1960 - NBC - The S.A. Plymouth Show IN COLOR !!! - Tony Bennett Sings LIVE (4 / 4)

From an original color videotape master, see what only the well-to-do folk who could afford a color television in 1960 saw in "Living Color" on NBC Television at 10 p.m. on January 11, 1960. It's "The S.A. Plymouth Show", sponsored by Plymouth, a division of Chrysler Corporation. This episode features S.A. with Tony Bennett, Caroline Richter, Monica Zetterlund, Jayne Meadows, Louis Nye, Gabe Dell, Bill Dana, Les Brown and his Band of Reknown, This part features the finale, opening with the introduction of the Billboard Girl Marilyn Turner. Steve then introduces next week's guests Peggy Lee, Bob Dinieri, and Jimmy Durante, and the usual cast (note Don Knotts in the upper corner). Next, it's another live commercial with Pete Hanson for the 1960 Plymouth Fury. Then Les Brown plays the Plymouth jingle as they show film footage. Also note the optional RCA 45rpm record player you could have...Watch those potholes! Finally, the show-stopper, Tony Bennett crooning out "I'm Taking A Chance On Love", with Les Brown in the rear conducting the Band. Then, Tony brings it slow with "Solitude". Not to be undone, it's an uptempo "Sing, You Sinners!", with Louis Nye joining in Part 2's Frankenstein costume, dancing up a storm with his elevator shoes! Then it's a long casting call, and a final filmed television commercial, and a plug for S.A.s new LP "Monday Nights". Then the credit roll. Note William O. Harbach (producer of "Hollywood Palace") and Leonard Stern, Arne Sultan ("Get Smart"). At the very end is a promo for next week's show, and a slide promotion for "The Arthur Murray Party" in color on NBC.

[@BRCH1987]

At the top of his game....what a card. This is so wonderful to have preserved. Goodnight Tony Bennett. Thanks for the songs.

[@moonbeanification]

Tony is ELECTRIFYING !!! God I love that man !!!

[@ApartmentKing66]

Yeah, and the thing is: he really was singing live! None of this lip-synch stuff.

[@superluminal89]

Tony Bennett was on fire!

[@garethdawkins4589]

We were lucky enough to see Tony Bennett in York about ten years ago and this is even better. High voltage is the right description and Les Brown and his band are simply tremendous, best big band of the 50's into the 60's to my mind!

[@tvgator1]

Tony Bennett is on FIRE here. Awesome performance. That's what having total control and fun at the same time looks like. And 5:44 talk about balls! He lights up a heater in the middle of a ballad, and sings perfectly with it hanging off the side of his mouth. Wow!

[@68lincoln]

Great entertainment and a joy to see in color. The 1960 Plymouth commercials are an added bonus. Love watching this stuff.

[@rty1955]

The beauty of Quad 2" tape. The thing most people dont realize is that tape was REUSABLE and thus each reel of tape cost about $200 but could be reused many times unlike film that was very expensive to shoot, process, edit and duplicate. With tape you just bulk erased and reused. No one recorded once and stored video tape as it was too expensive. This is why many shows that were on tape never survived the 60's

[@jsat5609]

Or some survive only as an archival 16mm kinescopes, but a lot are lost, and the daytime shows, forget it. Very few daytime shows from 50s and 60s survive. Dark Shadows is a rare exception. Most of the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson from the 1960s is lost. Carson finally gained enough control over his show that he was able to demand that tapes from about 1971 on be preserved.

[@andreas7136]

I think, this clip is digitized from a helical scan recording and not from an original Quad tape. Look at the short distortion at the beginning and the visible switchover between the video heads at the frame bottom.

[@rty1955]

@@andreas7136that head switching at the bottom always annoyed me on helical as it shows the tension error as well. But the original is on quad as they did not use helical for broadcast back then and I can also see a little banding in sections. This digitization is from a helical copy of the quad of course. This could have come from 3/4" copy as this was a standard practice of making 3/4" copy's with viz-code at the bottom so a production team could create an EDL. Of course this xfer to 3/4 would have happened in the late 70s or early 80s. The "TCR" at the bottom would also indicate "television cassette recorder" RCA used that term a lot, as VIDEO TAPE was copyrighted by AMPEX. RCA's spot machine was called the TCR-100 a VR-1000. Only AMPEX machines used the VR labeling as it stood for VIDEOTAPE RECORDER. So based upon this, I would suspect this was a working 3/4" copy of a quad master used to create and EDL

[@WPM_in_ATL]

@@rty1955 I think Roy and Andreas are correct. except that "TCR" stood for Time Code Reference. Time code was put on a separate AUDIO track from the program audio. A dub (copy) was created with VISIBLE time code so the editors could make an Edit Decision List (EDL). The dub was made on cheaper 3/4" U-Matic tapes, which became a staple of the industry in the 1970's through the 1980's until Betacam and (to a much lesser degree) M-II gained traction. Smaller tape, better video.

