Were the first seasons of 'Bewitched' filmed in colour?

[passatdoc]

and last but not least, the "kaleidoscope" opening

Adopted in 1965, but often attached to syndicated versions (particularly on DVDs) of seasons two and three, even though the original openers were different and shown above. This is the opener with which viewers are most familiar, partly because it was the first opener actually to be broadcast in primetime color, and partly because it was later attached to season two and three episodes which originally had different openers.

I'm not certain why, but most DVD episodes seem to come from the last three seasons, 1968-68. Another change in the format was that The Lucy Show began to rely on celebrity appearances, which also occurred in the last three seasons of I Love Lucy (California, Europe, and New York) and on most of the episodes of Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour (1957-60), which was a one hour version of the I Love Lucy format (characters were the same, and they continued to live in Westport, Connecticut, as they did at the end of I Love Lucy in 1957).

The numerous celebrity appearances in the final three seasons may explain their apparently higher appeal to collectors who buy the DVDs.

Here is an episode with Joan Crawford



and Vivian Vance is clearly identified as being with Lucy "on vacation", which proves it is from the last three seasons.

 

[panthera]

One of the worst winters in decades together

with a difficult pregnancy meant my mom was spending a lot of time at home in 1963 - she couldn't drive the pass to her university and I do recall more school cancellations than in the rest of my studies, together.

So when the B&W TV my folks were given by their in-laws back in the mid-50's died, they replaced it with an Admiral color TV.

Biggest piece of stinking shit you ever saw. First color TV in our neighborhood, but also resulted in me (five/six years old) getting to know the TV repairman well enough that he took to showing me details about TV circuitry. By the 1964, even six year old me knew how to phone his shop and be told to check the horizontal hold, etc. to just be sure before he came out...

Lucy and Star Trek and Bewitched and Johnny Quest were staples of those days. Color was used very consciously in these productions and their values were much higher than the trash we got in the 1970's and well into the 1990's. TV didn't really start to be well written again until about 15 years ago. Wonder why - so much technological advance, such opportunities...but take a look at Starsky and Hutch or the Mod Squad (two shows I love) - yikes! Or the Brady Bunch (which was only worth watching for the tight pants Mr. Brady wore...)

Lucy also introduced three-camera technique to TV...an enormously expensive and difficult undertaking in the 1950's, but it gave her a the range to do complex comedy. She may have been a bitch to shame Joan Crawford, but we have her to thank for a lot of what made and makes TV good.

 

[passatdoc]

guest stars on Lucy

I think Desilu figured out early on that having big name guest stars were a sure fire ratings booster. Maybe they had to pay big fees for these stars to appear, but they got some of the biggest names at the time, even Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton (see link below for their appearance on "Here's Lucy" c.1970). Most people in those days got their schedule information from TV Guide or the weekly tv schedule provided by the local paper, and often guest stars were listed. In addition, networks often ran ads during the week pimping an upcoming celebrity appearance on various programs.

I agree our GE set was a piece of crap, it worked ok for about a year and then started having problems. My parents probably spent more on repairs than the set cost would have cost new (though of course they won it on a $1 raffle ticket).

I believe it was donated by a local dealer, perhaps a member of the local Lions Club to which my father belonged, and who knows, maybe it was a refurb or return. My mother had been notified of our "win" while my father and I were at a hockey game, and had driven to the dealer during the game to pick up the set. They loaded it into the tailgate of her station wagon and she drove home, waiting for the men to arrive to lug it into the house.

I remember having an original registration and owner's manual in a plastic sack, but all of the original packaging had been removed from the set and the cart to facilitate loading it into the car. My mother recalls driving to the dealer and the tv was sitting on its cart, all unpacked and ready to be loaded into the car. So it's possible this was a return or a refurb. I'd hate to think all GE's were this bad, but who knows. Most of the people who bought tv's chose Zenith or RCA in the mid 1960s.

The 1972 Hitachi color tv was losing its color by mid 1979, indicating I would presume a bad picture tube, but at least the set gave seven years of good service before bowing out. No repairs whatsoever. The successor Mitsubishi slugged on from 1979 to 1995, when it was replaced by a 25" Magnavox that works to this very day.

The tv sits in a built in teak wall cabinet that they had installed after moving into the then-new house in 1972. The opening is rectangular, which matched the shape of tv's at that time. The only reason they didn't go beyond 19" in the Mitsubishi was the cost ($750 for 21" vs. $500 for a 19"), though a 21" set would have fit in the space. There was room for VCRs in an adjacent cabinet.

Later, when the Mitsubishi died, the height of the tv became an issue, as most were now square, and the largest set that would fit the height of the wall cabinet was a 25" Magnavox. We actually had to shop with a tape measure. However, since the new boxy tv's were not as long, it was now possible to add a VCR and DVD in the same cabinet rather than running wires between the cabinets.

