Lloyd Carrick Posted October 31, 2019 Report Share Posted October 31, 2019 In 1973 I got to visit the Gunsmoke set. The executive producer was John Mantley, the episode was called "The Widowmaker". One day location, one day studio. The whole main street of Dodge City filled a soundstage complete with dirt floor and forced perspective scenes at each end of the town with the road leading out of town to the right so they could ride horses and wagons (buckboards?) thru the main street and of course stage high noon shootouts. Unfortunately I can't find the studio day photos but here are some of the location day. Gunsmoke 1 Camera & Sound Van reduced.tif Note the Nagra III and mono RCA mixer with 2 VU meters, one showing input level, the other reading tape out level. I was already using a Nagra IV in Melbourne. Gunsmoke 6 Teamster Jeweller reduced.tif The teamster driving the camera/sound van made jewellery. Gunsmoke 3 Andy Gilmore prod snd (92 eps) reduced.tif They used RCA condenser mics, Andy Gilmore did not believe in "gun" mics. Andy had been a boom op for 13 years and a sound recordist for 12 years at that time. Gunsmoke 4 Jim LaRue boom op reduced.tif Jim LaRue had been a boom op for 12 years. Jim became a sound recordist and I believe he died not so long ago. Gunsmoke 5 Cableman and Stills reduced.tif Note the cable man/sound assistant about to run the duplex cable for the boom op. There were 3 x 100 yard runs of mic cable on the hooks. The boom op had a box that he plugged his earpieces into and that had a battery supply for the Mic. Gunsmoke 9 Jim LaRue & Reflectors reduced.tif Jim LaRue on ladder Gunsmoke 14 2nd camera reduced.tif An unblimped Michell camera was sometimes setup at a distance and operated by one guy. He would wrap it in a thick moving blanket. Gunsmoke 17 James Arness,Steve Forest, Director reduced.tif James Arness was very tall, Steve Forest centre and director right - don't remember his name. Gunsmoke 20 Running the 4ought reduced.tif Gunsmoke 21 Spider Box reduced.tif I guess with the modern lighting units those heavy cable runs would be a thing of the past. I should mention I have been retired for 9 years now. Cheers, Lloyd Carrick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Perkins Posted October 31, 2019 Report Share Posted October 31, 2019 This reminds me of a thought I had being around episodics shooting in Hollywood around that time: all the gear was very simple and very beat looking. No "chrome-lug-nut" syndrome at all, no one cared what the gear looked like and all the gear was used until it literally fell apart. Most of the location sound guys I'd come across on location in Hollywood were working off an apple box sitting on the ground, or off an old fashioned "AV" type folding cart (nothing mounted permanently), with a Nagra, a far less high-tech mixer than shown here (like Perfectone, if they even had a mixer), and a cardboard box with accs in it. I should say that I figure that basically none of the sound crews I observed were working with gear they owned. Like camera, grip, electric etc, everything was owned by the studio, and what gear the location guys got had been spec'ed by the studio dept. head. But those folks all had such hugely long experience that it all worked out quite well, mostly....along with actors who could memorize a script, speak clearly and loudly, hit marks and do multiple takes that were pretty similar performances... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Smith Posted October 31, 2019 Report Share Posted October 31, 2019 Lloyd: Thanks for posting these. Great photos! Pretty typical of how it got done back in the day, especially on episodic shows where they didn't have the budget for all the new stuff. (By 1973 I was using a Nagra IV as well). It wasn't fancy, that's for sure, but they got the job done! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Reineke Posted October 31, 2019 Report Share Posted October 31, 2019 Interesting pics ,, thanks! I've been watching reruns of GS lately on INSP. Some of the audio is pretty awful and some ain't bad at all. I think GS was the longest (or one of) TV series. The early 1955–61 seasons were 30 min episodes. Most all were b&w until '66. Matt Dillon lives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmRR Posted November 1, 2019 Report Share Posted November 1, 2019 Thanks for sharing these memories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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