From:        "stephen youngkin" sdyoungkin@yahoo.com
To:            griestvaudio@verizon.net
Sent:         Wednesday, June 22, 2005 3:25 PM
Subject:    Peter Lorre testimonial

Dear Phil,

Those old enough to remember the Golden Age of Television owe Phil Gries and Archival Television Audio a debt of gratitude for preserving that which is worth saving. When you listen to his television soundtracks, you hear not only a lost broadcast but a lifetime of professional expertise brought to bear on the recording process. Collectors, researchers, writers and those who simply wish to turn the clock back, applaud the presence of mind to capture the past and the willingness to make it available to the public.

Thanks to Archival Television Audio, I was able to hear Lorre himself tell stories and anecdotes ("Here's Hollywood" - 7/21/61; "Tonight Show Starring Jack Paar, The" - 2/23/62; "Merv Griffin Show, The" - 3/4/63) previously available only in secondhand versions. These oral histories have put me that much closer to the man.

Stephen D. Youngkin, "The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre" (The University Press of Kentucky, 2005).

The following is a letter sent to Archival Television Audio by Paul Lepri.

Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2006 7:32 PM
To: gries@atvaudio.com
Subject: Roger Maris Tapes

Hi Mr. Gries,

      Just received my Roger Maris tapes - Roger Maris Home Run King and the TV audio call by Red Barber of Roger Maris' 61st HR.  First of all, I want to thank you for the tapes.  Second, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for having the foresight to tape them both back in 1961.

      I was introduced to professional baseball in the summer of 1961 by an uncle of mine with whom I watched baseball games for almost 25 years.  That golden summer I became a Yankee fan watching the games on WPIX Channel 11 (I live in Connecticut), listening to Mel Allen, Red Barber, and Phil Rizzuto call Yankee home run after Yankee home run as the Yankees set the major league record that year for most home runs by a team (240).  The Yankees were not only my favorite team.  Like many young boys growing up in the 1960s, I idolized Mickey Mantle, but my all-time favorite ballplayer was Roger Maris.  Maybe it was because of everything he had to endure that season, but as the epitaph on his gravestone states, "Against All Odds".  I ate, drank, and slept Yankee baseball that season, even thought about it all day at school.  Couldn't wait to get out of school to get ready for the Yankee game that night.  And I was by the TV every weekend, especially as August turned into September.  As Roger Maris inched closer to the Babe, I saw all those home runs on WPIX and experienced the increasing excitement with my uncle.  Interestingly enough, there are some original broadcast clips of home runs 52-60:  1) in an old video which I think was called The Yankees:  The First 100 Years (long out-of-print); 2) in an old video called Pinstripe Power- The History of the 1961 New York Yankees; and 3) just aired recently Yankeeography- Roger Maris on the YES Network.  But there was always something missing which resulted in something I forgot with the passing of time.  Who called Roger Maris' 61st HR on TV?  (I know Phil Rizzuto did the radio call).  For years, I thought for sure it was Mel Allen.  But when I came across your web site and saw it was Red Barber and that you had actually taped it, I knew I had to have it because it not only represented a joyous part of my childhood, but also was one of my most precious memories that I spent with my uncle.  When I heard it again after all these years, I literally got goose bumps.  I remember running upstairs after the end of the 4th inning and almost yelling at the top of my lungs to my mother who was ironing at the time, "He did it! He did it!" I also didn't know that Mel Allen was doing the color commentary on TV with Red at the time of Roger's 61st.  Red's call as well as his conversation with Mel immediately after Roger's HR, describing the crowd reaction is priceless to me.  I saw it on TV as it happened and I vaguely remember the video portion of it.  But how appropriate that Red Barber called Maris' 61st on TV.  Red called some of the greatest moments in baseball history - Ted Williams game winning HR in the 1941 All Star Game, many of Jackie Robinson's great moments with the Brooklyn Dodgers, Cookie Lavagetto breaking up Bill Bevens' no-hit bid in Game 4 of the 1947 World Series, and Al Gionfriddo's game-saving catch off Joe Di Maggio in Game 6 of the '47 Series.  Add to that calling Maris' 61st on TV.  Some resume!  Then to top it all off, hearing the theme song to the Red Barber Show which I haven't heard in over 40 years.  I believe that theme song was used for both Red's Pre and Post Game Shows.  Speaking of themes, I'm still looking for the old Baseball and Ballantine opening to the Yankee games during the early '60s.  Wonder if that exists somewhere.