Now, oddly enough, tv's are once again rectangular, and whatever HDTV they buy to replace the Magnavox will most likely fill the entire rectangular space with a picture screen. What had been obsolete (for a boxy tv) is now perfect for the newest generation of technology.

 

[jeffg]

> the Brady Bunch (which was only worth watching for the tight pants Mr. Brady wore...)

Good to know I wasn't the only one with a crush on Robert Reed. At least until he and his sons showed up with permed hair.

The other color show I loved was Batman. That whole Bruce Wayne/Boy Wonder thing was very appealing to me.

 

[danemodsandy]

Panthera:

"Lucy also introduced three-camera technique to TV"

As I said in a previous post, the three-camera technique was not invented by Lucy, Desi, or anyone at Desilu. What they did do was raise the level of the technique to a degree that was awesome by the standards of that time. The three-camera episodes of Burns and Allen I mentioned in my earlier post look positively gruesome compared to a Desilu sitcom; they are cheaply made and they look it. The lighting is rudimentary, costuming is downright bad for supporting players (though Gracie Allen wears some smashing Don Loper outfits, Bea Benadaret looks like she's carrying an inner tube under her blouse), and sets are of the $1.98 variety, with obvious painted backdrops to be seen outside every window of the set. It was as if no one connected with Burns and Allen ever bothered to turn on a TV set and actually find out how the result looked to home viewers.

At Desilu, technical standards were the result of Lucy and Desi's experience in feature film. Lucy in particular had had a contract with M-G-M, where excellence was demanded - and paid for - in every particular of film-making. Desilu's accomplishment was to bring as much of that standard as possible to the weekly grind of sitcom-making.

Two Desilu people in particular helped make a huge difference in how Desilu shows looked on TV. One was cinematographer Karl Freund, who was one of the top M-G-M cameramen of the Classic Era; he photographed two of Garbo's biggest pictures. Desi hired him at far less than his motion-picture salary (union scale, actually), because Desi got Freund interested in the technical challenge of making TV look good. Freund's major contribution was a "grid" system of lighting that distributed light evenly over the entire set, so actors could move freely and look good while they were doing it (there were also "fill" lights under the camera to shine some light upward onto actors' faces during closer shots; such lighting erases wrinkles).

The other person was costume designer Elois Jenssen, who really, really "got" television in a way that most costume people didn't. Lucy's wardrobe was carefully designed and tested to be certain it looked good on the grainy, high-contrast screens of the day, and Jenssen also made certain that no other costuming competed with Lucy's; the viewer never "loses" Lucy, no matter how fast and wacky the action.

Desilu also spent money on feature-quality titles at a time when most TV shows made do with crudely lettered cards or the rudimentary electronic superimpositions possible at the time. Desilu's Make Room for Daddy went to the length of superimposing each actor's name over their moving image during the title sequence - something that was not cheap to do in 1953, when that series began.

Desi also spent more money on sound, music, film processing, sets and makeup than most producers. Lucy's age when I Love Lucy began filming (40) meant that she needed the best efforts of every department at Desilu to look good; the standards of another company might have sunk I Love Lucy before it got off the ground. If you're into old TV shows, you can always tell a Desilu show from any other company's - the image is brighter and contrastier, the sound is clear as a bell, the costuming, hair and makeup are as good as anything seen in feature film, and the titles are first-rate.

 

[neptunebob]

Would this apply to Star Trek too?

It was made by Desilu in it's first year, before Desilu was absorbed by Paramount (would it be Viacom now?). Even today it seems that the color in the original Star Trek looks better than in some other shows from the era.

Lost in Space was another show I remember and when it first came out in black and white, it is kind of scary. The next year, they changed it not only to color, but the writing became kind of "silly". The reason - Not just scaring little kids, but in 1966, ABC put Batman on at the same time, in color, and I guess the writers for LIS had to do something different to compete with Batman. So you could say Batman made LIS kind of goofy.

In "The Making of Star Trek", Gene Roddenberry told how he was trying to pitch Star Trek to CBS executives and was turned down becuase they already had another science fiction family show - Lost in Space.

 

[danemodsandy]

I'm Not As Familiar...

...With Desilu's "late" period (just before the sale to Paramount) as I am with its founding, but standards there seem to have been pretty high throughout the company's history. The Lucy Show episodes that were in colour are very well-done technically, though I'm not nearly as fond of Lucy's work in them as I am of her work in I Love Lucy. Lucy Ricardo is sublime work, fully the equal of Chaplin's Little Tramp. Lucys Carmichael and Carter are just sitcom characters.