[@rty1955]

@@WPM_in_ATL I made literally THOUSANDS of "viz-coded' 3/4" tapes during the 70s & 80s & never did the time code reader have "TCR" in them as it was wasted screen space. I did however see a RCA TCR output this type of video. But to be fair there are many many different types of TC readers out there. As far a 3/4v was concerned almost every production office and media agency had one. Quality was not the issue as it was NEVER going to be broadcast so there was never a need to replace them As an editor I NEVER used viz-coded tapes to edit. I NEVER would edit alone, someone was always present. We were a union shop and never was an editor supposed to make ANY editorial decision. The time code list that the PA or Director had was only an approximation as to a location to where an edit was needed. It was always fine tuned in POST. I worked in the largest post production facility on the east coast of USA with 24 quad tape machines, 4 film chains (we invented pan/scan technology) an audio lab with 1/4", 1/2", 1" j 2" audio machines, AMPEX ADO, quantel, Chyron, grass valley triple re-entry switchers in every edit suit. We also had an AMPEX and one if the youngest ever to be nominated for an Emmy back in the 70s The post facility was like no other. We had a heavily modified CMX system with up to 26 selectable input devices. All interfaces were custom built as well.

[@albo2006]

I want a Plymouth with a record player!!

[@kingbee1500]

Amazing how well properly-stored videotape holds up...the video is in very good shape, and you can still hear the excellent original audio mix. Was 51 years old at time of upload in 2011.

[@musicom67]

+King Bee Yes sir. Those RCA ribbons are sweet for starters. On a different medium, check out some 1939 transcription discs on my channel I'm fixing up that sound crisp as yesterday - like this recording.

[@rty1955]

@@musicom67 not to mention the fine audio recording of AMPEX recorders that are licensed to RCA. Quad 2" 15ips mono

[@Tmanaz480]

I think I spotted a Neumann condenser at 3:22.

[@marcse7en]

It was probably DIGITISED years ago!

[@jimlaguardia8185]

Fabulous! Spectacular! Flawless!

[@RosieBillPenguin]

Excellent trip in the living color NBC time machine. Thanks for uploading.

[@essessessesq]

62 YEARS later and Tony Bennett is still performing

[@raygreenberg6720]

I notice one of the writers was Herb Sargent, who went on to be a pioneering writer on SNL.

[@nickriggio8807]

Tony is the greatest!

[@68lincoln]

I agree. This is great vintage American television entertainment from an era when talent and style reached a zenith. Such a treat to see this in color and the 1960 Plymouth commercials are superb. Would be nice to see the entire show.

[@hebneh]

In 1960 I'd never seen a color TV, but the family of one of my sister's friends had one. My sister commented that the NBC peacock looked very nice in color. I wouldn't see it that way for another 3 years, when we got a color TV.

[@MJ-dq8ik]

This is amazing footage - thanks for posting. Wow that 1960 Plymouth!

[@musicom67]

Don't forget drummer Jack Sperling wailing on the double bass drum kit! He is one of my faves.

[@Celluloidwatcher]

A NEW REVELATION!!! A big gesture of thanks to KZbin for the above footage from Monday, January 11, 1960, complete with Peter Hansen doing the live Plymouth commercials, Tony Bennett doing what he has always done...put on a great performance, closing sponsor and credits, and promoting The Arthur Murray Dance Party for the following night on NBC-TV. Does it get any better than this? There are several of these old NBC color videotaped programs from the '50's and early '60's to go around.

[@albertdiner]

Tony Bennett is at his best singing slow ballads.

[@jimbo41pie]

That's one good looking 1960 Plymouth!

