The foundations of WGBH: 84 Mass. Ave.

84 Mass Ave Front

From Don Hallock: Many extraordinarily-gifted figures and luminaries of the day — in the arts, science, politics and education — found their ways into the halls and studios of the original WGBH-TV/FM studios at 84 Massachusetts Avenue.

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Discovery (1955-56)

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Photos from John “Rocky” Coe — March 2002 Don Hallock: Thanks to “Rocky” Coe’s persistence in weeding through his collections of old slides, here are some of the best images we have from the first year or two in studio A at 84 Massachusetts Avenue. We believe they’re from Discovery‘s 1955-56 season, and seem to…

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Discovering Discovery (1956)

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From Don Hallock This 1956 film about the making of Mary Lela Grimes (Sherburne’s) kinescoped NET series on science for children was resurrected for the reunion. It is a show within a film, showcasing the 84 Massachusetts Avenue facility and many of our best remembered WGBH friends. A teleprompter mounted on the front of Frank…

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The Party X

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166. Don Hallock talks about the Reunion Website. 167. Don with the ‘fire relic’ Image Orthicon camera tube (circa 1960) donated by Phil Collyer. Play MP3 168. Russ Fortier. 169. Ron Della Chiesa, Marilyn Greenstein and Deb Gibbs. 170. Ted Conant with two unidentified friends. 171. On the right, Jack Summerfield. 172. Jack Foley, Tom…

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Friday night at the Zebra Lounge

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From Don Hallock — 2000 The Zebra Lounge will be remembered by those who frequented it, as a rather ordinary, dimly lit, smoke-filled watering-hole on the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Beacon Street. Today it’s known as The Crossroads. For years, in the late ’50s, the Zebra served as an after-work hangout for Boston University…

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The Preparations – Friday II

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From Don Hallock (except 15 by Sean Hallock) 11. The podium. 12. The stage on which the class of ’58 will sing their song. 13. Studio B will be a screening room. 14. Studio B. 15. Studio B set up as a screening room. 16. The front hall decorated with historic WGBH images from Archives,…

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The Preparations – Friday I

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From Don Hallock 1. The entrance to Studio A. 2. 3. Lighting check on the interview set. 4. 5. Nora Sinclair prepares a graphic spread. 6. 7. Nora’s pictures installed between “A” and “B.” 8. Decorating the soon to be dedicated “Greg Harney” scene dock. 9. Studio A. 10.

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Then and Now (1955-2000)

84 Massachusetts Avenue

From Don Hallock The Buildings Then: The station in 1958, occupying a rather dusty second and third floor roller-skating rink in an old brick building located opposite MIT at 84 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge. (Photo by Brooks Leffler.) In 2000, WGBH sprawled over extensive real estate near Harvard. This is the main studio building at 125…

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Gifts and Reminiscences

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From Don Hallock “There you stood, on the edge of your feather, …. expecting to fly.” —Neil Young Well, we’ve shared in one hell of an affair! And if the events of the year 2000 are any indication, the romance is very far from over. For many of us, the feather’s edge came early in…

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