order some of his existing shows.

 

[Tom Abbott]

I'm not sure whether this will either cause greater despair, or inspire a worldwide call to action among early home video tapers, but I found this list:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lost_television_broadcasts

I hope it is useful to readers of this thread, Tom