New York City had TV again. W2XBS signed on to mark the start of the World’s Fair on April 30, 1939.
Now what?
NBC decided it would have one-hour variety shows on Wednesdays and Friday nights. During the first month on the air, it also ran what the New York Daily News and Sunday Times (aka Daily Home News) of New Brunswick, New Jersey called “World’s Fair Demonstrations.” The Brooklyn Eagle of May 16 helpfully described them:
Film programs, designed as demonstrations for World’s Fair visitors, also will be transmitted on the schedule below. While these programs are not a part of the National Broadcasting Company’s regular schedule to the public, and are subject to repetition and change, they can be picked up from Station W2XBS on receiving sets in the Metropolitan area.There were also several remote sports broadcasts.
Critics don’t seem to have been impressed with the studio variety shows. Billboard reviewed all of them for the month. I think. The numbering of the reviews goes from second to fourth and I have no idea what happened to the third. Jo Ranson’s column in the Brooklyn Eagle has some highlights but, for whatever reason, he only wrote three of them. Billboard combined its Wednesday and Friday reviews for the 24th and 26th and the copies of the issue available have a huge chunk torn out of the review.
The June 1939 issue of Radio and Television has engineering articles and photos (not reprinted in this post) on W2XBS and the nowhere-near-ready-to-broadcast CBS station, W2XAX. There is also a diagram of the W2XBS studio.
There’s little other pertinent TV news over the month. There’s a squib on W6XAO in Los Angeles, which was still carrying on with regular programming. Other stations were testing. You will note the hiring of one of NBC TV's early directors. And Paramount laid the groundwork for KTLA.
W2XBS—45.25 m. c.; 49.75 m. c.
Monday, May 1
11:00 to 4:00—World’s Fair Demonstration.
Tuesday, May 2
11:00 to 4:00—World’s Fair Demonstration.
New York.—Eddie Sobol, theatre associate of Max Gordon’s, joins the NBC television production staff here. Gordon is associated with NBC in a television advisory capacity. (Hollywood Reporter, May 2).
Wednesday, May 3
4:00-8:00—World’s Fair Demonstration.
8:00-9:00—First official television studio show: Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians; Richard Rodgers; Marjorie Clark and Earl Larimore in “The Unexpected,” a studio play; the Three Swifts, jugglers; a special relay from the World’s Fair grounds, Walt Disney cartoon, “Donald Duck’s cousin.”
Reviewed Wednesday, 8-9:30 p.m. EDST. Style—Variety, using both film and live talent. Reviewed on RCA Television Receiver Style TRK 12, with 7½ by 10-inch screen. Station—W2XBS.
Inaugurating regular television service, RCA-NBC presented a program Wednesday evening, including an especially made newsreel, Fred Waring’s Orchestra; Helen Lewis, emsee; Richard Rodgers, composer, and Marcy Westcott from the Boys From Syracuse; Bill Ferren, the Three Swifts; a Donald Duck cartoon, Donald’s Cousin Gus; Earle Larimore and Marjorie Clarke in an Aaron Hoffman sketch, Lowell Thomas and a New York Port Authority trailer.The program was a complete technical success, especially in view of unfavorable reception conditions obtaining in Radio City, with its many steel buildings. It showed, too, that television has a long way to go to solve its programing, production and talent problems. It showed, too, that a 7 1/2 by 10-inch screen makes for poor watching. Altho there was no semblance of flicker, the 90 minutes resulted in eyestrain.
The punch of the program, was probably the actual pick-up from the New York World’s Fair. Bill Farren, regular staff NBC announcer, interviewed fair visitors. These interviews showed where television’s most important drawing power will come from. There was tremendous impact seeing and hearing Farren and his interviewees as they spoke. Oddly enough, the strong lights needed by tele cameras did not seem especially troublesome, altho they were of enormous power.
The small screen and the difficulty yet to be solved of how to get greater scope from the cameras handicapped practically all of the other acts, except Rodgers, the composer, and Miss Westcott. Camera moved from one to another, and since neither required considerable range the problem was easy to solve. But in handling the Waring troupe and the Three Swifts the tele camera showed that its directors and producers have far to go. The Swifts are a strong act in any theater, but in trying to show the three of them working simultaneously the punch of the act was lost. When just two or so of the Waring menage were working it was again okeh, but when the ensemble was on the screen the camera’s weakness was apparent.
Greatest sign that NBC is slow on television production came in The Unexpected, a playlet by Aaron Hoffman—an antique if ever there was one. There was no need for doing the piece, and the newness of television is no excuse. It was badly written, badly staged and badly played by Earle Larimore and Marjorie Clarke.
Miss Lewis made an agreeable emsee and successfully blended the various portions of the show. Lowell Thomas, doing his customary news talk. indicated he may not be television fodder. Somehow his bearing makes for good radio listening but bad television watching. Donald Duck, of course, was amusing. Produced in technicolor, the color contrasts as seen on the tele screen were somewhat freakish.
Sound revolutionized Hollywood. Television my do the same for radio. Acts may no longer work from scripts, and vaudeville acts, used to the help of audiences, will not know how they are going over. Lack of laughter during the Waring and Swift routines showed that unless a method is worked out whereby acts know how they are faring the performers will feel as tho they are working in a vacuum. Should be easy to solve, tho.
Tele is here technically, but it is still back in 1936 or 1937 insofar as talent and production are concerned. Jerry Franken. (Billboard, May 13)
Wednesday night (May 3, 1939), 1-hour revue from 8-9 p. m. in metropolitan New York area. Lowell Thomas, Helen Lewis, Three Swifts, Marcy Westcott, Dick Rodgers, Earl Larimore and Marjorie Clark. Fred Waring orchestra. Also a street interview and a Walt Disney cartoon.
NBC last Wednesday night (3) put on the first of its new series of one-hour studio broadcast of television. While the event proved to be more of a demonstration than a well-integrated program of entertainment, the spectator couldn't help but realize again that technically the medium has made vast strides. There are still quite a number of bugs, but the majority of these revolve around the problems of sharper definition for large groupings and shortening of blurred moments as the electric camera intermingles close-ups with long-shots.
