1931 was an exciting year for television, at least in the area around New York City. The C. Francis Jenkins station, W2XCR, moved from Jersey City to 655 Fifth Avenue in New York. CBS opened W2XAB at 485 Madison Avenue. And the De Forest Radio Company station, W2XCD, in Passaic, New Jersey went to daily (except Sunday) programming. It would be New York’s first TV since a short attempt in 1928.
We don’t mean shadow action or static pictures or a stuffed dog revolving on a turntable like other stations. We mean actual shows though, granted, old films took up some of the air time.
The De Forest people also knew the value of publicity as it sent out its weekly programme schedule to the newspapers. The New York Herald Tribune printed it, starting March 8th. The New York Sun went even better, giving plenty of space to television in its Sunday radio section.
And it was all over, just like that. By July, the De Forest station was only airing films; the Jenkins station concentrated on programming. By 1933, TV was in a hiatus on the U.S. East Coast. Mechanical, whirring-disc television was scrapped and tests were made to perfect electronic TV. Television emerged again in 1939 when NBC’s W2XBS began programming during the New York World’s Fair.
This post is a reference guide to the first few months of regular TV programming in 1931, a pretty arcane subject. But it’s one that should be encapsulated somewhere.
First, from the Herald Tribune of February 24th:
Technical advances and a steadily increasing audience has led the De Forest Radio Company to put its television broadcasts on a definite daily schedule, which began yesterday from the De Forest station, W2XCD, at Passaic, N.J.In a recent study of television progress the company found that its programs could be received on more than 10,000 television instruments in states from the Atlantic to the Rockies. Heretofore the De Forest programs have been seen and heard frequently, for long periods almost daily, but not until now has the broadcasting been made for a feature for each week day.
The programs are sent out three times daily, with the most interesting subjects reserved for a ninety-minute broadcast beginning each night at 9 o’clock. A third of the evening broadcast is reserved for direct pickup subjects and for the remaining hour motion picture films are used, the visual portion coming through on W2XCD, operating on 2,050 kilocycles, while the sound accompaniment is sent out through the regular De Forest radio station, W2XCR, on a wave length of 187 meters.
Last night’s program opened with a talk on George Washington by Charles Rachjen, whose departure from the scanning disk made way for a Biblical drama, “The Unwelcome Guest,” at which the Saviour was not accorded the same honors as other guests at the feast at Simon’s house. To keep the mood after the ancient story ended, M. Forkus brought on his violin for another fifteen minutes.
The rest of the programme was spirited. A view of mountain climbers in the Canadian Rockies was followed by a pictorial demonstration of “Progress in the Navy” and, possibly to placate listeners with pacifist tendencies, the broadcast came to a close with a comedy, “Just For Fun,” which the De Forest program writer described as concerning “a boy who plays war ‘just for fun’ and finds the consequences not at all funny. A television addition to the great mass of modern literature proving war not to be glorious.”
Other “direct pick-up subjects” for this weeks’ programs will include the De Forest Little Symphony Orchestra and a mandolin concert for tonight, a boxing match and a piano concert tomorrow night, tenor solos and a television lesson on Thursday, and a studio party on Saturday.
The motion picture presentations during the week will take television enthusiasts around the world in an armchair. Tonight a picture of life in a desert will yield to another Navy film, and the program will conclude with a camera record of hunting grizzly bears in Alaska. During the rest of the week hunting and adventure pictures will alternate with films concerning Theodore Roosevelt and Benjamin Franklin, Saturday’s program coming to a smash close when sight and sound combine to give listeners an exciting fifteen minutes in the cab of a Twentieth Century Limited locomotive on its way to Albany.
The Sun of February 28, 1931 reported on the following week:
W2XCD’s programmes are to the right. The films likely came from educational/industrial catalogues. Horseless Farm is from 1922, So This is Eden was produced by Caravel in 1921 and is about the merits of Hoover vacuum cleaners.Tigers of the North may go back to 1919.
Here are some short summaries from the pages of the Sun of TV programming for the following week. The listings are at the bottom of the post.
