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One of the Regulars
- Messages
- 126
- Location
- California
I was reading this lavishly illustrated coffee table book called Window to the Future: The Golden Age of Television Marketing and Advertising which features print ads of TV sets from the 1920s to the 1960s.
One in particular that stood out was this one.
PM me for higher quality images. The original resolution images are too big to fit here.
I also found this October 20, 1958 Billboard article from the Wikipedia page on Stereophonic sound.
https://books.google.com/books?id=4AoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA37&hl=en#v=onepage&q=expect huge&f=false
The George Gobel Show ran from 1954-1960 and was one of the highest rated shows on NBC which featured his deadpan sense of humor.
In 1958, RCA Victor and NBC decided to promote "Living Stereo" and Color Television via this elaborate campaign on The George Gobel Show as "the most ambitious one-shot promotion in RCA history".
Print ads in the October 18, 1958 issue of TV Guide gave instructions and a color-insert.
The episode of The George Gobel Show premiered October 21, 1958 with Vaughn Monroe as a guest star.
To create stereophonic sound, owners of B&W mono TVs were instructed to place a radio 8 feet to the right of their set and tuned it to NBC Radio. The radio broadcast actually generated the illusion of stereophonic sound with the TV speaker as George walked from left to right on the screen, though the picture was still off-center. The radio station only broadcast for two three-minute intervals of "pure stereo". Still an amazing feat to perfectly sync both radio and TV with the help of NBC engineers, Bells Telephone Labs, and AT&T.
Giving a cue, George would then strike a pose with several dazzling chorines for a full minute.
Viewers could then hold TV Guide's full-color magazine spread on the bottom half of their set and "see the difference color makes!" on the gowns (and Lonesome George himself).
The book noted that color TV was still rather muddy and paled in comparison to full-color print ads. But the misleading point was to compare consumer's black and white TVs with high-definition full color ads.
Ironically, the book points out, modern analog color TVs still can't compare to digital high definition TV sets, but the campaign got its point across.
I was hoping to recreate this sensation by holding up the book to my bunny-eared CRT and see George in color. (I can manage to watch Youtube in glorious 4:3 with a first generation Wii connected via RCA cables)
Unfortunately, only piecemeal episodes of The George Gobel Show seem to exist even on Youtube, the Internet Archive, and even eBay and Amazon. The series doesn't seem to have been picked up by TVLand, AntennaTV, Cozi TV, or PBS.
From what I can tell, the episodes were preserved on Kinescopes, basically a 16mm film camera pointed at a studio monitor. I also hear that it is either in the public domain or not popular enough to be featured on Wikipedia's List of lost television broadcasts.
I'm also not sure if the NBC radio broadcast was preserved on an acetate or transcription disc.
Does the October 21, 1958 (S5 E2) episode for The George Gobel Show still exist in some shape or form of "the most ambitious one-shot promotion in RCA history"? Who should I contact?
One in particular that stood out was this one.
PM me for higher quality images. The original resolution images are too big to fit here.
I also found this October 20, 1958 Billboard article from the Wikipedia page on Stereophonic sound.
https://books.google.com/books?id=4AoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA37&hl=en#v=onepage&q=expect huge&f=false
The George Gobel Show ran from 1954-1960 and was one of the highest rated shows on NBC which featured his deadpan sense of humor.
In 1958, RCA Victor and NBC decided to promote "Living Stereo" and Color Television via this elaborate campaign on The George Gobel Show as "the most ambitious one-shot promotion in RCA history".
Print ads in the October 18, 1958 issue of TV Guide gave instructions and a color-insert.
The episode of The George Gobel Show premiered October 21, 1958 with Vaughn Monroe as a guest star.
To create stereophonic sound, owners of B&W mono TVs were instructed to place a radio 8 feet to the right of their set and tuned it to NBC Radio. The radio broadcast actually generated the illusion of stereophonic sound with the TV speaker as George walked from left to right on the screen, though the picture was still off-center. The radio station only broadcast for two three-minute intervals of "pure stereo". Still an amazing feat to perfectly sync both radio and TV with the help of NBC engineers, Bells Telephone Labs, and AT&T.
Giving a cue, George would then strike a pose with several dazzling chorines for a full minute.
Viewers could then hold TV Guide's full-color magazine spread on the bottom half of their set and "see the difference color makes!" on the gowns (and Lonesome George himself).
The book noted that color TV was still rather muddy and paled in comparison to full-color print ads. But the misleading point was to compare consumer's black and white TVs with high-definition full color ads.
Ironically, the book points out, modern analog color TVs still can't compare to digital high definition TV sets, but the campaign got its point across.
I was hoping to recreate this sensation by holding up the book to my bunny-eared CRT and see George in color. (I can manage to watch Youtube in glorious 4:3 with a first generation Wii connected via RCA cables)
Unfortunately, only piecemeal episodes of The George Gobel Show seem to exist even on Youtube, the Internet Archive, and even eBay and Amazon. The series doesn't seem to have been picked up by TVLand, AntennaTV, Cozi TV, or PBS.
From what I can tell, the episodes were preserved on Kinescopes, basically a 16mm film camera pointed at a studio monitor. I also hear that it is either in the public domain or not popular enough to be featured on Wikipedia's List of lost television broadcasts.
I'm also not sure if the NBC radio broadcast was preserved on an acetate or transcription disc.
Does the October 21, 1958 (S5 E2) episode for The George Gobel Show still exist in some shape or form of "the most ambitious one-shot promotion in RCA history"? Who should I contact?
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