When I launched Television Obscurities way back in 2003, video on the Internet was primitive. There weren’t a lot of websites offering clips and footage from old, forgotten television shows. Then came YouTube in 2005. Fast forward to today and there are people who think if a TV show isn’t available on YouTube, it doesn’t exist.
No, not everything is on YouTube, not by a long shot. Too many TV shows are lost or locked away in a vault somewhere. And YouTube is far from perfect. The quality of many videos is atrocious. Information is often incorrect. Content can disappear without warning. Nevertheless, YouTube has become an invaluable resource for historians, researchers, and television fanatics. So, I’ve decided to start a new monthly column called YouTube Finds where I’ll share five or six videos that I find particularly interesting or noteworthy.
First up from Obsolete Video, here’s roughly 35 minutes of coverage of the 53rd Annual Thanksgiving Day Parade on NBC, hosted by Ed McMahan and Bryant Gumbal.
Next, from Moviecraft Inc., here’s a 1946 “Woman Speaks” newsreel that includes a brief look at the “all feminine staff” of TV station WBKB in Chicago.
Thanks to Kevin Day you can check out the first half of “”Burt and the Ladies,” the third installment of The Burt Reynolds Late Show, originally broadcast in December 1973 with guest stars Carol Burnett, Nancy Dussault, Nanete Fabray, Jaye P. Morgan, Bernadette Peters, Jo Ann Pflug, Della Reese, and Joyce Van Patten.
From The Museum of Classic Chicago Television, here’s a 1979 commercial for KISS action figures by MEGO.
According to TrekCore, these are “the earliest known production interviews with William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy.” They’re from August 1966 during filming of the Star Trek episode “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” (first broadcast on October 20, 1966).
Finally, from Gilmore Box, here are the opening credits to The Growing Paynes, an early sitcom that aired on the DuMont Television Network from 1948 to 1949.
Hit the comments with your reactions to these videos. And be sure to check back next month for another set of YouTube Finds!
I first came to this website looking for information on the DuMont network. When I saw this post I hoped there would be something about a DuMont series, and there was! Thanks for sharing.
Karen Martin,
ROKU has a DuMont collection, it cost $5 or $6 dollars, and it has quite a few shows on it, and a short history of the network.
Carl Warren,
Thank you for the information, but I don’t have Roku. I have a 1989 Admiral TV hooked up to the basic cable that’s included in the rent of my one-room-and-a-bath apartment. I also get free WiFi, and use my Kindle Fire tablet to watch YouTube videos. I own a Rocky King DVD, and David Weinstein’s book “The Forgotten Network, DuMont and the Birth of American Television.” And once in a while I learn something more about poor old DuMont.
LOOK. if you can locate the original kinny of PIPPI LONSTOCKING {w/ gina gillespie around 1961..) it had been deduced long/ fallen thru the cracks of time….*….i’d send you an anonymous blank money order!// = keep it confidential . by post..(..who says there isnt a competitive edge to these goldmines…..pk
Is this what you’re looking for?
https://www.amazon.com/Shirley-Temples-Storybook-Pippi-Longstocking/dp/B001M04UPS
very funny KAREN! your’e a top detective/ ,,,,, never knew it was color??,,, but it was from an anthology series and never ever rerunned….. ill eventually have my librarian locate a copy etc etc
Karen,
If you haven’t already found it, the solie.org/ClassicTV/ site can be accessed on your Kindle, and it has a lot of DuMont programs, including several Rocky King episodes, a few Ellery Queen shows, Front Page Detective, and some others. Not anything on the history of DuMont, but a number of programs from it, and hundreds of shows from the early days of television.
Carl,
I’ve never gone to that site, but I go to http://www.dumontnetwork.com and then go to “Channel 10 Links”. There are links to over 60 DuMont videos — and that doesn’t include the Jewish Life link that has all The Goldbergs episodes. Plus I recently discovered one episode of The Plainclothesman is now on YouTube! (David Weinstein got it from a collector.)
I get a little overwhelmed if I have too much to keep track of, so for now I’ll work on what I haven’t yet watched on the DuMont site. Thank you for thinking of me.
KAREN; its worth pointing out that we are all being turned into free-associative data- based minds!…that Shirley temple theatre link on YOU TUBE came up thru a random link through
a temple grandon!!…. citation///// …. someone whos career as spokesman for autism.!!!! and never grew up with television indeed!….. naturally YOU TUBE HAD A COLORD EPISODE a frank baum oz anecdote but not the complete series.. HUNT AND PECK…….
better yet; FOR ALL READERS OF THIS SITE;; the american ARCHIVES OF PUBLIC TELEVISION just sent An e BLAST ..sent out of the ball park ITS FREE abd data base is ever xpqnding THEY MAY HAVE SOLE RIGHTS TO ,MAINTAIN distribution though its all origibals not duplicates
Star Trek is based on a true story.