March 7, 1931
Regular broadcasts of television are now being transmitted through W2XCD, Passaic station of the De Forest Radio Company. The programs, which consist of actual pick-ups from the studio interspersed with talkie film subjects, are arranged each day, excepting Sunday from 9 to 10:30 P. M.
The transmission system of this station utilizes a 48-line scanner for the images working on a frequency of 2035 k. c. (147 meters). Sound is sent out on 1604 k. c. (187 meters).
W1XAV, in Brookline, Mass., operating on 2870 kilocycles, is on the air daily except Sundays and holidays from 12 to 1 P. M. and from 7:30 to 10:30 P. M. Forty-eight lines per frame are employed.
W2XBS of the National Broadcasting Company in New York city operates on 2150 kilocycles. Scanning is done at 20 frames per second at 60 lines per frame. Hours of operation are from 2 to 5 P. M. and 7 to 10 P. M. daily except Sundays and holidays.
W2XR, Radio Pictures' experimental television station in Long Island City, broadcasts motion pictures daily except Sundays and holidays from 4 to 10 P. M. on 2,920 kilo-cycles, and in addition from 5 to 7 P. M. on 2,150 kilocycles. The transmitter is synchronized with the public lighting service in Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Westchester (as for north as Peekskill), Queens and Nassau counties. The usual 48 lines, 15 frames a second at 900 r. p. m. are employed. Its associated sound station, W2XAR, operates on 1,604 kilocycles from 8 to 9 P. M., and at irregular intervals between 5 and 8 P. M. on Thursdays.
W3XAD, the RCA-Victor experimental television station at Camden, N. J., operates on a frequency of 2,150 kilocycles. The scanning method utilizes 60 lines a frame, but subject to change. Visual broadcasting schedule is irregular.
W3XAK, the experimental television station of the National Broadcasting System at Bound Brook, N. J., operates on a frequency of 2,100 to 2,200 kilocycles with 60 lines a frame. Its visual schedule also is irregular.
W8XAV, the Westinghouse experimental television station at East Pittsburgh, Pa., operates also on a frequency of 2,100 to 2,200 kilocycles with 60 lines a frame at 20 frames a second. Its visual broadcast has no set period.
W3XR, the Jenkins television station at Wheaton, Md., is on the air daily except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays from 7 to 9 P. M. on 2,065 kilocycles, using 48 lines or 15 frames a second at 900 r. p. m.
W9XAO, in Chicago, operates its television station on 2,050 kilocycles daily except Sundays from 1:45 to 2 P. M ., 4:30 to 5 P. M. and from 7:30 to a 8 P. M. Forty-five lines a frame are employed. Its associated sound new station is WIBO on 560 kilocycles.
One problem for the several hundred people with TV sets in the New York City area was that some stations scanned at 48 lines, others at 60. Unless you had two wheels, one for each type of scan, you couldn’t get every station.
This week marked the beginning of Alice Remsen’s singing career on TV. Remsen was a widow—she and her husband Arthur were in vaudeville—who worked as a librarian but her contralto voice was heard on the NBC network. She later recorded children’s songs for Bluebird records and started her own record label in 1956. She was born in England in 1886 and died in 1974.
More short films dot the schedule. “David Goes to Baffin Land” was made from a 1927 book by George Palmer Putnam. “Poisoned Daggers” shows the diseases caused by the mosquito, as well as deserted picnic grounds and malaria-infested towns. “Great Caesar's Ghost” is about Venice and Milan, and has animated sequences. “From Swamps to Workshop” is the week-by-week story of the building of Western Electric's cable and switchboard manufacturing works at Kearney, N.J. And “The Doings of Turp and Tine” is an animated comedy showing production of gum and Hercules steam-distilled wood turpentine, presented by Hercules Powder Company, Wilmington, Delaware. And a brief story in the April 1931 edition of The Educational Screen reports “People Who Live By The Sea,” “American Ideals,” “Thomas Jefferson” and “The Journalist” were DeVry School films.
