Bobby,

You may not believe this, but I like you, drew pictures of TV cameras as a kid. I watched TV hoping to get a glimpse of a camera, or other back stage equipment. My first real exposure to the world of TV cameras and production was by reading the Television section of my World Book Encyclopedia (circa 1958) I would study those pictures for hours.

When I was in the 7th grade I decided to build my own mock-up of a camera so my pals and I could play TV studio. I had the bug and I knew that I wanted to be a broadcaster since I was 12 years old.

I went to San Diego State College form 1966 to 1970 and got a Bachelors degree in Radio and TV and got to work with the real thing. During my college days, I worked part time at 3 radio stations and a 1 TV station in San Diego. After graduation I was a DJ for a country station in San Diego for 2 years and figured I was on my way to my life long career in Radio and TV.

In late 1971 I fell in love with a woman who lived in Northern California and ended up moving North to be with her, got married and left radio and TV behind. In 1972 I started over with my career and went into consumer electronics sales as a manufacturers representative, a business that I have been in ever since.

Since the bug never leaves you, along the way I ran a weekend "one man mobile DJ show" for 22 years. I now produce messages on hold for business telephone systems in my spare time and about 3 years ago started collecting vintage radio studio broadcast gear. I have a pretty well equipped audio production studio and a collection of classic broadcast microphones, turntables cart machines and reel to reel tape machines. My collection has come mostly from auctions on eBay.

I have been a Chuck Pharis fan for a couple of years and have purchased some camera manuals from him as well as following his TV camera adventures on his web site. A few months ago, he added your page to his site, I was impressed that there was someone else out there that was as crazy as me about old TV cameras, who was not a guy named Chuck, who had spent his whole life in TV. Knowing I could never amass the kind of collection of stuff that Chuck has, I was content to collect my audio gear, but always dreamed of one day getting a camera.

During my searches I always kept my eyes open for someone selling a vintage studio TV camera, but figured it would probably never happen. I saw a few listed over the past few years, but they were either way to expensive, or way too far away from my home in Concord, California.

In May of this year I spotted a pair of TK-44A's for sale by a collector of entertainment memorabilia, who having been forced to close his store in Hollywood, needed to get rid of the cameras and they had to be picked up at a warehouse in Southern California. I nabbed them for $520 for the pair, including a Houston Fearless counter balance pedestal, Vinten pan head and Varatol lens for each. A pal and I took a truck and trailer to LA in June and brought the pair to my house, where they reside in my garage today.

I have attached a 2 pictures of what I am calling "The Twins." They are in great cosmetic shape, there are enough weights in one of the pedestals to allow one of the two cameras to be raised to it's full height, with a gentle grasp of the steering ring.

Imagine my delight when I found "Eyes of a Generation." You have done a terrific job on the site. The historical photos and text are great. I am especially impressed with the fact that you have been able to put together a list of collectors and their cameras. Although I am just starting, I would be thrilled if you could add me to the list.

Here are the serial numbers of my cameras: 05004, 05002. 5004 shows 5750 hours on the meter and 5002 shows 3322 hours. The fellow who sold these to me said they had come from Channel 10 in Phoenix. There is a sticker inside each indicating they were once owned by the Gulf Broadcast Group.

As time allows, would love to talk with you about your collection, how you managed to get your hands on the great pieces in your collection and share thoughts about our rather unique hobby.

Thanks for taking the time to read my note and I hope we can speak soon.

Best regards,
John Bolin

Since I met John, he's come to visit me here in Georgia and I've helped him find an old 'first love'...a TK11. John's friend Bruce Oldham (Conan Show) and I have become friends and low and behold, we have another 'six degrees of separation' friend that's popped up and has given John a TK47. His name is Manny Rodriguez and is the brother of one of my dear friends of 20 years, Alex. I met Manny in NY on the set of Regis and Kathy Lee where he operated one of the 4 Ikigami HK 312s...one of which I now have in my collection. If you look at my HK 312 page, you'll see a photo in the viewfinder which I have included below. Left to right is Manny, Regis, Alex and Me staining in front of that camera in 1994. Interestingly Manny has located an Ikigami HK 312 and has it on display at his home.

As fate would have it, Manny sent me an email telling me he had a TK47 and was looking for a new home for it. He sent the email though this website, but did not get it that it was me...his brother's friend that he was sending it to! I had been thinking about Manny for a while, but did not know how to reach him as I knew he had left ABC and gone to LA. So, out of the blue, here's Manny, and guess what! He is the director of the new CBS daytime show "The Talk" and for several years, also directed "Ellen". Turns out that he and Bruce Oldham (John's high school buddy) are good friends too and have known each other for years.

While in LA picking up the TK47, John and his wife Jackie, AND his trusty Nikon visited History for Hire and that great group of images is in the Gallery too. They also went to the taping of "The Talk" with Manny, and to "The Conan Obrien Show" with Bruce where he runs camera 3 daily. Here's John and Jackie in the 'captains chair' at Conan.

Small world gets even smaller. Manny and I both talked about our 'cardboard box' cameras we made as kids, but John Bolin went even farther in 1961! Look at the photo below of his TK30...made out of wood! It's so cool I featured it in the Gallery! Read the details there and take a look at these new photos from John below that show is new TK11, and TK47, his home radio studio and more. Bobby Ellerbee

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