I knew color was around long before the 1970s, heck The Wizard of Oz is from 1939 and has color. But it's super weird that they had color TV in 1958 for President Eisenhower, but the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon Presidential debates were still in black and white. Was it very expensive to have color around back in the day? It didn't appear to be used widely until the late 1960s.
...Oh, and on a side note, the TK-41s were incredible cameras for their day, especially the 41C - one of the ones used in this taping might have a 41A according to some old NBC engineers I knew. While WRC kept the 41Cs around until '68, there were affiliates who'd splurged for them in the early 60s who were still using them as late as '82, which is how I got the opportunity to work with a three-camera setup in '81 at the local NBC station. Damn well built!
...I'd seen this footage about 20 years ago on a 2" backup tape at the See-BS affiliate I worked at. This clip has far better quality than the 2" we had! However, the irony is that if you take note, Ike's first appearance on color TV wasn't when he stepped up to the podium, but when the director switched to a 2nd camera shot of Ike sitting to the side! Sarnoff was reportedly pissed!
u killed Patrice LUMUMBA with the help of your CIA, now both you and the CIA EXECUTIVE of that time are in HELL,... Why kill? If yourself is bound to die one day?????
This makes an historical event seem more intimate and real! I feel like I could almost reach out and touch these people, though this footage is over 50 years old!
What I know, JFK gave a speech during the 1960 campaign in which he addresses the Catholic issue. Apparently that speech was taped on color tape and still exists.
@mrbrandon71 Take your conspiracy theory crap to an Alex Jones video, and leave us normal people alone. This is a historical video concerning early color videotape and broadcasting. It has nothing to do with "henchmen" and the CIA. Piss off.
@mrbrandon71 yeah but what about kennedy and the "advisers" in Vietnam . . .the speech exhorting increased secrecy of government, the pay of pigs. To say he is different from Eisenhower I feel is incorrect . .. in these regards they were in fact very similar except JFK was willing to be shot (addison's disease)? Whereas Ike waited until his farewell speech. Truth and fairness are buzzwords, what I speak of is history, although I agree with you.
@xFruitsBasket Eisenhower was a good president if you overlook the nuclear arms race he started (when we should've been negotiating with the Soviets to stop nuclear proliferation), if you overlook the cancellation of promised elections in Vietnam and the overturning of a Democratically elected Iranian prime minister (who wanted to nationalize oil and keep the British and US from milking his land). He is great for single handedly forcing the government to institute a national highway system.
Both WRC-TV and NBC's Washington news bureau shared a building on Nebraska Avenue, near Ward Circle and not far from American Unicersity, in the city's northwest corner.
The first color TV was broadcast in Germany in the 1930s, IIRC during the 1936 olympics. (Special TV sets were set up for public viewing) Due to WW2, TV (B&W or color) did not become generally available to the public in Germany until after the US.
@RWT683 Nazi TV didn't have color. That particular problem wasn't solved until RCA developed the NTSC system. Europe still used B&W for several years after, until they fixed NTSC's color-shift problem with different phases on alternate lines (PAL) and analog memory (SECAM) in the mid-'60s.
I don't think this was the first time President Eisenhower appeared in a live color telecast.
I thought NBC colorcast Ike's graduation address to one of the military academies (West Point??) in 1957, and the President reviewing the 1957 Inaugural parade earlier that year.
Sorry to burst your bubble on this but NBC AIRED & VIDEOTAPED Colour Peter Pan Special starring Mary Martin in 1956 and it has been aired many years since and is still available on DVD...from 1956 two years before this Presidential programme
It's amazing how much more the politicians of today have fluid command of their speeches on TV. President Eisenhower seemed a bit stiff before the TV cameras. But then, President Eisenhower was a soldier, not a politician.
"Eisenhower made a huge mistake saving Colonel Nasser." Got to agree with you there, RichardEldin. He should have supported the British and French at Suez. I think he refrained from doing that so as not to appear to be supporting "imperialism" , but the Suez action was about securing the free flow of oil. Nasser was made to look powerful at the expense of the west. All in all, though, I still wish we had a man of Eisenhower's stature in the White House today.
You can tell that TV was still relatively new to the office of the President, or at least live presidential speeches outside of the Oval Office or the inaugural ceremony. Eisenhower doesn't know if he should look at the camera, the prompters (where there any?) or the audience inside the room. Kennedy was the first president to master it I guess.
NBC was virtually the ONLY network to telecast color programming on a regular basis at that time (why not, since RCA was their corporate parent)....but there were only a handful of color shows on their weekly schedule. ABC didn't have the resources or technology; CBS presented a few series in "compatible color", but discontinued them completely in 1959 after Bill Paley decided he didn't want to help "General Sarnoff" sell RCA color sets by scheduling color shows for them to be seen on.
@t0nito The color burst was on, but the chroma info was suppressed. Occasionally a bit of high luminance or noise can "fool" the NTSC system into thinking it's getting legit color info. If the monochrome portion of the broadcast had no burst, there would have been tape breakup at the point the color feed began.
@t0nito Yes. The outside cameras were pure monochrome cameras, but the ones in the studio were color cameras with a circuit rigged to block the color carrier, likely with a low-pass filter. Even so, some color information bleeds through. Also, pure monochrome cameras generated a pure luminance (B&W) signal, but in color cameras the luminance is blended from the red, green and blue components, so the luminance has a noticeably different quality.
