From Bob Wilson
Being house bound
with a spouse recovering from surgery and bored, I started looking at some
books, which had been with us some time. One was by Life magazine, "The
First Fifty Years of 'Life" (1936-1986). I had forgotten, but in the 1941
section there was a series of pictures on the CBS Television sequential color
system including a picture of Peter Goldmark with a color wheel and also the
first or second orthicon color camera built in the CBS Television Lab. Also
included was a picture taken from the control room showing the 15 Vanderbilt
studio in operation (monochrome).
This brought back
many memories as it showed Al Treat in the switcher's position and a chap by the
name of Bernie Brink in the shading position. Bernie left early in 1942 and, if
I recall correctly, Dwight Temple replaced him. This studio, which I believe had
been built about 1938, went on the air with the commercial call of WCBW on July
1, 1941. It had been W2XAB. It was my good luck to have been transferred down to
the studio from the 485 Madison TV lab some six weeks earlier to help in the
preparations to go on air.
The Iconoscope
camera pre-amps had to be re-built and Dr. Larry Jaffe was finishing the
modification of the sync generator from 441 to 525 lines.
The station went
on the air on July 1, 1941 so this coming July 1 will be the sixtieth
anniversary. It was not Channel two at that time which it became around 1946
when the TV channel allocations had been revised. The Station operated two or
three hours in the afternoon, and then again, two to three hours in the evening,
Monday through Friday. On Saturday there would only be an afternoon movie.
Sunday was an off day on which we did maintenance.
The technical
operation was under the control of Peter Goldmark, whose title was, I believe,
Chief Television Engineer. The assistant Chief was John Dyer. Peter's main
effort in those days was the development of color and he did not involve himself
in the Grand Central operation unless necessary. Interestingly, all the studio
floor personnel including Camera, Boom and Dolly pusher were members of the
program production department. There were three cameramen, Rudy Bretz, Eddie
Anhalt and Phil Booth, for the two cameras. The third cameraman would direct and
they would swap on the break between the back-to-back shows. The dolly pusher
was "Sonny" Diskin, who was a field cameraman when I returned to New
York in 1947, and the boom operator was Grey Lockwood. Gil Fates who rose to
some prominence at Revlon and passed away several years ago was floor manager I
believe.
Phil Goetz was the
Supervisor of the technical operation, Al Treat was video switcher, Bernie Brink
the shader for the iconscope cameras, Dick Fay was audio. Telecine was Milt Haas
and Bernie Erde. Projectionists had to be New York City licensed in those days.
Maintenance was Dr. Larry Jaffe, Herb Lindner, Morris Tucker and myself.
I was twenty years
old in 1941 and after the operation was unionized in a deal between the company
and the IBEW, (I think they were afraid of IA getting in, there was already an
IA stage electrician) I was classified as an apprentice technician with over six
months experience so I could work without supervision. I think I may have been
the youngest union technician in CBS when I was raised to technician status
several months later at twenty-one. ($49.50 weekly, five-year escalator)
This operation
continued until April of 1942 when live production was closed down with only a
limited schedule of movies continuing. A number of us were transferred back to
the TV lab, which had contracted with the Radio Research Lab at Harvard
University to do Radar countermeasure development for the war effort.
I did not return
to Television until late 1947. There is very little history of the prewar
television operation and I put this down mainly for my own benefit. I thought it
might be of some interest to viewers of the website.
As an afterthought
and not to leave them out, the crew at the Chrysler Bldg transmitter which was
on the 74th floor (and I know many remember doing microwave assist on the 78th)
was Orville Sather, John Wilner, Ed Miller (later Tech manager at KNXT) Artie
Irons, John Hogen and another chap who returned to New Orleans after a brief
stint.
There may have been others but my memory fails.........................73
From Harold Deppe
Hi Les.
From reading the Webb page of May 31 I think we all should remember the story of
the 100 Marbles ....Time is short.
Best Regards......................Harold Deppe
[Les] The following is, first a quote from Tony Cucurullo and then an article taken from the NY Times, May 31st edition. I had previously seen a copy of the newspaper article taken from the NY Post on the same date regarding Steve Alster. I had also spoken to the people in Control Maintenance, who also verified the story. Steve was at one time assigned to that maintenance group.
[Tony] Steve was a
CBS's. He was in maintenance. He was also a computer programmer, working for the
NY Police Dep't.
The union used him to set their computer at times..........Tony C.
From Lee Levy
NEW YORK TIMES : May 31, 2001
Police Charge Brooklyn Man in Explosion at Friend's Party
From Tony Cucurullo
I
was sorry to read the comments by Bob Vernum, that he "has read garbage on
the WEB page"
Les's retort to Bob is sufficient enough as an
explanation.
For me though it isn't enough to accept that as a
critique' on our efforts to keep the lines of communications open for "all
the CBS-Retirees"
His supercilious comments are noted along with others
that have tried to use this 'page to espouse only their ideas and or agenda.
These disgruntled esoteric contributors have not told us
what format they approve of, but they are sure that what we have done so far has
been garbage.
The
door, or page has always been open to any contributor. There is only one rule
that Mr. Adrian "The Magician" Ettlinger (It is his WEB page, you
know) has, and that is we use prudent good judgment in content, and avoid
head-on to politics, and religion.
