Original 1957 NBC Peacock

[robertgift]

Music sounds Chinese-like.

Why no GREENS? Or has green faded/changed on this?

Or were green phophors not as good back in thearly days of color TV?

[RayPointer]

Also, the problem was in the reproduction of the color on television, not the color response on film. Color appears vibrant against black. But the challenge was in creating the illusion of brilliant color in a medium that had limited color reproduction range. The filmed shows looked better than the electronic color shows, which were a bit muted then.

[Allis1942]

Very cool. My grandparents had the same kind of TV that you see in this video.  Wood cabinet, huge tube, back when things were made to last.

[Vincek88]

I just read about the making of this spot from a blog by Gene Deitch - long-time animator and a major figure in the mid-century modern cartoon style. He couldn't find paints vivid enough to read well on film (not even fluorescent paint), so he ended up using clear colored gels and cut-out black cardboard lit from behind. Pretty clever work in a very pre-digital age!

[RayPointer]

@Vincek88 There was another advantage in doing this bottom lit. No cel dust against the black background.

[MrChristhetrucker]

That is so cool. Is that a real tv from way back?

[saml760]

the NBC Peacock first appeared in 1956,it was a still picture. the 1st animated peacock ,the"clashing cymbals" peacock appeared from 1957-1962,followed by the 'Laramie' or Kaleidoscope peacock which existed from 1962-1975.

[Juliaflo]

@saml760 I remember this jingle, and it is stuck in my mind after all those years.

(No, I won't tell my age, though this gives it away--21-plus).

[joesphx19]

I saw this on my uncle's new color tv, the first in the neighborhood. Many Saturday mornings I was glued to his tv to see the color cartoons. Man I was in heaven. Later, the color shows of the early to mid 60s seemed so rich in color. I don't know if it was just that I was used to bw but the color tv broadcasts then just seem almost saturated.

[DWhytePA]

When I was 4 in 1959 (oy) this scared the crap out of me and we didn't have a color set either! LOL!

[joesphx19]

One of my earliest memories is watching that in color on a relative's new color TV. Honestly, one would wait through an entire bw show just to catch a glimpse of this network id. There were a few color shows back then. Superman was one, not the earliest ones but after the first couple of years.

[aladdin1052]

I prefer this version, even though it's longer.

[baraxor]

This music makes you think that some guy wearing a turban and carrying a scimitar is coming on the screen

[Christhefireshark]

Man, with the new stylized crap, it took me years to figure out it was a peacock. Minus the "color" part, this should have stayed the logo.

[osaji922]

How ya Living? What? How ya Living? What? IN LIVING COLOR

[Blackwolff9]

@osaji922 :Take it from me,it's alright ta be IN LIVING COLOR!

[KA7EII]

Thank you for sharing!

[mikey42]

One gets the sense when viewing this that a major television event is about to air. Well, those days are long gone indeed.

[slipknot80210]

how is this at all related to Ren and Stimpy!

[southport97]

So now we need a 3D gangsta peacock.

[Chicago10281]

The music in this 1957 peacock reminds me of "Anna & The King Of Siam" & "The King & I"

[85agapanthusgal]

Ah...what a beauty that peacock is! I've seen it only once, though, on a taping of "Peter Pan" starring Mary Martin, which my parents taped when I was 4, and I still have it. Glad to see that image again, this time, in its entirety!

[DUNGEONGHOULS13]

Fantastic quality both color & sound - you should offer this full screen as well, without the border. I was very little when I first saw this, I always thought this was the most impressive animated opening, far better than the later version. I remember seeing this on a re-broadcast of Mary Martin in "Peter Pan" - it was magical! THank you!

[sparkle11231]

I LOVE THESE ANTIQUE CLIPS!!!...MORE PLEASE!

[VTMCompany]

the most regal of the peacocks indeed...golden era that's gone forever.

[caroljm36]

I loved this one. We bought our first color TV right about the time they changed it, and I remember I was so upset! lol

[tryggda]

Color TVs in 1958 sold for $500 to $1000.

In the equivalent 2010 dollars an $800 set would sell for between $4800 and $6000. No kidding! (Used the official conversion rates)A super-luxury item well into the late 60s.

Yes, the transition from the black and white lines, then to the fluttering transparent colors, before finally freezing in the briefly fixed colors is a very nice presentation.

[ridgerunner721601]

@tryggda Very true. I remember our next door neighbors bought a color TV around 1966 or so, but the picture was just varying shades of green. And then my dad bought a Zenith in 1968 or '69. And by that time the color had really been improved. I remember our other neighbors bought a Motorola TV around that time and I thought it was so cool because the screen was nearly round. Our Zenith's screen was nearly square.

[waterskippers]

So that's why they chose a peacock.

[sheltv100]

Colour TV presentation in 1957 must have been very expensive.

[tryggda]

The visual with the white lines and the music as well are slightly different form the one used in the later 60s and very early 70s. Nice find.

[ringo4422]

I saw this several times when I was in 5 years old in 1958. It came on on Sunday Eves just before Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color would come on on my parent's brand new RCA New Vista console TV.

[Lightwolf333]

Very cool. Where do you find these logos?

[Akira625]

"Color television"? Aw, that'll never catch on! :)

[ncmountaingal1960]

An interesting note: In 1959, the NBC series "Bonanza" started and was in color. There were only a handful of color shows then because the cost of making a color show as opposed to a black and white show were enormous. However, because NBC owned RCA, the largest maker of color tvs at the time, they used Bonanza as a way for people to want to buy a color tv. In other words, it was a marketing ploy to sell expensive color tvs to people who normally wouldn't have.

