September-October 1940

New Yorkers finally had television again at the end of October 1940. W2XBS had switched frequencies as ordered by the FCC and returned to the air after almost three months.

Oddly, the station did not resume a full schedule. NBC insisted on running tests only, so W2XBS wasn’t on every day. It was closer to once or twice a week, if newspaper reports are to be taken as accurate. One was a rally by President and Presidential candidate F.D.R. from Madison Square Garden.

There was television in New York when NBC was off the air. Sort of. RCA had what amounted to a closed circuit system at the New York World's Fair. And some amateurs set up their own station there.

In the meantime, the Los Angeles area was now without TV broadcasts as W6XAO shut down so it could change frequencies. It had been airing live programming for an hour Monday through Saturday nights, and films (and, occasionally, live discussions) during the daytime several days a week. The schedule as printed in the Pasadena Post was:

Tuesdays, 2:30—Interviews, Film.
Wednesdays, 3:00—Films.
Thursdays, 3:00—Round Table, Films.
Saturdays, 5:30—Film Discussion.

The Lee company brought in outside producers, including operators of acting schools who had wafts of students who would go on the air. No cost to Don Lee Broadcasting. Patrick Michael Cunning put together a weekly serialised version of “Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn,” and another show called “Album of Memories.” Jack Stern produced original plays. Cunning kept his actors busy during the shut down by re-enacting TV broadcasts at a local theatre.

Bamberger Broadcasting, owners of WOR, was granted a license, but for a variety of reasons, it didn't begin programming until 1949.

Below are selected industry stories, as well as the two days in October when W2XBS sent out broadcasts. With nothing on the air for much of September and October 1940, there won't be much in the way of highlights.

Sunday, September 1, 1940
HARLEM BROADCASTING Co., New York, has received its charter from the New York Secretary of State to organize a negro broadcasting and television station, plans for which are now under consideration by the incorporator, Joseph Deighton Gibson, Marie Louise Gibson and Reuel M. Jordan. According to Mr. Jordan, a New York attorney, the group will survey local stations before deciding whether to seek to purchase an existing one or to apply to the FCC for a construction permit for a new one. The proposed station will not necessarily be limited to negro entertainers and sponsors, Mr. Jordan indicated. (Broadcasting, Sept. 1)

Wednesday, September 4, 1940
The first public demonstration of television in full color, successful transmission of which was announced last week by the Columbia Broadcasting System, was held yesterday [4] for representatives of the press in the studio’s fifth-floor experimental laboratories at 485 Madison Avenue. It developed that, contrary to the earlier impression, the color technique is still inapplicable for picking up original or live broadcasts. Yesterday’s experiment was in scanning a sixteen-millimeter Kodachrome motion-picture film.
The color telecast on the screen was extremely vivid and generally achieved a more life-like mixture of shades than is customary in commercial technicolor film. Color adds depth amid a more definite linear division which the indistinct images of black and white television lack.
The television in color gave striking effects in reproducing the hues of flowers. One sequence showed a field of sunflowers against a deep azure sky. Another brought out the texture of bright velvets and figured linen cloth. A third, one of the few which showed human figures in action, pictured a pretty girl in a flowered bathing suit chasing a vari-colored beachball into the surf.
Two television receiving sets were used in the demonstration. One was the regulation set, receiving a black and white image. The second was a regulation set with a color disk and recording apparatus added so that it received the same image in color. The attachment is a simple one, adding slightly to the height of the machine. It can be affixed, once the scheme is made commercially desirable, at a price which will add only 10 per cent to the original cost.
Dr. Peter C. Goldmark, inventor of the system and C. B. S. chief television engineer, was in charge of the telecasting equipment in another room of the studio. The procedure, as he explained it later, was this:
A color motion picture is run through a film scanner. Between the film and an electronic pick-up tube is a rotating disk containing red, green and blue filters in that order. Synchronized with the disk in front of the pick—up tube is a similar disk in front of the receiver tube. When the red filter is in front of the pick—up tube, the red filter is in front of the receiver tube. If there is no color disk in front of the receiver tube, as was the case with the second receiving machine used yesterday the picture appears as a black and white image.
Paul W. Kesten, vice-president of C. B. S., said that the development of the invention to encompass original broadcasts from the studio or from outside would require the manufacture of a new kind of pick up tube, the formula for which had not yet been found. He hopes to have the device ready for commercial manufacturers by January, l941 but commercial telecasting of color was farther off than that, he said. (Herald Tribune, Sept. 5)

