|
|
 |
The "Golden Age Of Television" lasted from the late nineteen forties until the early nineteen sixties where it thrived and flourished, presenting mostly "live" dramatic and musical presentations that captured the exhilaration and essence of fresh theatrical Broadway productions, staged and created expressly for the newly experimental format of the small home tv screen.
Television was a brand new medium, daring in its provocative concepts and artistic explorations, while revolutionary in its groundbreaking originality. Everything was fresh and new, as this voracious, visionary monolith consumed original productions as rapidly as they could be produced. Into this ravenous mix, and at the tail end of the medium's legendary golden age, came a weekly television series produced by CBS (the famed Murrow "tiffany" network) concerning two friends (Martin Milner and George Maharis) from the often cruel streets of New York, seeking meaning, value, and definition in their ongoing dramatic sojourn across the highways of America.
"Route 66" launched nationally on Friday night, October 7th, 1960, taking the country by storm. Filming on location in virtually every state of the union until its final episode on March 20th, 1964, the powerful series introduced some of the finest anthology drama that television has ever witnessed, while showcasing stunning conceptual poetry by principal writer Stirling Silliphant, original music by composer Nelson Riddle, and ensemble guest performances by many of the finest actors and actresses in Hollywood, and from the New York stage.
The weekly series effectively changed the course and direction of my life when the program filmed two episodes in Philadelphia in the Fall of 1961. I was there on location with my brother Erwin, along with George Maharis and Marty Milner, as a seminal episode of the beloved series was filmed atop The Ben Franklin Bridge. "The Thin White Line" made its debut over the CBS Television Network on Friday evening, December 8th, 1961, at 8:30 in the evening. This is the bittersweet story of the cultural evolution and significance of the iconic series, as well as its profound, transformative effect upon my own life, direction, and career.
Steve Vertlieb
http://thethunderchild.com/VertliebsViews/Route_66.html
Tribute to Route 66
thethunderchild.com
The Thunder Child: Vertlieb's Views: Tribute to Route 66
Tribute to Route 66
Tribute to Route 66
This was the episode of the "Route 66" television series that forever changed the direction and "route" of mine, and my brother's lives. We were there on location with the cast and crew when they filmed this classic episode on the mean streets of Philadelphia and, with George Maharis and Martin Milner, together crossed that "Thin White Line." The program aired as Season Two, Episode Eleven, over the CBS Television network on Friday evening, December 8th, 1961, and this was the actual newspaper advertisement that ran in The Philadelphia Inquirer on that original morning of the telecast.
Steve Vertlieb
Image may contain: 2 people, drawing
Steve Vertlieb
|
|
|
|