You are also allowed to attack in writing if you wish,
but please try to be constructive, and avoid Venom, Vernum.
Bob Zagoren wasn't the first to complain about my
efforts. But! He was most certainly the first to be constructive and generous.
It was his idea to put my e-mails on to a Web page, and he contacted Les
Burkhardt, and Adrian Ettlinger. With their combined knowledge of such
procedure, and with his money up front the Web page came into fruition.
The idea so intrigued Fred Schutz, the "Major
Domo" of the CBS-Retirees Club, that he approached us with the offer to
"pick up the tab" for the WEB page.
He
saw this as a good investment. It saves on the enormous 'stamp bill, and a
chance to give his wife and him less work in mailing out the notices.
Ted Perzeszty, who has always jumped at a chance to help
all causes, offered to send in the photos in the correct format. With a (.jpeg)
suffix. He is an enormous help to me in becoming computer literate.
The purpose of all this was to gather the notes and
stories from all sources and place them on the 'page.
It excited many of us thereby increasing the camaraderie, and friendship to all.
With the great loss of our dear lady, 'Doris Reardon,
her inimitable style and humor was absent from the "Retiree's" page.
This hopefully is a suggested substitute, for her column.
Criticism is helpful, and totally acceptable on our
page, even though some of it is, "spleen venting."
In the past I have received,..... invective, .....slander, ....challengers to my
intentions, but these do not make the page.
All the material that I receive from all you goes to the
"WEB GROUP" they are the governing body. Fred Schutz would not allow
the good name of CBS to be used in any but a proper manner.
I DO NOT receive any compensation or remuneration
for my efforts. Neither does anyone else.
Ted, has at his own expense taken most of the photos at
the luncheons and develops them, (electronically, of course). This is the way it
is supposed to be. "Friends helping friends" And, coworkers enjoying
juicy tidbits about one-another.
When I posted my list of "technicians" I
didn't list them because of favoritism. I chose them to get the idea off the
ground, thereby making it easier for some of you to recognize a former employee
that deserves some form of recognition.
It is a nice way to show that your peers were aware of
your good work. It isn't an insult to be left off any list. But, it is pompous
to assume that it takes a special person or rank to know good quality. In any
field. It also is condescending to all those that never had the "title of
Supervisor" attached to their name.
For me though, my creed has always been, "FORGET THE TITLE....GET THE CASH."
And,
"yes Bob" I have been a titled. Did you ever make,
"President" (tra..la...la) of anything??
No, I shall not go into the TD's that have been bad for
the company and the union. You already know who you are.
So keep your letters coming all of you. Don't let a
spoil-sport interfere with you chance to vent your spleen.
I feel very Christian today. I love all of you, as each
of you has given me a life to remember. Thank you. And... GOD BLESS
Tony C.
From Harry Peterson
Re: story about Steve Alster (sp)
Moral of story, we are all getting older and 'flakier' as we go...
How time flies etc......
harry peterson, Fort Lauderdale
From Harold Deppe
Hi Les.
The June 3 Message Bob Wilson sent in was great. need more of the same. that is
what this Webb Site is all about...Lets have more of the same.
Where is ...Hy Badler....Jim Tonn.
P.S. This Type of Message gives this Webb Site some fresh
Air.
Best Regards Harold Deppe.
Al Consiglio re: Steve Alster
My son who per diems at CBS told me the news.
Steve was or should I say is, a complete wacko.
Les Burkhardt also sent the message. Remember, Les was the guy who got Steve for
us. I would have thought Les would ignore the story as an embarressment.
Oh well, we all make mistakes. Who hired him in the first place.
Regards, Al C.
[Les] I have not edited any of today's messages. What you see is what I received. Now the question is, should I feel embarressment (see above message) or embarrassment? I really would like to know how others feel about the feeling of embarrassment over the problems of a former CBS employee. Lets make this a forum type of reply. I have my own thoughts about it and will put them on the web site later. Does the message ask who hired Steve Alster or who hired Les Burkhardt? One other thing I feel I must comment upon. It has been brought to my attention that one person is afraid to send in anything because "he/she doesn't spell so good" Please send your stories to Tony or myself and we will do our best to correct what we recognize as wrong, in fact, neither of us "spell too good". Thas wye we have spel chek and things like that.
From Adrian: What's above is not entirely what Les is referring to, because one message has been deleted by request of the writer. This was from Bob Vernum. Bob objected in very strenuous language to the posting of the Alster article, and I agree with him. I came close to holding it out, and now I wish I had. I didn't know Alster, and never even heard of him. I gather he was not very popular, and if he had been, no one would have considered submitting that article. But, hindsight being better than foresight, giving this story more circulation as we did was like kicking a man when he is down.