Three cameras were used in the studio interludes, but no effect was as pleasing or easy on the eye as the image deriving from a fairly stationary subject and a steadily focused camera. Best defined bit of reception occurred in that part of the program which had to do with a shortwave relay from the ground in front of RCA's exhibit at the N. Y. World's Fair to the Empire State building, the site of NBC's television transmitter. It was a sidewalk interview via a mobile unit The questions pertained to Impressions about the Fair. Each person picked for the quizzing turned out a crack camera subject and the chances are that the few scores of persons constituting the present home audience for television rated this item as the most piquant of the evening.
The Wednesday night program was caught on an RCA television and sound receiver TRK12, retailing at $600, in a home located in Mamaroneck, N. Y., 20 miles from the point of transmission. At no time were there any distortions or blemishes in the imagery, but a rain of horizontal streaks would occur when autos passed by the house or a plane flew overhead. The aerial in this case was not shielded against electrical disturbances.
During the broadcast it became evident that television was due to develop a world of its own when it came to looks and clothes. The eye fixed on that small frame is bound to sharpen the critical response. Relatively minor features such as wide nostrils are enhanced out of all normal proportion by the electric eye. NBC has been making some progress in make-up but there's still a huge research job facing it. As for on the first of its new series of one-clothes, the more streamlined they're cut the kindlier is the curve cast on the iconoscope, while ruffles and things loosely hung tend to exaggerate in the opposite direction.
The broadcast, which was put together with a minimum of showmanship, mixed short subjects with bits of vaudeville. Helen Lewis, a comely miss, served as m.c. She spoke her pieces very briefly and cutely. The impresarios of the event could have contributed a touch of showmanship by having her change her gown two or three times,' thereby pointing up the interest in her various appearances, at least for the women spectators.
After a few news bulletins by Lowell Thomas, the program went newsreel, with NBC showing a series of clips that a freelance cameraman took of the recent celebration of George Washington's inaugural trip from Mount Vernon to Washington. NBC has to retain its own cameramen because the various newsreel companies refuse to service television.
The Three Swifts, a vet vaude act, unloaded their entire club tossing act Had the routine been cut in half the exhibit would have been far more pleasing. Again showmanship! The one incident in their exhibition which particularly captured the attention stemmed from a neat bit of camera focusing. It revealed the keen skill and timing in catching and returning to swiftly thrown Indian club.
Marcy Westcott, singer in ‘The Boys from Syracuse,’ took over from that point to trill a couple numbers from the Broadway show, with Dick Rodgers, composer of the score, accompaning [sic] her at the piano. Here again the ingenue suffers photogenically via the Iconoscope. A reel documenting the operations and functions of the New York Authority (tunnel and bridges) came next. After that it was Fred Waring and his entire organization in practically the same type of act they put on the stage. While most of Waring's specialty teams and combinations showed up acceptably, there were several Instances when the limitations of the medium made themselves acutely noticeable.
For the dramatic interlude the program builders singled out a mossy piece by the late Aaron Hoffman ‘The Unexpected.’ George Nash did the playlet in vaudeville back in 1916: The television version of this crook comedy drama co-starred Earl Larimore and Marjorie Clark. Technically the results showed a considerable advance over the demonstration of an excerpt from 'Susan and God' televised by NBC last summer. The definition in both the long-shots and close-ups was consistently okay but the sketch itself offered but a minimum of interest.
Final item was a Walt Disney reel 'Donald's Cousin Gus,' which, like the other film subjects, registered well. (Ben Bodec, Variety, May 10)
Fred Waring probably played his toughest engagement when he telecast recently over the RCA-NBC station, W2XBS. Lighting was so intense that the boys, in addition to getting a burn, had to struggle with sagging fiddle bows and instruments that dripped shellac. (Paul Ackerman, Billboard, May 27)
Milwaukee's first public view of circuit television took place Wednesday (3) afternoon and evening in the auditorium of the Public Service Building. Artists, announcers, and guests of WISN (Milwaukee Sentinel) took part in the two ‘broadcasts,’ which had transmission and reception all within the confines of the auditorium and stage.
Performances were made possible through a new portable television transmitter developed by Philco whose chief television engineer, Albert F. Murray, conducted and described the technical features involved.
Murray and a crew of engineers have visited nearly a dozen major cities demonstrating the television apparatus, which the engineer hinted will be ready for sale to the public at prices ranging from $125 to $600 before summer.
Two drawbacks to television at this stage of its development were cited by Murray. These are the limits of its range, which is not over 45 miles in clear weather, and the fact that automobile motors in the vicinity of a receiving set disturb the reception.
Farms Outside Range
The first obstacle, he said, means that individual sending stations must be located in every community that wants television. It cuts the farmer out of the picture at present. A sending unit costs about $200,000.
On the favorable side is the absence of static found in radios, the minimum of aerial and other outside equipment, and the value of synchronized pictures with sound in the home. Program material for television broadcasts must of necessity confine itself to newsy and short subjects, Murray explained. He said the radio singer of tomorrow will have to have sex appeal as well as a good voice if she is to be seen; but that with a good transmitter, exaggerated makeup will be unnecessary.
Appearing on the programs Wednesday were Margie Schiff, accordionist; Helen Whitman, soprano; James Conway and Tom Dolan, WISN staff announcers, and in the evening Mickey Heath, manager of the Milwaukee Brewers baseball club with Tex Carleton; pitcher.
Engineers assisting Murray were Charles Stec, Raymond Bowley, Norman Young and E. N. Alexander.
The Milwaukee Journal Co., operators of WTMJ, last December filed the first application in the United States for a commercial television station to Iterate on a regular schedule. The application is now pending before the FCC and indications are that two years may elapse before action Is taken on it. (Variety, May 10)
Thursday, May 4
11:00 to 4:00—World’s Fair Demonstration.