Friday, September 13, 1940
The Don Lee television station, W6XAO, will go dark Friday night [13] for a 90-day period, while work is completed on the teletower transmitter atop Mt. Lee.
The studio announced yesterday that because of the great amount of time involved in the switch-over, it was found it advisable to shut down telecasting completely through the period of installation of new equipment. It estimates the work will require about 90 days. Headliners on the last programs this week are Bob Richards, “Huckleberry Finn” presented by the Patrick Michael Cunning Players, Hazel Hurst, Glen Kirschner and the telecasting of the fights at the Legion Stadium. (Hollywood Reporter, Sept. 11)

When the Don Lee television station, W6XAO moves into its new quarters atop Mt. Lee in Hollywoodland next December, it will launch a drive for closer motion picture studio cooperation.
Since the inception of regular daily programs about a year ago, station has striven for program assistance from the picture plants without conspicuous success. On two occasions, it is known, film executives cancelled programs arranged by their studio publicity departments, while on others, contract players who consented to appear on their own were later prohibited from so doing. (Hollywood Reporter)

Tuesday, September 17, 1940
The members of NBC’s Television Minstrels, made up from the uniformed staff, are going places (last May, we suggested you check them off as “stars of tomorrow”). Six of them went with RCA, to write, produce, direct and act in the television exhibit at the World’s Fair, three have been promoted to better jobs at NBC and one, Earl Wrightson, has been auditioned and accepted for the Metropolitan Opera’s touring company. (Daily News, Ben Gross column)

Wednesday, September 18, 1940
The Federal Communications Commission confirmed yesterday [18] that station WOR of the Mutual Broadcasting System had received a television license to operate on a frequency of 96 to 102 megacycles, according to an announcement by J. R. Poppele, the station’s chief engineer.
Mr. Poppele said the station was prepared to spend $100,000 for experimental work to supply television service to New York and the metropolitan area. Transmissions will be supplied on a schedule of two hours during the day and two hours at night. The tests will be started immediately, and service to the public should begin in six of eight months, Mr. Poppele said. Television studios will be maintained at 1440 Broadway and at the transmitter site, which will be determined after tests have been made.
WOR becomes the fourth television station in the New York area, the others being operated by the National Broadcasting Company, the Columbia Broadcasting System and the A. B. DuMont Laboratories, in Passaic, N. J. (Herald Tribune)

TELEVISION station of WOR, Newark, will be on the air within six to nine months, according to J. R. Poppele, chief engineer of WOR, who started tests to determine the transmitter site immediately upon the FCC grant of a television license to the Bamberger Broadcasting Service, operator of the station.
While it would be desirable to have the television transmitter located at 444 Madison Ave., New York, where WOR’s FM station, W2XOR, is already situated, no final decision will be made until the tests are completed, Poppele said.
Investigations are also being made of all the types of television transmission equipment available, he stated, explaining that as WOR is primarily interested in broadcasting and is not a manufacturer of equipment it is more important for the station to experiment with program techniques than to repeat the laboratory work already being carried on by RCA, General Electric, Du Mont and the other experimenters in the field. There are comprehensive plans for research, however, he added, including tests of both vertical and horizontal antennas and experiments with transmission of pictures of 441, 507, 585, 637 and 729 lines, which he hopes will produce data that will aid in developing and determining standards for the industry. A minimum of $100,000 has been set aside by WOR for the initial television operations.
The fourth television station licensed for operation in the New York metropolitan area, WOR’s television transmitter will operate on Channel No. 6 (92-102 mc.). Two hours of afternoon and two hours of evening service daily are planned for the start, Poppele said, with the time increased as rapidly as public acceptance warrants.
NBC’s Preparations
Meanwhile, NBC is beginning to test transmission with 507 lines on its new frequency, although engineers refused to set a (late for the station’s return to service on a regular basis, pointing out that there’s a lot of difference between going on the air for brief test periods and going into regular daily service and that a great deal of testing is necessary to insure continued operation once it is resumed. Work is also being done on the mobile units, replacing former camera tubes with the orthocon camera, which works on lower light intensities than were previously adequate for good image transmission.
No further progress has been reported by CBS on its color television, although the colored motion pictures televised for FCC Chairman James Lawrence Fly and for the press have also been shown to the members of the NTSC and to a delegation from the FCC. The NTSC subcommittees have held an almost continuous series of meetings, but have issued no statements.
They answer inquiries with the reply that they are merely reviewing the present stage of television development in an attempt to decide what further research is immediately necessary and as yet have nothing to announce. (Broadcasting, Oct. 1)