March 14, 1931
No Sun story. A couple of cartoons of note involving cats. “Puss in Boots” and “Felix the Cat Scoots through Scotland” were both released in 1926. There’s a rare spot newscast with “Willie Zae Jackson.” His middle name was “Zay” and he was an interviewer on a number of radio stations around New York in the early ‘30s. “Climbing Mt. Ben Nevis” stars a Model A Ford enacting the film title. And “Scout's Letter Home” is about fun in a Scouts’ winter camp and lessons on how they take care of their shoes, produced by William J. Ganz Co. in New York.
March 21, 1931
No Sun story again. W2XCD began this week to take a feature film and cut it into parts as a makeshift serial. The film this week was “Pinocchio,” which I assume was the 1911 version made overseas. The interestingly named “Greece Through a Doughnut” features scenes in Athens and ruins along with comedy sequences of a sailor paying his way with doughnuts. I can find nothing about the intriguing “Pa and Ma go to a Palmist.” Felix the Cat Scoots through Scotland” is from 1926.
April 4, 1931
When W2XCR, the new television station, goes on the air with its first television program a number of department stores in this city will have sets on display in order that the general public may get their first glimpse of television. Among some of the stores contemplating such demonstrations are R. H. Macy & Co., John Wanamaker, Bloomngdale’s and Abraham & Strauss in Brooklyn.
The Sun has no TV summary. James Kirkwood and Edna Murphy were the leads in “The Police Patrol,” a Lumas release in 1925, while “Paths in Palestine” was a one-reeler offered by the Navy Recruiting Bureau in sound or silent version, showing aspects of the Holy Land which figured in Christ's life. “Felix Laughs It Off” is a 1926 cartoon where he gets worried, turns thin, then gets hit by a book entitled “Laugh and Grow Fat.”
April 11, 1931
Already the response of the television audience is being considered in the selection of artists who are scheduled to appear at the studio of W2XCD in Passaic. Individuals whose offerings have appealed to the listeners return this week at the request of the station's program executives. In addition, the quality of programs should be improved through the use of a new camera which, will permit of greater flexibility in pick-up. It has just been installed and will permit the televising of several people, the following of a performer about the stage and the televising of simple playlets, which are now being prepared.
The film portion of the week's program will include a serial, several comics and an animated cartoon.
A Technical Offering.
Monday evening Albert E. Sonn will open the week at W2XCD with “Answers to Radio Questions” The other direct pick-up feature will be announced later. Movie fans among the audience will be taken from the studio to the far Sierra Nevada Mountains, where a boy, lost in the mountains, is saved by a dog that has been raised among wolves. For those who have not by now guessed the week's serial it is Jack London’s famous “Call of theWild.” "In the Wake of the Buccaneers,” the other film for the evening, takes us to the West Indies.
Tuesday evening Everett Walker will speak on "The History of Television." A continuation of the serial will be followed by some musical selections and the short comedy “Sixty Minutes From Broadway."
Patterson Returns as Singer.
Wednesday evening's television program will open with John Patterson, tenor, who has been seen but briefly before in this medium. Several weeks ago he accompanied Miss Suzanne Kenyon and took a bow for his fine work at the piano. This evening he comes in the role to which he is better known, a singer. Besides the continuation of the serial, "Old Mother Hubbard," the famous collection of nursery rhymes, will be shown in pictoral form.
Leaving for the first time her usual place in the week's television program, Miss Alice Remsen will forsake her Saturday engagement and appear before W2XCD fans on Thursday evening instead. In addition "Call of the Wild" will be continued. Moreover, a film editorial by Bruce Barton, "Unhappy Husbands," will be televised. It gives a few comic reasons why some happy homes last in the Domestic Relations Courts, interwoven with a sound underlying message for men and women.
The Irvines Appear.
On Friday evening Harry Irvine, who first graced the television camera more than a month ago, will be back. His talk on the drama, television's possible future place therein and his short, decisive character sketches are well remembered. This week he will be seen and heard in a combination dramatic recital ac companied by music, an exceedingly novel and entertaining form of presentation.
