Television VI "Lost"

The great tragedy of television is that so much has been lost. Most of the early years of television were done live, the only recording capability a primitive film system called kinescopes (in which they literally filmed from a picture tube) until videotape first appeared in the mid-fifties. The original videotape machines were as big as mini-vans.

"Kine's" deteriorated quickly but even more catastrophic was the loss through deliberate destruction. It seemed that few television executives appreciated the historic value of those early recordings. The real purpose of kinescopes was to 'bicycle' the programs to stations that were in outlying markets beyond broadcast range. Once the kine's were returned to the networks, they were routinely destroyed.

If that wasn't bad enough, much of the early videotape record of television was bulk-erased to make storage space. I won't mention his name, but there was one network executive in the late 1950's who erased NBC's entire videotape library, including their Christmas perennial "Amal and the Night Visitors" - a production that had to be mounted again at an expense far greater than any savings incurred.

Among the many other lost programs was the NBC Opera Company's 1955 production of Puccini's "Madame Butterfly", the original recording of "Peter Pan" with Mary Martin and Cyril Ritchard, "Robert Montgomery Presents" (most notably Helen Hayes in "Victoria Regina") and virtually all of producer Albert McCleery's daytime "Matinee Theatre" productions.

We have "I Love Lucy" today only because Desi Arnaz had the foresight to do it on film (and in the process invented the three-camera/live audience form that is so common today). But so many other programs, arguably as good, are lost. A good example is "Mr. Peepers", starring Wally Cox, Tony Randall and Marion Lorne. And what little can be found of Ernie Kovacs, "Your Show of Shows" *, "Texaco Star Theater". "Colgate Comedy Hour" (with early appearances of Martin & Lewis, Ed Wynn, Jimmy Durante and Louis Armstrong) are of poor quality and therefore rarely seen.

Very little of television's 'Golden Age' survives. But anyone who watched it, especially the live dramas, like the (aforementioned) "Kraft Television Theatre" and "Hallmark Hall of Fame", as well as "Studio One", "Playhouse 90", "Producers Showcase", and "Ford Star Jubilee" (to name just a few), felt the special 'opening night' energy that live television had. And most of it is gone.


* One of my most vivid memories of early television was when I attended a rehearsal of "Your Show of Shows" and what turned out to be a classic routine in which the cast (Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner & Howard Morris) played figures in a giant animated clock.

End of Part One