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4 records found for William Pierce

#2417: EVENING AT POPS

1970-07-05, WNET, 57 min.

July 5, 1970-Sept. 23, 1979.

This broadcast featured Edward Kennedy, Senator from Massachusetts. This was the first broadcast of the series. A recurring summer series, "Evening at Pops" presents the Boston Pops Orchestra, under the direction of Arthur Fiedler (until his death July 10, 1979).

Debut: A musical salute to America opens a 13-week series of concerts by Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops.

Announcer for the series is William Pierce.

Evening at Pops was a long-term television series produced by Boston's local PBS-affiliate station, WGBH. It aired from 1970-2005 (reaching much wider PBS audiences than the WGBH area), and was conducted by Arthur Fiedler from 1970-1979. He did one program, a 50th anniversary celebration in April 1979.

Evening At Pops included a wide variety of performances by the Boston Pops Orchestra, usually also featuring special guest performers.

The premiere broadcast had guest Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, who read excerpts from the writings of President Lincoln as the orchestra played Aaron Copland's "Lincoln Portrait."

Other selections included waltzes by Richard Rodgers and music from his "Victory at Sea"; John Philip Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever"; Morton Gould's "American Salute"; and a medley from Broadway's "Hair."

NOTE: There are 21 duplication Evening of Pops broadcasts listed in the Archival Television Audio library. All were recorded, direct line, at the time of the original broadcast. Most of the entire series (1970-1979) has been preserved as pristine audio air checks (Approximately 115 different broadcasts).

Representing Evening at Pops classic programs there are none extant at The Library of Congress, or UCLA Film & TV Archive. Only four broadcasts representing the entire nine year run of the series are archived at The Paley Center (May 23, 1973, July 14, 1974, August 22, 1976, & June 24 1977).
The Chicago Film Archives has one issue of the series, a black and white 1" reel to reel video tape recording of an off the air 1978 broadcast.

There are no complete broadcasts extant on YouTube with the exception of a May 1972 broadcast, with guest Leroy Anderson (still pictures seen over the audio track), and a poor video 46 minute excerpt of a broadcast with The Carpenters (Aug. 4, 1974).

Evening at Pops has never been released on VHS of DVD to the public. WGBH, the Boston Pops Philharmonic archival library, and PBS's own archives have indicated that they have no copies.

Arthur Fiedler was the conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra for 50 years and one of the world's best‐known musical figures. He died July 10, 1979 at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts after a long illness. He was 84 years old.

After the death of Arthur Fiedler, to meet contractual obligations for the 1979 summer series of thirteen Evening At Pops broadcasts, seven re-runs were aired as well four new programs under Harry Ellis Dickson, Evening at Pops assistant conductor for 25 years. Dickson performed four new broadcasts, July 22, August 5th, 19th and September 9th.

One program during this final summer series was pre-empted (Aug. 26th). The last broadcast of this series was a re-run, televised September 23, 1979.

Evening at Pops remains a treasure trove of rich programming that portends to be forever locked away, as it has continued to be, the past forty years, with no potential in sight for its re-release in the future because of many factors, including music copyright issues.

#1099: EVENING AT POPS
Order
1970-08-16, WNET, 57 min.
Arthur Fiedler conducts the Boston Pops Orchestra with guitarist Chet Atkins as guest soloist. Host is William Pierce. This series had its premiere on July 5. This is the fifth broadcast.

#2441: EVENING AT POPS

Order

1972-07-27, WNET, 57 min.

July 5, 1970-July 8, 1979. 
A recurring summer series, "Evening at Pops" presents the Boston Pops Orchestra, under the direction of Arthur Fiedler (until his death in 1979). Announcer for this series introducing guests, descriptions of musical selections, and intermissions, is William Pierce.

On this broadcast the easy listening music of Ferrante and Teicher. Tonight they bring a swinging new touch to the Stephen  Foster song book: from a slow jazzy "Old Folks at Home" to a symphonic rendition of "Camptown Races." The pianists also perform a double-time version of "Malaguena," a haunting concerto woven from "Fiddler on the Roof," and the movie theme from "Exodus."

#2486: EVENING AT POPS: THE NEW SEEKERS

Order

1973-07-22, WNET, 52 min.

July 5, 1970-July 8, 1979.

A recurring weekly 13 episode summer series, "Evening at Pops" presents the Boston Pops Orchestra, under the direction of Arthur Fiedler (until his death in 1979).
Announcer is William Pierce.

Pop and rock share the limelight as The New Seekers perform favorites such as "Day By Day" and "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing."

The British-Australian group formed by former Seekers' member Keith Polger split after disbandment of The Seekers in 1969.

Members of The New Seekers consist of Eve Graham, Lyn Paul, Peter Doyle, Monty Kristian, and Paul Layton.

Highlights: The New Seekers introduce themselves in the group, and sing:

"What Have They Done to my Song," "Never Ending Love For You,"
"Blowing in the Wind," "Day By Day," "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing," "When I Was Small," and a medley from the rock opera,
"Tommy."

Highlights: Arthur Fiedler and Boston Pops Orchestra:

"Overture to The Bartered Bride," "Consider Yourself," "I'll Never Fall in Love Again," "Polka from Schweder," "Saber Dance,"
"Semper Fidelis."

NOTE:

The beginning 19 minutes of this audio air check master 1/4" reel to reel tape had many opening issues and challenges. It had deteriorated with slight sections of oxide removed from the base.

Painstakingly, it was necessary to inch along during playback with manual pressured Q-Tips soaked in alcohol placed on the heads, after the tape was baked for 12 hours at 130 degrees to remove moisture.

Gratefully, most of the compromised audio tape's opening 19 minutes of the broadcast was saved by archivist Phil Gries.

There were a few aberrations during this opening segment of tape including occasional clicks, varied volume levels, and varied tone, which were greatly equalized, improved and rectified in the final mix.

The results are gratifying, having mostly saved this air check in its almost entirety. It represents a one-of-a-kind not accessible broadcast record anywhere else.

In the process of attempting to save as much of this tape as possible five minutes of audio, deteriorated beyond repair, had to be eliminated. Five of these six minutes, not salvageable, included The New Seekers singing "Fire & Rain," and "My Sweet Love."