Friday, May 5
4:00-8:00—World’s Fair Demonstration.
8:00-9:00—Mitzi Green, Roy Post, Josephine Huston.
Reviewed Friday, 8 to 9:30 p.m. Style—Variety, using both film and live talent. Reviewed on Dumont Television Receiver Style No. 83, with 8x 10-inch screen. Station—W2XBS.
Second of NBC’s regular television programs had Mitzi Green, Ed Herlihy; Novello Brothers, whistling act; Roy Post and his lie detector, a newsreel; a play with Josephine Huston and seven girl emsees, each of whom introduced one act. Girls, who are being tried out for a permanent spot, were Muriel Fleit, Joan Allison, Mary McCormack, Louise Illingston, May Stuart, Evelyn Bolt and Sandra Ramoy. Warren Wade, Burk Grotty [sic] and Eddie Padula shared the direction.
Eschewing actual comment on the performances, none of which were especially noteworthy, this second program solidified opinion that television’s present production methods can be compared only to those of a kindergarten play. Obvious things such be moving out of focus and other roughness in performances seem to this reviewer to be unnecessary. Unnecessary because NBC has had time during the past year or so, at least, to improve methods. Experimentation on television technically was done in the studios and laboratories, and the same thing should have been done insofar as production is concerned. A purchaser of a $400 television set is not going to feel any great love for television when the shows provided are about on a par with not very good amateur stuff. While all television receivers have screens more or less the same size, the 8-by-10 or 7-by-10 screens do not make for much comfort when watched for more than very short times. An offhand opinion, then, is that unless the screens sizes are made larger only outstanding programs will attract audiences as matters now stand. Radio allows for casual listening, but television does not. An hour or more of poor programs will only backfire against television itself. Dumont receiver model, which sells for $435, gave good reproduction. Altho the screen is a bit larger than the RCA screen on which Wednesday’s program was reviewed, the slightly larger area made scant difference. Dumont does not use a mirror as the RCA sets do, and the direct method seems preferable. But it is still a puzzle to this reviewer that television production methods arc so unprofessional. Jerry Franken. (Billboard, May 13)
More than 600 persons witnessed a television broadcast last night [5] at the Tusting Piano Company, 609 Mattison avenue, while 100 others were turned away.
The demonstration was given during an hour-long variety broadcast 8 and 9 p. m., and the Tusting management said the store was filled to capacity thruout the period.
Those who were unsuccessful in their effort to witness this broadcast will be accommodated at a future demonstration, it was announced. (Asbury Park Press, May 6)
Monday, May 8
11:00 to 4:00—World’s Fair Demonstration.
FCC Decision Kalorama Labs, Irvington, N.J.-Granted CP television.
Tuesday, May 9
11:00 to 4:00—World’s Fair Demonstration.
Wednesday, May 10
11:00 to 4:00—World’s Fair demonstration.
4:15—Broadcast from the Museum of Modern Art, Nelson Rockefeller and others.
8:00-9:00—Acts from “Mexicana” revue; playlet, “The Faker”; Sue Read and Ralph Blane.
Fourth RCA-NBC television program, judged in its entirety, was spotty entertainment. This was more or least expected; but what is much more important is the fact that during one part of the telecast, namely the presentation of Walter Greaza in Edwin Burke’s sketch, The Faker, television even in its present undeveloped form showed a definite superiority to radio in the field of dramatics. Burke’s play was tailored for tele. Cast was small, and the screen usually showed but one or two people—thus making possible some visual detail. As a finished performance capable of holding audience attention it was superior to the great mass of radio playlets now cluttering up the air waves. Reason for this is quite simple. One, dialog, and sound were excellent; and two, even tho tele is admittedly limited on the visual side, any visual aid to the dialog is better than none at all. And even in tele today this visual aid may be quite adequate if production is carefully watched. Greaza, legit actor, was nothing short of superb in The Faker—his role being that of a pitchman selling a book on how to avoid matrimony. A capable supporting cast included Edwin Phillips, Maxine Stewart and Patricia Palmer.
Rest of the show was not so strong, with the two travel films impressing least of all. These films attempted to show scenery, masses of people. etc., and television’s present lack in this direction was woefully pronounced. The people looked like midgets and the trees resembled plants.
Acts from Mexicana, Broadway Mexican-produced musical, were shown with partial success. These included the Trio Lina, Rosita Ríos, Vicente Gomez, Jose Fernandez and Marissa Flores. They sang and danced, and Gomez knocked off some beautiful guitar work. One of chief shortcomings in presenting this Latin melange was a result of two overlapping factors—difficulty of showing full figures of dancers in motion and unfamiliarity with tele camera technique. Production tried to cash in on obstacles engendered by the smallness of the tele screen by showing close-up detail of a portion of the performer’s body. Thus, with guitarist Gomes, screen at intervals just showed the instrumentalist’s fingers on the frets.
Sue Read and Ralph Blanc did a song dramatization, 4 Room With a View. As entertainment this showed the banality long associated with motion picture shorts. Trouble here was not with the performers, but the material.
The Top Hatters, mixed skating team, did a regulation vaude turn on a small mat. Their circle of operations was quite circumscribed, and the team appeared to fair advantage, altho some of the act’s finer details could not be seen clearly.
George Hicks emseed in informal manner, and asked the audience for suggestions. Paul Ackerman. (Billboard, May 20)
Thursday, May 11
11:00 to 4:00—World’s Fair Demonstration.
Friday, May 12
4:00-8:00—World’s Fair Demonstration.
8:00-9:00—Helen Morgan, singer; Remos Toy Boys; Jean Muir.
Reviewed Friday, 8-9 p.m. Style—Variety, using both film and live talent. Reviewed on RCA Television Receiver. Station—W2XBS.