Received June 6, 2001:
[Les] I must apologize for not putting the page out earlier
today so that we could reflect on the meaning of what those who participated in
the D Day Invasion meant to the turning point of the war in Europe. I am
sure you are aware of Murphy's Law, it got me bigtime the past 2 days. There has been some flak from people about my posting of the Steve
Alster Story on the web page. I had received 2 different copies of the
stories from the New York Papers and it was my decision to post the story after
receipt of the NY times article. I did not post the article to: feel
superior, kick a person when they were down, look at it as garbage, did not feel
sick, sick, sick about it. Nor did I feel embarrassment about the
article. I felt that other retirees who sent this news article cared
enough about it to send it to me. Just like Bob Vernum sent in the article
about his daughter competing in an Iron-Man Triathalon. To me it was just
information about someone that we had worked with. I did not make the
news, I did make the decision to have it posted on the web
site. I am going to include the rest of my
email that I have at this time and go on from there From Bill Naeder Sr. The Two unknowns in this picture are
Mr. & Mrs. Angelo Sticker. Angelo worked for me in the construction shop for
many years & was a top notch machinist. From Bob Wilson Les From Tony Cucurullo I wonder
where all that wisdom is residing that is supposed to engulf all of us in our
waning years. From
Tony Cucurullo From
Adrian: From
Tony Cucurullo Even if you do not have little kids,
pass this one on to everyone you can think of. You never know whom you might
save by sending this e-mail! Please take the time and forward this to any friend
who has children & grandchildren! Thanks! From Tony Cucurullo To day is D-Day. From Pierce Evans Hi Guys, It has been brought to my attention that some browsers do not like
the "/" at the end of the D-Day URL and may not properly display the
graphics. From Tony Cucurullo http://www.wvec.com/tip_index.htm From Bob Vernum 6-4-01 WHAT
PURPOSE DID THAT LATEST GARBAGE REPORT SERVE?? what on earth do people do to
gratify themselves, sick--sick! how about hearing about the really
interesting things retirees do such as hobbies-- I would love to begin a forum
complete with photos instead of the usual photos of retirees sitting around a
table sipping wine at retiree luncheons. From Bob Vernum Les, I would
prefer that you do not publish my message of yesterday, the idea of submitting
photos of interest/hobbies is somewhat out of reach for me right now-I do
however feel that it might inspire more input from the retirees. From Bob Vernum If its
"already too late"---which I can't believe--please post my request to
delete the prior message. From Bob Vernum BRAVO--nice to
know that someone can see the other side of an ugly situation!
I
will not respond to tonys vulgar message can't believe you published it!!! (note:) these
articles are all a result of the NY Times article which was posted on the site. From Jeffery Pollack To all our friends, From Bob Vernum adrian--BRAVO
AGAIN regarding the New York Times, I sent in the pix of my daughter
crossing the finish line at camp pendleton in the spirit of advancing the
web page beyond the usual verbiage with a sincere hope that others would
contribute what they and their families are doing in retirement! I for one am involved in giant scale
radio control model aircraft and am still a licensed pilot. I would hope others
would be encouraged to participate. fraternaly BOB VERNUM From Bill Naeder Sr. Please
apologize for me. I sent Info for two unknowns and failed to give the (Note:) [from Les] Bill did put the photo number in the
Subject of his email and I was again remiss in not sending that along with his
original message. Thanks again Bill. Does anyone who views this site
have an idea of the [other] unknown persons. From Harold Deppe Hi Les. [Les] The Name John Koshuris is somewhat familiar but I can't
seem to put a face or work area with it at present. Could you refresh our
memories about him? And, the reference to "count the marbles" is
another thing that eludes me. Is it some sort of Aesop Fable with a
moral? I know you referenced it once before. From Tony Cucurullo How
sad this is for me to write. What I started to do originally was to relive the
wonderful life I had in the Radio/Television field, vicariously through the
sharing of stories, whether true or embellished, or even glorified. [Les] Thanks for the input, to
both Tony and Harold From Tony Cucurullo '50s Stars Subtly Paved Way for Change From Harold Deppe Hi Les. [Les] Thanks, guess that was one that I let spell check take
care of. From Bob Vernum This is
the second giant scale twin I scratch built, it weighed 36
lbs. The first one was a B-25
which had 150 flights before I sold it, I
am currently building a second B-25, just wish I
was a good RC pilot, I fly full scale much better than RC, but I
love to build.---It's a great hobby!!
BOB
V From Harold Deppe Hi Les [Les] Harold, that in turn has triggered a memory of Ernie Lowe
as related by Ernie himself. One night very late Ernie had to take his dog
out for a nature call, I think they had already retired for the night. So
Ernie slipped on one of his wife's robes to exercise the dog. It just so
happened that the local police were cruising the neighborhood while Ernie was
exercising the dog. The police, of course, queried Ernie about his attire
and purpose of being out at that time. From Fred Schutz Hi Fellows From Adrian Ettlinger Hi Freddie, From Bob Wilson especially for Harold Deppe Eric Harris left CBS in the late fifties and returned to Europe.
