Dean Martin Show Uncut from Time Life (1 Viewer)

[Eric Vedowski]

6 episodes, $29.95 list. Details:
http://thegolddiggers.wordpress.com/2012/03/22/dino-vino-undiluted/

 

[shoeshineboy]

The Gold Diggers in living color! That's cool! Count me in...

 

[BrianRi]

It's about freakin' time. Jeez!

 

[Glenn Curtis]

I wondered if anyone else had seen this.
I bought it and have only watched one episode so far but I haven't laughed so much in ages. Dean Martin was unique.
It is great; I just hope this six episodes is not all there is and that more complete episodes will come.

 

[DeWilson]

This is the first time TL is releasing his shows in an uncut format..well, there is a song or two that got cut out but only because the original masters they had were in such bad shape, it was virtually impossible to remaster from what they had available to them.

I wonder if kinescopes exist on this series - might come in handy for instances like that. NBC was making kinescopes right through the 1960's.

 

[Neil Brock]

This is the first time TL is releasing his shows in an uncut format..well, there is a song or two that got cut out but only because the original masters they had were in such bad shape, it was virtually impossible to remaster from what they had available to them. i believe it was when Buck Owens was on the show, but yes, this set is magnificent as the other two sets were just hosh-posh of highlights and songs strung together from separate seasons to create episodes out of them. But hey, it's Dean Martin's variety Show finally on DVD and well worth it. If the sales of these sets are good, expect even more stuff to trickle in with uncut versions and such but just happy to watch these shows once again, the way they were intended to be. Good old-school show and family-friendly fun. The Roasts are even better.

Malarky. If songs were cut out it was because they couldn't or wouldn't license them. Masters were in bad shape is such a lame excuse and I can't believe people believe that but then again, after reading these boards over the years, people believe every excuse in the book.

 

[DeWilson]

Malarky. If songs were cut out it was because they couldn't or wouldn't license them. Masters were in bad shape is such a lame excuse and I can't believe people believe that but then again, after reading these boards over the years, people believe every excuse in the book.

You know, now I think of it, you might be right - I could see one song removed due to tape damage and not clearances, but more than that does sound like an excuse.

 

[John Hermes]

Neil...here is further proof of what they stated and a new edition is in the works as we speak...go down to the listings of the uncut episodes chart and view Buck Owens on Disc 3 on that chart...http://thegolddiggers.wordpress.com/2012/06/21/almost-like-being-in-love-the-dean-martin-variety-show-uncut/

Too bad "Love's Gonna Live Here" is damaged. It's my favorite Buck tune (16 weeks at #1 on country chart).

 

[Video Vision]

@ Neil & Denny: Only 1 song -- Buck Owen's "Love's Gonna Live Here" -- is absent from among all of the musical numbers on the six episodes that comprise the Uncut set. No others are missing, no other portions of the programs have been deleted, and the only reason that "Love's Gonna Live Here" was excluded is due to the master tape having been irrevocably damaged. If you read the paragraph entitled Call Me Irresponsible in our review of the Uncut set, and then take a look at the chart that we provide near the end of the piece, showing the musical selections from the original shows and their inclusion on the Time-Life DVDs, you'll see that everything else is intact -- false rumors circulating to the contrary notwithstanding.

 

[Video Vision]

Sorry -- in my prior post, I neglected to include a link, but it's the same as the one Richard provided above: http://thegolddiggers.wordpress.com/2012/06/21/almost-like-being-in-love-the-dean-martin-variety-show-uncut/

 

[DeWilson]

Neil...here is further proof of what they stated and a new edition is in the works as we speak...go down to the listings of the uncut episodes chart and view Buck Owens on Disc 3 on that chart...http://thegolddiggers.wordpress.com/2012/06/21/almost-like-being-in-love-the-dean-martin-variety-show-uncut/

Time-Life can state all they want - doesn't mean it's the true reason! :

 

[John Hermes]

Time-Life can state all they want - doesn't mean it's the true reason! :

Buck wrote both Tiger By The Tail and Love's Gonna Live Here. Both were on Capitol Records. Buck owned his own recordings. One's included on the Dean Martin Show, one is not. Why is it so hard to consider the tape may really be damaged?

