- John's Identical twin brother is Hub Braden. Attending together the California College of Arts and Crafts in Berkeley, California; transferring to the Chicago Art Institute, Goodman Theatre School, and Chicago University, both received their B.A. Degree. During the summer of 1957, Robert "Bob" Currier, owner and Producer, hired the twins for his Kennybunkport Playhouse Summer Stock Theatre. The twins alternated acting as Scenic Designer and decorator, as Tech director, as carpenters and scenic artists, lighting directors, while supervising and teaching twelve apprentices. After receiving their degree, John traveled East to locate in New York, seeking theatrical interviews with Scenic stage designers. Twin Hub traveled West to Hollywood, interviewing with television-film scenic and art departments.
- John Braden, an Art Director (and Scenic Designer), was on staff with ABC TV New York (Capitol Cities) prior to the Disney Purchase. John has been with the ABC Network News Division since starting with ABC TV in 1969. For the News Division, he has designed NY National news anchor election sets. He also designed Democratic and Rebublican Convention Network Anchor news desks (usually on location assignments with the News Departments' Logistic Services. Braden was the Art Director on the Nixon Investigation Hearing in Washington, D.C., supervising the addition of the outside exterior wing addition, on the exterior of the Supreme Court House Building, required for the Network News Pool coverage. The News Department assigned him to "Good Morning, America", which he served as their Art Director until 1998. John Braden's free lance work includes "New York City Ballet" lobby exhibit designs and installations at the New York State Theatre. John Braden also has been the Art Director on the PBS Charlie Rose Hour program.
- When Rouben Ter-Arutunian was filming "The Loved One" in Hollywood, Rouben was also designing scenery for George Balanchine's new ballet revival "The Nutcracker" for his Lincoln Center New York City Ballet. Rouben brought John to the West Coast to assist him with models, illustrations, drawing construction plans and elevations, as well as paint elevations for the construction and paint shops. John's identical twin brother Hub had already been assisting Rouben when arriving on the West Coast. While Rouben finished the film, John returned to New York, supervising and working with construction and paint charge men, and following the project in the scenic studio building the sets. Both the Braden twins received program credit on opening night!.
- 1969 made History with the first Moon Landing. The three networks, ABC, CBS, and NBC pooled their news coverage of the historic event. Network discussions and negotiations with NASA, the electronic signal transmission from space was unpredictable, with no guarantee that a signal would be received showing the astronauts landing and subsequent exit of the capsule, and movements on the moon's surface. A "moon surface" stage set was built in a Brooklyn Television Studio-Stage. An exact replica of the space capsule with a ladder, two astronauts dressed in identical space suits had been rehearsed matching what NASA had practiced with the actual pair landing on the real moon. The television cameras, crew and cast, all stood by to take over duplicating the event if transmission failed. John Braden was the ABC-TV Art Director responsible for replicating the moon landing sight on the Brooklyn Studio stage. John remarked that the Network coverage could have been the greatest hoax if the galactic electronic transmission television picture had failed reaching our planet earth.
- Eugene Lee designed the scenery for "Sweeney Todd". The glass warehouse ceiling hangs overhead above the stage. Salvaged warehouse units comprised the Broadway set. Pete Feller's shop had to build a set for the roadshow tour. With no drawings, Pete asked John Braden to measure and draw up plans and elevations of the set so his theatrical scenic shop could build the set. Braden spent a week, mornings and afternoons on the stage making notes and drawings for Pete.
- Braden joined a staff position in the art department with New York ABC Television in 1969-1970, remaining with the department until 2010-2011. The credit "art director" was in the ABC contract with the graphic artist union contract, not in the scenic artist #829 contract. ABC prevented set designers from receiving "art director" credit on their show specials and series assignments. Only independent show producers were permitted to use the credit for the set designer as the art director.
