The Era -- Day By Day

[LizzieMaine]

Speaking of Tex and Jinx, if we skip ahead in our time line by a year or so we will find them hosting the first sponsored daytime television program. There are no complete recordings of this venture, but we do have a short clip. Take that, Kilgallen...

 

[Fading Fast]

Speaking of Tex and Jinx, if we skip ahead in our time line by a year or so we will find them hosting the first sponsored daytime television program. There are no complete recordings of this venture, but we do have a short clip. Take that, Kilgallen...

Darn, I wanted to see how the spot came out.

It's not fair, but neither Jinx nor Tex seemed comfortable on air the way hosts are today, but we've learned a lot of how to do that over the past 80 years. Plus, you can tell they just ran the tape as verbal stumbles were left in (or was this live?).

Fun clip, thank you for posting it, Lizzie.

 

[LizzieMaine]

100 percent live, except for the filmed opening with the swirling meat. Videotape is ten years in the future.

This is some of the earliest existing footage of 1940s television, and you can really see how seat of the pants it is. I think they must be reading off cue cards, but they clearly didn't rehearse. Jinx settles back in her chair there after doing her spiel like she doesn't realize she's still on camera. And the dress model is floundering around there waiting for her cue.

Dorothy Kilgallen's voice on "Breakfast With Dorothy and D ick" sounds exactly like Jinx's. They were bitter rivals on the air, but who wouldn't be?

 

[Fading Fast]

100 percent live, except for the filmed opening with the swirling meat. Videotape is ten years in the future.
...

So did they film the swirling meat like a movie and run that obnoxious overkill of a promo first like from a movie projector?

 

[LizzieMaine]

Pretty much. Eventually they developed a machine called a "telecine," which projected the film onto the plate of what's called a "flying spot scanner," but at NBC in 1946-47 they have a room with floor-mounted theatre-type projectors beaming the image thru a porthole directly into the lens of an iconoscope camera. Cu mbersome, but it works. Here's a photo from when they first set it up for experiments in 1936...

A lot of early television came from film -- title sequences, scene-transition inserts, special effects that couldn't be done live. And a lot of time on the schedule was filled by ten-year-old feature films, either Grade Z stuff from defunct studios or British features that could be picked up cheap.

There's a reason most early TV sets were sold to bars. Other than ball games there wasn't much worth watching.

 

[LizzieMaine]

("Awright!'" barks Sergeant Solly Pincus at the assembled group of volunteers, standing before a weathered shanty in a weed-flecked lot off Rockaway Boulevard. "Schreibstein! Capiello! Get t'at scaffold set up onna wes' side'a t' buildin! Stawrt scrapin' onna tawp an' woik ya way down! When ya get done scrapin' stawrt in paintin' from t' tawp down! Ya fin' a loose bawrd, ya yell out an' one'a t'ese people down'eeh will bring ya a patch! Move out! Leary! Get up awnat laddeh an' get t'at block an' tackle nailed up an' stawrt haulin'em panels up awna roof! Krause! Petrauskas! Police t'em weeds! Petrauskas! Inna kitchen'eh an' break down'at rusty grill! Any questions? MOVE OUT!" Joe blinks at Solly as his colleagues scatter. "Oh," ohs Solly. "Sawry. Foece'a habit...")

("I neveh woiked so hawrd a day in my life," exhausts Sally, as the BMT Fulton train rattles toward Brooklyn. "I have," sighs Alice. "What?" murmurs Sally. "Nut'n," exhales Alice. "Soon's I get home I gotta take a showeh," continues Sally, her head bouncing against the window. "Wawsh awff awlis crud an' get ready t' tawk t' Docteh Minkoff. He's comin' oveh at seven, tawk about Leonora goin' t' school nex' yeeh. Not even gonna have time t'get no dinneh." "I was gonna run up to Moskowitz's," offers Alice. "I could bring back some san'wiches." "Moskowitz got any pastrami?" mumbles Sally, her eyes closed. "Prob'ly not," admits Alice. "Less it's ends." "I'll take a chance," nods Sally. She trails off as the train clatters into Fulton Street. "Y'tink," ponders Alice, "t'ey'll get t' truck stawrted?" "'Ventually..." sighs Sally....)

(Poor Leonard Weinberg, how the glory fades...)

(When do we play the Phillies again?)

(At least Rickey hasn't tried this.)

(The Boy Who Cried "Eyes!")

(Well, that gives Winchell a lead for tomorrow.)

(Aim low, Janie.)

(All right, so it's an anti-bullying story. Good intentions.)

(But whose property are the pigs?)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

Where's Ellery Queen when you need him?

Shoes. Your face can hide a lot, your clothes can too. But the shoes always tell the true story.

"Wonder if it had anything to do with that atomic explosion we read about in the papers all those months ago." "Papers? They are not the way of Molech."

"Well, I don't know about you, but I intend to have a double Manhattan."

Next week on Page Four...

Mild steel.

Cutting Out The Middleman.

He's gor'jus, is he?

Which contains the tiniest automatic you've ever seen.

It's a pity these new cars don't come with a rumble seat.

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Worker...

There's a New World Coming...

 

[Fading Fast]

"Oh," ohs Solly. "Sawry. Foece'a habit..."

Sometimes, it's the exact skill you need.

********************************************************

"Y'tink," ponders Alice, "t'ey'll get t' truck stawrted?" "'Ventually..." sighs Sally....

Perfect end to the day.

********************************************************

All right, so it's an anti-bullying story. Good intentions.

But I thought today's younger generation invented anti-bullying stories.