Friday, September 20, 1940
Although there is more talk of demolition than of construction at the World’s Fair these days, a new feature being installed in the center of the Communications Building, suggesting the possibility that some day television may be a fertile field for amateurs.
Arthur H. Lynch, managing director of the W2USA Radio Club, a non-profit group interested in the operation of the Fair’s amateur station, explained yesterday that the new unit, a glass-walled booth with television equipment inside, probably would be dedicated at the Fair next Friday.
Mr. Lynch said that for the first time, in connection with the project, television would be transmitted and also received. The images at the Fair unit will be visible to Fair goers through the walls of the booth. The other terminus of the two-way circuit will be atop the building at 220 East Forty-second Street, from which point shots of the city will be made easily.
“We are doing with television exactly what amateurs do with telegraphy and telephony,” Mr. Lynch said. He added that he had become interested in the scheme at a trade show at Chicago last June, where the apparatus—previously described in three issues of QST, the monthly publication of the American Radio Relay League—was on display.
Mr. Lynch emphasized that the equipment was not the product of any one manufacturer any more than any “ham’s” radio apparatus. It had to be assembled, piece by piece, he added, with a new RCA iconoscope, or television tube, a key factor.
He said results as good as those of commercial television were not expected, but hoped the new unit would give the public an idea of how close television was to the hobby stage—and the licensed amateur a chance to Inspect the equipment inside the booth.
So far, Mr. Lynch said, he knew of only three amateurs who had comparable units of their own. He listed them as Phil Rand, operating W1IDM of Norwalk, Conn.; Lee Waller, W2BRO at Delawanna, N. J., and Dana Griffin, W2AOE at Irvington, N. J.
The Fair booth will be in charge of William A. Meissner, known to all fellow “hams” as W2DKJ. The Forty-second Street unit will be in charge of Fred Cusick. W2HID. Mr. Lynch operates W2DKJ at Garden City and plans to have a tele vision unit one of these days.
The Fair contributed the space for the booth as well as installing the antennae and wiring. A group of six manufacturers paid other costs. It was understood the Fair planned a special ceremony for the opening of the little station. The W2USA license will expire with the Fair. (New York Times)

Saturday, September 21, 1940
The past week’s television shows at the Don Lee station, W6XAO, kept the drama students [of Jack Stern Studios] busy. Three out of the last four W6XAO telecasts included a “Jack Stern Presents” play. The first telecast was an original comedy with music, written and directed by Grace Hamilton, and featuring seven singing students, with Jack Stern at the piano. The singers were Jean Requa, Ellen Strong, Maizie Sharpe, Jill Howard, Tommy Batten and John Clark, CBS singer.
The second Stern telecast of the week was presented Tuesday [10]. This was an original play, “One Man’s Destiny,” written by Allan Grayson, and featuring Frances McLester, Patricia Peters and Tom Farrel. The third telecast was “And One Was White,” by Allan Grayson, featuring Kati Maroon, Tanya and Ed Walsh, directed by Anthony Rivers and produced under the direction of Grace Hamilton. (Hollywood Citizen-News, Sep. 21)