I last saw him in West Berlin where he helped us on a news documentary with
Charles Collingswood. The Berlin Wall went up during our stay. I have not
heard of Eric since. From Bob Wilson I think someone mentioned that the scale model plane that Bob
Vernon is pictured with is a B26. This plane was known during the war as the
"Flying Prostitute" (no visible means of support}. From Lyn Heiges Les, [Les] I seem to recall communicating with you a few times
while you were in Washington and I in NY CTN. Can't rightfully remember
what it was about but glad to see you joining us. I will be getting
a new email list out soon, and will be sure to include you. Concerning a
Florida gathering of retirees, I had sent Lee Levy (Palm Beach) a list of those
of us in Florida and he was going to prepare a mailing for us, but, if I
remember correctly he had to go north for a family something and being we all
have oldtimers disease. It is tough to set up something here in Fla. as I
can see we are strewn to the four winds across the state. I know that on
the west coast of Fla. we are situated from Naples to just above your area of
St. Pete. On the east coast the people are from the Keys to the
Jacksonville area. I am directly across the state from Palm Beach about
equal distance from both you and that area. There was a group of Radio
Pioneers that did met in the Sarasota area but I don't know if that still
exists. IMHO, the Orlando area is about the middle of the state but it is so
vast it would be hard to set anything up and I can't recall if anyone is in that
area to do the legwork. From Tony Cucurullo Les the story about Coco and
Francis was sent in by Gayle DePoli [Les] Gayle, sorry about missing
your name...........Blame it on my being a creature of habit. Thank you
for the Article From Tony Cucurullo http://www.pbs.org/tradesecrets/ From Bob Vernum Just an add on to Bob Wilson's
comments about the B-26, the major flight training base for the B-26 was MacDill
field in Tampa, Fla. It was a very challenging aircraft to handle.
The wing loading was very high (not enough wing area for the weight of the
aircraft), it was later modified with a longer wing! This problem resulted
in the quote--"A PLANE A DAY IN TAMPA BAY" BOB
V From Joe Strano Hi Tony, [Les] I'm proud to say that I had worked WITH Irwin in the
capacities of co-worker, supervisor and manager. Irwin is a very knowledgeable
and a great credit to the CBS family, surely he will be missed by all who are
fortunate enough to say that they too had worked with Irwin.
Congratulations, sorry that I will be unable to attend your retirement
celebration. From Tony Cucurullo To All, [Les] To add to this, another
cause of slow starting your system on boot is, in many cases, a large
number of fonts loading at startup. This can be corrected by
getting rid of the unneeded fonts. The site www.pcmag.com/utilities
has a freeware program 'Font Viewer'. Download and install this
program, it will allow it to scan all of the files in your computer and see what
fonts are used and gives a report back. The program further allows you to
uninstall the fonts that you do not use but, it allows the ability to reinstall
any of these fonts. From Bill Murtough on the
"Passing on" of Norm Dewes I noticed that Norm's passing which I was posting never made it
to the net. It made me realize that it was probably because he was a KNX
engineer and in TV the guys only knew their own local people. I was fortunate
enough to have had a nationwide friendship, which I always valued. In radio we
were a big family. In fact I have just returned from a weekly local ham radio
group breakfast, which includes several old time broadcast engineers. Denny
Denowitz and Bill Klink from WBBM. They were
in attendance this morning. We always have a lot to talk and laugh about.
(The company at one point wanted me to go to Chicago to talk to the VP about
becoming the chief engineer of WBBM-Radio. I turned it down. I was making more
money as a technician!). [Les] Bill did send articles to my old JUNO address in the past,
but, alas, that is in my old computer and I do not use it anymore, the same can
be said for the old AOL address that I had.......If you send anything to either
of those two addresses, I just won't see it. I would bet a dollar to a
donut that is what happened. I found that I had an error on my last posting of the email
addresses, I had updated them and for some reason failed to save the new
information. When I attached the files to the email I sent a version dated
sometime in April. I will be sending out a corrected version
again. Thus far only one person has commented on the sending of the 2
versions of the list. He called the larger .doc version bloatware.
Any other comments?? From Bob Wilson CBS
Florida Community Reading
the mail on the website about the interest in having a Florida CBS retiree group
has reminded me of more CBS history, which had it been successful, there would
be a CBS retirement community on the Intracoastal waterway on the East Coast of
Florida. I’ve forgotten the exact location. As
I recall, there were two Busch brothers in CBS Radio. One, Hugo, went on to work
in the Construction and Building operations in CBS. I think there was a cutback
and he transferred to the technical operations construction shop on West 57th
street then run by Frank Broich. This was some time in the mid 50’s. The Field
shop was adjacent to the construction shop and I occasionally chatted with Hugo. Hugo
had an option on a big tract of real estate on the East Coast of Florida and had
the idea of developing it as a CBS retirement community. As I recall he was
going to sell shares in the project. He had promotion literature printed and
there was limited distributed. Anyway
the idea never took off and Hugo left CBS without fanfare and we never did learn
whether he went though with the realty deal on some other basis. It was, as I
recall, what would be a prime piece of real estate by today’s standards and
probably now well developed. I
wonder how many remember this? Tony Landry? From Harold Schutzman Hi tony From Tony Cucurullo To All: From Tony Cucurullo Here are some thoughts about
putting life into perspective. Clearly not all ideas apply to all people.
Take what is useful for you. [Les] the following are two
emails from Cal Marotta that I received in his response to my comment on the
Tony Cucurullo posting about speeding up computer startup. My reply to Cal
involved using windows explorer to find the program that he had downloaded and a
couple of steps to install the same. Also what to click when downloading from a
site. From Cal Marotta Hi Les, From Cal again I followed your instructions to the letter and everything
worked. But guess what! [Les] This has caused me to think a little more about how
many of you use the system tools provided. Tools such as disk cleanup, getting
rid of cookies, disk defrag. clearing temporary files. Have a great
day.
Also did most of the engraving in
the shop. Keep up the good work, you fellows do a heck of a job with this site.
Regards to all....Bill Naeder Sr.
Unknown in photo 341 is Herbie Schwartz who was a CBS
News cameraman for many years.