*********************************************************

But whose property are the pigs?

You'll have the pigs answer when they start walking on their hind legs.

*********************************************************

Cutting Out The Middleman.

Firing him is nothing. It's a crime; bring in the police. You might get some of your money back and he might land in jail.

*********************************************************

Which contains the tiniest automatic you've ever seen.

When this is over, the right thing for her to do is give Hotshot a freebie.

 

[Harp]

A laptop internal conduit fault necessitated jettisoning the Toshiba for a Hewlett Packard which runs smoothly along this test drive spin. Slits apparently hasn't finished off Dragon Gal; who is certainly drawn quite voluptuously, more so Italian than Sino stock....

Ian and Binnie, and Selene....************** sans menage je pense.... Anyway, all's well that
ends well, and, hopefully Selene has found inner peace.

 

[LizzieMaine]

("At leas'ey finished t' roof b'foeh t' rain," sighs Alice, as the train rolls on toward Ozone Park. "We oughta be able t' paint inside wit'out get'n soaked." Sally makes no reply, her head lolling back against the seat. "Hey!" heys Alice, giving her friend a gentle shake. "Mmmmgph," replies Sally, pushing her glasses up her nose. "Rise 'n shine," admonishes Alice. "We got woik t'do!" "Yeh," sighs Sally, not relishing the day ahead. "Din' sleep much las' night," she explains. "Docteh Minkoff had us up late las' night." "What'dja d'cide?" queries Alice. "Well," exhales Sally, "he was tawkin', y'know, layin' it awl out. An' he's got one'a t'ese verces, y'know, one'a t'ese kin'a m'notonous verces t'at drones awn an' awn, an' -- well, me'n Joe bot' fell asleep while'ee was tawkin'." "Oh," nods Alice. "But Leonoreh tawked wit' 'im f'ra while, " shrugs Sally, "an' got'eh pernt acrost." "Ah," ahs Alice. "So in Septembeh," Sally concludes, "Leonoreh's gonna stawrt in 1B wit' t' six yeehr'ol's. An' if she don' bust up t' class, t'ey'll put'eh'r in 2A wit' t' seven yeehr'ol's at t' foist'a t' yeeh." "What's Joe t'ink?" questions Alice. "I t'ought'ee was agains'at." "Leonoreh tawked 'im int'wit," notes Sally, "once he woke up." "You gotta funny fam'ly, Sal," observes Alice. "Y'get uset'wit," admits Sally....)

("Don' try t'at in'eeh," admonishes Bink Scanlan. "Well I ain' goin' out'na rain," snorts Rosa Capiello. "How'zis key woik, anyways?" "Whed'joo get t'ese t'ings?" laughs Bink. "Davega," snaps Rosa. "Now you gonna help me put'm awn a' not?" "Y'gotta twist'at t'ing t'eh wit' t' key," directs Bink. "An'nat'll tight'n'm awn ya shoe." Rosa gives the key a twist, and yelps in pain. "Lookwhatcha made me do!" she growls. "Cut a slit right in my shoe!" She dangles her legs off the stool, and gingerly touches the wheels to the tile floor. "Help me offa heeh," she commands. Bink steps around the counter and takes her friend by the arm, jerking her to her feet. Rosa teeters uncertainly for a moment on the rickety skates, before her feet slide backward, sending her clattering. "What th' bloooody hell is gooin' aaaahn oot here???" demands Ma, rushing in from the back room, just as Rosa scrambles to her feet again, only to topple forward into the cardboard figure of the Philip Morris bellhop. "Rosa wants t' be a cawrhop," shrugs Bink. "Looks maaar loike a BAR hop," scoffs Ma, returning to her ledgers...)

(Night baseball in Boston? As long as you don't do it in April. Or May. Or the first half of June.)

(LET'S SEE YOU DO IT AGAIN)

(Movie Bugs would never stand for being trolled by Elmer Fudd.)

(There's an annual tomato fight? And this is the first we're reading of it? Page Four isn't doing its job.)


(The Fail Gaze.)

("Ye could buy a new troock," snickers Ma, "if ye troyed!")

(European royalty, proof positive of what happens when you ignore genetic diversity.)

(All right, let's see what the next thirteen weeks will bring...)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

New York's Picture Newspaper.

A steak for 75 cents? No wonder they all jumped!

Next week: A Day At The Pawnshop.

D I C K Tracy does what he must to close the case!


WHAT DID WE JUST SEE!!

KIDS TODAY

"Yeah. Well, that explains everything!"

Hey, nice trick! Now do rock-the-baby!

Desperate Methods.

So what were you waiting for????

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Worker...

Coming Events...

 

[Fading Fast]

There's an annual tomato fight? And this is the first we're reading of it? Page Four isn't doing its job.

My first thought was I'd give up a few ripe tomatoes to see that.

To your point, sometimes, only sometimes, I think Page Four doesn't fully understand its mission.

********************************************************

European royalty, proof positive of what happens when you ignore genetic diversity.

I love that there were clothes horses that far back. It's oddly comforting in a humans-don't-change-much way.

********************************************************

All right, let's see what the next thirteen weeks will bring...

Let's just all be happy Mary didn't try Claudette Colbert's method for hitching a ride.

********************************************************

A steak for 75 cents? No wonder they all jumped!

"Don't let it bother you, sir, everyone drops a plate now and then. The waiter will bring you a new steak."

"I'm sorry, I really thought I had a firm grip on it." — MO

********************************************************

Next week: A Day At The Pawnshop.

********************************************************

"Yeah. Well, that explains everything!"

Her postwar move should be to find and team up with Nick again.