[@leela7909]

This legend of a singer and super nice guy only started to make it after years of hard work, rejection and bad songs choices from Mitch Miller to finally become the Tony Bennett we know and love. I've read his autobiography "The Good Life" - a fascinating journey of his humble beginnings. Moral of the story: if you've truly got talent, never give up! Thank you, Tony.

[@dillysgirl4ever]

I want the Plymouth they're talking about. That car is from the year I was born (as is this show). I'd add A/C & seat belts to that car. SWEET!!!!!

[@KaRidder234]

...and Les Brown's Band Of Renown was backing Tony Bennett. Wonderful!

[@afathersdevotions]

The video tape machine ran at about 15 ips, which is why the audio is so good!

[@1billwill]

Thank you for the posting, the GREAT TONY BENNETT.

[@KentuckyJet]

It does not get better then this performance by Benedetto!

[@musicom67]

9:10 - Now THIS is entertainment. Louis Nye was brilliant - and so thoughtful - ripping out his 'bolt' out of his neck to give affectionately to Tony...... and pay special attention to Les Brown (bandleader) in the background hopping all over the place... Classic.

[@al_voci]

Thank you for this excellent piece of the best of Entertainment Television! Please put up more!

[@Alffovinni]

thanks for this awesome upload!

[@GaryW48]

I read your comments about parts 1-3...it is INDEED A SHAME!!! It is an excellent study on the older days of television variety shows, and of color television especially. I do recall in Part #1 with their opening number how the Director only used one tv camera for the entire segment. No jump cuts to 3 or 4 different cameras, but to stay on one shot.

[@zyxwut321]

Wow, you can see how tall Steve Allen was. He must've really stood out in his era.

[@Avatar610]

OMG! That's the late Peter Hansen of "General Hospital" as the Plymouth emcee!

[@jarrodbarkley9061]

Yes, you're right! Wow! 😮

[@StuNodd]

The great Jack Sperling on drums.

[@effend446]

For 1960, the overall audio and video quality is ahead of its time.

[@lyghdha]

I would LOVE to see Monica Zetterlund singing in this show. Can someone please upload it!?

[@musicom67]

9:30 - Louie Nye steals the show... love the part when he offers his 'terminal' to Tony... and Tony doesn't wanna touch it and wipes his hands on his jacket....then dances off the stage.... fun stuff.

[@fromthesidelines]

"Later, be sure to see 'THE JACK PAAR SHOW', in' Living Color', right after your local news, over most of these NBC stations".

[@takoma5]

Plymouth was solid for 60 😉

[@JacquesTutite]

Wow! Tony can sing and smoke at the same time!!

[@musicom67]

KZbin pulled all the other 3 episodes - but they forgot this one.

[@wmbrown6]

The "Arthur Murray Dance Party" promo at the very end was V/O'd by veteran West Coast NBC announcer Eddy King.

[@yttrailers9470]

The audio is absolutely ahead of its time

[@musicom67]

And 'solid-state' was still in its infancy. It's those RCA ribbon microphones and everything else down the line (not to mention top-notch engineers!)...

[@yttrailers9470]

@@musicom67 Why didn’t the film industry use those as boom mics with a bit of foam is beyond me.

[@hebneh]

I'm quite puzzled why Frankenstein would appear in program not shown around Halloween. I marveled also at Tony Bennett briefly singing with a cigarette in his mouth. We had a 1960 Plymouth that might have looked exactly like the one in the commercial - but I don't remember it well because we only had it for 9 months, and I was 6-7 years old. My mother hated the "stabilizing" fins; she always thought another car was very close to ours when she caught sight of the fins.

[@KentuckyJet]

Tony has always been great

[@Celluloidwatcher]

Oh, I am sooo sorry. I WILL thank you for the wonderful video. I still think it's a very good piece of history to be shared with the world. But, yes, I'll thank you for it.

[@9094nancyj]

Whatever happened to Bob Dinieri?Hey, that's Lee Baldwin from General Hospital doing the car commercial!

[@Michaelbos]

THANK YOU for sharing this with us.

[@Avatar610]

That's future "General Hospital" star Peter Hansen (who played Lee Baldwin from the 60s to circa 2000) doing the Plymouth ads! Strange to see him with dark hair. On the other hand, Tony Bennett is still sounding great in his 80s!