Pretty impressive. I've worked in TV and knew a color program "Another Night with Fred Astaire" (1959) has been preserved, but I didn't know an older tape existed. When one considers this program was originating from WRC in Washington and being electronically recorded at NBC Studios in Burbank (KNBC), most likely via coaxial cable or telephone line, on the recently invented videotape format--in 1958--this is truly an incredible technical feat.
History-wise, Bing Crosby had the pioneering hand in developing "tape." He didn't like having to be constrained by Kraft Music Hall's "live" radio shows, so he later teamed with Ampex so he could record a transcripted radio broadcast in San Francisco (his home) & the tape was flown to Los Angeles to play. Kraft opposed Bing's "taped" shows, so I believe Chesterfield cigarettes allowed Bing to do this, and he later became "The Father of Taped Broadcast." Few know Bing's connection with "tape."FYI
@smartestmanonnet "Felicitate" is another word for "congratulate," apparently in use back in the 1950's but not today. It literally means to offer happiness.
This is Eisenhower's warning to us about the dangers of instant media. But so as time marches on, so shall what we think is progress. Good luck America, I wish the best for us....
Looks like Ike is having a hard time reading the teleprompter or cue cards. This reminds me of the first time I saw a color telecast. It was around the time this was taped. I was around seven years old walking back to my grandpa's house from the public swimming pool in Sacramento,Ca.(now I call it Moscowmento) on a warm summer night. Looked into a window of this house and there it was, a family watching a color tv. Picture was horrible but it was in color...knocked me on my ass.
Really shows you the powerful relationship between the elite Media owners and Political candidates. The fact that they 'used' the President to 'introduce color broadcasting' is very telling.
@glennmillerfan I believe by coaxial cable link as I understand in the late 40s to early 50s a coaxial cable link was layed across USA from east coast to west and was completed in 1951. From there onwards TV shows can be broadcasted live across the nation in an instant.
@oldtvhistory Yes, in addition to coaxial cables, terrestrial microwave relays were also used in conjunction for television feeds by AT&T for the tv networks (which were also used for long-distance phone traffic when no tv feeds were being sent). With the transition to fiber-optic cables by Ma Bell in the 80s, most of the old microwave relay towers they used have now either been re-purposed for cellular sites, or torn down completely.
@glennmillerfan Coast to coast color television didn't depend on color video tape. That simply permitted retransmission at convenient times to the various time zones. Live television to the west coast was established in 1951 with the completion of the coaxial cable and microwave system. Live color TV could be transmitted this same way. Prior to 1951, television programs on the west coast were typically delayed one week and shown by Kinescope film of the live program the week before in New York.
I am American and I often spell color as "colour" because I spent 12 years of my first 18 years growing up in Germany and Western Europe. I also abbreviate the months of the year in German and I also have problems with "e's" and "k's" that Mr. Webster deleted from American English. If not for Spell-Check" I would not even be aware of how often I do this! So I donot see it as a problem.
I'm SHOCKED at how high the quality of both the color and sharpness of this video is. It's practically indistinguishable from common broadcast quality of the mid-80s. Incredible.
He was using a teleprompter. BTW, the high taxes during Ike's tenure built thousands of public schools, the interstate highway system, developed NASA and DARPA,, which gave the world the internet.. Family's lived comfortably from the earnings of one wage earner and union labor made damn near everything our nation needed to live the American way. Not a perfect era, but in many ways, an time to re-examine.
@XamIIamX yeah I noticed how all of my friends grandparents including my own have very nice homes with big yards, but our parents have little apartments, and as for us young adults, we can barely afford to rent one room studios.
@XamIIamX It wasn't the high taxes that allowed for our nation to live the American way. Firstly, our country was the only free standing manufacturing base remaining following WWII. We enjoyed a monopolistic control of the world's manufacturing. Secondly, we still hadn't depleted our domestic oil & natural resources. Thirdly, back then, nearly everybody was paying income taxes. Now, a full 51 percent of all Americans either pay no federal income taxes or received a tax benefit.
@Tweeter-- I respectfully disagree with your disagreement. Eisenhower was an awkward public speaker. I'm not referring to the content of his speeches, particularly the Farewell Address, but his hesitant speaking style. Eisenhower certainly knew it. For a time actor Lee Bowman advised him on delivering public addresses, then Robert Montgomery (who's in this clip.) Being a slick public speaker does not necessarily mean you are therefore a good leader-- or vice versa.
Poor Mr. Sarnoff has a large swolen area on the right side of his face. Looks like a bad tooth ache. I give him credit for going on live with that so noticeable.
Very nice. But considering that this (invention of color videotape) is an American invention, and the broadcast featured the President of the United States, why didn't you spell "color" -- the American spelling, rather than "colour" -- the British spelling?!
@SciFiGuy1x Simply because being from Australia I spell everything the Aussie English way. I have however added 'color' to the tags though. I know someone from a non-English speaking country has uploaded this footage in its entirety to YouTube and spelled it all in their language.
@SciFiGuy1x I agree, but tell that to Noah Webster. If it weren't for that guy, this wouldn't be an issue. He removed much of the Norman influence on the English language, which was quite boneheaded, as it marks the very heritage of the language, and where and how the words were derived.
@Daan892 Nothing. But this video was showcasing an American invention, on an American television network, featuring the American President. What's wrong with American spelling?! It would be like someone setting up an exhibit to showcase a world-first, which happened to be Mexican, by putting up a piñata, the Mexican flag, photos of Mexico, and a video of the Mexican president -- and then at lunch time, instead of eating a burrito and refried beans, they ate a hamburger and fries!