      Anyway, I apologize for the length of this e-mail.  Once again, thank you for preserving so much television history that the local TV stations and networks apparently thought didn't have any value (Shame on them!)  And thank you for taping both Maris programs which at least for a few minutes once again helped me feel the joy that I experienced with my uncle 45 years ago.  As one broadcast collector told me recently, don't dwell on what has been lost. Be happy for what does exist.  If it wasn't for individuals like yourself who decided to tape record all these shows and programs, much more would have been lost!

Best and continued success with your website.

Paul Lepri

The following is a letter sent to Archival Television Audio by Jerry Rose.

ARCHIVAL TELEVISION AUDIO, INC.

Regarding “lost” television broadcasts of  “HOT LINE” (WPIX Ch. 11 New York)

       Thank you, Archival Television Audio, for your treasure of the audio from “Hot Line.”  It was one of the very first controversial TV talk shows, and it was one of the very first TV talk shows to amplify viewer phone calls on the air.  (The other was “The Les Crane Show.”)  “Hot Line” is a TV program that retains a lot of its value without any pictures.  Even if a viewer’s “picture tube” malfunctioned in 1964 and 1965, he or she still could hear David Susskind, Gore Vidal, Dorothy Kilgallen and others discuss many hot topics.  Thanks to Archival Television Audio, you can hear the discussions forty-plus years later.  The hot topics include – present tense – the murders of three civil rights workers in Mississippi, new books that smear Barry Goldwater and President Lyndon Johnson (Somebody refers to LBJ’s “Box 13 scandal”), the new Warren Commission Report, Bobby Kennedy’s allegiance to Joe McCarthy, the afterlife, and much more.  You can hear baseball legend Jackie Robinson say he supports the Warren Report.  If you want entertainment reviews – entertainment that never got on television – listen to Susskind, Vidal, Kilgallen and a now-forgotten Republican opponent of the IRS named Vivien Kellems debate the censorship of Ralph Ginzburg’s sexually graphic magazine “Eros.”  (Mr. Ginzburg eventually served jail time for distributing it.)  In another “entertainment review,” Kilgallen and Susskind ask Salvador Dali questions.  Some absorbing comedies and dramas did get on the air in 1964, of course.  You can hear David Susskind praise “Bewitched” and Dorothy Kilgallen praise “The Rogues.”  Almost everyone who participated in “Hot Line” has # 1 left this Earth # 2 left behind newspaper obituaries that omit “Hot Line.”  When the TV series was still fresh in the minds of New Yorkers, some may have wanted it to go away.  I will explain.  The first to die was Dorothy Kilgallen nine months after her conversation with Mr. Dali.  Her obit in the New York Daily News, which owned the sole TV station that broadcast “Hot Line,” leaves it out.  So does every other obituary of her.  When Gore Vidal turned 70, he came out with the autobiography “Palimpsest” containing two short paragraphs about “Hot Line.”  He clumsily attempts to recreate it, which suggests that he doesn’t know any recordings exist.  Struggling with decades-old water under the bridge, he says wrongly that it aired six nights a week.  It actually was broadcast twice a week for two months and then, after Mr. Vidal’s resignation, in approximately eight more weekly installments.  In “Palimpsest” he adds that he resigned from the TV series after a literary friend criticized him for sitting down with Kilgallen and Ed Sullivan on one episode.  So many historians and Hollywood people want something from Mr. Vidal that we are not likely to get anything more out of him.  The other “Hot Line” survivor, however, has expressed the same ignorance of Archival Television Audio as Mr. Vidal.  The crew member who screened the viewer phone calls, Joyce Davidson, lives today in her native Canada.  She told me in 1997 that she believes all recordings are gone.  I was compelled to agree with her at the time.