The only problem with the early Star Trek episodes that I'm aware of is that they were filmed at a standard compatible with the resolution of a late '60s colour TV, which wasn't very high. Today, with DVD and high-resolution TV's, you can see things that didn't show in 1968, like nail heads in the plywood sets. Unfortunate, that, but I don't think anyone involved in filming the series ever envisioned today's standards of resolution, or that the show would become a classic. In its day, Star Trek had a very rough ride with NBC, often in danger of being cancelled.

 

[whirlaway]

Lucy in color

Actually Desi wanted to film the 1957 I love Lucy in color but decided it was too costly.Their marriage was in shambles and they really didnt know how long they would be on TV.The earlier Red Skeltons on CBS where in color in 1956,but filmed in BW.The reason they were so late with color RCA held the patents and Palen the Pres of CBS didnt want to payup to them,after they won the FCC approval for their color system,so many shows were probably fimed in color and broadcast in BW in the late 50s and early 60s,after NBC went all color 65and 66 season at night there were afraid of losing viewers and started going color.I remember a 1961 or 62 commercial at Christmas on CBS with a little bird and it was color.Check old 1950 life mags RCA electronic color is on the cover,Ill see if I can find mine as to what month and day it was.Bobby

 

[neptunebob]

We were late to color TV too and my dad was also a dentist..

We did not get one until 1974, and the next year, was when we first got cable in our community, because really, we could only get one station KDKA, for CBS, well at all. Other people had color TVs, but you had to have an outdoor antenna (expensive) and it seemed that every time I saw a color TV at Horne's (now Macy's)Walter Cronkite always seemed to be purple! It seemed that the Black and white sets were easier to adjust to an acceptable picture, until the 80s came along and I guess by that time, the companies figured out to build effective color telvision.

Star Trek was a good show, but we couldn't get it originally, and it never sent the chills down my spine that Lost in Space did. Star Trek was a work situation and LIS was a family drama. Also, I wondered if it helped that on LIS, Jonathan Harris was a Shakesperean actor who was very dramatic. Dr. Smith made that show.

If anyone knows: Do the Desilu studios still exist? I would think they would be part of Paramount/Viacom by now.

On another note, is is just me, or is there a difference between a Shakesperean actor and a regular actor? For example, on LIS it seems the other men were regular actors but Dr. Smith - with all his drama - Was a Shakesperean actor. Or is this just me?

 

[launderess]

Shakespearean Actors

Yes, there is a difference, quite a large one between actors that can play roles in Shakespearean plays, and those who cannot. It all comes down to training and of course talent.

In the UK, one finds Shakespearean actors moving between stage, film and television. Quite a few actors seen on our favourite PBS programs such as Dame Judi Dench, Helen Mirren, and Patrica Routledge (Hycinth Bucket), are Shakespearean actors. Samantha Stephens's father the warlock "Maurice" was played by Maurice Evans, a Shakespearan trained actor, hence his "ham" performances.

Then you have actors like film stars such as Lauren Bacall, Cary Grant, and the lot, who while great in their craft, one is not likely to see them doing Romeo and Juliet or Hamlet.

At one point in history, stage actors distanded doing "films" and "Hollywood", however as the medium grew, and more importantly offered vast sums,things changed.

Loading…

en.wikipedia.org

 

[panthera]

Sandy,

Thanks for the correction. I thought to have read somewhere it was her idea to bring it into TV. It is true, tho' - Desilu productions were just plain good.

You can tell the difference between a properly trained actor (think Hugh Laurie) and a guy who was chosen for his chest (think nearly all sit-com hunks). Or the BOTW in so many American shows of the '80s and '90s where there was a concern that all those male-bonding moments would give the wrong impression (The Sentinel being the best example). Can anybody remember any of the hunks or blondes once their, er, chests began to sag?

 

[danemodsandy]

Panthera:

"I thought to have read somewhere it was her idea to bring it into TV."

It's a common misconception, brought about by writers who have not seen very much early-'50s TV. Until pretty recently, it was not easy to see much TV of that era, because most shows were considered to have very little market potential, and were therefore not shown in syndication or released to home video. In recent years, cheap DVD mastering has made a lot of stuff available, and the fact that many shows never had their copyrights renewed due to the perception that they were worthless made many of them public-domain. Today, there are things lurking in $1 DVD bins that I would have killed for a few years ago. When was the last time you saw a Bob Cummings Show episode? Or one of the Jean Hagen episodes of Make Room for Daddy? Or Ozzie and Harriet? Or Groucho's You Bet Your Life? Or a Colgate Comedy Hour? All of them and more besides are on dollar DVD's. Many are poor prints, some are kinescopes, but stuff from this era of TV is so rare, I'll take what I can get. And some of the quality is great - I have three Jean Hagen Make Room for Daddy episodes complete with the original commercials for Pall Mall cigarettes and the new 1955 Dodge, as well as the original ABC television network credit at the end of each episode.

