This is ABC Television Network.
I am. Well, how many times have you heard or read the phrase,
one picture is worth a thousand words?
It's the Chinese proverb those of us in the visual media take refuge in
when our colleagues of letters claim that they, of course, are the true recorders of history.
The problem is it's not really a Chinese proverb.
One of those men of letters, the editor of a magazine called Printers, Inc.,
made it up in 1927 and attributed it to the Chinese,
so people would take it seriously, he's quoted as confessing.
And maybe that's the root of the problem.
Visual media, television in particular, isn't taken as seriously as the printed media.
There are libraries and archives filled with newspapers, magazines,
recording the thoughts and controversies of the ages,
but who's keeping the record of television, particularly early television?
Well, Ira Gallin's trying, and he's with us this morning,
to share some of his junk on the table and his ideas and the stuff you've found.
And I'm as old as that logo.
How do you find this stuff?
Well, one of the things is there literally is not a museum or library in the country
that houses the complete history of television.
It just doesn't exist.
You watch the American movie classics, they preserve film history,
not kinescopes, not TV history.
What are kinescopes?
Kinescopes are when, a lot of the shows in the early 50s were recorded live,
a film camera filmed it off the TV set onto a film negative,
copies were made that were syndicated around the country.
That's how a lot of these film prints are around today.
But the big problem is they're starting to decompose.
As I brought an example in today, from Broadway Open House with Jerry Lester,
written by Neil Simon, all starting to deteriorate.
And because in the early days nitrate film exploded,
safety stock people thought just wouldn't explode, but is decomposing.
And now a vinegar virus is spreading through the film prints.
So maybe less than a decade we won't have a TV or a film history
if we don't start preserving this stuff now.
But when it comes to TV history, there are no major programs to do any.
So how do you preserve it? I mean, how do you prevent it from changing to that?
In this case, this will never be seen again.
There are processes that we're trying to work out that will put a liquid over it
and then you have 24 hours to transfer it and then everything will fall apart.
But a very expensive process.
But I'm working now with the Museum of Television and Radio, and we're working on that.
Okay, but some of the stuff you found is not in great shape, but you're able to restore it?
Right, and one clip we're going to see now is from Captain Midnight,
a classic TV show from the 50s which is a cross between Top Gun and Raiders of the Lost Ark.
What we're going to see is two sets of prints, one with the scratches and how we restored it.
Okay, let's see that.
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There's a special liquid process that fills water in between all the scratches and cleans it up.
That's quite something.
And of course, one of the greatest sponsors of late night news, Obleteen.
Obleteen? Oh, Obleteen, even better.
Yes.
So every day, drink instant Obleteen.
And we do on this show, every day.
Absolutely, I just had it before I came out here.
Okay, so I'm really looking forward to some of this stuff,
because of course I wasn't sort of watching television in the early 50s.
You're a child, you are.
Yeah, of course.
But we're trying to teach you a little bit about news.
But one of the things is, where is the history of TV among private collectors?
Because when these shows were syndicated to local stations,
after the shows were done, they threw the prints away.
The networks threw prints away, but collectors like myself went into the garbage cans, flea markets, finding the stuff.
But I was doing a trade, I bought a couple thousand dollars worth of toys, and a woman says,
here's a film print.
Take it home to look at it, it's been sitting in a closet for over 20 years.
This is what we're going to see now, the only Walter Winchell show that exists on an ABC show.
Really? Okay, let's see that.
It's time, America. Time for Walter Winchell.
Mr. Mr. North and South American, all ships to sea, let's go to press.
New York City.
The police in New York have a new hot lead on the murder of a Bronx mobster.
He was killed last week for welching on commissions due to a dope ring in East Harlem.
New York City, hear this.
Dorothy Parker, the famous playwright and poet, will make a speech in New York on the 17th at a hall in Greenwich Village,
probably on 4th Street, on behalf of the communists, now in American jails,
for conspiring to overthrow the United States.
Good girl, good girl.
The York, Sonia Haney, is at Lenox Hill Hospital, New York, for plastic surgery.
Attention Havana newspapers, American authorities know the identity of the person selected to assassinate President Batista of Cuba.
He is a member of a Cuban revolutionary mob in Boston, New York and Chicago.
This is terrific. Now, you found this, this was given to you?
This was just given to me. The woman had it sitting in a closet.
She doesn't even know where she gets it, but she trades and buys films and toys.
And he was a gossip columnist, I guess, in the newspaper, that was put on television to essentially just do on television what he did for the newspaper.
Right, this was 1957. He was never successful. It lasted three shows, three seasons on ABC, Sunday nights, 15 minute show.
Good stuff.
Only 15 exist, and of course, Neil Gabler. You want to learn a little bit about Winshield? He just came out with a book. This is my summer reading.
Oh my goodness, that's a thick volume.
But now for Baby Boomers, the hottest toy, the hottest show that I get requests for, Andy's Gang with Andy Devine, who's a famous character actor we know from westerns, did Wild Bill Hickok on TV.
So all you people over 60s will know this.
In their 40s, we'll know some of the most warped television shows in TV history.
Explains the generation. Let's see it.
Yes, sir, Andy's Gang with Little Squeak.
Midnight the Cat.
And that mystical, magical, Foggy the Grim.
Okay, who's this in the air?
This is Squeaky. They would take the mouse and cat and do very outrageous things with it. It's like a screwball comedy.
And it would be 10 minutes with the cat and mouse, put them in an airplane, put them in a tank, catch them from a parachute.
Now give me your best reason why this should be treated with the same kind of respect as old copies of the New York Times.
Because it's my favorite television show and every Baby Boomer lives for it. It's just pure escapism, reflections back to our past.
And then Foggy, who every parent hated because he was always getting into trouble.
You're a magic twanger, Foggy.
Magic twanger?
Higher, get higher, higher.
Half the love out of you, young man. Now you better behave.
A very famous character actor, Vito Scotti, happened to have had his face blown up.
And where did you find that one?
This one I've just been collecting through private collectors. There were 39 episodes. I have 20 right now, 19 more to go.
Okay, let's move on to the last one.
The last one is a guy who worked at NBC in the 50s, took film prints home, watched them at home. He was in publicity.
50 rare TV shows. I flew down to Florida. This one with Frank Sinatra is going to knock people's socks off.
Howdy, duty.
Howdy, duty.
Howdy, duty.
Howdy, duty.
So Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, and Frankie Lane.
This is great.
Through the hottest Jews on television.
So what do you do with this stuff?
Right now I'm releasing them on home videos. We're having some special showings at the Radio and Television Museum.
But the people that helped me found these prints were paying them royalties and making them some money now. Andy Devine's estate is getting money from Andy's shows.
And so many of these great classic clips belong to the pioneers of television, who of course are dying off themselves.
And that's why you can go out tomorrow and document a piece of TV history. But then you write a book you don't have the films to watch. But that's why I'm here.
Okay, Ira, thanks for being with us. We're going to go out on this little serenade, if that's okay?
Goodbye, Frank.
Alright. Take care.
A pleasure.
Thank you for watching World News Now.
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