Comments about the Paley Center

Yesterday Karen and I visited the Paley Center and viewed a seminar from 1996 about the documentary maker Ken Burns.  It started out with highlights of some of Burns's works, including, among others: "Brooklyn Bridge" (1981), "Huey Long" (1985), "The Statue of Liberty" (1985), "The Congress" (1988), "The Civil War" (1990), and "Baseball" (1994).  Mr. Burns fielded questions from universities across the country about various aspects of making documentaries.  We also saw a "Midnight Special" hosted by Wolfman Jack from 1981 that featured performances by David Bowie and Paul Simon.

I have visited the Paley Center at least once a month since I retired and am impressed by their rich and unique collection.  I am disappointed when I see so few people in their library viewing programs.  Perhaps everyone is at home viewing Youtube and Amazon Prime.  I think the Paley Center needs to market themselves more aggressively to the public.

Wheel of Fortune and Petula Clark at the Paley Center Today

We went to the Paley Center for Media today to see a special exhibit for the 35th anniversary of the syndicated version of the show.  The exhibit featured photos, memorabilia, videos, and more.  There was a video featuring versions of the show in 45 countries.

From there we went to the library where we saw a recording of an interview with Pat Sajak, Vanna White and others that was done early this month at the Paley Center.  They spoke of the history of the show including some strange occurrences.

In December we will be seeing a performance by Petula Clark at BB Kings.  I searched their database on her and found a classic program when Petula Clark and Harry Belafonte reunited for the fortieth anniversary of the 1968 variety show that sparked a racial controversy.  We even saw that show that was seen on NBC in 1968.

I must say that the Paley Center is a treasure.  Once I retire in January I will have more opportunities to sample radio and TV shows in their collection.  Since I am a member, I can do that for up to 3 hours.

Visited the Paley Center for Media Today

Karen and I visited the Paley Center for Media today to "follow-up" on the movie Jackie which we saw on Saturday and Rolling Stones Exhibitionism that we visited Monday.  First of all I must say that Natalie Portman was excellent in her portrayl of Jackie Kennedy.  The film showed Jackie giving a tour of the White House that was on CBS TV back in the early 1960s.  The Paley Center had in its database the actual show in January 1962 where Jackie escorted Charles Collingsworth through the White House.  We also viewed some footage of NBC News on November 22, 1963 when the shooting of JFK was first reported.  It took about 30 minutes until his death was confirmed.  Back then there were no satellite transmissions, so there was a delay in getting out the news.

I searched the database under the Rolling Stones and found a special about them on MTV in 1990.  We also viewed an episode of Shindig from 1965 featuring the Rolling Stones, Byrds, Everly Brothers, Billy Preston, and others.

Observing Lucille Ball's 100th Birthday and other things at the Paley Center

As I stated before in this journal I like to go to the Paley Center for Media a few times a year.  We decided to go today not realizing that it is Lucille Ball's 100th birthday.  The center showed videos of Lucille's appearances on the Carol Burnett Show, Dinah Shore Show, and Donnie & Marie among others.  There was also a retrospective of Judy Garland's career on television.  We saw her appearances with Phil Silvers and Robert Goulet in the early 1960s.  There was also a showing of Elvis Presley's early appearances on TV in 1956 on Stage Show hosted by Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey, the Milton Berle Show, and Steve Allen Show.

Finally in the Steven Spielberg Gallery on the ground floor there was a summer festival of rock music.  We saw parts of shows by the Rolling Stones and Simon & Garfunkel.  We certainly saw a lot in 4 1/2 hours.

First Visit to the Paley Center in Over Two Years

 

I have documented many visits to the Paley Center for Media in this journal.  It is an archive of thousands of television and radio programs held in their library.  For years I have been a member by making an annual contribution.  Unfortunately, it was closed since early 2020 on account of the pandemic.  According to my records, my last visit was in September 2019.

Yesterday, I decided to go over and watch some videos for a few hours.  I watched:

• One episode of All in the Family
• One episode of Archie Bunker's Place which was a spinoff of All in the Family
• A recording of a tribute to Katie Couric held at the Center in 2005.  At that point in time it was known as the Museum of Television and Radio.

It was Scott Muni Day for Me at the Paley Center

For readers who are not radio enthusiasts, Scott Muni was a distinguished radio personality who worked at WMCA, WMCA, WNEW-FM, and WAXQ in New York until his passing in September 2004.  I searched the Paley Center's online catalog and found two tributes for him that were held at the Center previously known as the Museum of Television and Radio.

• September 26, 2002 - while he was living
• May 19, 2005 - several months after his passing

At the 2002 tribute, he appeared on stage with Zach Martin who was one of his producers.  The program started with several airchecks and interviews from the various radio stations listed above.  He started in radio while he was in high school and at one time succeeded Alan Freed at WAKR in Akron before he came to New York.  He also related some anecdotes including what happened the night that John Lennon was killed.  He was at WNEW-FM's Christmas show at Radio City where he received a phone call and then rushed uptown to the Dakota.  Much of the session was devoted to questions from the audience that included radio personalities such as Dan Ingram and Meg Griffin.  I was surprised to see radio enthusiasts Mary Shaw and Matt Seinberg seated next to Dan Ingram.