[@wileycoyote64]

Thank you for takeing the time to post this

[@fromthesidelines]

Writers Arne Sultan and Marvin Worth, with Stan Burns, later worked with Leonard Stern on 'GET SMART"...

[@musicom67]

Sad world we now live in, isn't it? I mean, it's like going into a Public Library and only being allowed to see the book covers - and even THEN you can't even MENTION the 'authors' name or else it'll be IDENTIFIED!... "The S.A. Show" I mean, really? These copyright claimants love their POWER to CONTROL. Instead, these CLASSICS may wither and die in their vaults. (And this particular show was never even THEIRS!) - but anything S.A. they CLAIM.... Wilkommen to AMERIKA!

[@geraldbaker4019]

Do you know who owns this tape? Viacom? NBC?

[@MrKTVM]

Louis Nye was SO funny!

[@SkatingErinsMom]

We still had b&w TV in 1960.

[@frankcastellano2147]

Bennett....ELECTRIC!

[@YCDTI]

Color TV is a fad.

[@plunmeister1093]

I don't think its possible.

[@Juliaflo]

Pat Harrington, Jr. is the sole survivor of the troupe that included Don Knotts, Louis Nye, Tom Poston, and Gabe Dell.

[@jehobden]

+Juliaflo and now he's gone, RIP :(

[@barryobrien7935]

This looks like a VHS copy of Quad tape. Notice the tracking error at bottom of picture, also I’m not sure but I don’t think they had time code on two-inch tape. If this were the Quad tape playing the picture would be much clearer.

[@MerleOberon]

Tony never inhaled on that cig, guess that's why he's still around

[@superduper3728]

Can you tell me where vibrant America vanished to?

[@ronaldwilliamson7963]

The hippies and their drug and free sex culture, that Steve Allen was so opposed to, (see his book "Vulgarians at the Gates") finished it off.

[@Tmanaz480]

It's MIA somewhere in Cambodia.

[@rty1955]

Multiculturalism happened

[@icecreamforcrowhurst]

2:53 a 45 record player in a car?! Incredible 😎

[@nickriggio8807]

Tony sings at 3:13 and is on fire as many have said who have seen this video.

[@Qboro66]

Tony Bennett debunking the "cigarettes are bad" theory during his number.

[@musicom67]

My grandpa smoked Chesterfields until 77 - lived until 96... Go figure.

[@robmastro8620]

what happened to the cigarette? never saw him take a drag on it. just a prop i assume...

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

@@musicom67 I suppose some people are more prone than others.

[@byrd56]

I think that's NBC-Burbank's Eddy King who did the "Arthur Murray Party" promo at 12:55.

[@fromthesidelines]

Eddie was also the announcer for Steve's show, too.

[@fromthesidelines]

It is indeed Eddie King- he was also the announcer for Steve's show.

[@wmbrown6]

And Stan Burns later became part of the writing staff of "The Carol Burnett Show" in its first two seasons, part of Season 3, and all of Season 5; Don Hinkley was a Burnett show writer for all of its first five seasons (as was Arnie Rosen who was an early producer of "Get Smart").

[@fairfaxcat1312]

A TV producer told us that Burnett’s mouth was filthy when she talked to the studio audience between takes. The idea was to make the broadcast as dirty as they could get by with.

[@wmbrown6]

@@fairfaxcat1312 - You sure you're not mixing her up with Red Skelton? He sure got "blue" during his rehearsals . . .

[@fairfaxcat1312]

@@wmbrown6 Yep but this was off camera and on one particular occasion.

[@juliet8]

aww, that's a killer. I watched all four parts awhile back and was wondering where the other three went. In part one there was a commercial for promoting coffee that I thought was a pip.

[@fromthesidelines]

Leonard Stern, Steve's head writer, just passed away. R.I.P.

[@theboredprogrammer1114]

Not American but I wish I were a teen/ young adult during this time. This era has some comfort associated to it and I'm pretty much sick and tired of how this timeline is getting more insane nowadays.

[@jcice3]

Wow - the 1960 Plymouth had an optional RCA 45 rpm record player? Neat! - I wonder how well that worked on bumpy roads?

[@RCALivingStereo]

jcice3 they worked very well A friend of mine has one in his 61 desoto

[@warlaker]

That car record player was WAY before its time...

