"Farewell to the Mart"
Streaming
Video of a broadcast that aired October 21st, 1989 on WMAQ-TV
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Curator's
note: "Farewell to the Mart" was the last broadcast
produced in NBC's Merchandise Mart studios apart from various local
newscasts. Studio
A, once the world's largest radio studio (but converted to a
television studio in 1949), was the setting). In the age of radio,
programs like "The
First Nighter" and "Don
McNeill's Breakfast Club" originated in this studio. "Garroway
at Large" was perhaps the most ambitious program produced
in Studio A during the early television years. The Georgia
Frances Orchestra provided the musical accompaniment for "Farewell
to the Mart". (Some of the material in the broadcast is also
included in the "Mart
Memories" segments which you can view elsewhere on this
site. Click here
for more information on this last Merchandise Mart Broadcast.
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| Segment
1: Following a somewhat overwraught introduction by
the Curator, this segment features a tribute to NBC-Chicago's contribution
to network radio drama, with the emphasis on the "First Nighter"
series. It includes cameo appearances by Les Tremayne (whom you see
on the right and who lived from 1913 to 1993), McDonald Carey (1913-1994)
and Betty Lou Gerson (1919-1999). |
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| Segment
2: Art
Van Damme accompanies Nancy Wright some 39 years after the fact.
In this segment, editor John Martin joins video and audio of Nancy
Martin shot from a 1950 segment of the "Ransom Sherman Show"
(where she's accompanied by Cesar Giovannini) with video and audio
of Art Van Damme shot in 1989. The oscilliscope superimposition was
inspired by a "Garroway
at Large" segment featuring Johnny
Hodges. |
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| Segment
4: Former NBC-Chicago staff announcer John
Conrad visits the Merchandise Mart studios the day before the
move to the NBC Tower and looks back at the days when Chicago was
a major radio and television production center. |
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Created
by Rich Samuels (e-mail to rich@richsamuels.com)
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