- The 1964-1965 NYC World's Fair, held in what is now Flushing Meadows Corona Park, symbolized a grand consumer show covering many products in America at the time for transportation, living, and consumer electronic needs in a way that would never be repeated at future world's fairs in North America. The fair ran for two six-month sessions: April 21-October 18, 1964 and April 21-October 17, 1965. Admission price for adults (13 and older) in 1964 was $2.00, but in 1965, fair admission was raised for adults to $2.50, $1.00 for children (2-12). (In 2013, calculating inflation, the admission price equals $25.00.) One of the major attractions was the "Electric Power and Light Pavilion" sponsored by a corporation of Electric Companies including CONED. The "Electric Power and Light Pavilion" was a circular domed bubble shaped "Carousel of Progress." The Pavilion's exterior white metal shell was finished in a stamped prism design. The Pavilion looked spectacular at night with lighting effects changing the exterior's shell-facade appearance through a series of vivid rainbow colors. The central Pavilion core was open for 'search-light-shafts' aimed vertically into the night sky, the premise as a beacon to attract crowds to the night fair attractions. Incidentally, the central core of 'light-shafts' failed, when the day or night sky was devoid of rain, fog, cloud cover, or smoke-dirty air. On clear nights, spectators only saw nightly stars. The Electric Light and Power Pavilion was one of the few fair pavilions finished prior to the opening day of the 1964 World's Fair. The interior exhibition space consisted of six pie shaped chambers for viewing the film documentary telling the story of 'electric power.' The spectators entered, standing or milling around upon a giant doughnut revolving turntable platform which rotated into the individual six sound-proofed chambers; each chamber had two viewing film screen displays opposite on each chamber wall for the spectator to view a short film (movie) scenario; at the conclusion of the film segment, lights turned out while music played, with the spectators carried by the doughnut platform as the turn-table revolved into the next chamber; spectators exiting at the final chamber, upon completion of the sequenced film story. Alfred Stern (1911-1979 age 68) produced and wrote the film scenario. Stern's production offices were located in the World Fair Village. Alfred Stern hired couture Miles White (1914-2000 age 86) to production design the six exhibition chamber spaces, which were whimsical and wonderfully imaginative small film theaters. Miles insisted scenic designer John Braden be hired and take charge of the design aspects, supervising draftsmen transcribing Miles' sketches into 1'-0"=1/2" scale plans, elevations, building white 1/2" scale chamber presentation models, reference models for corporate sponsors and construction personnel. Miles White had Alfred Stern employ composer Claibe Richardson, who worked with Alfred composing a score with songs, accompanying the film scenario and the carousel's transition into each film segment's chamber pod. Approximately thirty minutes of music was composed for "The Brightest Show On Earth." Robert Russell Bennett orchestrated and conducted the musical score. Upon completion of the Pavilion's design aspects, scenic designer John Braden transferred to the general contractor's staff, functioning as shop draftsman and design/installation supervisor with Pete Feller's Brooklyn Scenic Shop, who had won the bid for the Pavilion's Exhibition construction and installation contract. Because Joe Feller was also executing the Ford Pavilion and the Vatican Pavilion Exhibition, Braden's "Electric Power and Light" design job, technical-drafting and supervision services was extended; assigned to perform, as well, design and installation supervision services on both the Ford and Vatican exhibitions. An unheard of pay rate of $15.00 an hour, plus overtime, plus supervision charges made Johnny's piggy bank bulge! John remarked "the best thing out of the '64-'65 NYC World's Fair was the Belgium Waffle.".
- The New York City Ballet company, during the early 60s, had received negative press and criticism regarding the lack of development in contemporary new dance repertoire in the NYC Ballet history . During the 1964 Summer New York City World's Fair, the NYC Ballet director-choreographer George Balanchine and his associate ballet company director Lincoln Kristen had taken over the new Lincoln Center State Theatre complex as a temporary resident company. Balanchine and Kirstein, inspired by the production, staging, and multi-media New York's World Fair Pavilion presentations, decided upon a new ballet which would counter the negative press about the company's lack of contemporary adventure into the dance form. John Braden had designed new costumes for several re-staged NYC Ballet repertoire dance works with Madam Karinska. Braden, also designing industrial shows for producer Paul Roth, was the scenic and lighting designer for multiple industrial accounts including Glamour Magazine's Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall Fashion shows. Braden invited Lincoln Kirstein to the Glamour Magazine's industrial client show afternoon dress rehearsal. After viewing the industrial show's presentation, a scripted fashion show with a narrator, live band-musician and singing cast performers, choreographed dancers and fashion models, featuring multi-media Glamour Magazine photographic features projected on the set's scenic projection screens, Lincoln was inspired to create a new ballet for the ballet company, "Shadow'd Ground".
