Session: 1234567891011121314151617         Page 138139140141142143144145146147148149150151152153154155156157158159160161162163164165166167168169170171172173174175176177178179180181182183184185186187188189190191192193194195196197198199200201202 of 824

Do I recall!

Why won't you describe--give some recollections.

I can't remember exactly how we initiated this, but I know we, LIFE, initiated the idea of sponsoring the coverage of the 1948 elections. And I talked to the people at NBC, and they agreed for, I don't know, some rather minimal price--like $80,000 or $100,000--of course, it wasn't very much of an audience, but still it was an interesting experiment--that we should sponsor it. We never, we never discussed exactly what we meant by sponsoring. I think we prepared a few commercials to be run--but we talked a fair amount about coverage, and so on and so on, and the people that we would supply. And I assumed all along that this was an NBC operation, that NBC would be running it, and our correspondents would appear when NBC wanted them to go on.

So I got down to Philadelphia--I don't know, a day or so before, two or three days maybe before the convention started--and there were all these people and all this equipment--I mean, they'd really stolen all equipment they had. They didn't have much in those days, but I think, at one point, we were using eleven cameras at different places. I got down there, and the guy from NBC said, “Well, what do you want to do?” And I said, “What do you mean, what do we want to do?” “Oh, well--it's was your show.” I said, “What!” [laughter]

Well, it turned out I had Sidney James with me helping--

Who did you have with you?