First Use of Videotape on the First of Two "Jonathan Winters Shows"

Jonathan Winters does characters like nobody else. A staple on The Tonight Show with Steve Allen and the star of two shows called The Jonathan Winters Show, Winters is one of comedy’s consummate chameleons. From 1956-57, he hosted the first Jonathan Winters Show, a fifteen-minute entertainment program on NBC. The second Jonathan Winters Show was an hour-long variety show that aired from 1967-69. The 1956 program lays claim to a couple of television firsts: the first use of videotape on network television occurred on the program on October 23, 1956, with a pre-recorded two minute and thirty second tape of singer Dorothy Collins performing. And According to Winters in his Archive interview, the fifteen-minute show was also one of NBC’s first color broadcasts.

Winters featured some of his most beloved characters on the 1956 Jonathan Winters Show, including the unforgettable Maude Frickert, whom he discusses in this clip:

Learn more about the 1956 and 1967 Jonathan Winters Shows by watching Winters' full interview: http://www.emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/jonathan-winters