Regards
Bob W.
Solutions to problems are easier to come by because I now realize that they
don't mean a-hill'a-beans, to anyone but
me.
These
scattergun snippets of mundane answers seem profound in my mind, but must appear
to others as yogurt on a birthday cake, (whatever that
means).
I am
waiting for the wave of mental acuity to round off those sharp points of
irritation and heighten the essence of my
clarity.
My minds
eye has 20/20 thinking, but my writing skills cause myopic thoughts in the
reader.
The recent
dialogue on the WEB page has sent shock waves of guilt amongst the standard
bearers.
This
feeling leaves me thinking that I have been insulting the intelligence of my
fellow CBS
friends.
The men
that donate their time (and it is a valuable gift that they freely offer) are
not striving for a Pulitzer Prize, or recognition from
you.
But, I do try
to understand anyone's feelings about our small effort to unite us in
communication.
Everyone's thoughts are valid, even acceptable. Your right to criticize is
guaranteed. But, insults are reprehensible, if they come exposed without
correction.
Let
your objections resound with clarion clarity, but do not indulge us with your
vitriolic verbiage based on
innuendo.
Feed us
with your thoughts, let us feast on your memories, and offer a tidbit to sweeten
our remaining moments before the doors of Valhalla
open to us
all.
No
one-contributor to-date has influenced the WEB page as much as your next
submission will be. So play the part, the scene is set. The cue
is
yours. "You are on, my friend."
TonyC.
"But, hindsight being better than foresight, giving this story more
circulation as we did was like kicking a man when he is down"
From Tony
C.:
The Alster story made the NY and local
newspapers. Enough NY area people saw the story and relayed it around the
country. I received it from three people, here in
Virginia..
When a human being falls from grace he
or she has enacted enough grief on themselves
.
We do not need to bear witness to the
shame of it. But, it is quite normal for those that know the individual to
express pruient comments, and thither
asides.
This man at this moment is totally alone
(to my knowledge of him) in this world. He lived to support his mother who has
passed on in recent years.
His actions are, and
have been aborant to many people that worked with him, and new him. He has
tresspassed amongst us.
So, "forgive him his
tresspasses.." and offer a prayer that he might be saved from the demons within.
You might wanna, throw in your name
too, into that prayer, unless of course you are without sin.
Pax Vos
Biscum
Tony C.
Wanted to share something
that happened today while shopping at Sam's Club. A mother was leaning
overlooking for meat and turned around to find her 4 yr. old daughter was
missing. I was standing there right beside her, and she was calling her daughter
with no luck. I asked a man who worked at Sam's to announce it over the loud
speaker for Katie. He did, and let me say he immediately walked right past me
when I asked and went to a pole where there was a phone. He made an announcement
for all the doors and gates to be locked, a code something. So they locked all
the doors at once.
This took all of 3 minutes after I asked the guy to do
this. They found the little girl 5 minutes later, in a bathroom stall. Her head
was half shaved, and she was dressed in her underwear with a bag of clothes, a
razor, and a wig sitting on the floor beside her to make her look
different.
Whoever this person was, took the little girl, brought her
into the bathroom, shaved half her head, and undressed her in a matter of less
than10 minutes. This makes me shake to no end.
Please keep a close eye on
your kids when in big places where it's easy for you to get separated. It only
took a few minutes to do all of that - another 5 minutes and she would have been
out the door. I am still in shock that some sick person could do this, let alone
in a matter of minutes. The days are over when our little ones could run rampant
all over the place and nothing worse would happen than them annoying
people.
The little girl is fine. Thank God for fast workers who didn't
take any chances.
BE SURE TO FORWARD THIS TO EVERYONE, SO THEY KNOW JUST
HOW SICK PEOPLE ARE OUT THERE!!! (This happened at the Sam's Wholesale Club in
Omaha, Nebraska.)
June 6th.
1944,
Young men stormed ashore at Normandy France, and set in motion the
freedoms
that we all enjoy today.
Thank you, and GOD less those brave
men.
Pierce Evans
CBS
Capt.
Herman Lang CBS
Cpl. Steve Malone
Cpl. Anthony M.
Spinetti
Cpl. Paul J. Prinzavalli
and on the same
day in the Pacific, young men stormed ashore on the island of
Guam to start
the march to avenge those that died at Pearl Harbor.
Seaman Anthony
Cucurullo
and all the beachmasters, and Marines.
Patriots
all!
June 6. 1944, D-Day~~~~~~~~ so long ago but never
to be forgotten.
I have updated my D-Day
page:
http://www.pierce-evans.org/D-Day.htm/
Check
it out.
Also, my entire website (address at bottom of signature block,
below) has had a major overhaul and given a new look. The main page is
now
mainly devoted to Military stuff.
All personal stuff like Sally's
Galleries has been moved to a separate "Personal Stuff" page but there is a link
to it from my main page so it
is still easy to find.
For those who
have been unable to find it, THE SHROUD can now be accessed in its entirety from
the Personal Stuff page.
Hope you like the new
layout.
--
Pierce Evans
http://www.pierce-evans.org/index.shtml
So here it is again with the "/" deleted.
Pierce Evans
wrote:
Hi Guys,
June 6. 1944,
D-Day~~~~~~~~ so long ago but never to be forgotten.
