Dumont Television Test Reel (1956) 

The first actor shown is Carl Betz, later to feature in The Donna Reed Show and Judd for the Defense. Not sure about the actress playing his wife. She's familiar but I can't place her (Nancy Gates?). In addition to showing us something of the technical process, the reel gives us a chance to appreciate the professionalism of a cast working under less than ideal conditions. Still, there'll always be a special place in our hearts for the Dumont network.

Fran, quite an interesting bit of history. Apparently Dumont Television shut down 4 days before I was born. I never even knew of Dumont Television until I came here. Thanks for sharing a piece of history!

The DuMont Network was one of the great "might have beens" of the Golden Age of Television.

What a great film I wish I could see the entire show.

OMG! As a kinescope restorer, anything DuMont is just gold!!!!

I remember the DuMont network. Channel 6 in Philadelphia carried it as well as programs from ABC. This definitely was a kinescope recording filmed from a crt. The electronicam system was used on the Honeymooners with Jackie Gleason which was a live show so filming it at the same time the quality was better than a kinescope and the film could be duplicated and the show could be syndicated or shown in other time zones or on stations that weren't affiliated with DuMont. The DuMont company made very good television sets for that era. Some of the best but expensive.

One of the sad stories of the Dumont network, was the dumping of thousands of reels of its kinescope film archives into a New York bay or river.

Hello Fran, I fondly remember the Dumont Network (channel 5 in NYC). "Captain Video" and "Tom Corbet Space Cadet" were my favorite shows. Thanks for the memories.

This is AWESOME! I worked at a station from 2005 to 2011, and they made their broadcast debut back in the 50s as a Dumont affiliate!

Never even heard of Dumont Television before today. I kept forgetting I was watching a test reel and kept being surprised when they cut the action. Good stuff, this, on so many levels.

I'd like to see the full production. Good acting and intriguing plot.

DuMont continued to schedule just ONE weekly series on its five owned and operated stations from September 1956 through August 1958: "THE MONDAY NIGHT FIGHTS", with Chris Schenkel at ringside. When it ended, *that* was the end of "DuMont Television", as Metropolitan Broadcasting (later known as "Metromedia") bought DuMont's stations.

A few years ago I found a Dumont RA 170 Teleset at an estate sale. I hemmed and hawed at the $30 price, but came back on last day and got it for $15! Here it is, playing a program of its era on VHS [knew was saving that Radio Shack VHF adapter for something]: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-lj-LvkGW26Y.html Pretty impressive for a 50+ year old applaince.I'm lucky the capacitor didn't burn my garage down, that thing was already a tinderbox of hot tubes, cardboard and old dry wood. This led down the rabbit hole of discovering how many broadcasting networks there were in the 1950's. I had no idea television was so regional and "family owned" in a lot of cases. I also got obsessed the RCA Orthicon tube, especially its idiosyncratic black lens flare

A slice of the time - but... what happened next?

The actor is Carl Betz, who played doctor-husband Alex Stone on "The Donna Reed Show."

Here's the way I heard it. It had to to with Union Rules. A guy (and it was all men back then) who was using a television camera was a technician, and they came cheap. A guy using a film camera was a cinematographer (even in a TV studio), and they were very expensive. Obviously film was better quality than Kinescopes. But it turns out that a guy using a television camera with a film camera bolted onto its side was still a technician, so long as he only looked through the TV viewfinder. The TV show was switched live for the audience and for the lower quality Kinescope, and the film was marked somehow to know when it had the tally-light. After the show, they would take the film back and edit it to match the live performance. There's more details, but you get the gist.

Carl Betz was a great actor; loved him in the Donna Reed Show. It's a crime what happened to the Dumont archive.

This is great stuff! Thank you Fran!👍

Wow, Fran. I love the films you post. Fine job.

I remember Ed Sullivan Toast of the town, and Jackie Gleason on the Cavalcade of Stars show on Dumont. Must have been 1949-50. Remember the Dumont slogan? "It's the finest set that an ordinary guy or a millionaire can get".

This DuMont test film is a kinescope recording made during production as an editing guide for the film being shot by the 35mm Mitchell camera on the Electronicam setup.

I remember the Dumont network. We could only get two channels, one out of Pittsburgh and one out of Johnstown. I forget which one was Dumont. The Honeymooners was a short sketch in Jackie Gleason’s hour-long variety show for the first few years, then a 30 minute series. When you watch kinescopes on your film projector, do you see the scan lines of the TV picture? When I watch them on my computer monitor or flat screen TV, I don’t see the lines. Maybe that’s the monitor filling in the blank spaces with estimates of what “should” be there?

