Day at Night, half-hour New York public television interviews from the 70s

January 16, 2012 9:34 AM

Day at Night was an interview series on the public television station of the City University of New York that aired from 1973-4. CUNY TV is in the process of digitizing and uploading the 130 episodes that were produced, with 46 done so far. The episodes are just under half an hour in length. Among the people interviewed by host James Day are author Ray Bradbury, actress Myrna Loy, medical researcher Jonas Salk, singer Cab Calloway, writer Christopher Isherwood, nuclear scientist Edward Teller, comedian Victor Borge, tennis player Billie Jean King, linguist and activist Noam Chomsky, composer Aaron Copland, actor Vincent Price and boxer Muhammad Ali.
posted by Kattullus (6 comments total)

I love the 'soft' look of late 70's-early 80's TV.
posted by wcfields at 10:11 AM on January 16, 2012

These are really great. Thanks!
posted by Mr.Me at 10:58 AM on January 16, 2012

superb !! thank you for the links Kattullus!
posted by seawallrunner at 11:40 AM on January 16, 2012

These are a phenomenal discovery. Musically speaking, the interviews of the great Aaron Copland and also Victor Borge are fantastic. Both rarely ever gave interviews. Thanks for a truly great post.
posted by Seekerofsplendor at 12:46 PM on January 16, 2012

May I also call to attention to the interview in this series with Broadway tunesmith Richard Rodgers from 1974.
posted by Seekerofsplendor at 1:24 PM on January 16, 2012 [1 favorite]

Thanks Kattullus.

I'm still trying to decide whether or not I think Eli Wallach's rather refined accent was a bit of a pretentious put-on for that show or not. I've never heard him speak like that, but then, he is an actor (still, at 96!).

The Joan Baez interview is marked private for some reason; no idea if that's the only one.
posted by peacay at 5:46 PM on January 16, 2012