RCA-NBC teleprogram Friday revealed much the same good points and defects already noted, leaving no doubt as to the potential value of the medium as entertainment. Bill did not have anything quite as socko as Walter Orcaza’s performance in The Faker Wednesday, but as a partial compensation the two films, Trip to the Sky and Knight Clubs, were much better than the travel and scenery fare on the preceding program. Sky> was a scientific exposition of astral phenomena and clubs an interesting digression on the history of gatherings—interesting even tho remindful of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. Camera was used sensibly in both films.
Live talent included Dorothy Gish as emsee, Helen Morgan, the Three Wiere Brothers, Aldo and Madame Nadlin fencing exhibitions, Paul Remos and his Toy Boys and Joan Muir and a small cast in Elaine Sterne Carrington’s playlet, The Red Hat.
Sound thruout was excellent. Visualization varied, sometimes being good, sometimes bad. Comedy turn of the Wieres, for Instance, was marred by lack of facial detail, which minimized the act’s pantomime strength.
Fencing displays were impressive, the camera following the field of motion rather well. Appearances by both Helen Morgan singing showboat tunes and members of the cast playing The Red Hat indicated that the cameramen were not yet hep in photographing the femmes to best advantage. Faces were sometimes pretty, sometimes ugly.
Paul Remos’ novelty turn showed exceedingly well, the camera giving close ups of the midgets’ acro work. Jean Muir in the Carrington drama did well, and the script was generally good for tele, limiting cast and field of action. It was a yarn involving marital trouble between two couples and, while not sock stuff, was carefully and interestingly worked out. Paul Ackerman. (Billboard, May 20)
Lack of film handicaps further. Companies won’t sell to television. There was an educational from France and an industrial (advertising) to pad out.
But is it quite fair to judge television programs at this moment by the standards of professionalism? Naturally RCA-NBC asks for, and rather expects, six months or more tolerance. Each new day means new problems without precedent and some sort of budgetry control is imperative. It was a near-miracle making the promised April 30 starting date. And every time the show goes on at all it's still in the near-miracle class. Nevertheless people will form and express opinions and critics which certainly reach print. Which gets us back to last Friday’s vaudeville parade which consisted of:
Dorothy Gish, as mistress of ceremonies. She televized badly and could scarcely have been identified without verbal aid.
Helen Morgan. Here, oddly, the teletron suddenly became much more revealing. It was possible to recognize the features. This tended to suggest that television, like films, may bring about oddities of 'camera faces.'. Miss Morgan was standout in this regard.
Three Weire Bros, were lost in the medium-shots and handicapped by the skimpy organ music NBC provided.
Paul Remos and his two midgets came through fairly well and indicated acrobatic possibilities. The dumb act will be useful to the new medium it would appear. Whole vaudeville bills televized, however, no further back than the second set of lines may eventuate. The intimate touch is required throughout and when it fails television fails.
Aldo, the fencer, working first with a woman partner and later with another man, and in both cases without masks, this Italian demonstrated further athletic possibilities for the iconoscope. Some sense of the excitement and speed of the sport came through. It was clear that Aldo was a master foilsman. The 'kill' was pretty awkwardly staged, however.
Jean Muir, assisted by three supporting players, did an old Lewis & Gordon vaudeville playlet "The Red Hat' It last served in 1920 as a vehicle for Madge Kennedy. It made pretty creaky entertainment and the 'other woman' did some mugging that was less her fault than it was the direction's. Fortunately these television trial balloons will die with the electrical pulsations that transmit them. They will not live to embarrass anybody. The future fans will not know just how bad some of the early programs were. (Bob Landry, Variety, May 17)
Sunday, May 14
11:00 to 4:00—World’s Fair Demonstration.
Monday, May 15
11:00 to 4:00—World’s Fair Demonstration.
FOR FAILING to file a written appearance in compliance with regulations, the FCC has denied a license renewal [on May 15] to W9XAK, television station of the Kansas State College of Agriculture and Applied Science at Manhattan, Kan. The station has been one of the few licensed for experiments in the 2000-2100 kc. band. (Broadcasting, June 1)
EARLE C. ANTHONY Inc., operator of KFI-KECA. Los Angeles, has leased the 14th floor of Bekin's Van & Storage Bldg., Santa Monica Blvd. and Highland Ave., for an experimental visual broadcast. ing station. Lease includes two 125-foot towers already atop the structure. One will be for visual and the other for sound transmission, Anthony on March 25 filed an FCC application for an experimental visual broadcasting station to operate with 1000 watts on 42,000-56,000 kc.
Entry of Earle C. Anthony Inc. into the televising field follows an nouncement recently br Don Lee broadcasting System of plans for expansion of Its visual broadcast ing operations by moving W6XAO from downtown Los Angeles to a 20-acre Hollywood mountain site. Don Lee network at present is televis inga five-day weekly schedule of programs over W6XAO and recently made FCC application for a San Francisco experimental television station.
Muy Co., Los Angeles department store, is the first West Coast non-radio concern to apply for an FCC television construction permit and Is seeking a 1000 watt outlet to operate on the 60,000-86,000 kc. band The firm states it plans to erect the experimental station on top of its new $2.000,000 building now under construction at Fairfax Ave. and Wilshire Blvd. (Broadcasting, May 15)
Tuesday, May 16
11:00 to 4:00—World’s Fair Demonstration.
Wednesday, May 17
4:00-5:45—Columbia-Princeton baseball game at Baker Field, Bill Stern announcing.
8:00-9:00—MARTHA SLEEPER, Broadway and Hollywood actress, in “THE SMART THING,” and svelte models showing off smartest things in the FIRST TELECAST FASHION SHOW will be the highlights of a regular program to be seen and heard tomorrow [17] over W2XBS. Supporting Miss Sleeper in “The Smart Thing,” a modern comedy by Frank Conlan, will be Ned Wever and Burford Hampden. The Fashion Show will be a television version of a display at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Miss Renee Macredy will act as fashion commentator. Also on the bill will be HAL SHERMAN, pantomimist from “Hellzapoppin;” THE THREE SMOOTHIES, rhythm singers, and selected film subjects. (Brooklyn Eagle)
Sixth of the series of variety tele shows NBC has been putting on twice weekly was reminiscent of the early experimentation with sound films. Early days of sound on film upheaval hit technique of screen projection because of new methods that had to be employed. In those days the sight was perfect, the sound was perfectly lousy.