Sunday, September 22, 1940
As a practical application of television, the complete schedule of home football games of the University of Pennsylvania will be televised this Fall by the Philco Radio and Television Corporation.
Operating under an experimental license, Station W3XE will cover the action with cameras on platforms suspended from the south balcony of Franklin Field. Ten engineers will handle operations. Play-by-play descriptions are to be picked up from the regular sponsored broadcasts of the games.
Station W3XE is scheduled to operate on Channel No. 3 with increased power of approximately ten kilowatts by authority of the Federal Communications Commission.
Transmission will be on 525 lines, according to the announcement, “affording greater clarity and wealth of detail than previously obtained with 441 lines. Plans call for transmission of the sound and images from the field by coaxial cable to W3XP, a relay transmitter 235 feet high on the roof of Convention Hall, from where the signals are to be routed by ultra-short waves to W3XE. (New York Times)

Thursday, September 26, 1940
Work on Don Lee’s new station, atop Mt. Lee, the first station built exclusively for television, is progressing rapidly, with super-structure now erected and builders ready to begin encasement of the building and stages in a copper sheathing, the entire unit to cost about $100,000.
Plant will contain a 25 by 50 ft. swimming pool, for aquatic telecasts, and two television stages, one 60 by 100 feet, the other 25 by 45, in addition to office facilities, transmitter room, an experimental laboratory, scenery storage rooms, make-up room, and lounging rooms. Formal opening of the building will be about Jan. 1.
W6XAO, which has been telecasting since 1931, has been off the air for the past few weeks in order to hasten the move-over. (Hollywood Reporter)

Friday, September 27, 1940
A two-way television circuit, described as “an entirely new form of communication,” was operated last night between the Maritime Transportation and Communication building at the World’s Fair and station W2 USA in The News building eight miles away. The novel service, which will be continued for the duration of the Fair, operated like a wireless telephone, with the addition that images of the speakers were visible. Last night’s was the first simultaneous operation of two-way television with sound.
Thirty days remain before the Fair’s closing date, Oct. 27. (Daily News)

Monday, September 30, 1940
Proprietors of taverns and restaurants who have installed television sets for the entertainment of patrons will have to pay a license fee of $5 a month, it was learned yesterday [30] at the Department of License. There is a possibility also that persons having television in their homes will have to take out licenses for the sets unless the license law is amended. In any case, however, it is not probable that private owners would have to pay a fee for licenses.
The reason that licenses are required for television sets is that the definition of motion pictures in the license law is so broad that it can be applied to television. The definition is “a display, on a moving screen or other device, of pictures or objects in motion or rapidly changing scenery.” The only way television could be excluded, It was said at the Department of Licenses, would be for the City Council to amend the law to make a specific exemption in the case of television sets. (Herald Tribune)

Thursday, October 3, 1940
The opportunity for Americans eventually to see the dramatic or day-by-day happenings in their Capital City was inaugurated yesterday [3] with the signing of a lease for establishment of a National Broadcasting Co. television center in the Wardman Park Hotel.
The Federal Communications Commission must now approve the site—the hotel and then permit construction to begin. N. B. C. offices said that about six months will be required to complete the station, once construction work has begun.
The hotel was chosen because of its elevation and the facilities it affords.
Reasons for Choosing Capital
“We chose Washington as the site of our second experimental television station for several reasons,” said Niles Trammel], N. B. C. president. “In broadcasting, we find the Nation’s Capital to be of vital importance in our service to a Nation of listeners. It is only reasonable to assume that Washington eventually also will be an important source of interesting material for tomorrow’s Nation-wide television network.” The outlook, also, is to make Washington the originating point of a television service linking the Nation’s Capital with Philadelphia and New York, it was said. A satisfactory means of interconnection is promised by an automatic relay developed by the Radio Corporation of America, it was said.
When such relays are established, the problems of television program syndication can be experimented with. “Then it will be possible for televiewers in Washington, Philadelphia and New York to see events from any of the three cities,” Trammell said.
Experimental at First
Immediately, however, the activities here will be experimental. Emphasis will be laid on the artistic and technical problems involved in televising programs of governmental and national affairs, it was said. The plan contemplates installation of a 1,000-watt station at the hotel, where the theater auditorium and stage will be used for programs. Two transmitters will be included, one to broadcast the television image, another to transmit the associated sound.
Governmental activities will be stronger relied upon for live material. Facilities will include a mobile television unit on wheels to pick up interesting activities outside the hotel studio.
The N. B. C. gave a demonstration of high-definition television in Washington in 1939. (Washington Post, Oct. 4)