       Malcolm X appeared on “Hot Line” on February 2, 1965, just 19 days before his murder.  Joyce Davidson told me how she had recruited Malcolm to do the show by attending his lecture at New York’s Town Hall at the behest of her boss, David Susskind.  She tried to recall some of his words but could not, of course, at a distance of thirty-plus years.  Even on the day of Malcolm’s murder Joyce and her boss wanted to recreate what the civil rights leader had told them, but they couldn’t.  They were totally at a loss because executives at WPIX Channel 11 had burned the videotape just minutes after Malcolm X had left their studio.  (It was inside the Daily News building on East 42nd Street, since torn down.)  “Hot Line” shares its historical firsts of controversy and the ten-second broadcast delay with “The Les Crane Show.”  Archival Television Audio has episodes of both shows.  The realities of desegregating the Deep South, what happens after death, abstract art, and Lee Oswald’s one and only taxicab ride comprise the stuff that made Bob Dylan and other poets look at the soul of the United States.  These realities were high watermarks of the 1960s.  Thanks to Archival Television Audio, you can hear very intelligent people confront them when they are new.  These people are not hippies.  The post-9/11 era has moved Deep South racism, Oswald, and the Pearly Gates a few inches away from the front burner on the American stove.  But historians of politics and culture are remiss unless they hear “the times they are a-changin’” while worldly people live through them.  Cold War historians must understand that Jim Anderson, June Cleaver, President Kennedy and the questions come from within, and an audio track is all you need to hear Malcolm X or Dorothy Kilgallen voice something that lies within.  Thank you, Archival Television Audio.  May you get more requests to enter the eye of the 1960s hurricane, painful as it may be.  Feel the pain.  Here is a 1989 quote from Howard Nemerov, who earned his keep as a poet during the 1960s.  “The reason people don’t learn from history is that they aren’t the people who learned last time.”

Cordially,

Jerry Rose

The following is a letter sent to Archival Television Audio by Lori Liddic.

Hi –

A few months ago, I purchased copies of the old Macy parade soundtracks from you.
…loving listening to the old telecasts. It’s like taking a trip in a time machine! I love it. They sound so great it is as if they were aired yesterday!

Best –
Lori Liddic
Pennsylvania

The following is a letter sent to Archival Television Audio by Scott Vincent.

From:            Scott Vincent [scott_vincent@fcc.net]

Sent:               Saturday, November 25, 2006 10:23 AM

To:                  griesatvaudio.com

Subject:         Feedback for Website

Dear Phil:

Thank you for the outstanding audio airchecks of my father’s early announcing work for ABC and NBC. It was wonderful to hear my father’s golden voice again for the first time in ages. Without your library, his work would have been lost. Your collection deserves the recognition and esteem for those who appreciate the value of early broadcasting. I appreciate your courtesy and professionalism throughout the process.

Kind regards,

Scott Vincent

The following is a letter sent to Archival Television Audio by Angelica Carpenter.

November 3, 2006

Mr. Phil Gries
Archival Television Audio, Inc.
P.O. Box 88
Albertson, New York  11507

Dear Mr. Gries:

Thank you so much for the audio cassette you sent to the Club, with the complete original introduction by Bert Lahr and Liza Minnelli of the first television airing of the movie “The Wizard of Oz” (November 3, 1956).
I just listened to it and the quality is excellent. I must have seen this show as a child but I don’t remember it, and people who are younger than I am (most of the world) will, of course, not have seen it. It’s fun to hear Liza Minnelli sounding so young. I can’t even recognize her voice.

We will add this tape to the Club archive.

Ozzy best wishes,

Angelica Carpenter, President
The International Wizard of Oz Club
P.O. Box 26249
San Francisco, California  94126-6249

The following is a letter sent to Archival Television Audio by David Hoffman.

Archival Television Audio, Inc.

“The Archival Television Audio collection is unique and extraordinary.  I could not have made my documentary feature film, Sputnik, without it.  The standard archival libraries have newsreels.  Phil Gries has television and radio programming that would have been lost in history were it not for his passion for collecting it.  Thank you Phil.”

David Hoffman
Executive Producer / Director
Varied Directions, Inc.
Boony Doon, California

The following is a letter sent to Archival Television Audio by Curtis White.

“Thank you for having such a fascinating website.”

Curtis White
Sr. Programmer/Analyst
Vertrue, Inc.
9500 West Dodge Road
Omaha, NE  68114

The following is a letter sent to Archival Television Audio by Darroch Greer.

