JFK Inauguration 20th Jan 1961

[jblmar]

Originally Posted by Steve D.

Absolutely, the 1961 inauguration was also filmed in color and b&w as well as being telecast live to the nation. The funeral.in 1963, was also recorded on motion picture film as well as being telecast live to the nation and via satellite to the world.

(QUOTE) moments after the assassination was film. In their hurry to brodcast it, the film wasn't set out to dry. The result is the lines seen on the film.
You can tell the difference between film and tape. Tape has a live look to it while film looks rather flat.
In 1963, the 3 networks were B&W except for primetime shows. Walter Cronkite said something in an interview that stands out in my mind. When CBS broke in on the first report of the shooting, they used a voice over because the camera needed to warm up! This was late in 1963!!
Ron(QUOTE)

My recollection of this event is that CBS was covering the funeral and was late cutting to Dallas and the Oswald shooting. NBC & ABC had the shooting live. I also, was watching it at the time and will never forget that moment.

-Steve D.

Steve,
I was referring to the first reports of the shooting on Friday 11/22. The network(s) didn't have time to setup. They needed to go on air ASAP.
The other events were planned and the networks had time on their sides. CBS, for some reason, felt it necessary to cut away from Oswalds movements to show some tape on JFK. Turned out to be a very 'historic' mistake.

Ron

[Steve D.]

Originally Posted by jblmar

Steve,
I was referring to the first reports of the shooting on Friday 11/22. The network(s) didn't have time to setup. They needed to go on air ASAP.
The other events were planned and the networks had time on their sides. CBS, for some reason, felt it necessary to cut away from Oswalds movements to show some tape on JFK. Turned out to be a very 'historic' mistake.

Ron

Ron,

Sorry for the misunderstanding. You are absolutely right. CBS interrupted a soap opera and Cronkite did a voice over a "BULLETIN" slide for the first cut in. Over at NBC they went on the air live but neglected to start rolling tape of this historic broadcast for over 10 min. I have a tape copy of NBC's coverage that day, less those 10 mins., with Chet Huntley & Frank McGee as primary anchors.

-Steve D.

[Steve D.]

Some information on color filming of the JFK inaugural speech. Text courtesy this site:
Our Stewardship of JFK's Greatest Speeches, Mark Sobel
Address:http://www.jfklancer.com/sobel/speeches.html

"The Inaugural Address
There appears to have been two sources of color film of the Inaugural Address; a 35mm color negative taken by the Department of Defense, and a 16mm color film presumably taken by the White House Press Corps that now exists in the JFK Library, readily available to the public on video for a nominal fee. Short clips from B&W duplicates of the Department of Defense 35mm color negative can be found in theatrical newsreels of the day. I studied the newsreels dealing with the Warren Commission for set design in "The Commission".
Within the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), only the first minutes of the Inaugural Address, as well as the final minutes, survive in 35mm color. Although the camera position was inferior to that of the 16mm cameras, the 35mm negative would have allowed for enlarging the image to generate close shots of JFK, something that none of the color films possess. The B&W video of JFK's Inaugural Address does have many good close-ups, and I can think of no better use for the process of colorization than to sample the actual colors from existing color photos, and colorize this video material for the historical record."

-Steve D.