WTTW Channel 11 - Festival '77 (Pledge Break, 1977)

Here's an excerpt from the Festival '77 pledge drive on WTTW Channel 11.

This clip starts at the end of a performance of "One O'Clock Jump" with such legends as clarinetist Benny Goodman, singer Ella Fitzgerald, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie (the fella dancing with Ella), and Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson trumpeter/bandleader Doc Severinsen, as from the program All-Star Swing Festival, a tribute to the late Louis Armstrong which was taped at Philharmonic Hall (later Avery Fisher Hall) at New York's Lincoln Center on October 22nd and 23rd 1972, originally aired on the NBC Network (and WMAQ Channel 5) as The Timex All-Star Swing Festival on November 29th 1972, and won a Peabody Award (along with such other specials from the network from that year as Liza Minnelli's Liza with a "Z" and Jack Lemmon in 'S Wonderful, 'S Gershwin).

There is next an iris in to the album cover for the Murray Hill Records five-record box set Collector's History of Classic Jazz (927942), available to WTTW viewers for a $50.00 subscription to the station. The host of this pledge break, Bob Smith (former co-host, with future Cheers co-star Shelley Long, of WMAQ's Sorting It Out in the 1970's), then announces the upcoming start of the Ingmar Bergman movie "Scenes from a Marriage," and introduces a taped clip from star Liv Ullmann who explains what the film is about.

We then return to a shot of the Collector's History of Classic Jazz box set, with an excerpt of "Jazz Funeral At New Orleans (When The Saints Go Marching In)" by Bunk Johnson's New Orleans Band being played in the background. Smith explains that if you loved the prior jazz show (whose title he never mentions), you'll love this album. He seeks to obtain 1,500 new subscribers during this pledge break. As he is explaining the need to obtain new subscribers and how such pledges pay for Channel 11's programming and operation, shots of volunteers manning the phones are shown, with transitions in the form of colorful wipes. The Collector's History of Classic Jazz set is once again shown as an example of the benefits of subscribing to WTTW.

Bob then comes out to the bank of phones (with various show titles seen on the walls; for you TV tech geeks, look at the 7:00 mark for a brief shot of the Philips LDK-25A camera, which was used by WTTW in their studios as of 1977), and shows the "11" logo on one of the tables (with marbles inside each "1") to explain what this pledge drive is about. He explains that the goal for mammoth two-week "Festival '77" is to add 20,000 new subscribers, and a doomsday scenario for the station if such viewers don't pull through. He advises viewers not to be deterred by any busy signal, and ends by introducing "Scenes from a Marriage."

WTTW "Festival '77" ID (voiceover by Marty Robinson)

Funding info for "Scenes from a Marriage" (by public television stations, with additional funding by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Ford Foundation) (voiceover by ??)

Title card: "Ingmar Bergman's Scenes from a Marriage" (set on a cloud blue background in Vidifont 18 and 28 TV line height)

Introduction of what film is about by star Liv Ullmann, with an explanation of her character

On and off through this pledge break, " 'Scenes From A Marriage' is next" and "To Subscribe, Call - 372-1200" are alternately seen on the lower-third of the screen in yellow-orange type.

Oddly enough, another Festival '77 recording exists, and can be seen here. This is a more comprehensive example of this two-week pledge drive.

This aired on local Chicago TV on Wednesday, March 9th 1977.

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