January 16, 2007

Dear Phil,

    I cannot thank you enough for your help with our documentary on Marlon Brando for Turner Classic Movies.  From your prescience and enthusiasm in initially contacting us, to your delivery of exceptional materials, your Archival Television Audio has been a great boon for us.  
    One would think that a subject as contemporary as Marlon Brando would have enough visual material to cover an in-depth film biography.  There is plenty of material, of course, but I was struck by how invaluable your audio recordings from the mid-’fifties — even the early ‘sixties! — were to our project.  Some of the gems you captured of Marlon Brando, from both TV and radio, made for key segments and transitions in the documentary.  It was also fun being able to match photographic documents to your recordings while on the phone with you.  
    It is unfortunate that Archival Television Audio is a testament to how poor and pitiful television archiving has been.  I’m sure there are many filmmakers, such as myself, who are not fully aware how lacking we are in materials from our televised historical, cultural and entertainment past.  
    Another aspect I hadn’t thought of in relation to our documentary (which is something that Ken Burns understands very well) is how powerful sound can be with the simple suggestion of a photograph.  There is also the aspect that people are sometimes more free when only their voice is being recorded and not their image.  I’m thinking, of course, of the Brando/Marilyn Monroe recording.  
    Anyway, you showed great foresight in recording the things that caught your fancy all those years ago, Phil.  Congratulations for preserving an excellent archive, and thank you again for your help with our show.  

Best, Darroch

*****
Darroch Greer
Associate Producer - "Brando"
A Day With, Inc./The Greif Company
9233 West Pico Boulevard, Suite 218
Los Angeles, California 90035
(310) 385-1200 ext. 112
Fax: (310) 385-1207
darroch@greifcompany.com

The following is a letter sent to Archival Television Audio by Tod Rosenstock.

Sent:               Saturday, February 18, 2007 10:33 PM

To:                  ARCHIVAL@ATVAUDIO.com

Subject:         Re: "Manhattan Transfer"

I have played the 3 "Manhattan Transfer" shows once. The quality is superb. It is a shame you didn't have the second episode, but the best ones were definitely 3 and 4. Lots of unreleased material and the harmonies were spine tingling. You should be justifiably proud of your service and the high quality product you supply. Many thanks!

Tod Rosenstock

Newtown Square, PA 19073

The following is a letter sent to Archival Television Audio by Ira Chinoy.

U N I V E R S I T Y  O F
MARYLAND
PHILIP MERRILL COLLEGE OF JOURNALISM

August 16, 2006

Phil Gries
Archival TV Audio
P.O. Box 88
Albertson, NY  11507


Dear Phil:

            I enjoyed our conversation this afternoon, and I appreciate the chance you gave me to pick your brain about sources of material dealing with the early history of computer forecasting in election-night broadcasts... the three tape segments (about 30 minutes) of television audio that you have from Election Night 1956, along with the liner notes to help me decipher the audio and any additional information to be included in citing this material (such as information about its provenance).
            I look forward to listening to the audio, and based on your description, it sounds like it will enrich my knowledge and understanding of the subject I'm researching.
            Again, thanks so much for all of your help, and congratulations on your good work in preserving this ephemeral materials for history.

            
Sincerely,

Ira Chinoy

The following is a letter sent to Archival Television Audio by Paul.

Sent:           Monday, July 17, 2006 07:12 AM
To:                  griestvaudio@verizon.net
Subject:      Re: Kennedy Tape

Hi Phil,

      Received the Kennedy tape on Saturday. That's some complication. The two NBC bulletins voiced by Don Pardo and the initial 3:53 of broadcast coverage are truly historic archives. I can imagine how frantic NBC must have been in getting all the circuits together to begin videotaping their coverage. You were obviously in the right place at the right time. Sounds like you just barely caught the first bulletin, but the important thing is you got it! I always remember Don Pardo as the jovial, happy-sounding commentator on some of the NBC game shows. You could hear the shock in his voice as he announced those two NBC bulletins. You get the same sense in the voices of the three NBC newsmen as they begin the coverage of the assassination. Goosebumps all around!

      Thanks again for the tape and best of continued success with your website.

Best,

Paul 

The following is a letter sent to Archival Television Audio by Rachel Robinson.

The Jackie Robinson Foundation

February 26, 2008

Phil Gries

Archival Television Audio, Inc.

209 Sea Cliff Avenue

Sea Cliff, NY  11579

Dear Phil,

My apologies for the long delay in responding to your kindness in sending me the exciting television audio air check of “Reading Out Loud” the TV program where Jack read the Gettysburg Address (WNTA – May 1, 1960).  The Jackie Robinson Foundation has moved and we are still locating material sent to us as we reorganize the archives.

