[QuadList] Jan. 21, 1959 Kraft Music Hall--In Color on N-B-C

[Dennis Degan]

		On Mar 24, 2011, at 6:55 AM, Ted Langdell wrote:

 > The same YouTube poster also posted the first act—13:09—of the Jan.  
21, 1959 Kraft Music Hall with Berle, in color.
			<http://www.youtube.com/user/vmanfactor5#p/u/6/JdJXvSm3qRk>
 > Notes or comments indicated the announcer was out of NYC, but the  
show was shot in Burbank.
 > In thinking about how the show might have been produced, I suppose  
the VO could have been sent down the line to Burbank, but it "feels"  
more like a live-switch to live audio, possibly edited into the  
Burbank master or the NYC recording of a Burbank feed.

		I say:

	The announcer was Ed Herlihy, who was based in New York.  Herlihy was  
arguably the most famous announcer of all at the time.  His voice was  
prominent in newsreels of the 40's, 50's and into the 60's.  The  
reason for his being the announcer for this program was because  
Herlihy was the voice of Kraft, handling all of their commercial  
voiceovers as well as announcing for "Kraft Music Hall".  I met  
Herlihy on the set of Martin Scorcese's "King Of Comedy" in 1982.   
Part of the movie was shot in the TV studio where I worked at the  
time, Reeves/Teletape's 81st Street studio.  He performed as the  
announcer of the fictitious "Jerry Langford Show".  His is a very  
distinctive friendly voice; easily recognizable.
	Exactly how his voiceover was done for this Milton Berle special is a  
bit of a mystery.  My guess is that in the days before easy  
availability of quality audio links between the East and West Coasts,  
it's likely that Herlihy would have flown to Burbank to announce for  
the Berle special in person.

			Dennis Degan, Video Editor-Consultant-Knowledge Bank
	  					NBC Today Show, New York