I have
updated my D-Day
page:
http://www.pierce-evans.org/D-Day.htm
To all my friends that
have asked me where I get those tips from. The above
address is the TV
station in my area. Channel 13, WVEC-TV. An ABC affiliate.
I wonder if you
sign onto, www.wvec.com, and then to the 'Better Living 'page
,
then you can choose any of the helpful categories you wish.
Tony
C.
I am sure lots of retirees are
tired of the singular dominance of the retiree page and the extravagant verbiage
--time for a change!! BOB VERNUM!---
I will be open for suggestions in the very near future.
thanks, BOB V
rapidly waning interest in the page ,thanks for your
input just can't maintain an interest in the" same old , same old"
BOB
V
I was just informed by Jim Ripple that Steve Cunningham had a heart attack
last Sunday. Although serious at the time, after an operation to clear a
major blockage, he has been released and is now at home convalescing.
He is welcoming all correspondences from his friends on both coasts and
Jim believes it will have a lot to do with a speedy recovery for him.
Here is the information; please pass it along to anyone that may not be on
CBS email.
Jeff
STEVE CUNNINGHAM
12612 COLLINS STREET
NORTH HOLLYWOOD, CA. 91607
(H) 818-769-1364
picture number. The picture is # 347 and the two people are Mr. & Mrs.
Angelo Sticker. Keep up the good work. Regards to all
Bill
Naeder, Sr.
***From Adrian: Thanks Bill, now identified. We should be apologizing to you. Looks like I should have had the number, but did not because of a little slipup in our procedure.
Further: Notice we've now had more than 10,000 hits on the website. And, despite Bob Vernum's waning interest, I clock the rate of hits, and we are still averaging about 30 per day. Which probably means more than 30 check in regularly, since not everyone looks in every day.
I put a D.V.D. Disc on my player it brought back a memory of many years ago.
The Year 1929 I was at a Movie and the Projection room door was open back then
the sound was on a 16 inch Disc on a Turntable in back of the Projector The Film
was on 1000 FT. reels, eight reels of Film and eight Discs to a Movie. To
an 11 year old Boy at that time it was HI. Tech. And now to see all of a
Picture with sound and Color put on a 4 1/2 inch Disc Is a Miracle, Its like
going from the Iconoscope Camera to a Mini.D.V. Camcorder Time sure goes fast
.....Count the Marbles.
P.S. Where is John Koshuris ?
Best Regards Harold Deppe.
It took off quite well. It was not meant to substitute
for our dear lady, Doris Reardon. Or to anticipate the book, or tome, that Bill
Murtough is compiling at this moment. "Please Bill, complete it before we
all hit the dust."
Some of the repartee' between some of us was
titillating, but never vulgar. Some information was insightful, but never
condescending. Friends poking light fun between friends. Banter.
The more acerbic amongst us;..... put us down ever so
lightly at times,..... that to me was challenging.
On rare occasions some of the verbal abusers, (yes!
There are some in our CBS family) spewed there venom and I ignored them, and
didn't give them
the space they craved.
The last three submissions of mine have been
explanations of my intentions. What a waste of time.
What I would rather be doing is reminiscing, about the
good times at CBS, and there were many of them.
Bob Vernum did make one good comment though, perhaps you
would care to write about your present-day hobbies. I told a story about Stan
Mitchell who,
(before his illness) with his wife would go kayaking around the globe.
We all know Bill Berridge and his wife Pat spent
considerable time traveling. They must have great tales to tell.
Please contribute, don't let the dissenters win.
Bob Wilson just made a great contribution to the history
of our company and union. Really a very good story, it filled in some gaps for
me. Tony C.
Received June 12, 2001:
Imogene Coca and Arlene Francis were pioneers in their medium.
By JULIA KELLER/The Chicago Tribune
They didn't march. They didn't mobilize. They seemed too caught up in the
current of their times--the 1950s, when women's roles were rigidly circumscribed
and sharply limited--to rock the boat.
But in their own subtle ways, they were readjusting the craft's direction.
Imogene Coca and Arlene Francis, major figures in the early history of
television who died last week, seem at first glance to have fulfilled the female
stereotypes of the era. Coca, who died at 92 at her home in Westport, Conn., was
best known as a loose-limbed clown on programs such as "Your Show of
Shows," often playing a man-crazy wallflower or ditsy wife. Francis, who
succumbed at 93 in a San Francisco hospital, was a gracious, genteel presence on
talk and game shows. Viewed from another angle, however, the two were
transitional figures, their work constituting important steppingstones toward a
more enlightened era when women's roles in front of and behind the camera could
be as varied and ambitious as men's. In other words, they did what they could
when they did it.
"Both Coca and Francis are underrated and understudied," said Marsha
Cassidy, an English professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago who is
writing a book on daytime television from 1948 to 1960.
"There's an impression in the 21st century that way back there in the
1950s, TV put women in a certain category--the mom in heels and pearls and
shirtwaist dresses in shows like 'Leave It to Beaver.'
But the reality is that there were women working against the grain as well.
They were able to challenge the stereotypical notions of the 1950s. Coca used
her comic sensibility to challenge that role. And Francis was more clever
than most women were given credit for being in that television
environment."
Comedian Paula Poundstone acknowledges that Coca often was upstaged by
characters played by Sid Caesar, Coca's partner in "Your Show of
Shows," which aired from 1950 to 1954. "But if she was starting out
now, she'd do it differently," Poundstone said.