- New York City Ballet directors, George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein, in the Fall of 1964, named a new ballet "Shadow'd Ground" to be premiered January 21, 1965. The Aaron Copland "Dance Panels" score was the foundation for the new ballet. Lincoln Kirstein hired a young poet to create a scenario based on Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" which would take place in a New England grave yard. The couple want marriage but Juliet's parents prevent their daughter from joining Romeo. The dancing couple join, sneak into the cemetery yearning for sex, taking pills to end their lives. In their hallucinations, the spirits inhabiting the graves appear, dancing their life memories honoring the glories of life. Four groups of dancers perform descriptive multiple narratives to tell the dance story interludes of their individual life experiences. Center up-stage stands a mausoleum, with tombstones clustered in groups down-stage; above the mausoleum hangs an oval white projection screen, flanked stage right and stage left with large white rectangular "abstract sail free-form shaped" projection screens. During the ballet, multimedia photographs related to each of the four pair group's narrative scenario enhance their history. Sadly, the Romeo and Juliet couple, enter the mausoleum glass crypt, die in each other's arms, never to live again, while the grave caretaker locks them inside. Curtain down... "curtain calls"... end of ballet! Lincoln and George Balenchine chose John Taras to choreograph the new ballet, using a 1959 Aaron Copland dance composition "Dance Panels". Lincoln Kirstein, invited to a Carnegie Hall industrial fashion show rehearsal by scenic designer John Braden, was impressed with Braden's set design solution. John had designed the Glamour Magazine Fashion Show presentation produced by Paul Roth. John's "Glamour Magazine" set had three over-head horizontal/vertical screens for projections of Glamour Magazine feature page spreads. The stage center 8'-0" high fashion platform with side flanked runway fashion stairs, with the musicians located beneath the fashion platform, was covered by a scrim projection screen gauze. The entire stage was turned into a projection screen. Excited about the design production values Braden incorporated in the fashion runway presentation, Lincoln asked John to design the set and costumes, projections and lighting for the new ballet. Directly influenced by the 1964 New York World's Fair multimedia pavilion exhibitions, Lincoln Kirstein and George Balanchine influenced the design concept for their new ballet. The New York City Ballet premiered John Taras's "Shadow'd Ground" ballet at the New York State Theater on January 21, 1965. The ballet had five subsequent performances during the New York City Ballet 1965 Spring season. The New York City Ballet company had moved into the New York City owned Lincoln Center State Theatre in 1964, given to the city by Rockefeller. without a residency guarantee. Richard Rodgers was asked by New York City to fill in the 1965 closing summer schedule of the theatre during the 1965 New York World's Fair (closing in September). Prior to moving into the new complex, Lincoln Kirstein set about redesigning existing ballets in the New York City Ballet repertory. "Shadow'd Ground" was intended to be a complete departure from the historical and classical themed repertoire. George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein wanted an avant guard modern dance piece, creating a firestorm for criticism. Opening night, in the top balcony, Balanchine, Kirstein, Taras, the Braden twins, and Aaron Copland anxiously waited for the audience reaction to the ballet's final dance moves. Jump'n jacks, pounding each other on their backs, in glee when the audience "booed" the curtain calls. The creative team had accomplished their goal. The New York City Ballet was no longer a stodgy dance company. The interesting back story for Aaron Copland's musical score "Dance Panels" has a unique history. Jerome Robbins' contemporary dance ''Moves'' derived from what was to have been a collaboration between Jerome Robbins and Aaron Copland. Mr. Robbins had used Mr. Copland's Clarinet Concerto for his ballet ''The Pied Piper'' in 1951 and had staged Mr. Copland's opera ''The Tender Land'' in 1954. In 1959, when he directed a short-lived company called Ballets U.S.A., he commissioned a ballet score from Mr. Copland that eventually became known as ''Dance Panels.'' When the composer first played it for the choreographer on the piano, there was one section for which Mr. Robbins could not envision any movement whatsoever. Mr. Robbins described ''A strange thing happened. I went straight to rehearsal without the music right after Aaron played the score for me. I tried to remember it, but could only recall the counts. When I began working with the company just with counts, I got interested with what they were doing without music. It fascinated me, and I continued working that way. It really moved along. I was sorry I wasn't able to do 'Dance Panels,' but in a very real way Aaron's music was the accidental genesis of my ballet without music, 'Moves.' '' Yet, though never choreographed by Mr. Robbins, ''Dance Panels'' has been produced. Heinz Rosen, a West German choreographer, staged it in Munich in 1963. "Dance Panels" found its way to the New York City Ballet in 1965 when it served as the accompaniment for John Taras's ''Shadow'd Ground,'' a ballet inspired by epitaphs in a New England cemetery. Allen Hughes, in the New York Times entertainment review, January 22, 1965, wrote "the new 'Shadow'd Ground' ballet, given at the New York State Theatre last night, is not like anything else in the company's repertory.".
- Ironically, fourteen years after James Dean's appearance in the 1955 film "East of Eden" and his death - New York stage actor Walter McGinn, played Dean's '55 film role of 'Caleb "Cal" Trask' in the 1968 Broadway musical adaptation of "East of Eden" - "Here's Where I Belong". The superstitious and mysterious - James Dean death curse - has been identified to various instances with individuals directly and indirectly tied with the James Dean's legacy. An ironic twist of the curse followed Walter McGinn after performing Dean's role as 'Cal Trask' in "East of Eden." Walter McGinn (b.July 6, 1936 - d.March 31, 1977, age 40) died to early in his life because of a fatal Los Angeles highway accident. McGinn was killed on Interstate #210 when in an attempt to avoid an obstacle, his car skidded and plunged down an embankment, hitting a parked truck.
- Of James Dean's three major films, "East of Eden" (1955), "Rebel Without A Cause" (1955) and "Giant" (1956), James Dean lived to see the release of only the first film. Dean died in a head-on automobile collision crash on a lonely two lane desert California highway #466, between Bakersfield and Paso Robles, driving his brand new race car - to break the car in - driving the speeding 'little bastard' bullet to learn how to handle the silver 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder, to Salinas, California. The crash occurred en-route to participate in a weekend auto race rally, at 5:15 pm on Friday, September 30, 1955. And on the day before his death, his "East of Eden" film costar Richard Davalos opened on Broadway, creating the role of 'Rodolpho' in the original production of Arthur Miller's "A View from the Bridge," and the day after Dean's death "East of Eden" film costar Lois Smith opened on Broadway in Sally Benson's play "The Young and Beautiful.".
