X-Message-Number: 18849
From: 
Date: Fri, 22 Mar 2002 05:41:25 EST
Subject: Carson Show

An audio tape of Ettinger's appearance on the Carson show (Tonight Show) is 
in the CSNY archives now in Alcor's custody. It is quite an experience: Zaza 
Gabor and the comedian Buddy Hackett were also guests and act like complete 
idiots. The show is a fascinating snippet in time. 

The Carson show was recorded on Kinescope in those days and thus the quality 
of the footage is very low (gray and washed out) and deteriorating rapidly. 
I've seen the kinescope of this show and others used in later productions 
about cryonics that were in Umatic videotape format (again aging rapidly). It 
would be interesting to have someone with real journalist credentials contact 
NBC and see if the kinescope footage is still available. I believe all 
Tonight Shows, with few exceptions, are archived at Underground Vaults and 
Storage, Inc. (UVSI) in Hutchison, Kansas where Turner-MGM, most of the 
Fortune 500 companies and the IRS maintain their movies masters, business 
records, and other core documents in the salt mines there. FYI: the IRS has 
it own secure billion dollar plus facility where it keeps primary tax 
records, UVSI is a back up last I heard.  

UVSI is a genuinely neat place and is worth a visit if you are in the area. 
The company is great; made up of nice, responsive people. Alcor used to use 
them for records storage and for all I know still does.

Somewhere the kinescopes of Ettinger on the Tonight Show probably still 
exist. In the meantime the CSNY audio tape is a very interesting snap shot in 
time and shows how radically the public attitude towards cryonics has 
changed. 

Some years ago Ettinger let it be known he was disposing of most of his 
personal correspondence and the like from the early days of cryonics. Ev 
Cooper did the same thing, having his filing cabinets literally hauled out to 
sea by his close friend Bill Albaugh and shoved overboard. 

It seems to be a trait amongst cryonics pioneers. I just recently put 
together a burn file of a vast personal store of images, correspondence, and 
information from the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Of course, much of this 
period is recorded on VHS video, letters and documents at Alcor. However, my 
impression is that much of this has been lost or discarded over the years, so 
maybe it will all be gone permanently someday soon in any event.

Mike Perry would be the person to contact at Alcor about the old CSNY audio 
tape. It is reel to reel and circa 1965-6

Contact 

Mike Darwin

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