Embryonic stages of television see the radio industry going thru the same cycle that was a major film headache 10 years ago. The hearing is as perfect as one could expect over any radio receiver, but the screening processes are still in the throes of being just a bottle baby. The lack of knowledge—production and direction—in television technique was very apparent, and, coupled with technical shortcomings, television is now only Interesting from a curious and scientific point of view.
Show which was demonstrated last Wednesday employed only live talent, straying from the policy of past shows where film was used. Robert Reinhart, magician and newspaper man, emseed the show, which was aptly titled The Magic of Television. Entertainment efforts included a fashion show, several vaude acts and a dramatic skit that was strictly from hunger and miscast, but Interesting from the point of view of what television has to contend with.
Reinhart’s was the first magic act that has been used in television and his tricks, which are good by standards of entertainment, did not go over because of the blurred vision. Nor did he project much personality or running smoothness in his comment. His stumbling should be a tip not to use high-sounding words. His ad libbing, however, was much funnier, than had he gone thru with straight introductions. The object6 used in his magic routine were small, and inasmuch as the images are so small anyway, tricks were dwarfed.
During the exhibition of the fashion show, with commentaries by Renee Macready and Nancy Turner, it was disillusioning to see Miss Turner reading from a script. Imagine Clark Gable consulting a script before kissing Norma Shearer! Say, maybe that’s an idea.
Fashion show exploited ostrich feather in mesdames’ ensembles. Shots were good on extreme close-ups Commentaries were smooth and clear. Had the same insipid quality of newsreel fashion shows, at least to a male.
The Three Smoothies (Charlie and Little Ryan and Babs Johnson) followed and virtually dominated the show with too much singing. They are an excellent harmony trio, and proved their talents are also effective over television, but four heavily arranged songs are bound to be grating on the nerves. Projection of this act was bad, as close-ups were too close. Full shots made them almost unrecognizable.
Hal Sherman, current in Hellzapoppin, had the monopoly on laughs with both his comedy dance routines and the cockeyed way in which they were screened for another. He used his set routines, unchanged, hokey and funny. When first viewed in close-up you knew he was moving his feet but couldn’t see them. This, however, was quickly ironed out, and the rest of the business was funny.
Last portion of the show concerned itself with an alleged drama, The Smart Thing, with Martha Sleeper, Ned Weaver and Burford Hampden. Reached a high in miscasting and corn; acting very spotty and hammy. Hampden, short and pudgy, played. the part of the gigolo homewrecker, and Weaver, tall and villainous looking, was the thwarted hue band. Miss Sleeper emoted much too quickly to catch the action. Even in the early stages NBC should not insult what television audience It has by putting on skits that are Inferior to terrible movie shorts. Sol Zatt. (Billboard, May 27)
NBC used a magician-master of ceremonies last Wednesday (17) for its television hour. He was Robert Reinhart who turned in a deft performance. Historians of filmdom will recall that George Melies, a Parisian magician, was identified with the early French cinema back in 1899 and thereafter and made skillful use of the medium in creating optical illusions. Reinhart, of course, has added a valuable element of speech.
The experiment was interesting in a production sense primarily because even so soon. It is clear that television has a problem of cohesion and continuity in its revues. A strong master of ceremonies who talks but does more than talk seems a good avenue of exploration. The sort of emcee who merely pops in front of the iconoscope and says ‘now we'll see the Flying Ginsbergs stand on their heads’ is of slight value. An off-camera voice could do as well and as much for the entertainment and might indeed be better.
Television programs continue to show that television is here, but not television showmanship. Right now the absence of the latter has to be excused because the engineer hasn't completed his tasks. However, each program teaches—or should teach—valuable showmanship lessons. For example the fashion parade from the Ritz-Carlton hotel was nothing to excite either eye or ear. The models and the society debs suffered and will be heart-broken to hear they looked like so many vague smudges. Nancy Turner, of WMCA, did a nice lob of straight commentating. But add to the dubious list: mannequins.
Hal Sherman's comedy hoofing (he's from 'Hellzapoppin') came through quite well. Only when the television cameras failed to swing in time to catch his swift dancing, did he suffer from the mechanical factor, Sherman had critical television observers laughing out loud with his apache and tango terps numbers. Came back for an ad lib session with Robert Reinhart as he attempted to expose one of his magic tricks unsuccessfully. This was the high point of the revue.
A skit of farcical and familiar proportions called ‘The Smart Thing’ failed to click because tempo was too slow. It is the yarn about the man who is about to elope with a businessman's wife until he finds the hubby too willing to let his mate slip out of his life.
Martha Sleeper, Ned Waver [sic] and Burford Hampden played it.
The Smoothies, harmony trio from radio and nite clubs, offered their hot, eccentric type of vocalizing. Here the complete absence of applause seemed a letdown. (Mike Wear, Variety, May 24)
National Broadcasting Company made the first experimental telecast of a baseball game between Columbia and Princeton at Baker Field over its station W2XBS yesterday [17]. The reception was somewhat spotty, but still it was successful enough to make observers realize its tremendous possibilities.
Most serious present barrier to television is the curvature of the earth. The ether waves will not carry the picture impulses more than 30 miles when broadcast from ground level. NBC has increased the range to 55 miles by casting from the top of the 102-story Empire State Building. A gigantic re-transmission network must be developed before such things as championship fights. World Series baseball games and other sports events can be carried with present facilities on a nation-wide basis.
Leif Eid of the NBC television staff, explaining that telecasting was still in the experimental stage, said:
“It has come a long way in the last year, and it may come along faster than we think, but that is up to the engineers. It may be 10 years before we can sit back in our homes and tune our television sets to the particular program we’d like to see and hear.”