High drama at its finest! Thanks for this.

Cameraman Hal Mohr was an Oscar winning cinematographer- surprising that he’s doing a TV test here!

I'll never forget Carl Betz in Judd for the Defense back in the 60's.

Someone here posted that this Dumont Television Test was done to help train Electronicam operators and directors on how to edit programs recorded on the camera system, using conventional cameras and kinescope equipment. During this test, Dumont may have used the training as an opportunity to make a pilot for a possible TV series. Dumont may have ended national network broadcasting when this television test was done, but they were still contractually obligated to show weekly boxing broadcasts from New York City until 1957. Dumont had to do whatever they could to earn money at this time, and this gave their veteran camera crews some badly-needed work, training other cameramen and directors.

My grandparents had a Dumont TV in the 1950's. It had a circular dial to change the stations. We could pick up FM stations between Channels 5 and 6 I think. It could have been 6 and 7.

This was actually mesmerizing, thanks Fran.

That is an interesting pioneering kind of telenovela from the 50's!

better plot here than whats on tv now..

To Bad you did not have a Du Mont to display it on...But Still, CLASSIC...!!..

way cool..if this show was on now I'd watch it...kind of a film noir drama vibe to it, thanks for sharing

The Electronicam system was live through the TV cameras and simultaneously filmed on 35mm film. (there was also a 16mm version) They would make a kinescope from the monitor of the show video feed. Then they would develop the kinescope and use that as the basis for editing the 35mm film into a 30 minute program. (where to cut each scene/shot) That is why the 39 Honeymooner episodes are on 35mm film and look so good. Jackie Gleason later released the kinescopes of the Honeymooner segments that were part of his longer variety show. If you have seen them they don't look that good. This test may have been for a potential show. This may have been the kinescope for the pilot episode. ???? Having a show on film gave you a great opportunity to syndicate it to local TV stations and you get to make money for years in the future.

Very cool.

Can you please enable auto-caption? I sometimes don't hear right, and having words to read really helps!

Evidently "Grace Dawson" is a pseudonym for Donna Reed.

I am sure that leading man is Carl Betz, not as sure that the lady is Nanette Fabayere. Man, those camera shadows were everywhere. Can't say who those other jamokes were, though the cleft is familiar. And those two floozies... not a clue. In that Electronicam ad you can pretty easily see a little boxy shape over the fourth position on the lens turret of that Mitchel. Since it is in-line with the lens hood of the big ole TV camera, that is a "video tap" in front of the vidicon tube. So, not quite "bolted on." Interestingly, bounced a couple of times. So there must've been 8,000,000 foot candles on the actors! I read somewhere that when Soupy Sales shot the exteriors for his spoof of Philo Vance detective movies, called Philo Kvetch, he and Frank Nestase were running around on the rooftop of the old DuMont Studios over on 67th St and the East Side, long converted to New York City's Channel 5!

Director John Peyser would become very busy over the years directing theatrical as well as films for TV See Wikipedia entry…

Could the actress have been Nancy Davis (Reagan)? Most photos of her show her hair as dark, but could she have been blonde in this role?

I have a copyright on the static from 12.40 to 12.42.

Looks like Electronicam was a DuMont invention that was adopted by CBS TV for the Honeymooners series, a system that was to be a step up from the kinescope/kinephoto process. A big deal for the 1950s!

The wife did it.

Is that Richard Crenna?

I think I remember Jay Leno mentioning the Dumont Network once. I think it was some awards show that rotated between CBS, ABC, and NBC year by year and then suddenly it was going to be on the fairly new at the time Fox Network. The big 3 networks didn't think much of Fox. The humorous comment was something like, "This year the show will be on the Fox Network. And I hear that next year it will be on the Dumont Network."

Dumont ceased as a television network by the time this was filmed. They would carry on for a couple of years as owner of TV stations, particularly in New York City and Washington DC. Plus they owned radio stations, including WNEW New York and WIP Philadelphia. They would become Metropolitan, then Metromedia. In 1986, Metromedia sold the TV stations and Dumont rose from the ashes and became the much more successful Fox network. And many companion networks would eventually sign on. Fox News, Fox Sports, Fox Movie Channel, FX, FXX, to name a few.

Holy geez! They didn't hold back on the drama 😂

Don't leave me hanging, I want to know what happened next!

I recognize Carl Betz and Mary Anderson here!

Their tvs were built like battleships

Who goes camping in a suit? Old school for sure.

Hehe, he’s playing the victim 🤣🤣

so drama!