"I give her all the credit in the world for doing stuff early on when it
made a difference. She was cutting-edge. She fought some things."
Richard Heldenfels, author of "Television's Greatest Year: 1954"
(1994), said of Coca's comedy and Francis' demeanor, "When you look at it
in 2001, you see
some stereotypes that might have been damaging," but there were, he noted,
extenuating circumstances.
Coca became famous playing broadly comic figures such as the nagging wife or the
screeching, helpless female. Francis, as host of "Home," which dished
out domestic tips to housewives, and later as a panelist on the game show
"What's My Line?," came across as a refined highbrow in white gloves.
None of those roles would gain the unqualified admiration of today's feminists.
Within the conservative context of the 1950s, however, Coca and Francis probably
went about as far as they could, said Heldenfels, a television critic for the
Beacon-Journal in Akron, Ohio. For one thing, he noted, "They didn't run
their shows." As long as women were hired hands, they were required to do
the bidding of the men in charge.
Ironically, when Coca did try to guide her own career by breaking with Caesar in
1954 and launching a solo show, she was criticized for destroying a great comedy
team to pursue personal glory, Heldenfels said. The new show failed, and the
resentment over her initiative seemed to linger throughout Coca's life, he
added. "She takes some of the rap for the ending of 'Your Show of Shows.'
There were control issues that come into play."
Such issues continue to this day, Heldenfels noted. "I always thought
Roseanne got a bad rap" as the allegedly tyrannical executive producer and
star of the popular ABC sitcom "Roseanne," which ran from 1988 to
1997.
"You're going to tell me that Michael Landon [producer, director and star
of "Little House on the Prairie"] didn't run a tight ship? Or Bill
Cosby [producer and star of "Cosby"]?"
But if a woman is in charge of a TV show or movie, she's sometimes regarded not
as a driven and focused auteur but as a shrew. As difficult as it is today for
women in the entertainment business, just imagine how daunting it must have been
for women in the 1950s, Heldenfels said.
Still, some women attained management status in the early days of television.
Lucille Ball, with whom Coca often is compared, co-owned Desilu Studios and
profited from syndication and foreign sales of the show "I Love Lucy,"
in which she starred from 1951 to 1957. And women such as Ida Lupino, Jane
Wyman, Betty White and Loretta Young not only starred in but also produced many
of the TV shows in which they were involved in the 1950s.
Yet the contributions of those women, as well as those of Coca and Francis,
often are overlooked, Cassidy said. "There were a number of pioneering
women we've forgotten about. The history of television has been written
primarily as an institutional history--what companies were running what?--and as
the history of prime-time male stars."
Historical attitudes toward Coca and Francis are distorted because "we live
in a patriarchal society," Cassidy added.
(c) Copyright 2001 Chicago Tribune
Count The Marbles was sent in by our good friend Tony C. Tony...Thanks for
all Your Words keep them coming.. Les ..The Date You received it was May 24,
2OO1 Best Regards....Harold Deppe.
A Picture on this Webb Page of Ernie Lowe had my memory going. Back
in the Grand Central Studio days .I and Ernie were in Maintenance with Eric
Harris.
Eric Harris and Ernie Lowe were working on a project to Sync an Ampex Audio Tape
recorder and a 35mm Projector together it was called Pic Sync.
I would like to know if anyone knows were Eric Harris would be? Ernie if
you read this do you remember my Dog? Best Regards.....Harold Deppe.
Here's the latest on John Koshouris....
Last was living in Stanford, CT. running his own production company..
He was writing a book on Technical operations/Engineering during the early
days at CBS..Was trying to contact retirees /members of the group for
input...No idea as to progress.....
Recent mail has been returned ..no forwarding address
Freddie S.
That was about what I knew about Johnny K. also. I'd
had a phone conversation with him back 2-3 years ago, and he was very
disappointed that he wasn't getting any kind of response from other old friends,
like from the color crew, so I think he gave up on the idea of a book. I
offered to get together with him to see what stories would come out of our
mutual reminiscing, but never heard from him after that. Hope the returned
mail is not a ominous sign.
Best regards, --------------Adrian
Received June 14, 2001:
The tape to film sync system you were referring to were the Fairchild machines
which synchronized audio tape to 35mm film. They had been installed especially
for "See it now" in order not to have to make up a composite film with
audio, and allowed them to edit up to the time they had to deliver the show.
Unfortunately they were a big source of trouble and Fred Friendly would blow his
top when they failed.
Howard Chinn got involved and I recall a meeting with Sherman Fairchild to solve
the problems.
I worked with one in England during wwII, installing and testing radar
countermeasure equipment and it brings back memories. It took very capable
pilots and it's use included low level missions into Holland.
I doubt anyone will remember Larry Suhodolink (spelling?) who was part of the
CBS group and after the war was in the TV Lab, but the B26 crew put Larry in the
bombardiers nose and flew low level over the countryside. Larry had
an accident and never wanted to go up again.
The pilot had been a piano teacher.
Nice to see this website! Royce Fish gave me the address, so I thought I
would take a look! I see Freddie Schutz as the Ham Garu and I miss ole
"Sir Basil" and the group!