Earlier in the evening Mrs. Irvine, English actress and teacher of dramatic, will be seen and heard in a group of character sketches, chiefly comic. "Call of the Wild" will come to a close and the program concludes with the historical patriotic film, "Hats Off."
“Call of the Wild” could be a 1921 release of the Pacific Film Company instead of the 1923 Hal Roach production “The Call of the Wild.” “Sixty Minutes From Broadway” was a 1927 novelty from Castle Films featuring alligator farms and orange groves around Los Angeles and Pasadena. “Unhappy Husbands” was a 1923 short released by Second National Pictures, while “Felix Minds the Kids” is from October 1922.
April 18, 1931
On Monday evening Charles Rathjen will speak on "The High Spots of Life" and Charles Huffman of the DeForest engineering staff will deliver the seventh of his series of lectures on "Fundamentals of Television," which were interrupted several weeks ago. The first episode of the film serial, "The Early Bird," will be shown, having to do with Johnny's rise from milkman with an early morning route, through many vicissitudes to a happy ending. The program ends with an exciting film on life saving featuring Capt. Raynor of the United States Life Saving Corps. Tuesday's guest artist on W2XCD will be Miss Florence Powell, pianist, who will be seen and heard in two groups of piano selections, both popular and classical. The serial film will be continued, to which will be added "The Hunting Ground of Hiawatha." This picture follows Longfellow's immortal epic, the sub-titles consisting of excerpts from the poem. The televising of the film will be accompanied by the reading of "Hiawatha.”
On Wednesday W2XCD will welcome for the first time the appearance of Miss Anne Ver Planck. Miss Ver Planck will sing some of the best known roles in various Gilbert and Sullivan operas, attired In fit-ting costume for each. Among the characters she will perform are Ruth from "Pirates of Penzance," Katisha from "Mikado," Buttercup, featuring the ever popular "Poor Little Buttercup," from "Pinafore" and Mad Margaret from the infrequently heard "Ruddigore." Between numbers, while changing costume, the audience will hear a cello obbligato. In addition to the serial, the film portion of the program will consist of the juvenile picture "My Barefoot Boy."
Thursday, April 23, will be celebrated the world over as the birthday of the Bard of Avon, William Shakespeare. W2XCD will inaugurate a Shakespearian television pro-gram. Several of the better known scenes from his plays will be enacted, selections read and Shakespearian songs sung. The film will consist of "The Early Bird" and "Shanghai Jesters," showing Blue-jackets in the Far East.
On Friday the television audience of W2XCD will hear Allen B. Du Mont, chief engineer of the DeForest Radio Company, speak on the new muli-mu vacuum tube. Later in the evening some musical selections will be given, while "The Early Bird" will be continued, followed by the film, "At the Race Track."
“The Early Bird” was a 1924 Warners release. One of the actors was Bradley Barker, later well-known in New York radio for animal imitations. “Shanghai Jesters” was a 1929 Paramount picture starring some vaudeville teams. “Felix Brings Home the Bacon” is from November 1924.
Meanwhile, on April 18, CBS announced it would open station W2XAB about June 1st at 485 Madison Avenue, and The Billboard reported it planned to operate on 2,150 Kcs. daily except Sundays and holidays between 2 and 5 p.m. and 7 and 10 p.m. The station didn’t begin testing until June 30th and finally held its gala debut broadcast on July 21st.
April 25, 1931
Station W2XCD of Passaic will devote the week to a varied program of films and direct pick-up subjects, featuring local talent. Residents of Passaic and neighboring communities have been seen and heard over W2XCD before. This week they monopolize the direct pick-up programs to the exclusion of all others except Alice Remsen, who maintains her weekly place on Saturday evening's television bill of fare.
On Monday evening Ralph Kirbery of Paterson will be the guest artist. Mr. Kirbery is a barytone, and although this will be his television debut, he has been heard over several radio stations. He will be heard in two groups of songs. The weekly film serial is "Alice Through the Looking Glass," from Lewis Carroll's classic fantasy. In addition, "French Girl Athletes" will be televised, depicting Suzanne Lenglen and the French field day at Pershing Stadium in Paris.