- "Here's Where I Belong" - Broadway previews began February 7, the opening date of Feb. 20 was postponed for rewrites, rescheduled to open at the Billy Rose Theatre, March 3, 1968. The musical book adaptation based on the 1952 novel "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck, was adapted by author Terrence McNally (b.1939). The music was by Robert Waldman (b.1936), the lyrics by Alfred Uhry (b.1936), the team would later write a far superior musical "The Robber Bridegroom," and Uhry would win acclaim for his Pulitzer Prize-winning play, "Driving Miss Daisy." Dance music was composed by Arnold Goland (b.1926). Michael Kahn (b.1939) made his Broadway debut as director, the most important roles were played by talented unknowns (Walter McGinn (at age 32, b.1936-d.1977, age 40) and Heather MacRae (at age 22, b.1946), who was Gordon MacRae's daughter (Gordon MacRae: b.1921-d.1986, 64), and the above-the-title "stars" were non-musical non-stars Paul Rogers (who sang pleasantly and spoke without a trace of his English accent) and Nancy Wickwire. Paul Rogers (at age 51, b.03:22.1917- d.10:06,2013, age 96) performed the role of the father, Adam Trask. Nancy Wickwire (at age 43, b.11:20, 1925 - d.07:10, 1976, age 50-cancer) was a seasoned stage and television actress in the role of Kate. Mitch Miller (at age 57, b.1911-d.2010, age 99) was an influential Mercury and Columbia record producer who became hugely popular recording artist and an unlikely television star in the '60s leading a male choral group in familiar old songs and inviting people to sing along. The "Sing Along With Mitch" album series, which began in 1958, was an immense success, finding an eager audience among older listeners to rock 'n' roll. Mitch Miller departed Columbia records in 1965, had connected with the musical's creative team acting as a developer-producer raising $500,000, in association with United Artists, produced the disastrous flop. The show opened in Philadelphia (Jan 15, 1968, for 20 performances), where a fire among the stage spotlights proved to be the only moment of excitement on opening preview night. After terrible Philadelphia drama-critical newspaper reviews, choreographer Hanya Holm, just about the only person involved in the show who had any experience with Broadway musicals, was replaced by choreographer Tony Mordente, as if Holm's work were the problem with the show. The scenery was designed by Ming Cho Lee, assisted by scenic designers John M. Braden, Don Jensen and Leigh Rand. Costumes were designed by Ruth Motley, with lighting by Jules Fisher (b.1937), musical direction by Theodore Saidenberg. Saidenberg had previously been with Mitch Miller on his TV series "Sing Along With Mitch." The Broadway bound musical, while eliminating major portions of Steinbeck's story, followed the novel and film's story of the Trask family in the Salinas Valley in the early 1900's, in particular brooding son Cal's rivalry with his father 's preferred son, Aron. As in the other versions, Cal finds out that his mother, whom he believed dead, runs a nearby cat-house, and Aron's girl Abra is ineluctably drawn to the "bad" brother. After initial terrible drama critical reviews, during the Philadelphia engagement, Producer Mitch Miller brought in script-book-doctor - Gordon Cutler. When book changes went in that were not his own in Philadelphia, Terrence McNally asked to have his name removed from the credits. Miller claimed that McNally had not made the changes requested and refused to remove his name, stating that eighty-five percent of the book was still McNally's. Finally, Miller relented, and the Broadway Playbill listed a nom de plume for the novelist 'Alex Gordon,' as the author of the book. In spite of the rewrites, much of McNally's original work remained. Steinbeck, whose "Sweet Thursday" had not succeeded as "Pipe Dream," once again resisted musicalization. Much of the plot hinged on Aron's plans to ship frozen lettuce east and Cal's dabbling in bean futures, material unsuited to song and dance. The lettuce ballet musical material in the show about packing and shipping of lettuce was expectedly terrible, as were all the production numbers. As long as "Here's Where I Belong" concentrated on Cal, Aron, and Abra, motivation was better, a pretty ballad called "Waking Up Sun" and a nice duet for the brothers called "No Time." But the score did not help sufficiently, and Steinbeck's bleak, dullish story proved too dreary for a musical. Five songs were dropped during the Philadelphia engagement. "Here's Where I Belong" opened and closed on the same day - March 3rd, 1968, with only one performance, considered a smashing flop disaster. On opening and closing night, nineteen members of an association known as the Oriental Actors of America picketed the theatre to protest the presence in the show of James Coco, a McNally favorite, absurdly cast as Lee, the Chinese houseboy who raised Adam Trask's sons, Aron and Cal. The show's Broadway critic's reviews were terrible.