@SciFiGuy1x Careful now, many people already think that many Americans are bunch of chauvinists. You'll only make it worst. Besides, English is originated from England and that's why they call it ENGLISH.
@SciFiGuy1x It's not really color videotape. The videotape only recorded the electronic signal supplied to it. A color or black & white signal is irrelevant.
Questioning the spelling of the word COLOUR & tying it in with the contents was illogical and, (dare I say it?), stupid. It would be like us uploading the British series "Doctor Who" and saying it's in COLOR. Ooh, we used the Americanized spelling? It's a British PROGRAM. Hmmm...another Americanized spelling. Shouldn't it be PROGRAMME?
@TedNewsom I respectfully disagree with you. Ike delivered the 2 most important speeches of the 20th century: 1. Speech on June 6, 1944 announcing the invasion of Hitler's Fortress Europe, and 2, Farewell Address to America on January 17, 1961 when he warned of the "military industrial complex." Was Ike a great speaker? No, but he was not "dreadful" as you say. His speaking style was adequate, but the message of these 2 speeches will live on forever! Far more than Reagan, JFK, or FDR.
I would like to continue to say how colorizing the JFK news footage would give another degree of being there like when History channel started the WWII in color then BBC did a series WWI in color that was really differnt because color 35mm film didn't come out till 1935, and seeing WWI in color when color film of any kind was a dream just blew me away on how differnt it looks in color.
I am always interested in live color TV from the 50's, similar to, say, news broadcasts of today (with respect to the technology of that time, of course). If there are any more such links please let me know. Thanks!
It's too bad they and other networks did not keep the color and use it exclusively. Imagine if we could have seen Lee Harvey Oswald in color video and the whole JFK assassination affair in color? Damn.
@knowledgeiswhatsup The Color camera's used in the late 50's to the mid 60's where mainly the large and bulky RCA TK40 and TK41 series. They required a lot of lighting and with the narrow hallways in the Dallas PD HQ, there is no way they would have been able to set up. Things got smaller in 1966 with the new Norelco PC60 then PC70 but it was the Sony Betacam ( known as the "minicam" when it came out in the 1970's) that made it possible to see live color just about anywhere.
@knowledgeiswhatsup Is there anyway to colorize old videotape like in the news coverage of the jfk assasination. Like they do for old movies, I'd love to see the dallas hq halls in color and when ruby shot oswald in the basement. But I wonder how the image from those IO cameras with that haloing effect would come across in color.
@sonyhandycam520: I know there is a frame by frame way, but that takes too long. I would assume that by now they developed an automatic way to do it. If I can find a program to do it, I will do it.
@knowledgeiswhatsup Thanks for the info the thing I want to know were the TK40-41 cameras IO tube cameras beacuse when you see the live video from the RFK assassination you don't have the bright haloing artifacts in that new footage. This happend 10yrs later so would they've been using the PC60-70 Norelco cameras.I'm a big fan of colorizing the news footage of the JFK assination because it's like color makes it like it really happend like with WWI-WWII color footage.
@sonyhandycam520 CBS was the biggest user of the Norelco camera's. There are some good clips on youtube of Walter Cronkite from 1968. Taking into account it was pre-HD equipment, they did provide a really clean picture.
I read they used the same pair for the CBS evening news for years. Other examples of CBS late 60's color on youtube are the Ed Sullivan clips and The Smothers Brothers.
Remember that the first colour image (photographic) was made in the 1860s. The first color motion picture film were in the 1910s, near the end of Wo4rld War I. The 1919 footage I have seen were from the city of Paris.
I've heard that David Sarnoff was an extremely demanding boss who did not exactly like anyone who had different ideas. I've also heard that he did not take well to any competition!
Pretty amazing. We can look at Eisenhower, a great general of World War II, as if he were videotaped not too long ago. He really does look "live" (at least more so than older black and white films from World War II).
Very impressive for the late 50's with good reproduction of fleshtones and even accurate green! The NBC/RCA engineers must have been pleased with the results, the quality is better than some later 60's productions using Plumbicon camera's
@JohnnyTheWolfLupino but still, jeez - look at the horrible linearity errors in the first shots, and the shot of Eisenhower doesn't even look as if it's been lined up once. I guess that the broadcast monitors used to set it all up didn't cover the extremities of the picture; the center was very good.
Wonderfully preserved recording. Great piece of broadcast history.
Note: Interesting to read some of the political comments on the board regarding Ike being "a little too Socialist", etc. By remarks like that, sometimes I think extremists have taken over both parties in the USA. If they ran today, many in the modern day right wing would consider Ike and Reagan RINOs and many on the left would consider Truman and Kennedy too conservative.
Is Ike's speech impromptu/ The man is wayy ahead of his time
a0799353 6 days ago
jews running the media...
a0799353 6 days ago
I knew color was around long before the 1970s, heck The Wizard of Oz is from 1939 and has color. But it's super weird that they had color TV in 1958 for President Eisenhower, but the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon Presidential debates were still in black and white. Was it very expensive to have color around back in the day? It didn't appear to be used widely until the late 1960s.
gothatway09 1 week ago
@gothatway09 Yeah, color broadcasting was difficult and expensive at that time.
calimar28 3 days ago
mj12
gcwbr1 2 weeks ago
No NBC peacock?
heine71 1 month ago
@heine71 NBC didn't use the "peacock" until the late-1970's. Until then, they used the big N.
