TRACKING A VANISHING VIDEO TROVE

One of the many great things about the advent of the VCR is that even the most trivial TV show is being saved--somewhere, by somebody. It wasn’t always so, and that drives Los Angeles archivist Paul Surratt up the wall.

“It just destroys me to think about what’s been lost,” says the founder of the nonprofit Archives of Music Preservation and co-founder of a subsequent business venture called Research Video. The company locates, copies and stores both classic and not-so-classic videotapes.

What’s left, that is.

Surratt and Research Video co-founder John Delgatto can weave as many horror tales as Stephen King. One of the most incredible instances of tape erasure they cite is the loss of “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson from 1962 to 1972. “Except for a few shows, it doesn’t exist,” Surratt said in a phone conversation from his North Hollywood office. “Remember the time when Jimi Hendrix played, or when Lennon and McCartney came out and talked about Apple Records? Gone.”

Talk/variety shows seem to have been particularly ill preserved. Surratt notes the erasure of the later version of “The Steve Allen Show,” “The Joey Bishop Show,” “The David Frost Show” and “The Les Crane Show” (also called “ABC’s Nightlife”).

Why shed a tear over something like the loss of “The Les Crane Show”? “That show,” informed Surratt, “had an hourlong interview with Bob Dylan and the first American appearance of the Rolling Stones.”

Fans of rock, pop and folk music had better brace themselves. There’s more bad news:

--All the tapes of the memorable rock showcase “Hullabaloo” on NBC were erased--including the British Invasion’s appearances during the program’s January 1965-August 1966 run. (The Beatles were on in January, 1966.) Only a few black-and-white kinescope (filmed from tape) versions exist, and Research Video stores them for the owner.

--All the tapes of the most notable folk-music show ever broadcast, ABC’s “Hootenanny” (April 1963-September 1964).

--Every copy of NBC’s “The Music Shop” (1959), which featured--in color--performances by Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, Bobby Darin and the only known national TV appearance by Richie Valens.

--”The Allan Freed Show,” a syndicated show that captured performances by the top R&B; acts of the time (1959).

Except for the Freed tapes, which were destroyed in a fire, all of these examples were lost due to erasure. “The problem was,” Surratt noted in his flavorful South Carolina accent, “when the networks first started using a great deal of videotape back in the late ‘50s, they were sold on it partly because one tape could be used again and again: ‘Think of the money we’ll save!’ . . . “

Too bad they didn’t think about saving some irreplaceable video recordings. “Sometimes they’d keep a log for a tape to see how many times it had been used, and when we come across one of these it’ll list this music show and that news show and this speech by President Kennedy--all erased. It makes you sick.”

Surratt’s interest in preserving video and film started when he worked in the shipping department of a video duplicating company. Previously, he’d been in a band called the Shilohs, with Gram Parsons, and he began to wonder if any of the TV shows the group had appeared on still existed. He found out they’d been destroyed, and in the process learned how so many other TV moments were lost forever, too. While researching this situation, he was asked by Manhattan Transfer’s Tim Hauser to see if he could locate the vocal group’s appearance on CBS’ “Camera Three.” Jimmy Rodgers, pop-country singer of “Honeycomb” fame, had a similar request.

Soon Surratt began envisioning “some kind of museum” that would keep or at least be able to track down copies of old television programs, catalogue their contents and preserve other related materials. He’s still dreaming of that museum--and of someone who would set up a fund to finance the project, as former CBS Chairman William Paley did with the Museum of Broadcasting in New York. But in the meantime he started the more modest Archives of Music Preservation, devoted to maintaining music performances on film and television.

“But I like to eat,” Surratt laughed. “And one day my attorney pointed out that I could take care of the things I love and still eat, too.” The solution was forming Research Video with Sierra Records president and record producer John Delgatto. Though Research Video also stores tapes and other related materials, it’s completely separate from the nonprofit Archives and chiefly acts as finder and supplier for those seeking particular video segments.

“For example, if a celebrity wants to find an old show he was on, we’ll find it, clear it with the owner and get them a copy if it’s possible.” The celebrity, though, has to sign something saying that the copy is for personal use only. In addition, Research Video finds and supplies material for specific projects, such as documentaries on certain performers. The company has even produced a few such programs itself--most notably the excellent A&M; Home Video compilation of the Carpenters clips and television appearances, “Yesterday Once More.” “That was a labor of love for us,” says Surratt. Research not only found clips, prints and hunted down original negatives, but even re-lip-synced some of the Karen Carpenter visuals to better recordings of the songs, using delicate digital tape-speed adjustments.

Another home video the company worked on was “The Beach Boys: An American Band,” a superb documentary/compilation on the history of the legendary California rock group. This was one of the several Research Video projects involving Ron Furmanek, an East Coast expert on vintage music footage (independently he found material for “This Is Elvis” and “The Heroes of Rock ‘n’ Roll), who acts as a consultant for the company. Research also helped turn up footage for several Motown projects, including the “25th Anniversary” show and the recent Motown Time Capsules home videos.

In a mere 2 1/2 years, Research Video has compiled an impressive list of videotape and film appearances available for licensing that the company owns, exclusively represents or can obtain. Rock music is its specialty--the firm’s brochure lists more than 500 such acts--but it also owns or has access to jazz, big-band, country, folk, comedy, news, political, sports, commercials, game shows, children’s shows and general entertainment material. Information: (818) 509-0506.

Though the business side could prove lucrative for Surratt, his real wish is to someday devote all of his time to the Archives and find a proper museum to house the collection. “Not just a rock ‘n’ roll museum like they’re going to do in Cleveland,” he says, “but a place that would preserve all sorts of filmed and taped musical performances. It’s just as important to keep what we have left on Nat King Cole as it is on rock stars.”