- In the summer of 1967, John Braden (age 32) assisted scenic designer Ming Cho Lee (age 37, b. 10:03, 1930) on a new musical adaptation of John Steinbeck's 1952 novel "East of Eden". The stage adaptation of the Steinbeck novel, successfully filmed by Warner Brothers in 1954, with memorable performances by James Dean and Julie Harris, was considerably less suited to musicalization. Producer Mitch Miller of 'Sing Along' fame, had departed Columbia Records in 1965. Mitch Miller involved himself with the creative writing and composing team, raising a Broadway production fund, getting United Artists to put up $500,000 to produce a musical version of "East of Eden" re-titled, "Here's Where I Belong." The show's Scenic Designer Ming Cho Lee was notorious, by utilizing many hopeful minions of apprentice students to build and paint models to gain theatrical experience. The NYC United Scenic Artist IATSE #829 union learned of Lee's non-union staff admonishing Lee and threatened Lee a fine for his unapproved non-union work force. Ming Cho Lee hired Braden, Don Jensen and Leigh Rand, all USA IATSE #829 Scenic Design union affiliated members, during the 1967 summer to assist him on this new musical property. Braden, Jansen and Leigh drew the set project's scenic-set design 1/2" = 1' - 0" scale drawing's, including illustrations, plans, elevations and details; and finished miniature scaled constructed - 1/4" = 1' - 0" stage-scenic-display models. Ming Cho Lee's enormous New York apartment living room was converted into Ming's design shop space-office. Ming Cho Lee's fame and theatrical history was that he apprenticed, learning his scenic trade understudying the famous Broadway stage play and musical scenic-lighting-costume designer Jo Mielziner (b. 03:19, 1901 - d. 03:15, 1976, age 75). Mielziner (at age 55) gave his "second assistant" scenic designer Ming Cho Lee (at age 26) his first official theatrical credit on the original 1956 Broadway musical "The Most Happy Fellow." Mielziner is "the most successful set designer of the Golden Era of Broadway" and worked on designing sets, costumes and lighting both stage plays and musicals. Ming Cho Lee apprenticed and assisted Mielziner for many years, with Mielziner giving his many Broadway design job projects to his assistants, because Mielziner just couldn't do them all. Observing and working on the drawing board in Ming Cho Lee's living room-design shop office, John was astounded at how small Ming Cho Lee worked over his miniature scenic layouts and designs - like working on a pin head with intense details. This design process Ming had learned while apprenticing and working so many years under Jo Mielziner. Ming Cho Lee's 1/4" scale set-models were detailed with the same intense scrutiny. The musical "Here's Where I Belong" set design color palette was executed in shades of gray 'chroma' gradations. In John's observation of Lee's color palette, John discovered that Ming Cho Lee was not a very good colorist, nor good painting with an expansive color palette. The musical's stage setting (Salinas, adjacent to San Jose, California) and the period (1932) for the two act musical is - descriptively, an agricultural landscape, bright sun-light, hot climate, windy and dusty - which Ming Cho Lee totally ignored in his choice of a related theatrical musical color scheme. Braden knew the Salinas territory since the Braden Twins had been raised in Northern California. Braden was amused to watch Ming Cho Lee, as he would hunch, bending at his waist, to peer at a miniature set model on the designer's work table, mumbling aloud to himself, "does this look to much like a "Jo Mielizner" ?".
- "The Wide World of Sports - The Main Event" - an "ABC exclusive television prime-time Sunday night Frank Sinatra concert special event" was produced primarily by the ABC News Division. After his self imposed theatrical performance exile and "retirement" - Sinatra, at age 58, decided to initiate a "come-back celebration event" asking his manager Jerry Weintraub (age 36, b.9:26:1937-d.7:6:2015, d.77yrs) to make the exclusive deal. Sinatra and his business manager Weintraub, as the Executive Producer, approached ABC Television News Division director Roone Arledge with their exclusive television special concert offer. ABC's news sports-caster Howard Cosell acted as host. As Producer, Roone Arldedge's primary second in command assistant, Roger Goodman, acted as the event's coordinator, supervisor, and as an assistant director, planning and staging the television concert special. [Roone Arledge, at age 30 in 1961, began employment with the New York City DuMont Television Network as a stage manager. Roger Goodman, at age 30, began his television career at Chicago's ABC affiliate WBKB as a television stage manager]. Both Arledge and Goodman, joined the New York City ABC news division about the same time. Roone Arledge's aggressive talent was recognized and was promoted to the position of director of the ABC News division. Arledge promoted Goodman to function as his sport-news division first assistant. Roger Goodman's ambition was to direct, and considered himself a designer - a frustrated scenic stage designer, commandeering a network title for the "design-look" of ABC news programming. Roger Goodman helm-ed the production package conceptual meetings. Sinatra wanted the Madison Square Garden arena because of the enormous audience capacity to stage the live color television special broadcast. Sinatra and Weintraub, and the ABC sports-news division came up with the show's-specific title from the boxing-ring events usually staged at the "Garden Arena's" showcase boxing ring events. In early preliminary production meetings, a Hollywood