ruk.blog

Those of you who are Johnny Carson fans, like me, are no doubt thrilled with the recent news that episodes from his pre-Tonight Show program, “The Johnny Carson Show,” are now available on DVD from ShoutFactory.  These 16mm home movie gauge films date back to the mid 1950s.

Turns out his second wife, Joanne, re-discovered the film media in a temperature-controlled cabinet in her house a year ago, and kept her promise to Johnny that she would have them transferred to DVD. 

“About a year before Johnny died, he said, ‘Jo, do me a favor. Take those films someday, put them on DVD and share them. Because there aren’t going to be anymore,’ Joanne Carson, 75, recalled.” (Read article: CNN)

What better way to experience the class and humor of this great comedian.   Watching the clips, you can see signs of the legend he was to become.

It makes me wonder how many more treasures like this are sitting in cabinets or closets across America.   Just a few weeks ago, a gentleman in his 80s brought forth his JFK footage from that fateful day in Dallas.  The home movie footage, which was shot on 8mm film, was taken just seconds before the assassination in Dallas.  (Read article: USA Today, Newsday.com)

The beauty of converting film to digital is that it brings back so many memories, whether they’re spectacular, like the Carson DVD, or sentimental and thought-provoking, like the JFK motion pictures. They’re each an important slice of history.