[@StylinRed]

Ms. Turner from Seattle well well wonder what happened to you :/ that was 54yrs ago

[@musicom67]

She'd be a ripe 77 today (or maybe more!)

[@sucutash]

This has a Charles Van Doren thinking about an answer vibe.

[@musicom67]

You sure it's not a Mamie vibe? 😂

[@sucutash]

☺

[@stephenbeecher7545]

That RCA 45 rpm record player in the Plymouth was a nifty idea, except that people left their records in the car and they warped while in the hot sun.

[@robertpeters2741]

Everything on that Plymouth Fury was optional equipment

[@mustangmooney21]

Darn. I bought a 59 Plymouth. Wish I had waited one more year.

[@johnhoward3042]

I want a record player for my car!

[@drh4683]

So now nobody can enjoy this classic historical early color footage in its entirety? Its come to the point where I need to download almost every video I watch as eventually someone claims the rights and off it goes and nobody can enjoy it then. What a total waist.

[@crist67mustang]

Hi, I'm John Biden and I'm 17y)o. It is my first time watching color TV, and I hope to be some day president of the US. Hey! Why did I say that?

[@musicom67]

Historic Films Inc. (even though this didn't come from them) claimed ownership and MAD KZbin REMOVE THEM (but I saved this one...)

[@nickriggio8807]

Tony sings at 3:21

[@LerfaMu1]

Billboard Girl is 90 now

[@mikelangford9188]

Tony Bennett sings, Herman Munster dances.

[@hyacinthb.711]

I’m still waiting for smell-o-vision

[@sheltv100]

WHAT!? I never knew they have record players back then.

[@betsyduane3461]

The record player came out in 1887

[@stephengroce7674]

i would kill for that car!

[@Alffovinni]

what happened to parts 1-3?

[@musicom67]

1 got pulled by copyright. Type the same title and replace the (4 / 4) with a 2 or a 3 for those parts. KZbin sucks.

[@fromthesidelines]

It didn't, 'jcice'- that's why the turntable was eventually discontinued as an option on subsequent Plymouth models.

[@kerrygriffin578]

This is the I was Born

[@StylinRed]

that Plymouth is quite feature rich

[@sheltv100]

Dancing with Frankenstein? What is this the prehistoric version of Thriller?

[@juliet8]

Where are the other 3 parts?

[@wmbrown6]

@dandydonaldo - So Steverino's professional pedigree extended to whole different areas in TV comedy.

[@spensert4933]

Starts 3:21

[@nlpnt]

Commercial breaks were almost too short back then, you could go to the bathroom *or* get a snack but not both. And if you were into cars and *wanted* to hear about the new Plymouth you were screwed.

[@rubber4532]

where are the first 3 parts?

[@upallnite88]

Great video! Where are parts 1, 2 and 3?

[@musicom67]

+upallnite88 The KZbin police removed them. This one survived. I should try to reupload them.

[@RCALivingStereo]

MUSICOM PRODUCTIONS please do and the Fred Astaire one to

[@larryshaver3568]

Was this on tape originally?

[@vinniemorciglio4632]

Wait!!!! Tony records for Columbia........Why is he on an RCA Company show!?!?!

[@musicom67]

Actually, it was the Plymouth Show. Sure, RCA owned NBC, but talent always appeared 'on another network'... Likewise, he could've appeared on NBC's Dinah Shore Show, but that was the Chevy Show... :-) In those days, the shows were named after their sponsor - even in the 1970s, "this show was brought to you by..."

[@vinniemorciglio4632]

I know, I was being sarcastic. but RCA ruled the roost anyway, did you see "Game Show"? LOL

[@timdub70]

Mitch Miller was the A&R man for Columbia, and he had his own show on NBC.

[@sonofretrotvluver]

Would records skip a lot on bumpy roads?

[@Tmanaz480]

You only put on a record once you were "parked" at makeout point.

[@WhiteCamry]

Six years later Nye appeared on an episode of "The Munsters" as Zombo, the host of an afternoon horror show, whom Eddie worships and visits on the set of his show. kzbin.info/www/bejne/fKuQk4GYYr6pnZI

[@musicom67]

Also fun is Nye's appearance in the 1970's with his wife on CBS' "Tattletales" game show (also found here on YT). Guy is underrated and forgotten today :-(

[@ron101346]

Singing and smoking at the same time??? I thought Plymouth was the sponsor.