Saturday, October 5, 1940
Television scored another first in Philadelphia yesterday afternoon [5] when all the action and color of the opening football game of the season at Franklin Field between the University of Pennsylvania eleven and Maryland was televised to receiving sets in many parts of the city.
It was the first time in history that a college football game had been televised and persons 54 miles away saw the game in all its detail as transmitted from Franklin Field.
Arranged by the Philco Television and Radio Corp. and the University of Pennsylvania, the television demonstration was witnessed by a group of engineers and newspapermen in the Warwick.
IMAGES CLEAR
So clear were the images picked up on a screen about seven by nine inches that when Gene Davis, the Penn quarterback, kicked the field goal for the first score of the game, the group in the Warwick became as enthusiastic as if they were present at Franklin Field.
Two television cameras equipped with telescopic lens, installed on scaffolds suspended from the 20-yard lines on the upper tier of the South Stands, scanned the placing field, picking up two scenes of action.
The action was transmitted by wire to a control booth, also located in the upper tier of the South Stands. Here four engineers and a director viewed the scenes on two television receiver. The director, acing in a capacity similar to that of a motion picture director, with a microphone and headphones, looked at both pictures, and then decided which was the most important to put on the air.
PICKED UP IN READING
Sometimes it was necessary to bring both scenes together, because of the fast action. If the picture appeared blurred the director would tell the cameraman so, by speaking through the microphone.
From the control booth the images were transmitted to Convention Hall about 1800 yards away, where they were transmitted by radio to a receiving set at the Philco plant, located at C and Ontario sts. There the television pictures were rebroadcast on Philco’s regular experimental transmitter W3XE, and picked up on receivers in this city and as far away as Redding, Pa. (Philadelphia Inquirer, Oct. 5)

Philadelphia. Oct. 15.
Football game between University of Pennsylvania and the Universty of Maryland at Franklin Field was televised by Philco over its experimental transmitter W3XE recently. Demonstration was witnessed by a group of newspapermen and engineers at the Warwick hotel.
Watching the game from the seven-by-nine screen of the tele receiver was like having a seat on the 20 yard line. The action of the entire game was easy to follow, although when the ball moved up field the watcher had to move close to the screen to get a clearer view.
The game was described by Bill Slater, of Atlantic gas. This threw the watcher off as Slater was in the porth [north] stands while the television cameras were in the south. When the gabber announced the runner was going to his left, the tele screen showed him going to the right and vice versa.
The action was picked up by two television cameras equipped with telescopic lenses installed on scaffolding suspended from the upper tier of the stands, picking up two fields of action. This was transmitted by wire to a control room where four engineers and a director viewed it on two television receivers.
The director, acting in the capacity of a motion picture director, decided which gave the best picture of the action, and placed that one on the air. Switching from one camera to the other caused momentary black outs on the receiving screen.
The images were then transmitted from the control booth to Convention Hall, about 1,800 yards away, where they were sent to Philco plant in the northeastern section of the city. From here it was rebroadcast on Philco’s television transmitter to about 300 sets in the Philly area. Most of these are owned by engineers of Philco. (Variety, Oct. 16)

Thursday, October 24, 1940
Through the medium of television, New Yorkers at home will be able to look in on the Madison Square Garden scene as the Democratic and Republican parties hold their rallies next Monday and on Nov. 2, respectively according to plans announced yesterday [24] by Niles Trammell, president of the National Broadcasting Company.
President Roosevelt and Wendell Willkie will be seen in the telecasts as they address their meetings, which are regarded as the climaxes of party efforts to win the 1940 Presidential election. It is estimated by NBC representatives that the telecasts will enable more than 40,000 long-distance viewers to attend the rallies.
The majority of set owners in the metropolitan area, numbering almost 4,000, will be able to tune in the pick-ups at either No. 2 or 4 on the television dial.
Both pickups are scheduled to begin at 8:30 P. M. over Station W2XBS, atop the Empire State Building. (New York Times)