I listened to the tape with absolute amazement and delight.  Sharon and I remember vividly the family trip to Washington, and we have one photo taken on that occasion.  Unfortunately, I do not have any memory of the recording session.

It is thrilling for us to hear Jack’s reading of this profound speech, and we shall cherish and preserve it in our archives.  Most importantly, we will share it with our visitors to the Jackie Robinson Museum now being designed.

Phil, I am deeply grateful to you for this historic gift, and we will appropriately attribute its preservation to you.

                                                    Sincerely,

                                                    Rachel Robinson

cc:  Della Britton Baeza

       Len Coleman

The following is a letter sent to Archival Television Audio by Stephon J. Litwinczuk.

From:          Stephon Litwinczuk [mailto:sagdocfilm@yahoo.com]

Sent:             2007-12-27 13:34

To:                PHIL GRIES

Subject:       Civil Rights Movement Audio - Hollywood celebs, March

                      On Washington

Hi Phil:

Happy Holidays!

We received the Civil Rights Movement audio and it's amazing! The fact that this is preserved makes me want to congratulate you on your arduous journey of allowing those who lived history to have their voices heard, as opposed to commentators subjectifying their opinions.

It was a pleasure working with you.

Kind regards,

Stephon

Stephon J. Litwinczuk

Associate Producer

Behind the Masks: the Story of the Screen Actors Guild

2341 Walnut Ave.

Venice, CA 90291

The following is a letter sent to Archival Television Audio by Jeff Shucard.

From:            jeff shucard

Sent:              2007-11-23 11:54

To:                 PHIL GRIES

Subject:        RE: Archival Television Audio, Inc. Reply to Inquiries of

                       Jimmy Durante

Dear Mr. Gries,

I thank you for taking the time and trouble to assist me in choosing which tapes would best serve my research in Durante's early career in ragtime/jazz. I would love to purchase all of your JD material... In your previous letter, you say that in the Ben Hecht shows (January 19-20, 1959), JD plays some examples of music from his earliest period. Is he playing examples of ragtime music or just his own unique songs? From 1910-1923, JD played only the popular music of the day.

I thank you for your time and effort in this regard.

Sincerely,

Jeff Shucard

The following is a letter sent to Archival Television Audio by Will Jordan.

Dear Phil,

I think it’s great what you are doing to help preserve the rare and memorable TV shows.

Now that my health limits my mobility and activity, it’s even greater to know that I can still hear these historic shows.

WILL JORDAN  12/3/07

The following is a letter sent to Archival Television Audio by Lynn East.

From:            Lynn East [mailto:mail@traveltravelbylynn.com]

Sent:              2007-10-29 12:53

To:                 griestvaudio@verizon.net - Archival Television Audio, Inc.

Subject:        RE: "Annie Get Your Gun 1967" Tape

Hi Phil -

I received the "Annie Get Your Gun" tape (March 19, 1967), and the extra material you so thoughtfully included. It was wonderful to hear the TV version once again, even though it reminded me of the fact that 2 out of the 4 numbers I was a part of were cut out to make the show fit the 90-minute format!

Thank you for giving me back a memory I thought had been completely lost. Your Archival Televison Audio website is wonderful!

Best regards,

Lynn East

The following is a letter sent to Archival Television Audio by Gia Prima.

PR1MA MUSIC, L.L.C.

4141 INDIAN BAYOU NO

DESTIN, FL  32541

850-837-9105                          FAX 850-837-9145

www.LouisPrima.com

10-1-07

Dear Mr. Gries,

            On behalf of the Louis Prima family and Prima Music LLC, I would like to thank you, for enabling us to obtain audios of some of the lost TV performances of my husband. Your archival services are invaluable.

Again, thank you.

Gia Prima

(Mrs. Louis Prima)

The following is a letter sent to Archival Television Audio by Stephen M. Cloffi.

To my friends at Collectors' Choice: Archival Television Audio-

"I'm really enjoying these tapes. I can't get enough of 'em. I listen to them in my car. I listen to 'em in the bathtub. I listen to them in my sleep. Thank you for making these tapes available to the public!"

                Yours truly,

                Stephen M. Cloffi

                Sherman Oaks, CA

--- 12,000 TV Broadcasts (AUDIO ONLY Airchecks) / 15,000 Hours ---
About us | Order Inquiry | Home | TV Archives | Personality Index | Title Index

© 2002 Collector's Choice Archival Television Audio, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.