|
Archives |
|
We were very fortunate to have a particularly stunning stage prop for The Main Event - a vintage television camera - kindly loaned to us for the day by Andy Emmerson, Co-Ordinator of 405 Alive. This camera has a fascinating history, as Andy himself explains:
"The official designation of this camera is a Studio Staticon model, made by Pye of Cambridge around 1960. It's a scaled down version of their bigger studio cameras, intended for news and interview work. Customers were impoverished ITV stations and educational television services; this camera was used at one time by Glasgow Educational Television and possibly by Grampian before that.
The three fixed focal-length lenses would be considered a hindrance today by people used to zoom lenses, although 'serious' cameramen would not be fazed. The camera is of course for black and white pictures, and if
anyone knows of any other remotely similar cameras, they would find a good home (and price!) in my museum."
Above Left and Below: Ready for action in all its glory.
An incredible amount of preparation has to go into every Kaleidoscope event before anyone even comes through the doors. As with our previous gatherings, The Main Event took almost a year of planning from start to finish. Guests have to be approached and programme material is extensively negotiated with television companies months in advance; equipment needs to be hired and displays, exhibitions and dealers accommodated as well. The last day before an event is one of the most critical, where everything needs to be tested and any problems that may arise quickly addressed.
In the thick of things in the Main Hall throughout the day was our hassled floor manager, Simon Coward:
"OK, so there I am, standing or sometimes sitting in the dark. There's a screen and a projector nearby. Sometimes I'm making strange and silent gestures to a man and woman who are perhaps twenty feet away. And I'm talking via a headset to a woman I can't see and indeed have never met. Strangely enough, this wasn't a visit to a local perv-parlour but my experience as floor manager at The Main Event in 1996.
I always thought the title "floor manager" was a little grand for what was little more than a glorified light controller, but who am I to argue? In case you're all wondering, the woman I'd never met was our lighting guru, Angela, who was perched high up in a back-of-the-hall gallery aiming the spotlights at the guests (and escaping audience members) and whose only point of contact was me via a fairly unwieldy headset.
The weirdest part of it all was having to call the guests. Unlike the stage to spot-gallery talkback system which worked both ways, the lines to the dressing rooms only worked in one direction. This means that while anyone in the dressing room can hear you (as long as they're still in the dressing room and haven't turned the volume down), there is no way for them to respond to let you know that they've heard you, and, even better, are going to head towards the auditorium with all speed as asked. Still, gives it an edge, doesn't it?"
It certainly does... On one memorable occasion, Simon's ten-minute call happened to coincide with the Zodiac theme music playing in the background; we in the dressing room couldn't hear exactly what was happening over the talkback system and mistakenly thought it was time for Roger Marshall and Jacqueline Davis to go on stage for their panel. Cue much rushing about and a frenzied gallop down the stairs to one of the side doors, only to discover that in fact what we'd heard was only the music playing over the "End of Part Two" caption and in fact the programme still had its whole last act to play out! Time for us to sheepishly tramp back up the stairs until we really were needed...
Below: Main Reception, the first point of contact for any visitor.
Have you ever wondered how much effort it takes to get Reception looking like this? Although our entire range of merchandise is available by mail order throughout the year, the events often prove the most popular places to buy Kaleidoscope products so we have to ensure everything is stocked up in abundance on the day. If there is a new reference work being published at the event (as with this year's guide to children's television) this has to be completed, proofread and sent to the printers on a strict time scale. Existing volumes need to be reprinted and other merchandise replenished. The accompanying event brochure has to be put together over the last few months leading up to an event, although it often isn't finished until the very last minute, to enable the inclusion of any last minute programme or timetable changes. Many of the other odd items you see on our Reception desk from time to time are personal donations from the collections of the organisers. We are certainly pleased that our range of merchandise continually proves so popular; as we are unable to charge for admission to the events, sales of our products have to finance almost all the running costs of Kaleidoscope throughout the year. By supporting us in this way, you are helping to ensure our organisation can continue to stage large charity ventures like The Main Event in the future.
| [Back] |  |  | [Next] |
| Kaleidoscope - The Classic Television Organisation |
| [ Email Kaleidoscope ] [ Kaleidoscope Home Page ] [ The Main Event 1996 ] [ Archives Main Page ] |