Dennis Elsas moderated the May 2005 tribute with Bill Ayres, Dave Herman, Dan Neer, and Ken Dashow as panelists.  There were recorded tributes by Billy Joel and Paul McCartney.  There were many comments by the panelists and audience members who were in the radio business.  They remarked that Scott introduced obscure recording artists to a wider audience.  They considered Scott a brother to other radio personalities.

I remember Scott best for his syndicated Beatles show called Ticket to Ride that was heard on WNEW-FM Sundays at 11 AM.  There is a radio station with the calls WNEW at 102.7 FM today, but it is just not the same.  I miss the classic rock radio of the Scott Muni era.

Serendipity at the Paley Center Finding Art Fleming's Jeopardy Among Other Things

Today I went to the Paley Center with Karen and Lee without anything specific in mind.  Karen was interested in the Moody Blues.  A search yielded an appearance on the Tom Jones Show in 1969.  Lee was interested in Johnny Cash so we found some of his performances from 1958.  I did a search on Bob Dylan and found an appearance in 1979 on Saturday Night Live where he sang Gotta Serve Somebody.

Just for the heck of it I searched under Jeopardy and found two episodes from the 1970s featuring Art Fleming with Don Pardo as the announcer.  The amounts for each question were much lower back then, and the second and third place finishers could keep their winnings.  If I remember correctly Art Fleming was the host from 1964-79.  The Alex Trebek version started in 1984 and is still going strong.

Random Searching for Videos at the Paley Center

I thought I would visit the Paley Center again today, but I had no specific topic to research.  As I went on the terminal certain random topics came to mind and I viewed the following:

• A documentary on the 1960 presidential campaign focusing on the Wisconsin primary with John F. Kennedy running against Hubert Humphrey
• A review of New York City News events of 1958 featuring Gabe Pressman who was the dean of New York TV reporters for many years
• Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In featuring Howard Cosell on December 18, 1972
• 20 years of On the Road with Charles Kuralt featuring stories done from 1967-87.  Charles passed away in 1997.

Viewing Radio Seminars about WCBS-FM and WNEW-FM at the Paley Center

It seems that I have been going to the Paley Center about once a week since I retired.  Today  I viewed two radio seminars that were held at the museum years ago.

The first one discussed the state of oldies radio in 2003.  Even back then WCBS-FM was playing less music from the 1950s and early 1960s.  The following radio personalities spoke and answered questions from the audience:

• Bill Brown (now deceased)
• Joe McCoy  - then the Program Director
• Bob Shannon
• Don K. Reed
• Norm N. Nite

Nobody even imagined the flip to the dreaded Jack format two years later.

The second seminar held in 1997 considered freeform radio as it began in 1967 when WNEW-FM adopted that format.  The following radio personalities spoke and fielded questions from the audience:

• Pete Fornatale (now deceased)
• Dave Herman (now deceased)
• Rosko (now deceased)
• Scott Muni (now deceased)
• Zacherle (now deceased)
• Vin Scelsa
• Dennis Elsas
• Jonathan Schwartz

Saturday Afternoon at the Paley Center for Media

For a number of years the Slutsky's have been members of the Paley Center for Media formerly known as the Museum of TV and Radio.  We like to go to the library and view old TV shows.  As members we are allowed 3 hours to watch TV or listen to radio shows.  Today we picked three recording artists and watched their performances from the late 1960s.  We watched:

• Barbra Streisand Concert in Central Park (1968)
• Johnny Cash on the Kraft Music Hall (1968)
• Diana Ross and the Supremes as hostesses on the Holiday Palace (1969)  Soupy Sales was a guest performet.

Visited the Paley Center for Media

Today we went to the Paley Center for Media on West 52nd Street in Manhattan. I just check this journal and saw that we were last there on December 30, 2007. At first we went to the library aand saw episodes of:

• Mister Ed


• The Brady Bunch


• The Monkees

From there we saw the actual Frost/Nixon interviews as we saw the movie version some weeks ago. Nixon insisted that he did not commit any impeachable offenses, but that he just used very poor judgement. From there we saw "Madison Avenue Goes to Washington: The History of Presidential Campaign Advertising." CNN's Jeff Greenfield narrated this documentary which placed the ads in its historical context.

My Son The Willie Nelson Fan at the Paley Center for Media

For the same reason Lee became a Johnny Cash fan some years ago, he has become a Willie Nelson fan.  We have a few of his CDs but no videos about him  For that reason we went to the Paley Center for Media today to see what they had.  We were there for over two hours and viewed the following:

• Barbara Walters interviewing him in June 1982
• His appearances on the Late Show with David Letterman in January 1994 and March 2006
• Saturday Night Live December 1977
• His July 4th Concert on the Midnight Special with Wolfman Jack (date unknown)

Visited the Paley Center Today

Karen and I visited the Paley Center on West 52nd Street as we do a few times a year.  There was a photographic and video exhibition for the 50th anniversary of the Rolling Stones.  There were numerous photographs on the wall in addition to a television monitor showing 10 television appearances of the Stones.