Now, if someone would only dig up The Rosemary Clooney Show!

 

[whirlcool]

We've discussed all the Color logos for color television presentations by the three networks before. When did they stop using them, like the NBC Peacock, etc.

 

[danemodsandy]

Allen:

Kris Trexler's site (he's a Hollywood video editor who edits tape for sitcoms like According to Jim), has video of all three networks' vintage colour presentation logos:

Loading…

www.ev1.pair.com

And Wikipedia has an article about the NBC Peacock:

Loading…

en.wikipedia.org

NBC still uses the Peacock on a limited basis, especially in its "bug" (the network logo displayed at the lower left corner of the screen).

 

[passatdoc]

Desilu three camera system

Was the Burns and Allen show captured on FILM? Or did they have three live tv cameras edited down to one image and captured on kinescope? My understanding was that Desilu produced the first motion picture film quality tv show, and that I Love Lucy was the first show FILMED in front of a live audience. The three camera technique may well have been started by Burns & Allen, but the show doesn't appear to have been filmed before a live audience.

Below is a clip of the Lucy floating away on balloons episode, filmed (but not originally broadcast) in color. Awfully vivid color for 1963, filmed on a sound stage in front of a live audience.

 

[danemodsandy]

Passatdoc:

Yes, the early episodes of Burns and Allen were done on film from the get-go, not as a kinescope of a broadcast. I am a design and film writer, and I know the difference between film as film and film as kinescope.

The Burns and Allen episodes I have are from early in the show's history, 1951 (it ran from 1950-58). I cannot say what was done in later years, but the eps I have were definitely filmed with a live audience in attendance. You cannot mistake the immediacy of a live-audience reaction, as compared to canned laughter. Also, the sets are built for live-audience filming, not soundstage filming (if you'll mentally compare My Little Margie to I Love Lucy, you'll know what I'm talking about).

However, the Burns and Allen eps look really primitive compared to any Desilu-filmed show, because Desilu polished and refined the three-camera concept to a remarkable degree. The image quality and production values of Desilu shows hold up today (allowing for their black-and-white and their '50s fashions), whereas most early-'50s TV looks pretty cheap and dismal nowadays.

 

[passatdoc]

the stilt walking episode....

Season one, in B&W....

 

[whirlcool]

You know, a lot of people never remember the days of black & white TV because they weren't born yet.
I do remember watching everything in Black & White, but didn't think anything of it until I saw my first color program. I didn't watch the show itself so much as the color on the show. I was amazed at how much of a difference it made. It was a striking difference.

 

[appliguy]

Danemodsandy....

According to my research (and I am a I Love Lucy aholic) I Love Lucy was the first comedy show shot with 3 camera's. I have garnered this from reading a number of different books on Lucy the last being the autobiography of the head writer of her radio show and the first 6 seasons of I Love Lucy, Jess Openheimer. The first time 3 camera's were ever used to tape a tv show of any kind was in 1947 and it was a live game show. I also do not understand how you can have episodes from the 1951 season of the Burns and Allen show since all episodes prior to the third season were shot live and the kinescope copies have been said to have been destroyed by age. If you could please elaborate on that. An interesting fact: the kinescope process gets its name from the technical name for the picture tube in a tv set. Kinescopes were made by putting a camera in front of a tv monitor and recording the picture and the audio. Also the Coaxial cablle tv hook up went on line in the fall of 1951. PAT COFFEY

 

[appliguy]

here is a piece of an article that also states the first 2 s

The link below will take you to the article in full. I ahve done no editing to this paert I have posted here as you will see.

The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, which premiered on 12 October 1950, was one of the first comedy series to make the successful transition from radio to television. Similar to the format of the radio program in which George Burns and Gracie Allen played themselves, the CBS domestic comedy was set in their home, the first television series to depict the home life of a working show business couple.

The half-hour series was broadcast live for the first two seasons. The first six episodes were broadcast from New York, but the show soon moved to Hollywood, making it only the third CBS series to emanate from the West Coast (after The Ed Wynn Show and The Alan Young Show). On Burns' insistence, the show was broadcast on alternate weeks in order to provide sufficient time for rehearsals and alleviate some of the pressures of live broadcasts. During its bi-weekly period, the series alternated with the anthology series Starlight Theater and, later, with Star of the Family. After two seasons of live performances, the series switched to a weekly filmed broadcast. Although not filmed before a studio audience, the final filmed product was previewed to an audience and their reactions recorded. At a time when many series relied on mechanically reproduced ("canned") laughter, Burns claimed that his series only "'sweetened' the laughter when a joke went flat and there was no way of eliminating it from the film. Even then we never added more than a gentle chuckle."

Loading…

www.museum.tv