George and Gracie in Color on CBS circa 1954

[colorfixer]

I don't know if this has been posted before, but here's an interesting early color show from '54.

The ending caption before the CBS eye logo matter-of-factly states: "This program has been seen in full color on color receivers, and in black and white on black and white receivers."


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uN7y4Sj9loI

[egrand]

Thanks for posting. Very neat and fun to watch. When I was a kid one of the local stations used to show Burns and Allen and Jack Benny on Friday nights before showing an Abbott and Costello film, so I grew up as fans of all of them.

[Username1]

Pretty cool ! Thanks for posting ! I have seen this episode as a B&W a few times.
I wonder why they don't run this color version since they have it.....?
I love B&A ! I didn't know there was so much of their stuff on youtube...!!

[vallieone]

What a treat!!! Thank you for sharing the link.

[Rod Beauvex]

Was it normal to keep separate black and white and color copies of a TV series back then?

[colorfixer]

I think they probably are too embarrassed to show the Eastman color print as it's in such poor shape. Plus in '54, most stations were still monochrome, so the added expense of color distribution would have been hard to justify.

I'd like to see what Peter Kuran could do with it - he's worked with worse when he did "Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie".

[bigaudioal]

Thanks for sharing. Very cool!

[Steve D.]

Actually there is a fully restored color version of this 1954 Burns & Allen episode. I attended a presentation several years ago on early color tv. This at UCLA. Dan Wingate of SONY PICTURES was in charge of the restoration and this episode was shown along with an early 1954 Dinah Shore color kinescope as well as a 1954 episode of Eddie Fisher's Coke Time color kine. Also posting an article from the L.A. Times TV page.

[egrand]

I guess that article explains why George is wearing a glove when smoking his cigar.