Highlights 1950s-70s
Julia Child & Godzilla the Lobster: Early Memories in Studio A
From Bill Charette: My big moment as Assistant Stage Manager came on the day Julia did a show about lobsters.
Read MoreFrom Julia Child to The Victory Garden: How My Grandparents Changed the World of Cooking and Television
Madeline Cohen: While I’ve known for a while about my grandparents’ many achievements, it wasn’t until this summer when I interviewed them for this blog that I realized just how extraordinary their stories are.
Read MoreDirector’s Note from Fred Barzyk
Fred Barzyk recalls an embarrassing moment from this first year of being a director at WGBH, in 1960.
Read MoreRemembering the James Brown Concert on WGBH in 1968
Backstage at the Boston Garden, the mood is somber. Just 24 hours ago, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, and though James Brown is booked that night for a show, nobody really wants to go onstage and play.
Read MoreThe Moment that Julia Child Became an American icon
Though she did not own a TV set, Julia had been bitten by the television bug from the moment she set foot on a studio set.
Read More“You Can’t Sell an Ocelot on TV!”
One day, we got a phone call from a lady who said, “You can’t sell a live ocelot on television! They are dangerous wild animals!” “How do you know this?” asked the PR people.
Read More“What’s going on here?” – Louis Lyons and the News
Louis Lyons used to do a 15-minute newscast every night. Louis was a salty old New Englander who said whatever was on his mind.
Read MoreVideo: WGBH’s Years at MIT
A video history reveals the connections between MIT and public television station WGBH, where the station started broadcasting in 1955.
Read MoreDavid Silver on Bud Collins, Julia Child, Fred Barzyk, and more
As a 23 year old on-camera TV neophyte, watching Julia’s completely honest and wonderfully natural television presentations, actually helped me in my own slightly panicky weekly approach to hosting a television show.
Read MoreHenry Becton Remembers: Alistair Cooke
In 1987, we decided to create the major giving society named after our founder. I sent a solicitation letter to Alistair.
Read MoreJim Lewis Remembers: Julia Child’s Car Talk
In 1985 Julia Child received an honorary doctorate from her alma mater, Smith College. One of WGBY’s supporters arranged for her old classmate to stay on the day after the ceremony to do a reception for our donors.
Read MoreCreating NOVA (1971-76)
From Michael Ambrosino: Science is a part of our heritage, our present culture, and a major force in determining our future. Its absence from television [in the 1970s], spoke to the ignorance of many of its gatekeepers…. Science, medicine, technology, engineering, architecture all impact our culture by determining how we live our lives!
Read MoreA Boy from Milwaukee
From Fred Barzyk: My Mom had this vision for me. She thought it would be wonderful if I could be in show business… I announced that I would become a piano player! Only problem was we didn’t have a piano.
Read MoreIt was short, but what a ride!
From Dave Svens: This short film clip was taken during WGBH’s election coverage in November, 1966. Host Bob Baram is interviewing the newly elected US Senator from Massachusetts, Edward Brooke, who was the first African-American senator elected by popular vote.
Read MoreA stranger in a strange land
From Fred Barzyk: Bill insisted I try to get into the scholarship program. You studied for your graduate degree at Boston University and worked three days a week at the Educational Television station. Free tuition and you got $600 to live a year in Boston!
Read MorePaik and the Video Synthesizer
From Fred Barzyk: I remember Nam June Paik telling me to stand back since TV sets sometime exploded when he did this. I backed off. The TV did not explode but gave forth a dazzling array of colors, buzzed and slowly died, never to live again.
Read MoreLeft alone in the Museum of Modern Art
From Fred Barzyk: Peter Hoving and I travelled to New York for a shoot. We were shocked to be free and alone in a gallery with some of the worlds most noted modern masterpieces.
Read MoreJean Shepherd tells his first WGBH story
From Fred Barzyk: I first heard Jean on the radio in Boston. It was 1961. I was babysitting my young son and, while idly scanning radio stations, I heard this person, this intense personal voice, talking to me.
Read MoreRemembering the original WGBH
From Art Singer: Fifty one years ago this past September, on several late afternoons a week, I would take the twenty minute walk from BU across the Charles to the station’s studios on the MIT campus for a night’s work.
Read MoreRecording Buckminster Fuller (1963)
This facilities request was found in a 2” videotape box as this program, featuring the renowned architect/inventor Buckminster Fuller, was being dubbed in 2010 to a modern tape format.
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