From there we went upstairs to the library to view some old shows.  Since Karen is very much into Alfred Hitchcock we viewed 3 episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents which was on the air in the late 1950s and early 1960s.  We also saw one episode of All in the Family and one of One Day at A Time.

Another Saturday Afternoon at the Paley Center

Since we are members of the Paley Center we get to see up to 3 hours of TV shows in their library of TV shows.  Today we did searches on:

• The Rolling Stones
• Richard Nixon
• The Beatles

We saw a 30 minute rockumentary on the Rollings Stones that was shown on MTV c1990.  We then found Midnight Special hosted by Wolfman Jack in 1981 that featured the Rolling Stones.

For some strange reason Lee has a fascination with Richard Milhouse Nixon.  We found a 20/20 show from 1978 where Barbara Walters interviewed him on foreign policy iissues of that time.

Finally we saw an appearance by the Beatles in 1964 which was originally on British TV.

Perusing the Radio and TV Collection at the Paley Center

 

I have reported several of my visits to the Paley Center in this journal.  Below is what I found today as I perused the collection:

• 60 Minutes Seminar Creating a Tradition,  Reviewing the first 20 years of that program. - June 15, 1987.  I miss Mike Wallace, Ed Bradley, Andy Rooney, Harry Reasoner, Morley Safer and others who have passed away.
• 30th Anniversary of The Beatles - A special broadcast on WCBS-FM hosted by Cousin Bruce
• Tribute to Charles Kuralt at the Museum of TV and Radio held December 1, 1998.  I also viewed several segments of his On the Road.  He sure knew how to tell a story.

Elvis Presley, The Beatles and Sam Cooke at the Paley Center

I think I have visited the Paley Center almost once a week since I have retired.  Lee came with me today as he wanted to see his buddy, Elvis Presley.  We found his 1968 Comeback special in their vast collection of the history of TV and Radio recordings.  After that, he wanted to see the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show.  Yours truly actually watched those show before Lee was a gleam in my eye.  We saw the shows from:

• February 9, 1964
• February 16, 1964
• February 23, 1964
• September 12, 1965 - this show also featured Soupy Sales doing the Mouse.

We actually fast forwarding through those 3 shows and only viewed the appearances by the Fab 4.

We found the first show of Shindig in September 1964 which featured Sam Cooke singing Blowin' in the Wind.

The Paley Center for Media and other activities of the day

Karen and I took the subway to Manhattan and stopped off at the Nederlander Theater to purchase tickets for Newsies which we will see in October for our wedding anniversary.  As I have stated in this journal whenever possible I purchase tickets at the box office to save on the fees.

From there we walked to the Paley Center for Media on West 52nd Street.  Since we are members of this fine organization, we generally visit it a few times a year.  We went to the library where I viewed the last CBS Evening News anchored by Walter Cronkite in March 1981.  I recently completed reading a long biography on the "Most Trusted Man in America".  Since Ron Palillo recently passed away we viewed two episodes of Welcome Back Kotter.  From there we went to the Bennack Theater downstairs and saw a special titles "America's Teenagers: Growing Up on Television."

NFL Exhibition at the Paley Center

Today I made a trip to the Paley Center for Media to see the exhibit for the 100th anniversary of the NFL.  Below are some of the photos that I took.

Superbowl Trophy

Joe Namath Jersey

LT (Lawrence Taylor) Jersey

In the auditorium on the ground floor, the broadcast of Superbowl 21 with the Giants facing the Denver Broncos was shown.

Viewing WMCA and WABC Radio Seminars at the Paley Center

The Paley Center is certainly a treasure of radio and TV shows.  They also archive the seminars they hold there as well.  Back in 1998, there was a seminar featuring the WMCA Good Guys who were DJs when the station played hits in the 1960s.  As the camera panned the audience I saw some people that I know. .

• Alan Berman (may he rest in peace)
• Kevin Sealey
• Rob Frankel
• Alan Seltzer
• Mary Shaw

 I attended that seminar but didn't see myself in the audience

There was a similar seminar in 1985 featuring the late Rick Sklar with the WABC DJs who were there when it was a Top 40 station.  Sadly most of them have passed away.

Viewing Random TV Shows at the Paley Center

Since I am still off from work I decided to take the subway to the Paley Center at 5th Avenue and 52nd Street.  I have a family membership so it doesn't cost me anything to come into view TV shows.  Today I viewed:

• An interview in early 1963 with John F. Kennedy as he discussed his first two years in office
• Walter Cronkite's last appearance on the CBS Evening News in March 1981
• The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson in November 1972
• Katie Couric's last appearance on the Today Show in 2006