An American Family: A Televised Life

by Jeffrey Ruoff

National Educational Television was a small organization when Craig Gilbert joined the ranks as a producer in the mid-1960s; it was run primarily by John White, president; William Kobin, head of programming; Don Dixon, head of public affairs programming; and Don Kellerman, head of cultural affairs. Gilbert was hired by Kellerman to produce a weekly program, Magazine of the Arts, and, intrigued by the politics of the counterculture, he did a show about folksingers Buffy Sainte-Marie, Tom Paxton, and Phil Ochs. He later produced and directed a program about sculptors George Segal and John Chamberlain. Magazine of the Arts was discontinued when Kellerman was fired and White discovered that Gilbert had been taken on without authorization.