PigsInBlanket 1 month ago
@PigsInBlanket Sorry, but the "Peacock" has been around since the late 50's, not the late '70's.
visor109 2 weeks ago
How amazing to see the earliest known color footage.
CadillacL 1 month ago
@CadillacL Not just color, but it looks HD! It looks like something from the 90's, but it is the 50's!
calimar28 3 days ago
@calimar28 Exactly!
CadillacL 3 days ago
...Oh, and on a side note, the TK-41s were incredible cameras for their day, especially the 41C - one of the ones used in this taping might have a 41A according to some old NBC engineers I knew. While WRC kept the 41Cs around until '68, there were affiliates who'd splurged for them in the early 60s who were still using them as late as '82, which is how I got the opportunity to work with a three-camera setup in '81 at the local NBC station. Damn well built!
B0bMosley3 1 month ago
...I'd seen this footage about 20 years ago on a 2" backup tape at the See-BS affiliate I worked at. This clip has far better quality than the 2" we had! However, the irony is that if you take note, Ike's first appearance on color TV wasn't when he stepped up to the podium, but when the director switched to a 2nd camera shot of Ike sitting to the side! Sarnoff was reportedly pissed!
B0bMosley3 1 month ago
this film looks like it was tooken in the 80s :p
GalufTheInvincible 1 month ago 2
u killed Patrice LUMUMBA with the help of your CIA, now both you and the CIA EXECUTIVE of that time are in HELL,... Why kill? If yourself is bound to die one day?????
banamayi 1 month ago
I know the inaugural parade in 1961 but,where is this footage?
Soulthinker2007 1 month ago
what he said it n going say for the internet
kakshi15 1 month ago
This makes an historical event seem more intimate and real! I feel like I could almost reach out and touch these people, though this footage is over 50 years old!
DougMcDave 1 month ago
Wow..amazing video! First time (?) I've ever seen Ike in color!
marcostar57 1 month ago
What I know, JFK gave a speech during the 1960 campaign in which he addresses the Catholic issue. Apparently that speech was taped on color tape and still exists.
Avatar610 1 month ago
Is there any color video footage of JFK?
Soulthinker2007 1 month ago
@Soulthinker2007 Yes. watch?v=xE0iPY7XGBo
eduTouY 1 month ago
No teleprompters there. Just a genuine "from the heart" speech that was also probably thought up as he went along.
freespace2dotcom 1 month ago 2
Nice quality footage for the 50's.
phelps12471 1 month ago
JFK was great because he WENT AGAINST THE "Hidden Hand." IKE was a dupe and tool for the CIA and its henchmen.
mrbrandon71 1 month ago in playlist EISENHOWER
@mrbrandon71 Take your conspiracy theory crap to an Alex Jones video, and leave us normal people alone. This is a historical video concerning early color videotape and broadcasting. It has nothing to do with "henchmen" and the CIA. Piss off.
Mainsail76 1 month ago
@mrbrandon71 that's not fair- kennedy was too, they both recanted towards the end.
monoamine1980 1 month ago
@monoamine1980 truth is seldom fair,mainsail.....seldom.
mrbrandon71 1 month ago
@mrbrandon71 yeah but what about kennedy and the "advisers" in Vietnam . . .the speech exhorting increased secrecy of government, the pay of pigs. To say he is different from Eisenhower I feel is incorrect . .. in these regards they were in fact very similar except JFK was willing to be shot (addison's disease)? Whereas Ike waited until his farewell speech. Truth and fairness are buzzwords, what I speak of is history, although I agree with you.
monoamine1980 1 month ago
Lol ike's face was like damn, i didnt know this was a color broadcast, shouldn't have worn my red suit
iliketurtlesandbacon 1 month ago
Eisenhower was one of our few great presidents.
xFruitsBasket 2 months ago 13
@xFruitsBasket Eisenhower was a good president if you overlook the nuclear arms race he started (when we should've been negotiating with the Soviets to stop nuclear proliferation), if you overlook the cancellation of promised elections in Vietnam and the overturning of a Democratically elected Iranian prime minister (who wanted to nationalize oil and keep the British and US from milking his land). He is great for single handedly forcing the government to institute a national highway system.
ihopArmsRace 1 month ago
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justTrinidad 2 months ago
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justTrinidad 2 months ago
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justTrinidad 2 months ago
This looks to be in DVD quality
Its so good!
Dakkiller1 2 months ago
Back when America was respected.
dtwplaya 2 months ago
@dtwplaya North south or central? oh you mean All of America, Gotcha.
CoolConejo 1 month ago
Both WRC-TV and NBC's Washington news bureau shared a building on Nebraska Avenue, near Ward Circle and not far from American Unicersity, in the city's northwest corner.
Mcnzlea 2 months ago
We have color videos of Hitler. I guess those where recorded on CF cards?
LudwigNyman 2 months ago
lol if these people saw youtube theyd shit bricks
coconutbreath123 2 months ago
First Color Broadcast thats pretty cool
FRSFreeState 2 months ago
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1337BananaL33TVostok 2 months ago
Fantastic footage. Thanks.
scdevon 3 months ago
The first color TV was broadcast in Germany in the 1930s, IIRC during the 1936 olympics. (Special TV sets were set up for public viewing) Due to WW2, TV (B&W or color) did not become generally available to the public in Germany until after the US.
RWT683 3 months ago
@RWT683 Nazi TV didn't have color. That particular problem wasn't solved until RCA developed the NTSC system. Europe still used B&W for several years after, until they fixed NTSC's color-shift problem with different phases on alternate lines (PAL) and analog memory (SECAM) in the mid-'60s.