Saturday, October 26, 1940
PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 26.—Philco Corporation, planning ambitious schedule of experimental television programs this season for its W3XE station here, is sending members of its staff to New York to attend a series of 11 lectures included in the fall program to be conducted by the Home Furnishing Educational Studios. Courses, offering backgrounds in producing elaborate tele shows apart from special events, will include lectures on psychology of color, case goods, color schemes, etc.
Those planning to take the courses are L. J. Pearson, D. H. L. Jensen, R. Whipples, E. Meyer, E. Haines, O. Newson, Harmon, N. White. A. Wilson, and O. Paterson. (Billboard, Nov. 2)

Sunday, October 27, 1940
8:30 W2XBS (NBC-RCA): Film—Lady Luck
(the new No. 1 television channel, 50-56 megacycles, can be located on most receivers in this area under No. 2 or No. 4 on station selector. W2XBS is still using 441 scanning lines.)

WITH a film telecast Oct. 27, NBC’s television station W2XBS, New York, returned to the air for a test series. Station had operated on a regular schedule from May 1, 1939, until the end of July this year when it went off the air to permit NBC engineers to change the station to the new band as assigned by the FCC.
Designed primarily to test the new equipment and circuits, the telecasts will be presented on “a necessarily irregular schedule”, Alfred H. Morton, NBC vice-president in charge of television, explained. “As we try out each of the different pieces of equipment, time will be required to coordinate them with other parts of the complete system. We will, however, let the televiewer know at the conclusion of each test just when the transmitter will be on the air again and what the nature of the pickup will be.”
Election Coverage
Most important telecasts scheduled were the pickups of the political rallies at Madison Square Garden in New York during the final week of the Presidential campaign, with President Franklin D. Roosevelt making the main address of the Democratic rally Oct. 28 and with Wendell L. Willkie, Republican candidate, speaking at his party’s rally Nov. 2, and program on the evening of Nov. 5, election day, in which charts and maps will be utilized to give a visual picture of the standing of the candidates as the returns come in. One of NBC’s staff of commentators, probably Baukhage, will be assigned to television for the evening and others of the network’s news analysts will talk to the television audience from time to time during the evening.
Contrary to expectation that when W2XBS returned to the air it would broadcast images with a definition of 507 lines, the test images are again telecast at 441 lines with transmission at 30 complete frames a second as formerly. It is understood that the change to 507 lines would necessitate changes in some makes of television receivers and that for this reason NBC decided to retain its former definition until after the final report of the National Television Standards Committee, which may recommend further changes. The committee, which is studying all phases of television standards hopes to have its work completed and its recommendations ready for presentation to the FCC by Jan. 1, 1941. (Broadcasting, Nov. 1)

NBC last week sent out wired invitations over Niles Trammell’s name for a studio gathering of advertisers, agency men and radio editors election night to absorb returns and refreshments. Web has set aside its largest studio, 8H, for the event, which will include television. There will also be a camera in this studio to permit television set owners to see how NBC gathers, posts and distributes the returns. (Variety, Oct. 30)

New York—Television broadcasting, dormant here since July because of the FCC’s interest in FM developments, resumed last night [27] with the telecasting of “Lady Luck,” feature length film produced by Chesterfield Invincible. It was the first opportunity for the 4000 set-owners to turn on their equipment in three months.
NBC has also made arrangements to telecast political rallies of both parties tonight and Saturday from Madison Square Garden. No regular schedule has been prepared, but NBC will announce at the conclusion of each broadcast when the next transmission will take place. Paramount’s DuMont company [sic] went on the air last week for test periods, using still pictures and signals. CBS is still experimenting with color television and reconstructing its transmitter atop the Chrysler tower.
Experts from all television companies are now working on new basic standards of transmission, which are expected to be completed by Dec. 15 in an effort to get adoption by the FCC by the first of the year. A new receiving plan, utilizing a multiple arrangement of small, cheap cathode tubes, instead of a single, expensive tube, has been patented by Dr. Alfred Goldsmith, consulting engineer. Each small tube scans only a small section of large screen and can be made as stmply as ordinary electric light bulbs, according to the inventor. System could be used more efficiently than the present for picture theatres as well as homes, it is said. (Hollywood Reporter)

Monday, October 28, 1940
8:30 W2XBS (NBC-RCA) Democratic Rally—at Madison Square Garden; President Roosevelt.