The reflection of yesterday’s ball game was seen in an angled mirror set in the top of the set. The mirror was about 7 1/2 inches high and 10 inches wide. The camera that sent the pictures was 90 feet from the diamond on the third-base side. Player images were only about an inch in height. You could see the pitcher wind up and hear the ball “plunk” in the catcher’s mitt, but you couldn’t see the ball. The range of the camera took in only about 50 feet, and when it was focused on the pitcher, the batter was not visible. None of the infield plays or outfield catches could be seen.
Around 230 television sets of all companies were sold in the Greater New York area last week. These ranged in price from $300 to $600, with RCA sets in the more expensive class. Majority were purchased for cash or on department store charge accounts by persons of the upper income brackets. Very few sold on time. (England has been selling 1,000 a year until the recent sales push accelerated the pace.)
Of the 230 sets sold within the N.Y. zone, 75 were Dumonts. Latter will have a program schedule of its own later, also CBS. Just now only RCA-NBC is telecasting regularly.
Spokesmen for companies scoffed reports of high voltage hazards. Sets have automatic shut-offs if the back gate is opened in any event but it is stated only the same nominal precaution that any electrical gadget entails to involved. It had been reported servicemen were under severe hazards.
Insurance underwriters have passed television sets for the homes as free of any danger so that theme to apparently just 'another television rumor.' (Variety, May 17)
Thursday, May 18
4:00 to 8:00 World’s Fair demonstration.
Friday, May 19
4:00-8:00—World’s Fair Demonstration (films).
8:00-9:30—GRANT IRWIN and ANNA ATHY, stage stars, in “OUR FAMILY,” comedy of American home life, will be the featured performers in the regular studio telecast on Friday, over W2XBS. CLYDE HAGER, vaudeville pitchman, and ANN MILLER, Hollywood tap dancer, BILL BURNS AND HIS CANARY CIRCUS, and one more act yet to be announced, will be included in the program. (Brooklyn Eagle)
Reviewed Friday, 8-9 p.m. EDST. Style—Variety, using live talent and film. Reviewed on RCA Television Receiver Station—W2XBS.
Second broadcast this week was far superior, from a production standpoint, than the show which was televised Wednesday night with the bill’s routing still very spotty but the vision much clearer. With all of NBC’s resources it seems that they should be able to acquire someone who knows how to direct and produce vaude talent. From appearances, one wouldn’t think so.
First act was Bill Burn’s Canary Circus, which Burns handled nicely and with self-assurance, but the birds got out of hand many times and he had to rush the act. Vision on this act was not very clear and at times the birds just looked like small white blotches. On close-ups, tho, with the birds walking wires and doing other specialty tricks, they were a distinct novelty to the television audience. Burns’ trick of running the birds thru a flaming hoop was slowed up a lot by the birds jumping off the car they were riding, and the trick lost its novel effect.
Ann Miller, tap dancer, came thru with a lively turn after some difficulty in creating the proper view, which was the fault of the camera. Dancing, of course, is in her feet, but there were too many from-the-waist-up views and there wasn’t enough use of the arms to justify, that. Every now and then the camera would dip and show leg view, but there was very little full body motion exhibited. Other talent included Margaret Brill, harpist; the Kidoodlers, novelty band, and Clyde Hager, pitchman act now appearing at the Diamond Horseshoe. Of all of these, Hager impressed the most, altho he could have used a couple of people as foil while doing his spiel to give it the realistic touch.
Miss Brill did several classical solos on the harp, some of which was cut off because of the small screen, and when she tried several trick effects with the pedal the inadequacies of television were apparent once more because the foot motion couldn’t be seen while playing. Playing itself, however, was all right for the cultured gentry.
The Kidoodler’s, a four-piece novelty band, fared well with several novelty tunes and could be seen very well. Hager’s act gave the show the real touch of humor that it needed.
Show also had a dramatic sketch, Any Family, which was interesting in that it was well directed and produced, and Monogram Travelogue of the Taj Mahal, which was unclear and boring. Any Family, played by Grant Irwin, Anna Athay, Phyllis Welch, Charles Hart and Henry Richard, brought out some good acting. Side screens, however, were foggy and blurred. Irwin and Anna Athay turned in nice performances, but the others weren’t very convincing. Mary Frances Carden, an attractive brunet, emseed the show as tho she knew what it was all about. Sol Zatt. (Billboard, May 27)
Saturday, May 20
8:30—Owners of television sets will be given a “front seat” at Madison Square Garden tonight when W2XBS, television station of the NBC, televises scenes of the six-day bicycle race, now being held at the Garden . . . Bill Stern will be at the microphone to narrate the scenes, with the transmission beginning at 8:30 o’clock. (Daily Home News)
TRANSMISSION of a high-definition television picture over an ordinary telephone line, a feat long considered impossible, was accomplished on May 20, when NBC telecast a portion of the six-day bicycle race at Madison Square Garden over W2XBS. From the Garden to Radio City, a distance of slightly more than a mile, the signals were sent along ordinary telephone wire, adapted for television use through amplifiers and equalizers developed by the Bell Laboratories.Observers, watching the images on television receivers in various locations within the 50-mile radius from the Empire State transmitter, reported that they were able to see the riders from one end of the Garden track to the other.
[Deleted copy]
An experimental link [a cable costing $5,000 a mile] was laid down between New York and Philadelphia some years ago and another coaxial link connects NBC's television studios in Radio City with the transmitter on the Empire State Bldg.
In the Madison Square Garden telecast, the track and riders were scanned by a television camera near the edge of the track, the picture being monitored from the control room of the NBC mobile television station in the basement of the Garden. From this point the electrical impulses were sent over telephone wires to the phone company's Circle exchange where they were transmitted through an equalizer and amplifier and then over another telephone circuit to Radio City. From there they were relayed over the coaxial cable to the Empire State tower transmitter and thence broadcast. (Broadcasting, June 1)
Monday, May 22
11:00 to 4:00—World’s Fair Demonstration.
