Post by Andy Henderson on Dec 20, 2003 14:14:47 GMT
I can't remember if I've posted up this letter before. Anyhow, here it is. Written in the early 90's by subscriber to '405 Alive' -Mark Tinkler. It is absolutely fascinating and surely 'The 50s' deserves a re-screening!!
From Mark Tinkler, (postal address removed)
Thanks for issue 21 of 405 Alive, well up to your usual standard.
I keep promising to send you a few lines that you can use for publication in the mag so I thought I'd better get down to it...
A few years ago, I was Associate Producer on a LWT programme called "'The Troubles with the Fifties"; looking for clips for the show, I viewed many programmes from BBC's "The Grove Family" through to Granada's "The Army Game".
In my researches, I came across a programme at Granada called "The Fifties" transmitted at New Year 1960. However, Granada TV informed they only had a 405-line 2" tape of the programme and I would have to get the tape transferred if I wanted to use it. Luckily, the Granada Paper Library (now sadly defunct) had a copy of the script so I was able to justify the cost of the transfer. Granada sent the tape down to me and I went to a group of chaps at GNG in Twickenham who had built from scratch, or so I believe, an authentic converter so that a 405-line picture was converted to 625. (At that time and with my budget, the only other alternative was to use facility houses that played back a 405-line tape onto a 405 monitor and then filmed the results onto 625 tape. GNG, however, with their custom built converter transferred the 405-line 2" directly onto 625-line 1" tape.)
The paperwork on the 2" indicated the tape had not been played since transmission at New Year 1960, and that the tape had been used only once before on an Ad Mag which had been wiped to make way for "The Fifties".
As you can well imagine, I was expecting a very long day with oxide flying all over the place. Once GNG had cleaned the tape and with much trepidation, the tape was put on the machine and played absolutely perfectly! Not one bit of drop-out – we even played the tape twice just to make sure that it was playing perfectly. So after 31 years of living in a box, the 2" looked perfect. The programme was introduced by a very dapper-looking Ian Carmichael and was a look back at all aspects of the 1950s. Unfortunately, we were unable to use any extracts from it in our LWT programme, but for me, it was a sterling lesson in the durability of two inch!
I was interested to see mention of the colour "The New London Palladium Show" from 1966 which featured Roy Orbison that surfaced recently. I'd known of the existence of this programme for some time and used a clip of a very youthful Jimmy Tarbuck in LWT's "Cilla's Celebration" last year. This strange 2", marked 'colour', had previously sent out to a facilities house for transfer but had been returned as they couldn't work out what format it was. It turned out that the tape was 405-line colour all right – but NTSC format! It was obviously a test with, I would imagine, the colour cameras alongside the normal ones for ITV black & white transmission. The colour version has only a titles card with the name of the programme and an ATV logo at me end, with no other credits – the B&W original TX copy now being long gone.
There must have been only about four or five colour cameras used and there are vast differences in colour and contrasts between shots but it's still a fascinating colour. glimpse onto the 1960s!
Whilst working on this "Cilla's Celebration" show for LWT I had to watch all the shows she's ever done – and there's quite a few! Many readers may remember the BBC TV series she made from 1968 to 1974 which were always the focal point of BBC 1's schedule on Saturday nights. However, there are many gaps in these programmes – many were live and not kept for this reason, whilst others were wiped.
I was lucky enough to find copies of two of the wiped shows on one inch m Europe as they were co-productions. I let Adam Lee know at the BBC archive at Windmill Road and he made arrangements to get copies back for the BBC. There was also one "Cilla" show from the early 1970s which the BBC had only on a black & white telerecording despite being made in colour. I'd managed to find a 2nd generation VHS recording of a colour version of the show sourced from the Australian transmission of the show some years later.
I told Adam at the BBC of this, and we made arrangements for him to borrow it. You may know of the "Doctor Who" programmes that the BBC have restored by using American colour NTSC 525-line VHS and U-Matic recordings and combining them with the BBC's 16mm black & white telerecordings to produce new colour master tapes. However, this was the first time that the BBC had tried the same process with a colour 625 PAL tape. Transferring the telerecording and the VHS onto separate D3 tapes, the two signals were then combined through a BBC Post-Production suite taking the colour off this second-generation VHS and the definition off the telerecording to produce a new master tape. I was able to view the finished product and was surprised at how good it was – obviously the quality is not pristine, but it was as good as any colour telerecording I've seen. I was also able to return to the BBC copies of two other "Cilla" shows which they'd wiped, albeit on VHS.
As someone who's job is hunting down extracts for clips for TV, I would be very interested in any of your readers who has material recorded off-air in the past that may be unique. I offer complete cortidentiality and will protect sources – my only desire is to restore to the general public material that might otherwise be never generally seen again.
For example, at the moment I'm working on "Pop Quiz" for the BBC. There are almost no "Top of the Pops" shows from the 1960s and only a few from the early 1970s left – despite this, I know of several items that collectors have such as the Jimi Hendrix Experience which I have seen on a very ropy VHS. Does any one have a relatively decent copy of this or of any other great UK television moments now wiped by the TV companies?
