Johnny Olson

[VIDEOWACK]

Here's a wonderful site dedicated to Johnny Olson, who besides announcing dozens of game shows, was Jackie Gleason's announcer starting in 1961 ("You're In The Picture") until 1970. Also, a great color shot taken off camera in Miami Beach. I believe that shot is taken in 1965 at the curtain call for the "cast show" that season. That's where Johnny was singing something like, "As Long As I Have My Horse", which was included in the syndicated half-hours of "American Scene Magazine" years ago.


http://www.jrjgames.com/main/randy/johnny/newindex.html

[MrBand]

It's a revelation to see what color those curtains were after seeing them in living black and white...sort of like seeing many shows in color for the first time in the sixties!

[The Great One]

Originally Posted by VIDEOWACK

Here's a wonderful site dedicated to Johnny Olson, who besides announcing dozens of game shows, was Jackie Gleason's announcer starting in 1961 ("You're In The Picture") until 1970. Also, a great color shot taken off camera in Miami Beach. I believe that shot is taken in 1965 at the curtain call for the "cast show" that season. That's where Johnny was singing something like, "As Long As I Have My Horse", which was included in the syndicated half-hours of "American Scene Magazine" years ago.


http://www.jrjgames.com/main/randy/johnny/newindex.html

Great picture. Thanks for posting the link.

[The Great One]

Originally Posted by MrBand

It's a revelation to see what color those curtains were after seeing them in living black and white...sort of like seeing many shows in color for the first time in the sixties!

You bring up a good point. It's interesting to see how color can bring a different aura to the show and change your viewing experience.

[Benno123]

Was Johnny Olson an announcer on The Price Is Right before Rod Roddy or whatever that guy's name was?

[VIDEOWACK]

Originally Posted by Benno123

Was Johnny Olson an announcer on The Price Is Right before Rod Roddy or whatever that guy's name was?

Yes, Johnny was the original announcer for The Price Is Right from 1972 until his death in 1985. Rod Roddy took over for Johnny at that point. Rod passed on in 2003.

[W.B.]

It's interesting. Just the other day on GSN they aired a What's My Line? episode from 1965 on which Mr. Olson was the first mystery guest - and he completely stumped the panel, having tried all sorts of voices and accents. Ironically, the future Alice Kramden #4, Sheila MacRae, was a guest panelist that night.

But I wasn't surprised about the curtains for TASM; I have a color picture taken c.1963 where the same red and white color scheme for the curtain was in effect. What I wonder is, in that picture of Mr. Gleason and Mr. Olson, were the cameras in use at the time, Marconi Mark IV's, the preferred B&W camera of CBS then, as its make was "anywhere but RCA"? (I know that when the show went color in 1966, they switched to Norelco PC-60 cameras which were CBS's preferred color cameras.)

[VIDEOWACK]

Originally Posted by W.B.

It's interesting. Just the other day on GSN they aired a What's My Line? episode from 1965 on which Mr. Olson was the first mystery guest - and he completely stumped the panel, having tried all sorts of voices and accents. Ironically, the future Alice Kramden #4, Sheila MacRae, was a guest panelist that night.

But I wasn't surprised about the curtains for TASM; I have a color picture taken c.1963 where the same red and white color scheme for the curtain was in effect. What I wonder is, in that picture of Mr. Gleason and Mr. Olson, were the cameras in use at the time, Marconi Mark IV's, the preferred B&W camera of CBS then, as its make was "anywhere but RCA"? (I know that when the show went color in 1966, they switched to Norelco PC-60 cameras which were CBS's preferred color cameras.)

Johnny Olson was so vibrant on that edition of WML? I loved the fact that he stumped the panel.

As for the cameras in use, it's a good question. Since that pic is from the Miami Beach years, did CBS use Marconi Mark IV's at the Miami Beach Auditorium? I would have to think they did, although the techinical equipment was furnished by WTVJ in Miami and who knows what they used.

[W.B.]

Originally Posted by VIDEOWACK

As for the cameras in use, it's a good question. Since that pic is from the Miami Beach years, did CBS use Marconi Mark IV's at the Miami Beach Auditorium? I would have to think they did, although the techinical equipment was furnished by WTVJ in Miami and who knows what they used.

That's precisely my question. And of course, then WTVJ was a CBS affiliate - and CBS seemed to have a tendency to dictate what cameras were to be used, to my knowledge. I've heard of cases of TV stations using one set of cameras, then having to get another set for "network specs" (i.e. for space shot coverage as part of the network pool). I did notice "CBS (o) COLOR" labels on the PC-60's in use at the Auditorium post-1966, however. Were those cameras provided by CBS, or WTVJ?

[TV Knowledge Fan]

....was "WTVJ" {Wometco Enterprises} property, because they got promient credit at the end of the show. Jackie used Wometco equipment and personnel, probably because it was cheaper than using CBS'.

[W.B.]

Originally Posted by TV Knowledge Fan

....was "WTVJ" {Wometco Enterprises} property, because they got promient credit at the end of the show. Jackie used Wometco equipment and personnel, probably because it was cheaper than using CBS'.

And WTVJ, at the time, was a CBS affiliate. That may explain the "CBS/Color" stickers slapped on the Norelco PC-60's used on the show - and CBS mandated Norelco's color cameras for any network-related stuff (no RCA or other brand color cameras, now). Because it was a national show - and it wouldn't've looked so good if the local station's logo was on the cameras, wouldn't it?

A sidenote . . . Wometco was a contraction of the "Wolfson-Meyers Theatre Company," which was first founded in 1926.

[W.B.]

Here's an interesting link as to exactly which VTR model was used to record TJGS in the Florida years . . .

Click Here

[dahatman]

The link says he started with The Honeymooners in 1955, but isn't Jack Lescoulie the announcer in the classic opening?

[W.B.]

The other thing was, while Norelco PC-60's (with "CBS (eye) COLOR" labels) were used for the show, WTVJ's own studios used General Electric PE-250 cameras at the time.

[tv star collector]

Originally Posted by VIDEOWACK

Yes, Johnny was the original announcer for The Price Is Right from 1972 until his death in 1985. Rod Roddy took over for Johnny at that point. Rod passed on in 2003.

Technically, Don Pardo was the "original" announcer for The Price Is Right, back in the fifties, when Bill Cullen was the original host. (I'm not sure,
but Johnny Olson may have been the announcer on Bob Barker's Truth or
Consequences, which predates his stint on The Price Is Right.)