AS PREDICTED, the FCC Television Committee May 22 recommended to the full Commission a policy of caution and cooperation in dealing with the visual medium but with no formal action on proposed technical standards.
Taking what generally was regarded as a lukewarm attitude, the three-man committee advised extreme care lest the public be misled and concluded that a longer period of experimentation and observation should be had before laying down definite rules or principles. (Broadcasting, June 1)
Tuesday, May 23
11:00 to 4:00—World’s Fair Demonstration.
DON LEE Broadcasting System, Los Angeles, is making changes in its television transmitter, W6XAO, having started the work on May 19. The major change involves a switch from 300 to 441 line transmission. The work will take at least 30 days and during that time all live telecasting has been discontinued. Films will continue to be projected thrice weekly for one hour. When work on the live talent pickup equipment has been completed, technicians will begin installation of 441-line projectors for motion picture film. W6XAO is the only television station on the West Coast. (Broadcasting, June 1)
Wednesday, May 24
4:30 to 8:30—World’s Fair Demonstration.
8:30-9:30-Television’s first ballet lesson, given by the internationally-famous Mikhail Mordkin to a group of his child pupils, will be featured on tonight’s television studio transmission over W2XBS at 8:30 o’clock. Others to appear before the television cameras are Hildegarde, international singing star; Marion Bishop’s marionettes and John Bouruff, Alan Bunce and Mary Callahan in “Likes and Dislikes,” a dramatic sketch. (Daily Home News)
Installation Delays
Difficulties encountered with the installation of the transmitter in the Chrysler Tower have delayed the CBS entry into the television scene, Mr. Seldes stated. He had expected, he said, to find the transmitter broadcasting test material on his return, and had hoped to present his first program about June 1. Instead, it will probably be nearer the first of August, he said, adding that meanwhile several programs are in preparation.
Most of the CBS teleprograms will be studio presentations, Mr. Seldes declared, expressing the belief that except for outstanding sports events the most popular features with the television audience will be programs produced in the studio. The CBS main television studio in the Grand Central Bldg. is probably the largest in the world, and Mr. Seldes has practically no limit to the potential variety of program material, as he could put on a tennis match, basketball tournament or a fair-sized circus without feeling at all cramped.
The visual advantages have worked the other way for sound, however, as the average voice disappears in such a vast space and a great deal of acoustical treating will be necessary before it will be possible to broadcast from the studio, he explained. The room is about 270 feet long, 60 feet wide and 45 feet high.
A motion picture projection room for the televising of movies has been built at one end of the studio, adjoining the control room, and films will be used as program material if good ones are available, Mr. Seldes said, adding that if good ones are not obtainable he thinks he can get along very well without them. Just as the movies nearly died when they stuck to making pictures of stage shows, he explained, so television will die if it does nothing but televise motion pictures.
Asked about his staff, he said that it consists of himself, an assistant and a secretary and that he was not planning on making any additions at present. In answer to another query about pickups from outside the studio, he said CBS does not yet have any mobile television transmitting equipment. He expressed interest in the recent experiment in sending television signals over an ordinary telephone wire which, he said, would make remote telecasts possible from all points in and around New York without the need of a mobile transmitter. In London, he stated, a loop of coaxial cable has been installed along the route of most of the parades, pageants and ceremonies that the BBC is apt to want to televise, with frequent places for plugging in the cameras.
Asked about English television programs, he replied that the features most popular with the public were the Picture Page, consisting of three-minute interviews with newsworthy persons, outdoor sports events and pickups from theatres. Full-length plays are frequently televised, he said, and the producers have discovered that having their shows put on the air is good for business. Asked whether he thought the same types of entertainment would go over here, he said that he hadn't the faintest idea, that the English experience is the only precedent a television producer has to use as a guide, but that English audiences are quite different from the American public in their likes and dislikes. (Broadcasting, June 1)
Thursday, May 25
4:00 to 8:00—World’s Fair Demonstrations.
Friday, May 26
4:00—4A Intercollegiate Track Meet and [5:30] World’s Fair Demonstrations.
8:30-9:30—Hairdo’s, from the days of Cleopatra to the chic Park avenue debute, will be traced in television’s first showing of women’s coiffures, tonight 8:30 o’clock via W2XBS. . . . Mary Brian, motion picture actress, will act as mistress of ceremonies. . . . Another feature of the television transmission tonight will be a psychological study in the form of a dramatic sketch, titled “The Game of Chess.” . . . Harris and Shaw [sic], dancers, will open the program. (Daily Home News)
That NBC is constantly searching for the correct formula for television entertainment—insofar as present technical and production methods will allow—was particularly apparent in the eighth and ninth programs of the current twice-weekly series of variety tele shows. Show presented Wednesday was so badly conceived and executed that it didn’t seem possible Friday’s program came from the same workshop. Improvement indicated that NBC’s production department is not content to rest on the scientific laurels of its engineers and that effort is being made to offer entertainment and not merely a fascinating plaything.
Talent line-up op the first of the week’s tele casts equaled that of the second, but it was in the manner of presentation that the contrast was so marked. Wednesday program lacked continuity, smoothness and showmanship and its first half hour was of a type to make audiences swear off this new fangled thing. Whoever put Marion Bishop’s Marionettes in the lead-off spot and followed with a most boring rural travelog stood a fine chance of earning the dubious distinction of being responsible for asinine production. Puppet thing was inexpressibly bad, both in puppetteering and tele production.
Program’s entertainment quotient increased not at all with Mikhail Mordkin’s ballet lesson. For 25 minutes [...]
[...] Wednesday’s show was emseed by an NBC guide, John Porterfield, week’s second broadcast had Mary Brian, film player, for the introduction honors. There, of course, was no comparison, and Miss Brian impressed as being an exceptionally fine bet for this medium, displaying looks, poise and undeniable charm. Continuity on this program also was so far superior that contrast with Wednesday’s show would be insulting to it. Thru Miss Brian’s excellent emseeing and a script that linked the Merry Macs, Harris and Shore, a Mr. Louis of the American Hair Design Institute and the dramatic sketch together in an entertaining unit, this was a show that could be enjoyed, Louis contribution was a demonstration of the “evolution of hair styles,” employing models and good use of a moving camera; the Macs trotted out their best harmonic arrangements; Harris and Shore took care of the comedy with their burlesque adagio routines (altho not treated too well by a camera that had difficulty in following them) and the skit, A Game of Chess, by Kenneth Sawyer Goodman, while out-and-out corny melodrama, at least had the advantages of being tightly written and well acted and directed.