Program by Garfield.
Tuesday's direct pick-up from W2XCD will consist of the Garfield program for National Boys’ Week celebration. As part of the local celebration of Garfield, adjacent to Passaic, the boys of the community will provide a varied musical program, including selections on violin, banjo, clarinet, accordion, harmonica, trumpet, guitar and ukulele. In addition, tap dancing and singing will round out the representation from Garfield. "Alice" will be continued. The one-reel comedy, "Play Ball," will also be televised.
On Wednesday evening W2XCD will welcome for the first time Mr. and Mrs. George W. Grant of Passaic. The direct pick-up feature for the evening resolves itself into a family affair, with Mrs. Grant singing to the accompaniment of her husband at the piano. Besides the serial, the film offering will consist of "Mozart's Last Requiem," filmed abroad.
“Alice Through the Looking Glass” was released by Pathe in February 1928. “Reuben’s Excursion” featured the experiences of a country man during a day in Atlantic City. “Felix Rests in Peace” was released in February 1925. “The Balloonist” is likely Buster Keaton’s “The Balloonatic”, released by First National in 1923.
W2XCR, the Jenkins Television Company station, signed on during the evening of April 26, 1927. The three-hour special show marked the beginning of the end for W2XCD as Jenkins and the De Forest Radio Company were under the same corporate umbrella. The Herald Tribune reported:
As features of the first regularly scheduled entertainment program to come from a New York City television station, Broadway celebrities co-operated last night to give the 350 owners of television sets in the metropolitan area the opportunity of hearing and seeing them in their current roles. W2XCR, of the Jenkins Television Corporation, and WGBS, of the General Broadcasting System, presented the program from 655 Fifth Avenue, where the studios, transmitters and masts are located.
At Aeolian Hall, Fifth Avenue and Fifty-fourth Street, a small group of invited guests, newspaper men and officials saw and heard the program, which was directed by Mortimer Stewart, program director of the combined stations.
The program will continue to be sent from 3 to 4 every afternoon, when pictures alone will come from W2XCR, from 4 to 5, when WGBS will operate alone, and from 6 to 8, when the two stations will collaborate on sight and sound programs.
Among the stars who assisted at last night’s demonstration were Sir Guy Standing and Edith Barrett of “Mrs. Moonlight;” Sylvia Field, Gladys Hanson and Louis Calhern of “Give Me Yesterday;” Richard B. Harrison and Tutt Whitney of “The Green Pastures;” Jacob Ben Ami and the Civic Repertory Theater, and Ludwiz Satz of the Yiddish Art Theater.
Vocal artists present were Maurice Chevalier and Harry Richman. Others were Helen Morgan, Dorothy Dell, Queenie Smith and Harland Dixon, and Patricia Bowman. “Felix the Clown,” from the circus; Peggy Hopkins Joyce, Primo Carnera, Dr. Harry Elmer Barnes, Roark Bradford and Marc Connelly, Moss Hart and Arthur (“Bugs”) Baer were also on the program.
The officials who spoke included D.E. Replogle, vice-president of the Jenkins Television Corporation, William J. Barkley, vice-president of the DeForest Radio Company, an affiliated organization; Allen B. DuMont, chief engineer of the Jenkins and DeForest companies, and Dailey Paskman, president of the General Broadcasting System and director of WGBS.The new station, it was explained, is one of twenty-seven television stations now operating throughout the country and is “devoted to experimentation in the presentation of programs of entertainment value.” The De Forest station, W2XCD, at Passaic, N.J., will continue to operate regularly, as it has for the last two months, but its emphasis will be on the technical and engineering phases of television. As quickly as new developments are perfected at Passaic, it was explained, they will be installed in the New York station, where the primary emphasis is on entertainment.
The programs may be intercepted in the home by means of any standard radio receiving set tuned to WGBS of 254 meters and a television receiving apparatus tuned to 147.5 meters. The television set costs about the same as a high-grade radio set. Although the pictures are small, several persons may enjoy a program at the same time.