SWalkerTTU 2 months ago
The sudden activation of colour turns the 50s into 70s, brilliant technology of that time.
1happiness 3 months ago 11
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TheWheels777 3 months ago
this was also the time when the world looked up to America and wanted to be like us! hehe
EasternMerchant 3 months ago
I like Ike!
driveinfaned 3 months ago
Ike was one the greatest men and powerful figures in the history of the world.
theundercoveratheist 4 months ago
I don't think at that time the average American didn't have color TV but the people who had $ had color TV.
98bigbutt 4 months ago
I don't think this was the first time President Eisenhower appeared in a live color telecast.
I thought NBC colorcast Ike's graduation address to one of the military academies (West Point??) in 1957, and the President reviewing the 1957 Inaugural parade earlier that year.
altfactor 4 months ago
I was only 17 days old at the time.
Dachshund 4 months ago
Wow! It's Ike in Living Color!
Dachshund 4 months ago
Sorry to burst your bubble on this but NBC AIRED & VIDEOTAPED Colour Peter Pan Special starring Mary Martin in 1956 and it has been aired many years since and is still available on DVD...from 1956 two years before this Presidential programme
cathytreks 4 months ago
This is terrific to watch, history in the making, thanks so much...amazing to see color VTR so early!
atlantic1952 4 months ago
Now there stands a TRUE LEADER. The last great president.
wtf66611 4 months ago
to think he was allegedly onboard alien spaceship ...
clovekjamajsky 4 months ago
It's amazing how much more the politicians of today have fluid command of their speeches on TV. President Eisenhower seemed a bit stiff before the TV cameras. But then, President Eisenhower was a soldier, not a politician.
ModernMWEntrtainment 4 months ago
I'm not sure, but I think the speech was probably better in black and white.
mediamadman747 4 months ago
President Eisenhower should have pressed the button.
catholicpriest1 4 months ago
Great sound, as well !
yadig2012 4 months ago
"Eisenhower made a huge mistake saving Colonel Nasser." Got to agree with you there, RichardEldin. He should have supported the British and French at Suez. I think he refrained from doing that so as not to appear to be supporting "imperialism" , but the Suez action was about securing the free flow of oil. Nasser was made to look powerful at the expense of the west. All in all, though, I still wish we had a man of Eisenhower's stature in the White House today.
schmegman 4 months ago
You can tell that TV was still relatively new to the office of the President, or at least live presidential speeches outside of the Oval Office or the inaugural ceremony. Eisenhower doesn't know if he should look at the camera, the prompters (where there any?) or the audience inside the room. Kennedy was the first president to master it I guess.
joeytj 5 months ago
this is the jerk that killed the US Railroads
howardkevinm 5 months ago
NBC was virtually the ONLY network to telecast color programming on a regular basis at that time (why not, since RCA was their corporate parent)....but there were only a handful of color shows on their weekly schedule. ABC didn't have the resources or technology; CBS presented a few series in "compatible color", but discontinued them completely in 1959 after Bill Paley decided he didn't want to help "General Sarnoff" sell RCA color sets by scheduling color shows for them to be seen on.
fromthesidelines 5 months ago
anybody else noticed flashes of colour before he pressed the button?
t0nito 5 months ago
@t0nito The color burst was on, but the chroma info was suppressed. Occasionally a bit of high luminance or noise can "fool" the NTSC system into thinking it's getting legit color info. If the monochrome portion of the broadcast had no burst, there would have been tape breakup at the point the color feed began.
websteward 5 months ago
@t0nito Yes. The outside cameras were pure monochrome cameras, but the ones in the studio were color cameras with a circuit rigged to block the color carrier, likely with a low-pass filter. Even so, some color information bleeds through. Also, pure monochrome cameras generated a pure luminance (B&W) signal, but in color cameras the luminance is blended from the red, green and blue components, so the luminance has a noticeably different quality.
SWalkerTTU 2 months ago
@t0nito I meant to add that the low-pass filter would have been shut off once Sarnoff hit the switch, thus passing the chrominance (color) signals.
SWalkerTTU 2 months ago
He rolled up in a 1958 Cadillac, followed by a 1958 Oldsmobile.....
TierodMcslush 5 months ago
Pretty impressive. I've worked in TV and knew a color program "Another Night with Fred Astaire" (1959) has been preserved, but I didn't know an older tape existed. When one considers this program was originating from WRC in Washington and being electronically recorded at NBC Studios in Burbank (KNBC), most likely via coaxial cable or telephone line, on the recently invented videotape format--in 1958--this is truly an incredible technical feat.
richartrod 5 months ago
I like Ike...zzzzzzzzzz Tim Russert died at this facility
irish89055 5 months ago
He is talking about what we now call the internet.
depro9 5 months ago
History-wise, Bing Crosby had the pioneering hand in developing "tape." He didn't like having to be constrained by Kraft Music Hall's "live" radio shows, so he later teamed with Ampex so he could record a transcripted radio broadcast in San Francisco (his home) & the tape was flown to Los Angeles to play. Kraft opposed Bing's "taped" shows, so I believe Chesterfield cigarettes allowed Bing to do this, and he later became "The Father of Taped Broadcast." Few know Bing's connection with "tape."FYI
BigBingFan 5 months ago
What is "falicitate" btw?
smartestmanonnet 5 months ago
@smartestmanonnet it's felicitate.... to congratulate
irish89055 5 months ago
@smartestmanonnet "Felicitate" is another word for "congratulate," apparently in use back in the 1950's but not today. It literally means to offer happiness.
richartrod 5 months ago
Wow he was an awful speaker. But now we have a "great" speaker for president and what's it get us?
smartestmanonnet 5 months ago
@smartestmanonnet No. He's obviously not used to reading off of cue cards.