By the way, to add to the list of ITV continuity announcers... ATV had Peter Tomlinson and he had the unfortunate job of linking into 'Tiswas' and was roped into the fun! I believe he went on to become managing director of Beacon Radio in the West Midlands.
From Mark Tinkler, (postal address removed)
Thanks for issue 21 of 405 Alive, well up to your usual standard.
I keep promising to send you a few lines that you can use for publication in the mag so I thought I'd better get down to it...
A few years ago, I was Associate Producer on a LWT programme called "'The Troubles with the Fifties"; looking for clips for the show, I viewed many programmes from BBC's "The Grove Family" through to Granada's "The Army Game".
In my researches, I came across a programme at Granada called "The Fifties" transmitted at New Year 1960. However, Granada TV informed they only had a 405-line 2" tape of the programme and I would have to get the tape transferred if I wanted to use it. Luckily, the Granada Paper Library (now sadly defunct) had a copy of the script so I was able to justify the cost of the transfer. Granada sent the tape down to me and I went to a group of chaps at GNG in Twickenham who had built from scratch, or so I believe, an authentic converter so that a 405-line picture was converted to 625. (At that time and with my budget, the only other alternative was to use facility houses that played back a 405-line tape onto a 405 monitor and then filmed the results onto 625 tape. GNG, however, with their custom built converter transferred the 405-line 2" directly onto 625-line 1" tape.)
The paperwork on the 2" indicated the tape had not been played since transmission at New Year 1960, and that the tape had been used only once before on an Ad Mag which had been wiped to make way for "The Fifties".
As you can well imagine, I was expecting a very long day with oxide flying all over the place. Once GNG had cleaned the tape and with much trepidation, the tape was put on the machine and played absolutely perfectly! Not one bit of drop-out – we even played the tape twice just to make sure that it was playing perfectly. So after 31 years of living in a box, the 2" looked perfect. The programme was introduced by a very dapper-looking Ian Carmichael and was a look back at all aspects of the 1950s. Unfortunately, we were unable to use any extracts from it in our LWT programme, but for me, it was a sterling lesson in the durability of two inch!
I was interested to see mention of the colour "The New London Palladium Show" from 1966 which featured Roy Orbison that surfaced recently. I'd known of the existence of this programme for some time and used a clip of a very youthful Jimmy Tarbuck in LWT's "Cilla's Celebration" last year. This strange 2", marked 'colour', had previously sent out to a facilities house for transfer but had been returned as they couldn't work out what format it was. It turned out that the tape was 405-line colour all right – but NTSC format! It was obviously a test with, I would imagine, the colour cameras alongside the normal ones for ITV black & white transmission. The colour version has only a titles card with the name of the programme and an ATV logo at me end, with no other credits – the B&W original TX copy now being long gone.
There must have been only about four or five colour cameras used and there are vast differences in colour and contrasts between shots but it's still a fascinating colour. glimpse onto the 1960s!
Whilst working on this "Cilla's Celebration" show for LWT I had to watch all the shows she's ever done – and there's quite a few! Many readers may remember the BBC TV series she made from 1968 to 1974 which were always the focal point of BBC 1's schedule on Saturday nights. However, there are many gaps in these programmes – many were live and not kept for this reason, whilst others were wiped.
I was lucky enough to find copies of two of the wiped shows on one inch m Europe as they were co-productions. I let Adam Lee know at the BBC archive at Windmill Road and he made arrangements to get copies back for the BBC. There was also one "Cilla" show from the early 1970s which the BBC had only on a black & white telerecording despite being made in colour. I'd managed to find a 2nd generation VHS recording of a colour version of the show sourced from the Australian transmission of the show some years later.
I told Adam at the BBC of this, and we made arrangements for him to borrow it. You may know of the "Doctor Who" programmes that the BBC have restored by using American colour NTSC 525-line VHS and U-Matic recordings and combining them with the BBC's 16mm black & white telerecordings to produce new colour master tapes. However, this was the first time that the BBC had tried the same process with a colour 625 PAL tape. Transferring the telerecording and the VHS onto separate D3 tapes, the two signals were then combined through a BBC Post-Production suite taking the colour off this second-generation VHS and the definition off the telerecording to produce a new master tape. I was able to view the finished product and was surprised at how good it was – obviously the quality is not pristine, but it was as good as any colour telerecording I've seen. I was also able to return to the BBC copies of two other "Cilla" shows which they'd wiped, albeit on VHS.
As someone who's job is hunting down extracts for clips for TV, I would be very interested in any of your readers who has material recorded off-air in the past that may be unique. I offer complete cortidentiality and will protect sources – my only desire is to restore to the general public material that might otherwise be never generally seen again.
For example, at the moment I'm working on "Pop Quiz" for the BBC. There are almost no "Top of the Pops" shows from the 1960s and only a few from the early 1970s left – despite this, I know of several items that collectors have such as the Jimi Hendrix Experience which I have seen on a very ropy VHS. Does any one have a relatively decent copy of this or of any other great UK television moments now wiped by the TV companies?
By the way, to add to the list of ITV continuity announcers... ATV had Peter Tomlinson and he had the unfortunate job of linking into 'Tiswas' and was roped into the fun! I believe he went on to become managing director of Beacon Radio in the West Midlands.
