A Visit To UCLA

[RMF]

It appears that, while various people have mentioned performing research at UCLA, no one has written an account of doing so. To break that trend:

I was at UCLA on Sunday afternoon to view some material, including the 9/28/73 Password, a Jeopardy! episode from 1967, and a local episode of Queen For A Day with Adolphe Menjoe (no, I'm not joking) as guest host.

First, some general comments on process:

I sent an email to the ARSC a week before my trip, and, by requesting only study copies, was able to view all I requested.

The viewing room is on the second floor of Powell Library, not the Film and Television Archive per se. I was led into a small room with a door to view my material off a large screen television, which I controlled by remote.

One slight issue: I had to signal the people at the desk to advance to the next program, which grew complicated due to my viewing ten different tapes in a four-hour period.

As for what I viewed (sorry about the spoilers, but there are some people on this board who regrettably make it necessary:

The Password tape is in b/w, and, because it contains commercials, doesn't seem likely to have been dubbed from a master but, based on picture quality, doesn't seem to come from an off-the-air source. Maybe a tape made by the LA affiliate?

The Jeopardy episode seems easier, as the opening title card seems to be the one used by NBC for reference library kinescopes, though it is in rather rough quality

Speaking of Jeopardy, it was the first episode of the High School Students Week, with plugs galore for the local affiliates. Interestingly, the music used on the program (other than Take Ten) is special for these episodes.

Menjoe is problematic as a host: he seems reliant on cards (though, in fairness, the vast majority of the audience would have only heard the program), and screws up some important matters, such as contestant names. He certainly dressed well (then again, it was his persona) for a daytime program. It's a King For A Day special, and it raises one question: Does anyone know if Queen For A Day was ever charged with using fake contestants? The first one feels a bit like a plant.

As for Password, other than feeling a little loose compared to the 1960s run (Ludden and James Shigeta argue over a clue), there's not much of great excitement. It is interesting to note that the set and many of the wardrobes seems off in b/w, rather than color- this suggests a difference between television production designed for b/w sets (as in the 1950s and early 1960s) compared to color sets.

If anyone cares, I can offer some stories (that need not be spoiled) about the non-game programs I viewed.

[Vahan_Nisanian]

I'd like to hear about the non-game show programs you viewed. What were they?

[thomas_meighan]

Do you happen to recall if Password was using the best 2/3 match in the episode you viewed, or was the one-loss-and-out format still in place?

[mmb5]

My theory on the B&W Password is that there had to have been some class that was taping things, because there are a bunch of other B&W shows in the archive from roughly the same time.  Password is the only one they have converted, and that's only been done in the last 2 years.

[RMF]

I'd like to hear about the non-game show programs you viewed. What were they?

Several examples of DeForest Phonofilms and Kellum Process sound short subjects from the 1920s, "Remember How Great", a 1961 musical-variety special hosted by Jack Benny in color (and a rare example of a color videotape surviving from the period), two short presentations by KTLA to the local Emmys promoting UCLA basketball in 1970 and 1971(and including what are possibly the only surviving television footage of regular season UCLA games from the period), and 22 minutes of the coverage of the 1971 Sylmar earthquake by local television.

Do you happen to recall if Password was using the best 2/3 match in the episode you viewed, or was the one-loss-and-out format still in place?

One loss and out

My theory on the B&W Password is that there had to have been some class that was taping things, because there are a bunch of other B&W shows in the archive from roughly the same time.  Password is the only one they have converted, and that's only been done in the last 2 years.

On the one hand, it's clear that some researcher (or research group) was doing that in 1971 and 1973, but there are three problems with this being the origin of the tape:

1.) The tape doesn't seem to have made over-the-air (there are commercials, but no signs of reception issues or anything of that nature), and it seems, while in black-and-white, to be on master-quality videotape.

2.) The 1971 and 1973 tapes are unplayable, according to the current UCLA notes.

3.) The date of this episode is several months later in 1973 that the "unplayable" tapes, suggesting that it has a different origin.

What may be the proper hint: The inventory number for the videoreel which is the original of the Password episode is T6474. In the T6460s and T6470s, there are a number of videoreels (largely un-transferred), include what may be some other game material. This suggests that this may have been part of a private collection, and that checking the donation paperwork may explain why it survives.

[Fedya]

Surely you know DeForest stole from Theodore Case.  :-p

(If you want to see one of Case's early experiments in sound, Gus Visser and His Singing Duck is available on Youtube.  So are some of the DeForest Phonofilms.)

[RMF]

Surely you know DeForest stole from Theodore Case.  :-p

Of course...but there aren't any Case-Sponable shorts (other than Visser) at UCLA (those, IIRC, are at GEH, which is much farther away), and "DeForest" is the category name, at any rate.

(Some comments: The DeForest Phonofilms were "Cohen on the Telephone" and a  Ben Bard/Jack Pearl routine. The prints weren't in the best of shape, the filming was rather static, and both shorts relied on a humor that is not my forte. The Kellum Process films were Aubrey Lyles and Flourney Miller performing a comedy routine, Fred Van Eps performing a medley with his Trio, and a promotional film dating to 1924 or later with clips from a wide number of films, including the "Dream Street" clip of DW Griffith. There's some great historical value (including the promotional film, with its glimpses of Samuel Gompers, James J. Davis, and Irvin S. Cobb with lit cigar), but the film-making was even more static than in the Phonofilms, and there were obvious limits to the sound recording.)

[thomas_meighan]

Orlando Kellum's system was acoustic, wasn't it? (i.e. sound waves were captured by a recording horn instead of a microphone and cut onto the wax master--this was the customary system for all commercial phonograph recordings until Victor and Columbia adopted the Western Electric process in the spring of 1925.)

Regarding the UCLA material, IIRC the 1971 and 1973 material wasn't recorded on random dates but in a particular sequence: in 1971, the dates were March 8 (M), March 16 (T), March 24 (W), April 1 (Th) and April 9 (F). The 1973 dates, likewise, were March 12 (M), March 20 (T), March 28 (W), April 5 (Th) and April 13 (F). By 'unplayable', did the Archive mean that the tapes were beyond salvation or that they lacked the proper playback equipment?

[chrisholland03]

By 'unplayable', did the Archive mean that the tapes were beyond salvation or that they lacked the proper playback equipment?

Prior conversation with UCLA indicates they lack proper (operational) playback equipment

[RMF]

Orlando Kellum's system was acoustic, wasn't it? (i.e. sound waves were captured by a recording horn instead of a microphone and cut onto the wax master--this was the customary system for all commercial phonograph recordings until Victor and Columbia adopted the Western Electric process in the spring of 1925.)

Regarding the UCLA material, IIRC the 1971 and 1973 material wasn't recorded on random dates but in a particular sequence: in 1971, the dates were March 8 (M), March 16 (T), March 24 (W), April 1 (Th) and April 9 (F). The 1973 dates, likewise, were March 12 (M), March 20 (T), March 28 (W), April 5 (Th) and April 13 (F). By 'unplayable', did the Archive mean that the tapes were beyond salvation or that they lacked the proper playback equipment?

The Kellum system seemed to be acoustic, and that does explain many of the limitations (for instance, Fred Van Eps' banjo being louder than either the saxophonist or pianist in the act), but it still feels a little cramped even with that in mind.

Those are the dates for the 1971 and 1973 materials (and I believe that they also recorded on Saturday and Sunday), which indicates that it was purposefully done and probably as part of a large project. chrisholland03 is correct with his comments. These two points further confirm that the Password episode (and the other undubbed one) cannot originate from this project.