Tokopol 5 months ago
That tape Sarnoff mentioned is still in the Library of Congress, it's item #99468236.
Salmagundiii 6 months ago
This is Eisenhower's warning to us about the dangers of instant media. But so as time marches on, so shall what we think is progress. Good luck America, I wish the best for us....
greatloss 6 months ago
@greatloss Wow. Just as prescient as the military-industrial complex speech. Truly a man ahead of his time.
MikeChuk21 5 months ago
@greatloss Wow. Just as prescient as the military-industrial complex speech. Truly a man ahead of his time.
MikeChuk21 5 months ago
Looks like Ike is having a hard time reading the teleprompter or cue cards. This reminds me of the first time I saw a color telecast. It was around the time this was taped. I was around seven years old walking back to my grandpa's house from the public swimming pool in Sacramento,Ca.(now I call it Moscowmento) on a warm summer night. Looked into a window of this house and there it was, a family watching a color tv. Picture was horrible but it was in color...knocked me on my ass.
peetee1000 6 months ago
When he turned it onto color, THAT was classic.
bubbazep01 6 months ago
I wish we could have seen Mamie in compatible color...
MerleOberon 6 months ago
the audio of this film is different from today why is that?
peugteobike 6 months ago
Eisenhower didn't tolerate illegal aliens.
PupuTheClown 6 months ago
Comment removed
fortifythamind 6 months ago
I like Ike!
rubbersole79 6 months ago
Really shows you the powerful relationship between the elite Media owners and Political candidates. The fact that they 'used' the President to 'introduce color broadcasting' is very telling.
VideoExpostulations 6 months ago 3
God Bless President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Blassieboy 6 months ago
This was before Presidents had two or more teleprompters to make them look smart.
goofermom 6 months ago
Wonderful wonderful! I am struck by the conspicuous lack of security. How times have changed.
Darkboy4085 6 months ago
is he ad-libbing off the top of his head? if so, i can forgive his halting speech. if not, he's a terrible orator.
skitch88 6 months ago
How did they transmitt color tv programs to the west coast before color videotape was invented?
glennmillerfan 6 months ago
@glennmillerfan I believe by coaxial cable link as I understand in the late 40s to early 50s a coaxial cable link was layed across USA from east coast to west and was completed in 1951. From there onwards TV shows can be broadcasted live across the nation in an instant.
oldtvhistory 6 months ago 5
@oldtvhistory but u didnt answer his question how can it record a color tape if color tape wasnt invented yet. the camera was yes but not tape.
howardkevinm 5 months ago
@howardkevinm It obviously was invented or else how would we be watching this video in colour if it wasn't recorded on colour tape earlier?
t0nito 2 months ago
@oldtvhistory Yes, in addition to coaxial cables, terrestrial microwave relays were also used in conjunction for television feeds by AT&T for the tv networks (which were also used for long-distance phone traffic when no tv feeds were being sent). With the transition to fiber-optic cables by Ma Bell in the 80s, most of the old microwave relay towers they used have now either been re-purposed for cellular sites, or torn down completely.
pvx 3 months ago
@glennmillerfan Transmitting and recording are two different things you know
computersolutions164 4 months ago
@glennmillerfan Coast to coast color television didn't depend on color video tape. That simply permitted retransmission at convenient times to the various time zones. Live television to the west coast was established in 1951 with the completion of the coaxial cable and microwave system. Live color TV could be transmitted this same way. Prior to 1951, television programs on the west coast were typically delayed one week and shown by Kinescope film of the live program the week before in New York.
CarlLafong01 3 months ago
I am American and I often spell color as "colour" because I spent 12 years of my first 18 years growing up in Germany and Western Europe. I also abbreviate the months of the year in German and I also have problems with "e's" and "k's" that Mr. Webster deleted from American English. If not for Spell-Check" I would not even be aware of how often I do this! So I donot see it as a problem.
buckaroobonsi555 6 months ago
I'm SHOCKED at how high the quality of both the color and sharpness of this video is. It's practically indistinguishable from common broadcast quality of the mid-80s. Incredible.
10mintwo 7 months ago
This may be the best vid I have ever seen on YT. Thank you for posting it.
scottmotown 7 months ago
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badyouth88 7 months ago
thanks
boston19801 7 months ago
He was using a teleprompter. BTW, the high taxes during Ike's tenure built thousands of public schools, the interstate highway system, developed NASA and DARPA,, which gave the world the internet.. Family's lived comfortably from the earnings of one wage earner and union labor made damn near everything our nation needed to live the American way. Not a perfect era, but in many ways, an time to re-examine.
XamIIamX 7 months ago 12
@XamIIamX yeah I noticed how all of my friends grandparents including my own have very nice homes with big yards, but our parents have little apartments, and as for us young adults, we can barely afford to rent one room studios.
EasternMerchant 3 months ago
@XamIIamX It wasn't the high taxes that allowed for our nation to live the American way. Firstly, our country was the only free standing manufacturing base remaining following WWII. We enjoyed a monopolistic control of the world's manufacturing. Secondly, we still hadn't depleted our domestic oil & natural resources. Thirdly, back then, nearly everybody was paying income taxes. Now, a full 51 percent of all Americans either pay no federal income taxes or received a tax benefit.
phernoree 3 months ago
Fascinating love tv history. I live in the uk. Wish there were more early uk tv on here.
martybhoy72 7 months ago
I believe that because in those days,those who had color TV,were the ones who were rich.