May 2, 1931
Last week television station W2XCR of New York city inaugurated its dally schedule of sight and sound programs with a gala opening. Now it and W2XCD of Passaic, N. J., owned by affiliated organizations, the Jenkins Television Corporation and the De Forest Radio Company, respectively, will cooperate to the good of the new science. W2XCD will continue its dally features.
On Monday evening Walker Crommlin will aing, accompanied by himself on the ukelele, and Fred Link, transmitting tube engineer of the De Forest Radio Company, will speak on transmitting tubes. The first episode of the week's film serial. "King of the Pack." will be exhibited. A United States Navy film will round out the evening.
Sound From Two Stations.
On Tuesday W2XCD will tie in its sound transmitter, which operates on a wave length slightly under the broadcast band, with radio station WNJ of Newark. N. J., the sound element being broadcast from both stations. Moreover, WNJ will furnish the evening's direct pick-up program, the first portion of which will be the Smedley Family, familiarly known as the Blue Ridge Mountaineers, in a medley of Hill Billy songs. Giuseppe and Gitanella will perform in duo on two guitars. The serial will be continued, the program ending with a film on English sports, showing cricket and other national games.
On Wednesday evening W2XCD will present for the second time George Menen and Ben Coradora, playing a variety of stringed instruments in harmony. "King of the Pack," the film serial, will be continued. The evening will close with "If My Dreams Come True."
Accordionist Returns.
Johnny Brelich is no newcomer to the television audience of W2XCD and will be seen and heard again on Thursday, playing his accordion in a group of popular songs. The fourth and fifth episodes of the serial will be shown as the film portion, with which the program will come to a conclusion.
On Friday evening Allen B. Du Mont, chief engineer of the De Forest Radio Company, who has been absent from the camera and microphone of W2XCD for several weeks, will return to his own station, addressing his listeners on "New Developments in Science." James McGrath will play several violin selections to round out the direct pick-up, while "Ups and Downs," a two-reel comedy will supply the comic element of the evening.
“King of the Pack” starred Peter the Great, the Miracle Dog, with Vera Lewis and was a 1926 release by Lumas. The dog forces a widow moonshiner over a cliff, digs up a girl’s stolen money and delivers it to her poor owners. One of the characters is named Kitty Carlisle! “Ups and Downs” was a 1911 Vitagraph film about a rich girl marrying a poor guy and trying to live on his income. “Felix Gets His Fill” came out in March 1925.
One viewer wrote: “The other evening from W2XBS while looking in I could see the gentleman very clearly talking on the French type telephone. Later on a stuffed dog on a revolving table was seen, clear and distinct, the dog having a jacket over its body and on its two front feet. This was also a direct pickup. After this the usual announcements on placards were in order, namely, W2XBS, New York, U. S. A., and N. B. C. Also occasionally the symbol of N. B. C. is shown, a microphone with radio flashes. My scanner has sixty holes.” Another QSLed: “The program from W2XBS is more or less the same every evening, although sometimes a person stands in front of the direct pickup camera.”
May 9, 1931
First it was piano lessons by radio; now it is to be piano lessons by television. Not satisfied with merely transmitting faces of artists in action, one television studio in Washington, W3XK, a pioneer in the art, has arranged to televised a series of pianoforte studies with Mme. Marie von Unschuld of that city in the role of instructor. Mme. Unschuld heads her own school of piano instruction in the capital.
The course will be arranged for both beginners and piano teachers, according to D.E. Replogle, vice-president of the Jenkins Television Corporation. For those who desire them, weekly test sheets will be sent for study and for later correction. From time to time, Mme. Unschuld will introduce some of her pupils to the audience through the medium of the televisor.
Plenty of Signals Here.