Art Director chosen by Weintraub was flown to New York City, to design the Sinatra stage and orchestra setting. Goodman and the west coast designer-art director did not get along because the designer would not follow nor agree with Roger Goodman's design concepts for the "design-look" of the Sinatra concert special. When Roone Arledge was told by Jerry Weintraub, the Hollywood Art Director John DeCuir's over-scale fee - to design and art direct the Sinatra show, Roone Arledge sent Weintraub's Mr. Hollywood Art Director back to Los Angeles. John Braden, one of ABC News' staff unique creative and imaginative production designers (an IATSE #829 art director-scenic designer), was anointed to design the Garden Arena's center platform performance and orchestra stage area following Roger Goodman's orders. Braden knew how to get along with Roger Goodman. The television event stage setting would appear like a boxing ring. Roger Goodman dictated that the Madison Square Garden arena center ring be the focal point for all of the color television cameras televising the concert event, The color television cameras were located around the circumference of the Garden Arena. Roger Goodman insisted that the center white circle with-in a black square stage should have a cartoon-style-Frank Sinatra-black line painted-caricature, to be painted in full scale on the stage's center ring white circle dais-stage floor. During production meetings, John Braden advised Roger Goodman "that like a Busby Berkeley overhead shot, a television color camera had to hang directly over the circle's caricature drawing in order to view the painted detail properly, and would exhibit the scope of the Garden Arena audience foot-print". Roger Goodman could not deal with any one coming up with an idea that he hadn't thought of first. Goodman brushed off, ignoring Braden's suggestion, for an over-head camera shot of Sinatra standing below performing in the center circle ring surrounded by the arena's spectators. Goodman dictating that "his one camera location" would be sufficient for the "best shot" of the featured Sinatra caricature. Roger insisted his ring-side camera positions were all that was necessary to focus and view the stage floor painted caricature. John Braden asked one of ABC's staff graphic division's excellent caricature artist-designer members to illustrate Frank Sinatra's profile. This caricature was painted on the center white stage floor. The ABC engineering department, lighting division, and carpenter shop prepared the Madison Square Garden installation, which was coordinated with the Madison Square Garden's professional Broadway union house stage technicians. Camera and the concert performance rehearsals were scheduled for Wednesday, Thursday, and a complete cast rehearsal on Friday, the 12th, all directed by Bill Caruthers. A complete video-taped show dress rehearsal transcription recording, with an invited audience, was performed on Saturday night, October 13th. This video-taped performance was archived and studied the following Sunday morning. After Saturday night's initial dress rehearsal concluded, Roone Aldredge ordered Roger Goodman's "Sinatra center ring caricature" be painted OUT of the stage's dais-circle floor. Not taking responsibility for the caricature set creation, Goodman blamed the caricature on their ABC production designer. Roone Aldredge opposed the caricature's intrusive look because the caricature design did not visually read as a caricature with Bill Caruther's camera angle coverage. With Broadway union jurisdiction, ABC network studio scenic artists were barred, not allowed to paint out the floor caricature. Only Madison Square Garden "Broadway in-house union scenic artists" were allowed in the house, performing the caricature's total wipe-out at Broadway's double-time union rates. Roone Arldedge's wave of the wand cost the network an enormous added over-run expenditure. The following Sunday night's performance was performed on a simple white center ring circle floor. Roger Goodman, who always refused to acknowledge his production team, as usual, took all the credit for the Sinatra concert's visual production concept, "look" and style.
- On November 2, 1970 before his self-imposed retirement, Frank Sinatra (b.December 12, 1915), at age 54, recorded the last songs for his personal record label Reprise Records. Sinatra announced his show-biz retirement the following June, 1971 at age 55, at a concert in the Hollywood Bowl to raise money for the Academy of Motion Picture and Television Relief Fund. He finished the concert with a "rousing" performance of "That's Life", and stated "Excuse me while I disappear" as he left the Hollywood Bowl stage. Sinatra told LIFE journalist Thomas Thompson that "I've got things to do, like the first thing is not to do anything at all for eight months ... maybe a year" ... while his wife Barbara Sinatra later claimed that Sinatra had grown "tired of entertaining people, especially when all they really wanted were the same old tunes he had long ago become bored by". Frank's catalogue of song material in his repertoire were his stand-by populist list. Ironically, Frank refused to learn new song material. Any composer offering Sinatra their material was usually turned away unless their song would guarantee Frank Sinatra a winning single chart performance. While he was in retirement, President Richard Nixon asked Sinatra to perform at a Young Voters Rally in anticipation of the upcoming campaign. Sinatra obliged and chose to sing "My Kind of Town" for the rally held in Chicago on October 20, 1972. A CBS TV prime-time special, arranged by his manager Jerry Weintraub, for Magnavox Presents Frank