Rounding off a definitely entertaining program was NBC’s first experiment with a movie especially prepared for tele. Pic was RKO’s Gunga Din condensed into 20 minutes of the best action and dramatic scenes and given coherence thru a commentating synopsis by Knox Manning. NBC can be forgiven for its indiscretion of last Wednesday eve in the face of its contribution two nights later—if it cuts out enervating puppet shows and dim-witted novelties and continues to present carefully thought out and intelligently programed items. Richman. (Billboard, June 8)
Contrary to theory that television programs can be received only 40 or 50 miles from the transmitting station, General Electric engineers near Schenectady, N. Y., using a standard console G.E. receiver, picked up the complete two-hour program telecast by N.B.C. from the Empire State Building on May 26. Both picture and voice were received exceptionally well, despite the fact the airline distance to the transmitter was 130 miles and the receiver was located approximately 8,000 feet below the "line-of-sight." This is believed a record for reception of a regularly broadcast television program.
The temporary directive antenna, diamond in shape, was suspended from four masts with the plane of the diamond parallel to and about 40 feet above the ground. The antenna occupied a space on the ground of about 300 by 600 feet. The picture as viewed by the group was 8 by 10 inches. The place where the tests were conducted was about two miles from the new highpowcr television station which General Electric is erecting in the Helderberg mountains, 12 miles from Schenectady.
The spot was at a location slightly higher than the station, to command the best view of New York and the south. The station is slightly down the mountainside, so that part of the mountain acts as a shield to the south, since this transmitter plans only to cover the capital district. (Radio and Television Today, June 1939)
Saturday, May 27
4:00—Finals of Track Meet at Randall’s Island.
A sensational tumbling of runners into the cinders, during the championship mile relay, was among the incidents televised during NBC’s television pickup of the IC4A meet at Randalls Island yesterday [27]. (W2XBS). It was also broadcast over WJZ at 3 and WNYC at 4. The excitement came as runners of New York, Pittsburgh and Southern California universities stumbled and sprawled over the track. (Ben Gross, New York Daily News, May 28).
Tuesday, May 30
11:00 to 4:00—World’s Fair Demonstrations.
Hollywood, May 30—To protect its television interests in California, Paramount filed incorporation papers in Sacramento for Television Productions, Inc. Paul Raiburn, executive assistant to Barney Balaban in New York, is listed as president; Y. Frank Freeman, vice pres; Edith Schaefer, secretary, and Walter B. Corkell, treasurer. Company asked permission to issue 25,000 shares of stock at some future date.
Studio execs explained that the company was formed to handle developments of television on the Coast in connection with Par’s holdings of DuMont laboratories in New Jersey. (Variety, May 31)
Wednesday, May 31
4:30-8:30—World’s Fair Demonstrations.
8:30-9:30—Judy Canova, with Zeke and Annie will headline a variety program, which will also include Hanya Holm and her modern dance group, to be telecast over Station W2XBS. Nick Lucas, singing guitarist, and Jay and Lou Seiler, comedians on skis, will be featured on the regular studio telecast. “Afterwards,” a dramatic piece, will be presented by the amateur players of Bogota, N. J. High School. (Brooklyn Eagle)
Reviewed Wednesday, 8:30-9 p.m. EDST. Style—Variety, using live talent and film. Reviewed on RCA Receiver. Station W2XBS.
Wednesday telecast [31] was technically interesting thruout and in spots offered solid entertainment fare. Top act was Judy Canova with Zeke and Annie—the hillbilly trio delivering a performance of excellent merit and one quite easily surpassing their average radio broadcasts.
Camera had no trouble getting good definition here, as the act remained practically stationary during the routine, and this, combined with personality and ability on the part of the performers, made the turn a natural for tele.
Offering of Nick Lucas, guitar and tonsil artist, falls into the same category, Mr. Lucas remaining stationary, offering no camera difficulties and photographing well. His delivery is well known and scarcely needs comment other than that it equaled his radio and vaude appearances.
Both these turns are lifted a notch over radio by virtue of the sight element.
In the case of Jay and Lou Seller, comedians on skiis, camera work was not adept and in some instances downright bad. The Sellers are quite active, but certainly riot to such an extent that their turn should be cramped.
Camera work on Hanya Holm’s dancers was good—particularly so in that the modern dance routine presented exceptional difficulties. Action was extensive, covering much ground, and cast was fairly large. Image, while at times giving poor facial definition when a number of dancers were performing at once, nevertheless was sufficient to give a good impression of what the performers were intending to convey. Camera technique at times seemed to be that of letting groups of dancers come within the camera’s eye, instead of camera following the dancers. In any case, it was a difficult job well done. Paul Milton, editor of Dance mag, appeared briefly to pre sent an award to the troupe.
Playlet on this program was an amateur effort, written and performed by students of the Bogota, N. J., high school. It had a boy and girl lead, with two other characters appearing for a very brief walk-on part—this economy in casting, of course, being peculiar to tele owing to current image limitations. Script, a fantasy titled Afterwards, touched on metaphysical problems and was interesting in treatment tho not new in concept. It was enacted in amateur fashion (no slur Intended) by Doris Young and Robert Barron.
Only screen fare was a musical cartoon, made abroad, and interesting more from the film than tele viewpoint.
Emsee on this program was Glenn Riggs, who did a personable, straight forward job. Paul Ackerman. (Variety, June 10)
Note: Despite the date on the list below from the June 1939 issue of Radio and Television magazine, the programming is effective May 1.
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