 

[Neil Brock]

Buck wrote both Tiger By The Tail and Love's Gonna Live Here. Both were on Capitol Records. Buck owned his own recordings. One's included on the Dean Martin Show, one is not. Why is it so hard to consider the tape may really be damaged?

Because if you know anything about or have ever dealt with 2-inch videotape, it is very, very rare for tape damage to occur in the middle of a tape. Damage and wear and tear is more likely to occur at the beginnings and endings of a tape. Even in the remote chance that there was some sort of problem occurring at the point of the song, it would not have been the entire song. And looking at the rest of the tapes, which are pristine, this just doesn't ring true.

 

[John Hermes]

I think you're in another of your I-know-it-all spiels, Danny (like the Ozzie & Harriet thread). I have worked in the video and film field for over thirty years and know anything can happen. The tape didn't have to be damaged in a machine either. I don't know how you come up with this crystal ball all the time, saying stuff like "malarky", when you have no idea of the particulars in this situation. Maybe, just maybe this is one of the "very, very rare" instances you wrote about. Amazing.

 

[Video Vision]

Many of the tapes from the first five years of the series are in far from pristine condition, and it's required a lot of work to restore them for not only the Time-Life sets, but the 29 Guthy-Renker volumes that preceded them.
As was the case with most variety shows of that era, for the first 5 seasons of The Dean Martin Show's existence, any edits that were made in the 2-inch quad tapes had to be done manually -- literally cutting the tape the way film is (or used to be) cut. That situation didn't change until Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In came along. The latter required so many edits that a new method of post-production needed to be developed, and thus, electronic editing was born. It was put into use for Dean's series beginning with the 6th season (1970-71). That's why the episodes from the fall of 1970 forward look so much better and cleaner than earlier seasons -- they were edited electronically. Physical handling of the tapes on which the earlier seasons were recorded made the tapes prone to damage -- thus rendering entirely plausible the explanation that the missing Buck Owens segment was ruined. And if even only a portion of it was unsalvagable, why on Earth would they run just part of the number? Wouldn't that look pretty strange?
Here's one more reason that the official explanation rings true: The discovery of the tape damage was made, and originally reported, not by Time-Life, but by Lee Hale, The Dean Martin Show's longtime Music Director, and later producer, who personally screened and chose every inch of footage incorporated into both the Guthy-Renker volumes and the Time-Life collections. Lee knows that material inside and out, and is also a skilled videotape editor himself. At this point in his career, someone of his stature has no reason to be deceitful about a relatively minor matter such as this one.

 

[John Hermes]

Many of the tapes from the first five years of the series are in far from pristine condition, and it's required a lot of work to restore them for not only the Time-Life sets, but the 29 Guthy-Renker volumes that preceded them.
As was the case with most variety shows of that era, for the first 5 seasons of The Dean Martin Show's existence, any edits that were made in the 2-inch quad tapes had to be done manually -- literally cutting the tape the way film is (or used to be) cut. That situation didn't change until Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In came along. The latter required so many edits that a new method of post-production needed to be developed, and thus, electronic editing was born. It was put into use for Dean's series beginning with the 6th season (1970-71). That's why the episodes from the fall of 1970 forward look so much better and cleaner than earlier seasons -- they were edited electronically. Physical handling of the tapes on which the earlier seasons were recorded made the tapes prone to damage -- thus rendering entirely plausible the explanation that the missing Buck Owens segment was ruined. And if even only a portion of it was unsalvagable, why on Earth would they run just part of the number? Wouldn't that look pretty strange?
Here's one more reason that the official explanation rings true: The discovery of the tape damage was made, and originally reported, not by Time-Life, but by Lee Hale, The Dean Martin Show's longtime Music Director, and later producer, who personally screened and chose every inch of footage incorporated into both the Guthy-Renker volumes and the Time-Life collections. Lee knows that material inside and out, and is also a skilled videotape editor himself. At this point in his career, someone of his stature has no reason to be deceitful about a relatively minor matter such as this one.

Thanks for adding some common sense and real knowledge to the discussion.

 

[Video Vision]

Thanks for adding some common sense and real knowledge to the discussion.

My pleasure. I'm happy to contribute any way that I can.