Where are the 1950s shows? (2 Viewers)

[Mark Oates]

I take your point, Mark, but as regards virtually all the videotaped material the BBC trashed it had all been transferred to 16mm telerecording film for sales overseas . It was burned when it was returned to the BBC once the rights had expired. The studio tapes had been wiped as per the sensible "reuse" of expensive videotape, so once these film copies were destroyed that was it. The practice of copying to film was standard for UK broadcasters from the 1950s onwards, so there is really no excuse.

What I find particularly galling is the BBC's practice of destroying random episodes of a serial programme (such as Dr Who) so that the materials retained in the library were frequently useless, having episodes missing.

As far as I'm aware, the early Avengers episodes would similarly have been duped to 16mm, as even 'live' performances were telerecorded as standard.

 

[Seth--L]

When will we see Queen for a Day?

 

[Erik G. Lund]

One great series - Secret Army - has been saved and is already on DVD (2 of the 3 seasons so far) - true it was late 70's - and hopefully passed the UK 'tape-film burning years' (they would have loved Hitler).

But it's R2 - maybe has had some exposure in US via Canada. It's about the Belgian underground saving downed RAF/USAF fliers and funneling them back to the UK

Available from http://www.play.com

 

[Peter M Fitzgerald]

My most-wanted 1950s TV shows on DVD:

M SQUAD
DRAGNET (season sets, from decent prints)
ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS
SUSPICION
LEAVE IT TO BEAVER
MAVERICK
RAWHIDE
More ERNIE KOVACS material

 

[Randy Gray]

How about the TV version of Blondie? As in the movies, Arthur Lake starred as Bumstead but I've never seen the TV version. I watched and have several of the movies on VHS.

Randy

 

[Bert Greene]

I adore the "Blondie" movies, but I'm afraid the 1957 tv series wasn't too hot. I was rather disappointed in them, seeing them on cable twenty years ago. Heck, though, I'd still probably buy a dvd of them were they ever to become available. I'm more curious about the short-lived 1968 version with Will Hutchins as Dagwood.

Hope some of these rumors pan out. "Mr. Peepers?" Wow, that's hard to imagine. That's a series I've always wanted to see more of. The one episode I've seen was quite hilarious. Dry humor, unlike most other circulating '50s sitcoms. But hilarious nonetheless. That's a series that so many viewers from the olden days fondly harken back to, but hasn't really appeared much since (kinescopes of 'live' shows not having a good track record in this).

 

[Mark To]

I hope the Mr. Peepers pans out as well. The entire series doesn't exist but the majority of it does, something like 102 out of 125 or so shows survived. Its the perfect show for DVD, something that has an appeal too limited for broadcast but fitting into a niche that DVD can fill. I hope to become actively involved in the project and I've already volunteered my services to hopefully get them done right. There is even an unaired pilot! Most of the missing shows seem to be from the final season, which from what I understand wasn't that good anyway. But a nice package of maybe 20 to 25 shows would be quite good. Who knows, maybe if it sells they could do all of them. I do know that the same company that plans this also has plans for Joey Bishop, Make Room for Daddy, Real McCoys and Ozzie and Harriet, all with season sets. And they have about 400 hours of Kovacs shows. I doubt the majors will bother with older shows but thankfully the above mentioned are not in the hands of a major.

As for the question about Blondie, the 1968 version was okay. I liked it because of Patricia Harty, who I loved in Occasional Wife. Jim Backus made a pretty good Mr. Dithers but the show was kind of silly.

 

[John Carr]

Topper is one of many Fifties shows I'd like to see on DVD -- only 2 seasons (unfortunately), but it was a great show. They syndicated the hell out of it in the Fifties and early Sixties so I'm sure there's an audience. I'd buy both seasons in a heartbeat!

I own the movie videos and DVDs, and think the TV series was a worthy successor to the film version. Any idea of when Topper might be released -- or is it forgotten?

 

[Mark To]

The way things are popping up now, nothing would surprise me, even Topper. The good thing going for it is that its not owned by a major so there wouldn't be 2,000 more recent shows in front of it.