I was looking through a bunch of boxes of my Grandma's, and she was going to have a garage sale that day. I found this tape, with no cover at all, but I was interested, so I popped it in. What popped up with a lousy quality commercial for maxwell house, and then the cast on the stairs popped up on the screen, and it said The Brady Bunch in color. Did I find some originals here? There was 4 episodes, 2 dealing w/ Jan, and the other one were with Bobby and Cindy.

------------------
Andrew Carden

Andrew,

I would definitely say you have some originals and I would hold on to that tape, and make a copy while you're at it!
I was pretty young then, but I do recall at the time the Brady Bunch was on, color television was still a big enough deal that shows would happily make the viewer aware that the program you were about to watch was in "Living Color!" (NBC had the famous Peacock animated clip with a network announcer stating that the show was "IN LIVING COLOR ON NBC!)

Much like television shows today will show an icon designating a show's being in surround sound, stereo or whatever the big thing is now, from around 1965 to the early 70's or so, if a show was in color, you'd see a cast photo on your screen with the show's title and the words "IN COLOR." Sometimes, as I remember on Bewitched, the show's star would appear on-screen in a filmed invitation to "Stay tuned to (show's title,) In color!"

So, if on that tape you have the photo of the cast standing on the stairs with the words, "In Color," I'm guessing it has to be from the show's original run in prime time, or pretty close to it's original run, as those "In Color" designations have been cut from syndicated reruns.

You've got a keeper! (and I want a copy too, ha ha!)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't the Columbia House tapes have the original openings on them? If they don't then my guess is that you have a copy of a 16mm film that somebody transferred to video tape.

[This message has been edited by TJ (edited 07-19-2001).]

That's a good point TJ, I know that it's not a columbia house one, the episodes that I have I don't think were ever in the set, except for the one where Bobby is safety monitor. I think that I have Kelly's Kids and the one where Greg smokes also. Haven't got a chnace to watch it all though!

------------------
Andrew Carden

FYI - I have the Columbia House set, and the "In Color" interstitials are on it. When BB was in it's first syndication cycle in the 70s and early 80s, the "In Color" shot was also present. It was during the 80s that it was deleted (along with some more scenes). Perhaps this tape is from an early syndication run? Not too many people had VCRs in 1974.

Andrew,

I would definitely say you have some originals and I would hold on to that tape, and make a copy while you're at it!
I was pretty young then, but I do recall at the time the Brady Bunch was on, color television was still a big enough deal that shows would happily make the viewer aware that the program you were about to watch was in "Living Color!" (NBC had the famous Peacock animated clip with a network announcer stating that the show was "IN LIVING COLOR ON NBC!)

Much like television shows today will show an icon designating a show's being in surround sound, stereo or whatever the big thing is now, from around 1965 to the early 70's or so, if a show was in color, you'd see a cast photo on your screen with the show's title and the words "IN COLOR." Sometimes, as I remember on Bewitched, the show's star would appear on-screen in a filmed invitation to "Stay tuned to (show's title,) In color!"

So, if on that tape you have the photo of the cast standing on the stairs with the words, "In Color," I'm guessing it has to be from the show's original run in prime time, or pretty close to it's original run, as those "In Color" designations have been cut from syndicated reruns.

You've got a keeper! (and I want a copy too, ha ha!)

Nobody had a VCR in 1974, there were video recorders but they didn't use cassettes and they would definitely not be compatible with either VHS or Beta!

In the mid 70s some shcools had video recorders, those things were huge!

BTW, the first VHS machines hit the US market in 1977.

I remember, my high school back in 1973 or 74, had a portable black-and-white TV with a reel to reel tape recorder (how many others remember those big things?:lol: :lol: ) somehow hooked up to it; and they were able to record shows on it. All these years; I've always wondered how they did that.

I remember, my high school back in 1973 or 74, had a portable black-and-white TV with a reel to reel tape recorder (how many others remember those big things?:lol: :lol: ) somehow hooked up to it; and they were able to record shows on it. All these years; I've always wondered how they did that.

Assuming that you mean they recorded the video as well as the audio, that might have been a reel-to-reel video recorder, or they may have modified it with a helical head, I'd love to see what the quality was like, probably pretty poor compared to VHS!

this is Awsome.

Assuming that you mean they recorded the video as well as the audio, that might have been a reel-to-reel video recorder, or they may have modified it with a helical head, I'd love to see what the quality was like, probably pretty poor compared to VHS!
yea; I'd also like to see what the quality was like. I dougbt it's as good as I remember. And yes; they did record the audio as well as the video.

And what's a "helical head"?

yea; I'd also like to see what the quality was like. I dougbt it's as good as I remember. And yes; they did record the audio as well as the video.

And what's a "helical head"?


It's a spinning head that's at kind of an angle. To get the bandwith needed for video you either have to have the tape move past the head at tremendous speed, about 10 feet per second if I remember right, or else have the head itself spinning. Both methods were tried, but the fast tape solution proved both impractical and somewhat dangerous. The Helical head is still used today.

It is interesting to note that the first system used (on a limited basis) for broadcast TV was Baird's system which had 30 lines (no, I'm not kidding!) and a 12.5 frame per second refresh. The tones generated were audible and could be broadcast on HF frequencies. They were received up to 400 miles away. They could also be recorded on phonograph records.

I'm sure the system you described was no where near that crude!

This reminds me of the episode where Bobby is convinced he is a shrimp. In an attempt to show he can use brain rather than brawn he quotes an encyclopedia article that says that television is a system for transmitting pictures over "wire", wired (cable) transmission was never the standard for television, even Baird's system was over the air. I wonder if Bobby was supposed to say "wireless", the old name for radio.