At least two stations in New York and vicinity are supplying good television signals for owners of image receivers in this locality. W2XCR and W2XCD, the former in New York and the latter in Passiac, are on the air daily except Sunday with a variety program of films and direct pick-up. The general conduct of affairs has improved to extent of arranging programs more than a week ahead, thus giving listeners a chance to plan their evening’s entertainment. W3XK in Washington has one of the most powerful transmitters in the East and can be heard by any one in any part of this city. Due to public approval, W2XCD increases its daily operating time by half an hour commencing this week. Once a week, on Tuesday, this transmitter combines with broadcasting station WNJ so that both sound and sight signals are made available. WGBS, as formerly, ties in with W2XCR for three hours daily for the same purpose.
The soloist on W2XCD for Monday will be Miss Florence Kingsland, soprano. On Tuesday, in addition to films, televisors will be offered the talents of the regular artists on WNJ. On Wednesday evening an innovation will be offered in John Foley and his four-man Irish orchestra. The remainder of the programs will continue to be the same general make-up, consisting of a film or two and an actual artist or artists.
“Alice Loses Out” is a 1925 Disney short starring Margie Gay and Julius the cartoon cat. “Felix Monkeys With Magic” also came out that year. “Benedict Arnold” may have been much earlier. Vitagraph released a film about him in 1909.
May 16, 1931
The offerings of television stations are rapidly passing from the amateurish stage in which they naturally found themselves at the start into the field of balanced entertainment, the standard for which has been set by the larger sound studios. This week, for instance, W2XCR has arranged a fashion review in which the sight of the manikins will be accompanied by a running description of the creations. This event will take place Tuesday afternoon at 3:30. Tomorrow over the same station, working together with WGBS, Mary Nolan, film star, will make her appearance as a television star.
On Wednesday W2XCR-WGBS will feature Harriet Mencken, who will speak on the current New York theater.
On Thursday Albert D. Levin continue his series on law for the layman, while on the evening following the Romantic Troubadour will be with us in view as well as in sound. Chamberlain Brown's session with stars of the Broadway stage will enhance Friday for the television enthusiast.
On Monday evening W2XCD of Passaic, will broadcast the comedy film "Boating," and Grace Mueller will make her television debut in a group of soprano selections. Fred Link of the DeForest engineering staff will speak on transmitting tubes.
On Tuesday the same television station will be hooked up with WNJ of Newark, broadcasting its weekly-joint program, the sound emanating from both W2XCD on 1,604 kc. and WNJ on 1,450 kc. Two films will he shown, a cartoon comedy and "Grandfather's Clock," taken from the poem of Henry C. Work of the old clock that failed to go when grandfather died.
Oliver O'Dell, staff singer of WOR, will shift studios on Wednesday night in order to be presented for the first time to the television audience. He will sing two groups of songs. The film portion of the program will be devoted to "The Slave Auction," depleting the incident of the auction block which caused Abraham Lincoln to make his famous vow, which we see fulfilled during his lifetime.
Another new face and voice, to say nothing of costumes, will be presented on Thursday evening, when W2XCD broadcasts Miss Lila McClelland in two groups of character and costume songs dressed in appropriate regalia. The famous story of the grasping Scrooge, who, when jaunted by the ghosts of his past, resolves to reform and bring happiness to those about him, will be depleted in pictorial form, together with a comedy cartoon.
May 23, 1931
The Sun editions for the two weeks don’t exist. W2XCD has two features cut-up: one is “Custer’s Last Fight,” released in October 12 and directed by Thomas Ince, and “War of the Wooden Soldiers” by Burton Holmes, released May 1923. “Alice’s Egg Plant” is from 1925 and is the only film where Dawn O’Day played Alice.
May 30, 1931
This week’s feature is “Red Riding Hood,” possibly the Baby Peggy version from 1922. “Bleak House” from 1917 starred Constance Collier as Lady Deadwood. “Chop Suey Louie” was a 1923 two-reeler starring Joe Rock. “His Ups and Downs” includes an airplane and a big gas balloon in the plot. Ford Sterling takes a ride in the plane, and views are shown of Los Angeles and vicinity taken at a high altitude. A 1913 film.
Click on any of the listings to enlarge them. They start with the week of March 8, 1931 and end with the week of May 31, 1931 (dates can be seen if you hover your mouse over the picture).
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