I truly can't say given the times and context of its original broadcast, but I must say I enjoy my fortuitous introduction to some remastered episodes from the Fifties of this CBS News production.
If they're not "live TV" they're certainly kept "in-camera" at the credited Hal Roach Studios. They had to have been filmed quickly too.
Besides a youthful Walter Cronkite (yes, I remember him) sitting behind a desk with a huge microphone to one side, clutching a thick script, and providing two intros and a summary in his inimitable style, we hear off-camera radio announcers handing off to each other in the traditional style as the "reporters on the scene".
We also watch the historical figures blithely if not gladly address "the fourth wall" in response to the reporters' questions. You'll recognize some faces, some to become famous and others as the established character actors that you'll need this database to help identify.
Judge the writing for yourselves, though keep in mind what can only be inferred as the goal. Each episode depicts an historical calendar date, a nice newsbeat touch that Cronkite partly resolves in his summary. The end credits include a disclaimer that everything "is based on historical fact and quotation." With CBS News in charge viewers could have no doubt of that.
Jack Pierce does makeup...recognize him? And some images linger, among them rocks and snowballs bouncing off the bewigged head of "Roy" Randell during the Boston Massacre and railings very nearly giving way in any age...
...but this was indeed the Golden Age of Television. I award an extra vote for audacity.