98bigbutt 7 months ago
Is there a color video tv footage of John Kennedy? I know of Eisenhower and Nixon so I hope there is footage like the Inaugual Parade in 1961.
Soulthinker2007 7 months ago
I love the way the doorman seamlessly exits the moving car at 0:35 - 0:43. No waiting for Ike!
phogroian 7 months ago 2
@Tweeter-- I respectfully disagree with your disagreement. Eisenhower was an awkward public speaker. I'm not referring to the content of his speeches, particularly the Farewell Address, but his hesitant speaking style. Eisenhower certainly knew it. For a time actor Lee Bowman advised him on delivering public addresses, then Robert Montgomery (who's in this clip.) Being a slick public speaker does not necessarily mean you are therefore a good leader-- or vice versa.
TedNewsom 8 months ago
The Smartest US President since the beginning of the 20th Century.
halcyon0830 8 months ago
Poor Mr. Sarnoff has a large swolen area on the right side of his face. Looks like a bad tooth ache. I give him credit for going on live with that so noticeable.
mmcckkgg 8 months ago
Hey "general" sarnoff: Mr. Armstrong says hello....
Substantive64 8 months ago 2
we've made great strides in broadcast technology, but the modern programs are garbage.
GreatNorthWeb 8 months ago
Very nice. But considering that this (invention of color videotape) is an American invention, and the broadcast featured the President of the United States, why didn't you spell "color" -- the American spelling, rather than "colour" -- the British spelling?!
SciFiGuy1x 9 months ago
@SciFiGuy1x Simply because being from Australia I spell everything the Aussie English way. I have however added 'color' to the tags though. I know someone from a non-English speaking country has uploaded this footage in its entirety to YouTube and spelled it all in their language.
oldtvhistory 9 months ago 4
@SciFiGuy1x -who cares.? What a dolt you are.
MrDavearama 8 months ago
@MrDavearama *I* do. I care.
SciFiGuy1x 7 months ago
@SciFiGuy1x Not everybody speaks American English. Interesting manoeuvre on your part. Excuse me, maneuver.
ericxpenner 6 months ago
@ericxpenner We should have one standardized way of spelling things. Or should that be "standardised"?!
SciFiGuy1x 6 months ago
@SciFiGuy1x I agree, but tell that to Noah Webster. If it weren't for that guy, this wouldn't be an issue. He removed much of the Norman influence on the English language, which was quite boneheaded, as it marks the very heritage of the language, and where and how the words were derived.
ericxpenner 6 months ago
@SciFiGuy1x What's wrong with British spelling?
Daan892 5 months ago
@Daan892 Nothing. But this video was showcasing an American invention, on an American television network, featuring the American President. What's wrong with American spelling?! It would be like someone setting up an exhibit to showcase a world-first, which happened to be Mexican, by putting up a piñata, the Mexican flag, photos of Mexico, and a video of the Mexican president -- and then at lunch time, instead of eating a burrito and refried beans, they ate a hamburger and fries!
SciFiGuy1x 5 months ago
@SciFiGuy1x Careful now, many people already think that many Americans are bunch of chauvinists. You'll only make it worst. Besides, English is originated from England and that's why they call it ENGLISH.
Daan892 4 months ago
@SciFiGuy1x It's not really color videotape. The videotape only recorded the electronic signal supplied to it. A color or black & white signal is irrelevant.
Questioning the spelling of the word COLOUR & tying it in with the contents was illogical and, (dare I say it?), stupid. It would be like us uploading the British series "Doctor Who" and saying it's in COLOR. Ooh, we used the Americanized spelling? It's a British PROGRAM. Hmmm...another Americanized spelling. Shouldn't it be PROGRAMME?
Beatleboy1964 4 months ago
Looks the same quality as the 1990s almost
TheMrSunShine22 9 months ago
Truly a great leader not in the least worried about appearances. Very refreshing in our TelePrompter world. Dwight Eisenhower knew who he was.
Jaydublus 9 months ago
Holy katz. Eisenhoweas a dreadful speaker... even with cue cards. Amazing.
TedNewsom 9 months ago
@TedNewsom I respectfully disagree with you. Ike delivered the 2 most important speeches of the 20th century: 1. Speech on June 6, 1944 announcing the invasion of Hitler's Fortress Europe, and 2, Farewell Address to America on January 17, 1961 when he warned of the "military industrial complex." Was Ike a great speaker? No, but he was not "dreadful" as you say. His speaking style was adequate, but the message of these 2 speeches will live on forever! Far more than Reagan, JFK, or FDR.
TheTweeter53 8 months ago
I would like to continue to say how colorizing the JFK news footage would give another degree of being there like when History channel started the WWII in color then BBC did a series WWI in color that was really differnt because color 35mm film didn't come out till 1935, and seeing WWI in color when color film of any kind was a dream just blew me away on how differnt it looks in color.
sonyhandycam520 10 months ago
I am always interested in live color TV from the 50's, similar to, say, news broadcasts of today (with respect to the technology of that time, of course). If there are any more such links please let me know. Thanks!