Sinatra, "Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back" on a Sunday prime-time night on November 18, 1973, reuniting Sinatra with his MGM "Anchors Away" (1945) and "On The Town" (1950) feature film musical co-star Gene Kelly, each performing individually and again together. The studio audience members featured Hollywood elite-royalty star personalities including Fred Astaire, Lucille Ball and her husband Gary Morton, Richard Conte, Sammy Davis Jr., Jane Morgan Weintraub, his son Frank Sinatra Jr. and Barbara Sinatra. Sinatra, at age 58, decided timing was ripe for his return to his entertainment concert schedule, having his manager Jerry Weintraub contract ABC Television to book and produce an exclusive "live color televised concert" in New York City's Madison Square Garden. What is unusual for this televised exclusive engagement is that Sinatra's usual 1960s prime-time network color television specials had always been video-taped on a "closed set" at NBC's two largest Burbank color television studio stages, on stage 2 and 4, never with an audience present. The network specials were edited and given an air date several months after being video-taped. On a Sunday prime-time night, October 13th, 1974, an ABC exclusive television entertainment "Frank Sinatra special live concert event" was staged and televised by "ABC's Wide World of Sports - The Main Event", for his triumphant exclusive return to show-biz and out of his self imposed retirement, televised in color and broadcast "live" from New York City's Madison Square Garden arena. The televised "live" show's audience featured many iconic and famous personalities from the Broadway stage, from the Hollywood film and television entertainment industry, important professionals from social, political and sports society elite. The New York City's Madison Square Garden televised concert was later released as a Reprise Records' album under the title "The Main Event - Live". Backing Sinatra was bandleader Woody Herman and the Young Thundering Herd, who accompanied Sinatra on a European tour later that October month. Sinatra initially developed problems with his vocal cords during the comeback due to a prolonged period without singing. That 1974 Christmas he performed at the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas, and returned to Caesars Palace the following month in January 1975, at age 59, despite previously vowing never to perform there again. He began what Barbara Sinatra describes as a "massive comeback tour of the United States, Europe, the Far East and Australia". There-after Frank Sinatra resumed performing on a regular schedule at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada.
- ABC News Division's staff scenic designer John Braden was assigned by ABC's studio facility production director Dave Eschelbacher and his art-department manager Jack Kelly to 'production design' the Roone Arledge produced 1974 ABC Wide World of Sports' television musical event special "Madison Square Garden - Frank Sinatra: The Main Event". ABC's Wide World-of-Sports associate director Roger Goodman, producer Roone Arledge's associate second in command, dictated specifics related to the over-all Madison Square Garden arena's facility staging requirements. One related issue which Goodman ordered Braden to manufacture - was to cover, to make all of the arena-audience's-entrance/exit tunnels - be draped in 'French blue' velour fabric in order to darken the arena's interior during the live color televised event. Braden, puzzled by a pompous Roger Goodman's specific color terminology - "French blue" ... Braden, puzzled, asked his "French" - scenic-artist friend, "What is French blue-?-" The Frenchman replied, "the Napolean Bonaparte's Battle tri-color French National Flag - Red, White and Ultramarine Blue." So, Braden had the ABC Drapery department manufacture 'Napolean ultramarine blue' drapes for the tunnel entrances and for Sinatra's back-stage dressing room corridor entrance curtain. Reflecting on the televised stage set design, Braden remarked, that, "besides the ABC Graphic artist's Len Berzofsky's art work for the center stage painted Sinatra caricature, the Sinatra stage-stair unit built for the square 48"-high-by-36'-0" square dais boxing ring stage performance platform was the most expensive piece of scenery built for the garden arena, enabling Sinatra to ascend-and-descend on-and-off his pseudo arena centered boxing ring stage. All the scenic artist and construction carpenter-prop maker's daily television pay rates were up-graded to the Broadway pay-rate-scale for the TV special's studio built scenery, except that his designer weekly TV scenic design pay-rate remained the standard TV staff designer rate, not the Broadway stage-designer weekly fee rate. Roger Goodman had officiously insisted a b&w caricature of Frank Sinatra be painted on the white circle centered on the top-black painted boxing ring stage. After the Saturday night concert 'televised bank' dress audience rehearsal was completed, Roone Arledge ordered the Sinatra black & white "executed line-caricature" art work be painted out, on early Sunday morning, at double gold-time Broadway-scenic-charge-rates, for the Sunday evening televised live concert. Sinatra's orchestra was specifically located directly behind Sinatra, related to the center ring stage set. Sinatra had a left ear hearing loss, which required the piano, the drummer and bass player be positioned directly beside the conductor as Sinatra's rhythm section, all very close to the center performance ring. The stage's four-corner 'ears' sound speakers, which Sinatra requested, enabled Sinatra to hear his own voice feed-back sound during his musical performance.
