This is probably the first drama done from the WTIC-TV studio.  Note the low ceiling and small number of instruments.  It would have been around 1959 - 1960.

Wearing the clerical collar is the Rev. Wendell Stephan, the first Anna M. Fulling Chaplain at Hartford Hospital. He is seen doing a consult with pastor and maybe physicians, or possibly clergy interns in the chaplain training program

At the time I was Radio Television Director at the Greater Hartford Council of Churches and had studied TV directing at the School of Radio Television Technique in New York as preparation.  Behind the chaplain was a rear projection screen of an empty hall at Hartford Hospital.  Camera 1 had the hall shot with the chaplain talking with others.  He walked stage left and camera 2 saw him entering the room.  Camera 1 was then free to truck right for the next shot. The hospital provided the props, and even a nurse to make the bed.

Photography was my major hobby then and I had a 4x5 Speed Graphic and the means to make 4x5 glass plate positives from my photos.  The station used a 4x5 plate projector.  A gobo did the "blinds" on the cyc.

I've had a box of 4x5 negatives for decades, and no darkroom to work with them in my Berkeley home.  Scanners for big negatives cost a fortune.  A month ago I figured out that putting the negatives on a light box and just photographing them with my digital Canon D-50 would yield the desired digital image.  It is a bit slow and needs a lot of Photoshop, but works.

The crews at Hartford and New Britain stations liked to work on our religion programs.  The only studio sets were news and kitchen (not much has changed) and I brought in variety and challenge.  Pat Patricelli was O.K. with the time needed to set up sets.  Kinda staff training.

The camera used to take the photo is the same one I used to make the RP slide.  From the angle I'd guess I climbed a ladder to take the photo.

Courtesy:
George Conklin
Berkeley, California