BuddhaShiva1 10 months ago
It's too bad they and other networks did not keep the color and use it exclusively. Imagine if we could have seen Lee Harvey Oswald in color video and the whole JFK assassination affair in color? Damn.
knowledgeiswhatsup 11 months ago
@knowledgeiswhatsup The Color camera's used in the late 50's to the mid 60's where mainly the large and bulky RCA TK40 and TK41 series. They required a lot of lighting and with the narrow hallways in the Dallas PD HQ, there is no way they would have been able to set up. Things got smaller in 1966 with the new Norelco PC60 then PC70 but it was the Sony Betacam ( known as the "minicam" when it came out in the 1970's) that made it possible to see live color just about anywhere.
mmcckkgg 11 months ago
@knowledgeiswhatsup Is there anyway to colorize old videotape like in the news coverage of the jfk assasination. Like they do for old movies, I'd love to see the dallas hq halls in color and when ruby shot oswald in the basement. But I wonder how the image from those IO cameras with that haloing effect would come across in color.
sonyhandycam520 11 months ago
@sonyhandycam520: I know there is a frame by frame way, but that takes too long. I would assume that by now they developed an automatic way to do it. If I can find a program to do it, I will do it.
knowledgeiswhatsup 10 months ago
@knowledgeiswhatsup Thanks for the info the thing I want to know were the TK40-41 cameras IO tube cameras beacuse when you see the live video from the RFK assassination you don't have the bright haloing artifacts in that new footage. This happend 10yrs later so would they've been using the PC60-70 Norelco cameras.I'm a big fan of colorizing the news footage of the JFK assination because it's like color makes it like it really happend like with WWI-WWII color footage.
sonyhandycam520 10 months ago
@sonyhandycam520 CBS was the biggest user of the Norelco camera's. There are some good clips on youtube of Walter Cronkite from 1968. Taking into account it was pre-HD equipment, they did provide a really clean picture.
I read they used the same pair for the CBS evening news for years. Other examples of CBS late 60's color on youtube are the Ed Sullivan clips and The Smothers Brothers.
mmcckkgg 9 months ago
This is a real treat for us kids that grew up in the 50's and 60's and did not have color TV. We did not get one until 1972. Thanks for posting.
mmcckkgg 11 months ago
What a nice, vivid picture, even for now :3 It may not be HD or anything, but a great picture quality nonetheless :3
mrfoxboy 11 months ago
no teleprompter in front of the camera. It's clear that this was new to him
phreed1 11 months ago
wow that quality is so good, tape must have been digitally restored?
1337BananaL33TVostok 11 months ago
This proves it! Back in the day, it didn't look gray in real life!
tkoizumi 1 year ago
This is cool! I'm such a history geek... Lol
Petirep 1 year ago
Robert Sarnoff looks like his father did when he was younger.
PlaneAndTVtechfan 1 year ago
Remember that the first colour image (photographic) was made in the 1860s. The first color motion picture film were in the 1910s, near the end of Wo4rld War I. The 1919 footage I have seen were from the city of Paris.
beaviselectron 1 year ago
I've heard that David Sarnoff was an extremely demanding boss who did not exactly like anyone who had different ideas. I've also heard that he did not take well to any competition!
PlaneAndTVtechfan 1 year ago
Thanks for posting, IKE in color is wonderful, as far as his speech goes it wasn't bad for 1958 standards.
ponyyak68 1 year ago
AMAZING
2010PCproductions 1 year ago
Pretty amazing. We can look at Eisenhower, a great general of World War II, as if he were videotaped not too long ago. He really does look "live" (at least more so than older black and white films from World War II).
chrisman737 1 year ago 2
I thought the speech was great. In my mind, somehow the lack of "showmanship" seems to grant it a touch of apparent sincerity.
toresbe 1 year ago 2
Too bad Nixon didn't go too.
mbmorrison 1 year ago
Very impressive for the late 50's with good reproduction of fleshtones and even accurate green! The NBC/RCA engineers must have been pleased with the results, the quality is better than some later 60's productions using Plumbicon camera's
JohnnyTheWolfLupino 1 year ago 3
@JohnnyTheWolfLupino but still, jeez - look at the horrible linearity errors in the first shots, and the shot of Eisenhower doesn't even look as if it's been lined up once. I guess that the broadcast monitors used to set it all up didn't cover the extremities of the picture; the center was very good.
toresbe 1 year ago
Awesome footage of President Eisenhower
HeavenandHell1776 1 year ago
OMG this is 1958???? This looks clear enough to be 1988! I never saw the 1950's this clear!
calimar28 1 year ago
Eisenhower appears to be delivering the speech without notes? He does well, considering.
777jones 1 year ago
@777jones
No, he's definitely reading from cue cards. Notice his constant staring to his left.
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gfjgfjhhjfgurte 1 year ago
Who would have thought ...Ike was one Kool dude!
matrox 1 year ago
I wish someone would have done this for President Kennedy. What a great loss for us not to have him on color videotape.
gootenslog 1 year ago
Very nice quality for 1958.
neoprankster 1 year ago
That moment at 1:20 is just the most super-hip thing I've ever seen. The older guy's speech was pretty bang-on too. Thanx for this!
ctomarctus 1 year ago
Wonderfully preserved recording. Great piece of broadcast history.
Note: Interesting to read some of the political comments on the board regarding Ike being "a little too Socialist", etc. By remarks like that, sometimes I think extremists have taken over both parties in the USA. If they ran today, many in the modern day right wing would consider Ike and Reagan RINOs and many on the left would consider Truman and Kennedy too conservative.
Lampshade51 1 year ago 3