- During the preliminary evening Saturday night audience camera dress 'video-taped-banked' rehearsal and the final Sunday night "live event color-broadcast" of the "Madison Square Garden - Frank Sinatra: The Main Event," a minimum ABC's studio page staff was used in the Madison Square Garden arena for audience control-or-supervision, this was left to the Garden Arena's ushers. The ABC studio's engineering, lighting, technical (stage hands) and property persons were on sight; Roger Goodman had never given any specific orders to any of the stage and property technicians (personel) regarding the audience, nor been given specific instructions to keep the center ring stage dais area cleared of any debris. In the consciousness of a whole generation in the mortality and legacy of Frank Sinatra, Sinatra was a style icon. It is hard to estimate that Sinatra's powerful fiefdom would recapture his cultural zeitgeist of the moment. Braden observed prior to the Sunday night televised event, that the concert performance TV special 'invited' guest audience members would bring bouquets of flowers and gift-wrapped presents for Frank, into the Garden Arena, placing their floral and gift-wrapped presents on to the top edge of the 48" high performance-dais-platform's perimeter stage. The Madison Square Garden and the ABC page staff ushers were not allowed to touch anything on the ABC television's theatrical stage set. Concerned that Sinatra, during his performance, might stumble upon the stage edge's altar-shrine of token gifts, Braden immediately took it upon himself, prior to the live color televised broadcast, personally, to pick-up each gift, placing the gifts in a box he carried, placing the "Sinatra-pirate-loot" inside Sinatra's Madison Square Garden star dressing room prior to Sinatra's performance. Braden commented, "the most unusual and unbelievable Sinatra-gift shrine that Sinatra stimulated from his ultimate fans for his televised live performance - and his first appearance in New York City's Madison Square Garden Arena - Sinatra was the conquering king".
- In the summer of 1967, at the age of 39, Rosemary Clooney (b: 05/23/1928, d: 06/29/2002, deceased: age 74), negotiated through her talent manager Walter Murphy, a cross country musical performance schedule, booking a night-club U.S. swing tour for Rosemary Clooney, to revive her jazz vocalist career. Murphy hired Hub Braden to design a stage prop for RIosemary's staged musical performance in a hotel dinner-night-club-show room. Rosemary wanted a theatrical set-prop that would travel with her performance act, displaying photographs of her children: Miguel Ferrer, Rafael Ferrer, Gabriel Ferrer, Monsita Ferrer, Maria Ferrer. Braden designed the set prop like a giant blade-fan, which unfolded to reveal each child's photograph. Knowing and respecting the multiple talents of Troy Barrett's technical skill to deliver the specially built prop, Braden hired Troy to build the blade-fan set prop. Troy also had to build the wooden-crate to move the prop on Rosemary Clooney's appearance circuit tour. Because Rosemary didn't provide the photographs earlier than requested, Braden had to deliver the Black & White photographic-blow-ups to his twin brother John in New York City. Brother John had to supervise the first set-up of the stage prop in the New York City's Americana Hotel dining room show lounge. During this initial installation, John applied each photograph with synthetic glue to each fan blade . The original individual children's photograph, photographed and provided by Rosemary, were shot in such haste, processing the small photo blown-up, the photographs were out-of focus. John had to use a soft carbon pencil to touch-up and seal the graphite from the carbon pencil material residue; John, defining, detailing facial features on each child's photograph in graphite.
- The ABC Television Production Services Division Group's Art Department in the 1950s, 60s, '70s and '80s was under the ABC Division Director Dave Eschulbacher; the ABC Art Department was managed by Jack Kelly; the Art Department included the following staff scenic designers and art directors: Richard "Dick" Bernstein, John M. Braden, Victor DiNapoli, Gene Fabricatore, Ed Flesh, Tom John, Romain Johnston, Alan Kimmel, Elizabeth "Betty" Matta, Kevin Rupnik, James Ryan, Jan Scott, Sy Tomashoff, James "Jim" Trittipo, Gene Tunezi, Barry Williams, and Bob Wright. Scenic Designer Bob Wright's primary assignment was "game shows." Promptly arriving at his ABC third floor designer's cubicle at 7 A.M., Bob Wright would remove his blue blazer, either putting the blazer-coat on a hanger, hanging the jacket on a hook on the designer's cubicle, or hanging the blazer on the back of his desk's drafting stool, opening his daily New York Times to the crossword puzzle, positioning the opened newspaper smack in the middle of his drafting table. Wright would then disappear for the entire day. Wright would mysteriously appear, exactly at 3:00 P.M., throw the N.Y.Times newspaper in the paper trash basket, put on his blazer and depart the studio's third floor art department. His routine was a daily function! No one ever questioned his daily office absence.
- The ABC-TV News and Sports Division producer Roger Goodman had garnered a fancy "creative director" title with his network position. Goodman on his trip schedules would see something while waiting in an airport, or watching television commercials, inspiring him to create a new home base set for a sports interview show. On a late summer early morning, designers Alan Kimmel, John Braden and Gene Fabricatore were summoned for a proposal meeting for a new sports interview program the ABC-TV network planned for the new television season. When the three designers assembled in Roger Goodman's office, the sports creative director explained the program's format, and proceeded to re-play an AT&T commercial for their viewing, directing each set designer to present him with a set sketch proposal for his new show idea based upon the AT&T commercial's setting. Returning to their art department's office area, Braden pulled Gene Fabricatore aside, "Alan is Goodman's ABC Sports' art director! Gene, IF YOU put pencil to paper and design a set sketch for Roger's new show, I will personally break every pencil you pick up, and break every finger in your hand!" When Alan showed Braden his tracing paper "knock-off" set-sketch proposal, John said, "Alan, print the sketch in reverse! That way, the set idea will fool Goodman into viewing your proposal as a different set idea as viewed in the video-tape commercial".
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