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On Mark Evanier's Old TV Tickets (http://\"http://www.oldtvtickets.com/\") site, he has tickets to the 1960s versions of The Match Game and Jeopardy. The Jeop tickets list the show as being taped at either "Radio City Studios" or "Television Studios" at the RCA Building (30 Rock.) However, the Match Game tix place the show at the "Peacock Theater" in the RCA Building. Anybody know anything 'bout this?
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[quote name=\'DrBear\' date=\'Jan 20 2006, 03:07 AM\'] Anybody know anything 'bout this?
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<Cue Randy>
The Peacock Studio / Peacock Theater is the name of Studio 8H at NBC Radio City Studios. NBC Radio City Studios are the studios at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. "Television" was added to the name in various references to denote that the studios in Radio City were later converted for television. The Peacock Studio aka 8H is presently home to Saturday Night Live. (And it's the studio in which I was just booked to work on a special in April!)
The fancy name for 8H was given to make this large studio sound even grander. When built in the 1930s it was the largest broadcast studio in Manhattan; it still may be. The size and height are pretty immense considering it's on the 8th and 9th floors of a Manhattan skyscraper. Even more amazing is that the studio is isolated from the building structure to prevent noise and subway rumble. It is actually suspended from the building's vertical supports by a network of springs! 8H was built to accommodate Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony Orchestra back in the radio days when they were a big freakin' deal. How big? NBC even built a private elevator to take the maestro from his dressing room to the studio... only him and the elevator operator, nobody else! Nothing was too good for this international superstar conductor.
Fun info:
Al Howard ("Supermarket Sweep") worked with the NBC Symphony when a student at Julliard. It was decades later that he produced "Sale of the Century" in that same studio.
Gene Rayburn told me how meaningful 8H was for him. He started in the 1930s as a page at NBC, and would often use his break time to listen to and be mesmerized by Toscanini rehearsing the orchestra. Decades later, he's hosting a TV show in the same studio!
Randy
tvrandywest.com
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Amazing, Randy - I've read a lot about 8H thanks to its SNL history (and the fact that for years, SNL couldn't do shows in mid-late October every other year because news took over 8H for its big election set) but I had never heard it called that. I'm a little surprised the relatively tiny Match Game set used the big room; of course, down on the sixth floor, Johnny Carson was still using one of the smaller studios for the New York version of the Tonight Show, so that set was probably semi-permanent and couldn't be moved for daytime use. Thanks for the info!
(By the way, when Randy posts, does anybody hear his voice reading the posts? Or is it just me?)
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[quote name=\'DrBear\' date=\'Jan 20 2006, 09:45 AM\'](By the way, when Randy posts, does anybody hear his voice reading the posts? Or is it just me?)
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I think it's just you.
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[quote name=\'DrBear\' date=\'Jan 20 2006, 10:45 AM\']when Randy posts, does anybody hear his voice reading the posts?
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I hear Pat O'Brien.
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[quote name=\'DrBear\' date=\'Jan 20 2006, 10:45 AM\'](By the way, when Randy posts, does anybody hear his voice reading the posts? Or is it just me?)[/quote]
It's you. I keep hearing the head cashier from the local Giant Eagle asking for a price check on a 14 oz. box of Kix cereal over their PA system whenever Randy speaks. :-)
It's not just you. It's also the case with some posters I've met--Matt, Chuck Donegan, Aaron, Jason Hernandez, Joe, et al.
And big thanks to Randy for the info about 8H.
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Gene Rayburn told me how meaningful 8H was for him. He started in the 1930s as a page at NBC, and would often use his break time to listen to and be mesmerized by Toscanini rehearsing the orchestra. Decades later, he's hosting a TV show in the same studio!
That's right -- not many people know that Toscanini was the musical director of Dough Re Mi. ("Paul Taubman" was merely a nom de baton.)
Adding to the body of game show mythology wherever I can ...
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[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Jan 20 2006, 04:51 PM\']That's right -- not many people know that Toscanini was the musical director of Dough Re Mi. ("Paul Taubman" was merely a nom de baton.)
Adding to the body of game show mythology wherever I can ...
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We're gonna need another Errata section! ;-)
Doug