The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson (1 Viewer)

[Mike Frezon]

Right HERE, Tom.

 

And, it's "on sale" for $6.99.

 

[Paul Penna]

I haven't been able to find them on YouTube right now, but for a period some color kinescope clips of the pre-1970s New York-era Tonight show were available, some going back as far as 1963. These were described as having come from the Armed Services Radio & Television archives and were of surprisingly good quality. I wonder if those are being preserved/archived in any systematic way?

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Originally Posted by Paul Penna

I haven't been able to find them on YouTube right now, but for a period some color kinescope clips of the pre-1970s New York-era Tonight show were available, some going back as far as 1963. These were described as having come from the Armed Services Radio & Television archives and were of surprisingly good quality. I wonder if those are being preserved/archived in any systematic way?

Well, the release Return to Studio One is one of those Armed Services reels, so that one, at least, has been issued on DVD (it's the one that contains the famous Bob Hope/Dean Martin/George Goebel clip).

 

[Jack P]

If you're talking about the Joey Heatherton color kinescope clip from 1963 that comes from a promo film Johnny, Ed and Skitch did for GE lightbulbs, plugging their new commercials for 1964 and during the course of that presentation, they just happened to show that clip and in another GE promo film they showed the one of Pearl Bailey and Johnny doing a comical musical duet. Those are not from complete programs preserved although there are other full shows from Armed Forces TV that exist as B/W kinescopes and which circulate among collectors like the programs of December 3, 1963, April 21, 1964 and March 23, 1965.

 

New Year's Eve 1965 is the oldest complete show that exists in original color videotape format.

 

[Paul Penna]

Originally Posted by Jack P

If you're talking about the Joey Heatherton color kinescope clip from 1963 that comes from a promo film Johnny, Ed and Skitch did for GE lightbulbs, plugging their new commercials for 1964...

No, these clips were much, much better quality than that one, and were from the regular broadcast shows.

 

[Jack P]

Those could be clips from the "Carson's Comedy Classics" compilations from the mid-80s that had material as early as 1964 in a couple instances. The 60s material they used reportedly came from clip reels compiled for the Emmy Awards committee.

 

[Paul Penna]

Originally Posted by Jack P

Those could be clips from the "Carson's Comedy Classics" compilations from the mid-80s that had material as early as 1964 in a couple instances. The 60s material they used reportedly came from clip reels compiled for the Emmy Awards committee.

The info posted for each of those clips said specifically that they came from Armed Services Radio & TV sources that had then recently come to light.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Originally Posted by Paul Penna




The info posted for each of those clips said specifically that they came from Armed Services Radio & TV sources that had then recently come to light.

Also, the Carson's Comedy Classics segments are sourced from original videotape footage (whether the whole shows existed or not, the footage in CCC was from VT, not film, so if not from the masters, perhaps from Anniversary Specials that were assembled before NBC started wiping tapes), not color kinescopes (which have that "on film" look), which is where all the Armed Services stuff came from

 

[Ted Todorov]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jack P

And you won't see them any time soon. That part of the site is only available for now to professionals with a special password who want to license clips and "maybe" later it will be made available to the public but probably only in bits and pieces.

ARGH! Talk about the Carson people not getting it. This is what iTunes was made for -- make every darn episode (from the post 1973 era, where the tapes were saved) available on iTunes at their standard $1.99 per episode.

 

You will make a fortune. Fans will be very happy. Heck, you could sell seasons through iTunes as well.

 

[Neil Brock]

Originally Posted by Paul Penna




The info posted for each of those clips said specifically that they came from Armed Services Radio & TV sources that had then recently come to light.

Well, whoever said that was wrong. Any 1960s shows from AFN are black and white kinescopes. AFN didn't have 2-inch machines on its bases around the world and color kines were rarely done in that era.

 

[Paul Penna]

Originally Posted by Neil Brock

 

(kinescope itself begins at 1:30)

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Originally Posted by Neil Brock

Well, whoever said that was wrong. Any 1960s shows from AFN are black and white kinescopes. AFN didn't have 2-inch machines on its bases around the world and color kines were rarely done in that era.

Return to Studio One (from a show originally telecast in March 1969) was an Armed Forces color kinescope, though, so there is still the possibility of AFN kinescopes being color (particularly from later in the decade) rather than black-and-white...

 

From the package of the home video release: the original 90-minute tape (now lost) was among the few "Tonight Show" broadcasts transferred to film in an edited version for the Armed Forces Network.

 

[DeWilson]

Originally Posted by AndyMcKinney
 

From the package of the home video release: the original 90-minute tape (now lost) was among the few "Tonight Show" broadcasts transferred to film in an edited version for the Armed Forces Network.

 

FEW? They aired alot more than a few on AFN!

 

On a related subject - has any got a list of CARSON COMEDY CLASSIC episodes with which shows each segment came from?

 

 

[Jack P]

Yes, I in fact did break down as many as possible of the individual shows the CCC segments first came from. I discovered that while these were first syndicated in 1985, there is nothing later than the last 90 minute shows from the Fall of 1980 in anything used, which I think was due to the fact that since old 90 minute shows could no longer be reaired as a "Best of Carson" by then, then it was practical to just use stuff from the 90 minute era. Using the old database I could often get the date for a sketch by isolating the people in them but a Carnac/Turbo etc. was harder to date unless they used a segment from the same show on the same CCC which happened often.

 

My info is available on a spreadsheet only.

 

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Originally Posted by Jack P

Yes, I in fact did break down as many as possible of the individual shows the CCC segments first came from. I discovered that while these were first syndicated in 1985, there is nothing later than the last 90 minute shows from the Fall of 1980 in anything used, which I think was due to the fact that since old 90 minute shows could no longer be reaired as a "Best of Carson" by then, then it was practical to just use stuff from the 90 minute era. Using the old database I could often get the date for a sketch by isolating the people in them but a Carnac/Turbo etc. was harder to date unless they used a segment from the same show on the same CCC which happened often.

 

My info is available on a spreadsheet only.

 

 

Would you mind sharing? Could you PM it to me? It would make cataloguing my collection of CCC off-airs a darn sight easier! By my reckoning (and by the rerun cycle on Reelz), there must've been 130 installments of CCC produced (which, in syndication would allow for it to have been stripped nightly for 26 weeks without reruns, or exactly half a year, which sounds about right).