Original treasures

When TV executives ask longtime producer Al Fisher what he’s done, he wants to say, “Before or after you were born?” The third act is a challenge for anyone, he says -- and in Hollywood it’s that much greater.

With the industry’s fixation on youth, in hiring as well as in content, veterans have been further marginalized by the evolution of the business.

Rather than succumbing to those twists of fate, Fisher shifted gears. Aided by the popularity of DVDs as well as affordable cameras and editing equipment, he’s turned his sights to the home video market.

“Broadcast executives in their 20s or 30s look at you like an old albatross,” said Fisher, a 64-year-old New Orleans native. “If I can’t sell my ideas to them, I’ll go directly to the public. This is a town full of people trying to reinvent themselves.”

One of his assets: archival footage of “Ted Mack and the Original Amateur Hour,” on which he was a 21-year-old talent scout. The longest-running variety program in broadcast history (1948 to 1970), it was the springboard for a host of show business names: a skinny Frank Sinatra and the Hoboken Four (“I’m Frank -- I’m looking for a job ... how about it?” the 19-year-old said to Major Edward Bowes, host of the radio version); Ann-Margret (Olson) losing out to Arturo Escobar, a Mexican novelty performer who played “Grenada” on a tree leaf; director Penny Marshall (“A League of Their Own”) in the tap-dancing troupe “The Marshallettes”; 7-year-old Gladys Knight performing “Too Young”; and the late Raul Julia (“The Kiss of the Spider Woman”), a paradigm of composure and linguistic dexterity in a musical number.

There’s also footage of future opera greats Robert Merrill, Beverly Sills and Maria Callas, and a 16-year-old classical violinist, Louis Walcott, who went on to become Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. When Fisher’s partner died, the producer became the “keeper of the flame.”

The DVD “Before ‘American Idol’: The Original Amateur Hour” should fan that flame considerably when it hits shelves Oct. 18 ($29.95). The first disc provides an overview while the second focuses on novelty acts such as an upside-down tap- dancer. Pat Boone, a three-time winner on the show, hosts the DVD, in which comedian Robert Klein reminisces about the defeat of his doo-wop group by a one-armed piano player (“He got the sympathy vote”) and Connie Francis remembers how she was talked out of playing the accordion and sang solo for the first time in public. People will be able to access the clips online at www.originalamateurhour.com, at which the DVD will also be sold.

“Amateur Hour” was the rare program that crossed over from the vaudeville stage to radio, TV and, ultimately, cable, Fisher said, sitting in his Hancock Park home office. It was the forerunner of shows such as “Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts,” “Star Search” and “American Idol” -- but a tough sell, nevertheless.

“The networks thought it skewed too old,” said Fisher, who specialized in cable fare such as the Travel Channel’s “Secrets of San Simeon With Patty Hearst” and the Emmy Award-winning syndicated show “Better Homes and Gardens Television.” “DVDs don’t have to appeal to the masses. ... After looking at the demo tape, four PBS stations in the top 10 markets have committed to airing a one-hour version.”

Fisher’s project got an unexpected boost three years ago when Dennis Hedlund rang him up. The chairman of the New Jersey-based Kultur Video, a distributor of arts DVDs, he asked for a copy of a 1968 segment in which he performed stand-up comedy on the show. Ultimately, he agreed to finance the “Amateur Hour” DVD, which fit into his product line and cost less than $30,000.

“Our DVDs are aimed primarily at collectors -- and our focus is conserving the arts,” said the executive, whose offerings are as varied as “The Poetry of Ireland” and “A Tribute to Alvin Ailey.” Fisher, who says he is still paying for one of two $100,000 Avid editing machines he and then-partner George Merlis bought in the late 1980s, this time spent less than $15,000 on a Final Cut Pro 4 editing system, used by film and TV professionals. By adopting a do-it-yourself approach, he sidestepped a $100-an-hour editor and cut $10,000 from the tab.

For his efforts, he’ll receive a cut of the profits. Also on his plate: “The Amazing Kreskin,” another retro DVD (this one about the veteran “mentalist”), due out from Kultur on Oct. 25.

Boone, 71, didn’t hesitate when asked to participate. Had he not appeared on that show, he’s convinced, he would have followed his original plan: teaching in Tennessee or Georgia. And he too had confronted ageism in the industry. Four years ago, he created the Gold Label, a company that sends out the music of vocal veterans Roger Williams, Glen Campbell, Patti Page and Jack Jones, who were ignored in contemporary Hollywood. Like Fisher, he has pursued an alternate path, selling CDs and DVDs on the website patsgold.com. The product is also distributed by Pyramid Records and Sony/RED -- but that’s the exception.

“Music executives have largely abandoned older artists in favor of the Eminems, the Snoop Doggs, the Jessica Simpsons,” Boone said. “They’ve also abandoned millions of adults with memories.... DVDs and Internet marketing help. By enabling us to sidestep the retail logjam, they’re picking up the slack.”