SHOW ME THE MONEY

 
A 1970 Tel-Auc with Thomas Petry (in brown suit) and Paul Hassenplug.
To the left in the red dress is Mrs.Crandall Melvin, Jr., the auction Chairman

A VOLUNTEER (LEFT) DONS AN EARLY VERSION OF THE TEL-AUC BIRD COSTUME. 
AT RIGHT, THE BIRD GIVES  TEL-AUC HOST JACK KOERNER, OWNER OF A FORD DEALERSHIP,
THE NEWS THAT HIS CHEVY IS DOUBLE PARKED

A mascot for the auction, The Tel-Auc Bird, was created to promote the fundraiser by appearing in person at malls or sporting events.  Part-time staffers (including Tarby and Clark) were usually inside the stuffy paper Mache and felt costume and reported many instances of kicked shins and belly-punches from over-exuberant youngsters.

BLOOPERS

ALL THESE PEOPLE AND EQUIPMENT ON AIR...THERE'S BOUND TO BE SOME FOUL-UPS!

Since a good portion of Channel 24’s telecasts were live, on-air goofs and bloopers were common, but even videotaped programs were susceptible to human error:  “I managed to screw up the audio really bad on Art’s Forum," recalls former production volunteer Mike Clark.  “Running the audio board wasn’t my strong suit, and a gentleman came in with an experimental piece of music performance art that used a saxophone and pre-recorded electronic sounds.  The idea was for the sax player to listen to a minute or two of this far-out prerecorded electronic audio, and then respond musically with his sax.  Well, I patched things wrong on the mixer.  The sax guy could hear the playback of the spacey music out in the studio and then respond with his solo…but the home viewer heard ONLY the sax.  When I watched the show at home, I was horrified to see this poor guy standing there in silence for a few minutes…then toot the sax and go silent again.  I thought I was dead but nobody mentioned it the next day at the station.  I guess all the viewers thought it was part of his act!”

MIKE CLARK WORKING HIS MAGIC ON THE AUDIO BOARD

Ernie Darrh recalls a typical on-air snafu:  “One early program was called Extension 24. The WCNY logos were painted on the sides of a black plywood cube, which was hung by a wire from the grid. Right before air, the cube would be wound up then released and allowed to spin so the logos could be superimposed over the set. One night just as the super went on, the screw eye holding the cube to the cable let go and the logos fell off screen with a loud thud in studio.”

Goofs happen on remotes as well.  Camera operator Ron Friedman was responsible for this one:  “We were shooting a hockey game at the War Memorial. I was operating one of the cameras at center-ice, unsuccessfully attempting to frame a close-up of the fast-moving puck with a telephoto lens. All of a sudden there it was, in the middle of the viewfinder.  And I couldn’t lose it, no matter how furious the action! I was ecstatic, shouting to the director to ‘stay with me’ as my awe-inspiring camerawork continued. My adrenaline-fueled entreaties continued as I frantically moved the heavy camera with this unprecedented close-up of the puck in motion.

But in the truck the director saw nothing...no puck at all.  I suppose it was the vigorous movement of my camera in the first place, as I whipped it back and forth searching for the elusive puck, that dislodged a speck of dust that landed in the middle of my camera's viewfinder. Well… it looked like a puck to me!”