[c3cubed]

@ncmountaingal1960 You're not kidding they were expensive - I have some old 1950's National Geographics with back page advertisements of the "New RCA Colour TV's" - the price then for a top of the line: $950.00 (the same for an entry level car.) Remember that a new home could be purchased then in the burbs for about $5000 to $8000 - so I hate to think how that would exchange in 2010 dollars, but certainly more than the 90's first generation HDTV at 15K - 20K a pop!

[GangStalker]

@c3cubed no, it would actually be $7-8k today (westegg.com/inflation/) Houses average ~$250k now, though.

[c3cubed]

@GangStalker Not sure what you are referring to at 7-8K with inflation (house pricing then or TV valuations?) I don't think I attempted an actual price comparison in today's dollars for a 50's TV... Note though, my reference point is from a Canadian pricing perspective.

[c3cubed]

@GangStalker I checked out the westegg site re: inflationary pricing. What one may consider though, is the costing for certain items then vs now may not necessarily have to do with inflation, and instead be indexed simply by rareity and novelty. Early phonographs were out of sight priced, kids toys, and the like. I saw an ad for an electric vacuum cleaner being sold in 1906 for $125.00. It seems more the norm, that "new inventions" were more or less, a rich man's provenance.

[jpongsin2002]

TV?

[MerleOberon]

I want a new color set!

[mmmbad]

That reminds me our 1950's TV! Thanks for the nostalgia!

[suziesbro]

BTW, the announcer on this peacock, used for years, was NBC staffer Ben Grauer (which see.)

[Juliaflo]

@suziesbro I remember hearing Ben Grauer do the news.

Yes, I am 21-plus.

[suziesbro]

The CBS system, which perhaps a bit better color was A) mechanical, with a spinning wheel and B) not compatible with the millions of black and white sets already in use. The public would not have stood for it, so for a long time we got that less-than-perfect RCA system.

[newscaster13]

Along with NBC's slogan "More Colorful" for the 2009-2010 season, that spiel is still being used today.

It is used to open the primetime line-up.

[peterbilt2004]

In 1969 dad bought a Curtis Mathes TV that had its own real wood cabinet with stereophonic record player and radio. It was a massive set up and was stunning to look at. Those were the days............

[Ragrog105]

The TV you're referring to had a modified RCA CTC38 chassis, Curtin Mathis CM38. The only differences were the addition of audio inputs, an addition of a tone control and higher grade capacitors in the B+ section. The biggest and most noticible difference was the quality of the picture tube, The RCA used a commercial grade tube while the Curtis Mathis used what is called a 'Grade A' tube. The difference was stunning. Later models of the Curtis Mathis TV's contained the modified JT970W chassis.

[8jdmlvnv]

We got our first Color set in 1968. It was a Ford Philco. Does anyone remember these television sets?

[answerstolucky]

Yes, I remember Philco TV's. There were Philco radios, too.

[PappyCaligula]

RCA basically screwed the viewing public however. CBS had invented a system back in 1930 thaet was superior to RCA's. However, RCA, while before the FCC, knew that Columbia's was NOT compatible with black and white tvs. The FCC sided with RCA therefore giving them a near monopoly on the technology for years. The sad irony is, if the government had gone with CBS, we'd all have had affordable, EXCELLENT color from the get-go.The CBS system is used in space because it doesn't rely on white balance.

[hebneh]

Ironically, nearly everyone who saw this when it was first shown saw it in black & white, not color. That's because hardly anyone had a color TV to be able to see it that way. But this was a reminder to all of us b&w watching folks that we COULD see this in "living color" if we got a color TV.

[proken58]

And at that time the only color TV's available were from RCA....NBC's parent company!

[maclasch]

Not half, just the beginning.

[SilverEspeon26]

I think that was an effect to show how dreary Kansas was compared to the wonders of Oz.

[SilverEspeon26]

In reply to that one guy a few comments down...

[swmdal]

People must have gasped when they saw this on color TVs for the first time.

[patsaxon]

I thought color Television came out in the mid 1960's? Is it possible that color TV came out much earlier?

[criscokiddo]

Indeed it did. The technology was decided upon by '53 (basically the same system we've used up until 2 months ago!), and periodic color broadcasts were featured, however sparsely, throughout the remainder of that decade. The first color sets were prohibitively expensive (in a relative price range-or more- of large HDTV's 10 yrs. ago) Finally by the mid 60's sets were more affordable, and by '65-66 the major networks pretty much transtioned to all color broadcasting. There you go! (in a nutshell)

[Belgian27]

The original 1957 peacock used to scare the shit out of me when that gong bammed at the beginning. I was like, wtf. I was about 2 or 3 years old then.

[criscokiddo]

You and me both! Was born that year, and hearing this after so long resurfaced jarring, if not joyous early memories for me. The later (60's) less dramatic, beautifully impressionistic so-called 'Laramie' peacock is my fav, tho.

[Imperatoriusuius]

Very Well.

[Kiyorocket]

Whoa! That's really cool.

Too bad it still doesn't look that way.

[yonezawa1965]

Your NBC peacock has by far the truest color of any of the videos posted. Great job.

[whattheheck1000]

And the vintage TV border - nice!

[TheComicfreak10]

Yeah, whats with the old TV set border?

[MKIVWWI]

This peacock is TOO COOL! I came along too late to ever see this one, but loved the later 1960's peacocks. Great posting!!!! Thanks for sharing it with us!!!

[Cola777333]

y would you favourite this its not that cool........

[MKIVWWI]

????

[dnm728]

This was first seen to introduce "Your Hit Parade" in September 1957. Voiceover by Ben Grauer.

[wmbrown6]

I presume, then, that this could be called the "Hit Parade Peacock"?