I moved to Florida about 3 and half years ago and Hy Badler and Muriel were down
to visit last year.
I have never attended the Luncheons, but am sorry I haven't. We'll have to
have a Florida one sometime. I think Bob Monroe is over in Sun City Center
across the Bay. Carol (nee Pritchard who worked for Howard Porter, Mac
McKelvey, Bruce Prahar and Jim French and my wife of almost 36 years now) and I
moved to St. Pete Beach in 1998 after buying and revamping a house in 1997.
We live on an island, Vina Del Mar, and I am the President of the Vina Del
Mar Island Association now. We have a Cape Dory 28 sailboat and a
Grady-White fishing boat and I can put the ham rig on the Cape Dory. I am
also very involved in Emergency Communications for the City of St. Pete Beach
and ARES.
Don't miss the "new" CBS, but I do miss the gang from NY, DC, Philly,
LA, Chicago and St. Louis.
Let me join the organization with the rest of the "Old CBS" veterans
when you get a chance and I will have to get into the act with the ham nets!
Best Regards to you all!
Lyn Heiges
Ex CTN/Washington
Tony
Read about the chemical industry and the cancer causing effects of it's
products. Scary stuff.
Thanks Marie Mahecha, email,........ nybludi
Tony C
I don't know if you have received this info already, but
just in case you haven't, at the end of this month Irwin Solow
will be retiring from CBS after more than 37 years of loyal service to
the company and his Union brothers. As you know, he took over the
job of Control Maintenance Supervisor after Les Burkhardt was promoted
into Management. I'm sure he will welcome the opportunity to enjoy
his family and relaxation time. I know that many of his friends will join
us in wishing him well.
Joe
I got this list from Dell support I had a slow starting computer, and I ran out
of memory. It locked up the computer. Support, had me:
(1) Restart, and hit the F8 key.That put it in 'safe
mode'.
(2) Go to 'Run' and type , 'msconfig'
(3) Click on the 'Startup'
(4) Then take out all the check marks except the
following:
Scan Registry
Task Monitor
PC Health
System Tray
Load Power profile
Norton Auto-Protect
*State Mgr
This worked, after I restarted. You might want to save this.
Tony C.
At one point I was sent to Chicago to originate the "Edgar Bergen
Show" (radio). The WBBM crew treated me royally. I was housed in an
expensive suite in a posh hotel. The following week I was to do the show from
New York using the TV theater studio at Lincoln Square. The TV maintenance
guys gave me a hard time. Then one of them asked if I was the Hollywood
engineer. When I explained that I was from 485, the guy apologized, explaining
that they were giving me hard time because they
thought that I was the Hollywood engineer, who was my long time friend, Pat
Walsh. I was annoyed as I realized had it been Pat, what would have happened.
This would not have happened in radio.
The final blow came when department head Danny Wells claimed that I had told a
producer that I didn't want to work on his show (actually someone else wanted
the assignment and told the producer that I didn't want to work with him). Danny
had me transferred back to radio. When I tried to tell him that I hadn't. he
called me a liar. (That hurt!) I was going to file a grievance with the union
but found that I was back where I was treated with respect, so took no
action> (Possibly Danny would have been fired if I had taken action).
"Amateur night in Dixie" to quote an old show biz saying.
Bill Murtough
Good to hear from you. I don't have internet. Just e-mail so I can't see
your writings.
best regards Harold Schutzman
We want to thank all of you that prayed for my daughter during her
medical tribulations.
We feel that without the help from pray, she would be in more
serious situation than is now the case.
Let us therefore pray for all those that need it at this time. For
we are all children in his need.
Medicine is art applied scientifically, PRAY IS DIVINE.
Thank you. Paula and Tony
I am thankful ... for the husband who complains when his dinner is not on time
because he is home with me, not with someone else.
For the teenager who is complaining about doing dishes because that means she is
at home and not on the streets.
For the taxes that I pay, because it means that I am employed.
For the mess to clean after a party, because it means that I have been
surrounded by friends.
For the clothes that fit a little too snug, because it means I have enough to
eat.
For my shadow that watches my work, because it means I am out in the sunshine.
For a lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning, and gutters that need
fixing, because it means I have a home.
For all the complaining I hear about the government, because it means that we
have freedom of speech.
For the parking spot I find at the far end of the parking lot, because it means
I am capable of walking and that I have been blessed with transportation.
For my huge heating bill, because it means I am warm.
For the lady behind me in church that sings off key, because it means that I can
hear.
For the pile of laundry and ironing, because it means I have clothes to wear.
For weariness and aching muscles at the end of the day, because it means I have
been capable of working hard.
For the alarm that goes off in the early morning hours, because it means that I
am alive.
And finally ... for too much e-mail, because it means I have friends who are thinking
of me.
Send this to someone you care about and brighten their day!
I downloaded the Font data and I got a window that says Norton Unzip and asking
what file I want. When I downloaded there was a choice on how to open.
Did I pick the wrong one? I`m not too computer savvy and some of the directions
confuse me. .....cal
I have a HP computer and while looking for a file I went into Windows and lo and
behold there was a file that said Fonts.I opened it and all the fonts that I
left were there. I had an easy way of doing it ,but I did`nt know it. I want to
thank you for showing me how to look for stuff. It was a good lesson and I`m not
afraid to go probing into my hard drive anymore. THANKS...
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