Television as a vote-getting medium was used in a political campaign for the first time last night [28] when scenes of the Democratic party’s Presidential rally at Madison Square Garden were flashed to an estimated audience of 40,000 long-distance viewers at 4,000 sight-sound receivers in the metropolitan area. As part of the pick-up, the electric cameras were focused on President Roosevelt for the forty-five minutes he took to deliver his address.
Since television at present is experimental, by order of the Federal Communications Commission, the Democratic National Committee did not have to pay for the time. Neither will the Republican party have to pay for television facilities Saturday night when a pick-up is scheduled of the rally at the Garden with Wendell Willkie as the principal speaker.
The telecast, which went on the air at 9 o’clock, was carried over an experimental wire provided by engineers of the Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc., to controls at Radio City. From this point the program was relayed over a coaxial cable, or television “pipe,” to Station W2XBS, the NBC transmitter atop the Empire State building, for general broadcast.
As President Roosevelt took the speakers’ stand to the ovation of the 20,000-odd in attendance, Alfred H. Morton, NBC vice-president in charge of television, pointed out at Radio City “television’s peculiar power of transmitting, not only the scene and sound of an event that is still unfolding, but also much of its inherent excitement.”
Observers were heard to remark, however, that the clarity and definition of the reproduced images did not compare with the pictures tuned in from the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, in June. Only the most well-known persons at the rally were recognizable, and faces were very hard to discern on the screen. The images were dark and “fuzzy.”
Among the other speakers seen and heard at the rally were Governor Lehman and Senators Robert F. Wagner and James M. Mead. Just before Mr. Roosevelt began speech Lucy Monroe, star of the World’s Fair’s “American Jubilee,” sang “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
The event was covered with two television cameras. Control equipment was located in a mobile unit where the program director and control engineers watched scenes registered by the cameras, selecting the pictures according to the shift of visual Interest. (New York Times, Oct. 29)

Tuesday, October 29, 1940
Construction permit for a new 1,000-watt television station in Milwaukee, to use Channel No. 3 (66-73 mc.) was granted the Milwaukee Journal, operator of WTMJ, by the FCC Oct. 29 (Broadcasting, Nov. 1)

July-August 1940

Almost a month after spearheading historic television coverage of the 1940 Republican convention, W2XBS was off the air. The FCC ordered it to change frequencies to accommodate FM radio. The sad thing was the NBC had to do it all over again in March 1946 when the FCC ordered another reallocation of the broadcast bands.

In the meantime, a group had formed to come up with a broadcast transmission standard that would be acceptable to the FCC which would, in turn, drop its freeze on ads on television.

The Commission also permanently approved licenses for stations in New York to CBS and DuMont. Both were already working to put them on the air; DuMont occasionally broadcast test patterns. In August 1940, CBS demonstrated colour television, setting off another technical and regulatory battle with RCA/NBC that lasted into the 1950s.

The Democratic Convention in July was in the middle of nowhere when it came to television—Chicago. There wouldn’t be a network connection between the city and New York until a few years after the war, so there was no live coverage.

Elsewhere in July 1940, Balaban and Katz in Chicago were getting prepared to put what became WBKB into people’s living rooms.

The AP ran a cute profile of W2XBS effects man Bill Eddy. Capt. Eddy would soon find a home with WBKB. Meanwhile, an era closed in August with the death of the man responsible for the revolving disc used in mechanical television, rendered obsolete by the cathode ray tube. He lost the rights for his invention. I can't help but think of eletronic TV pioneer Philo T. Farnsworth, and his professional difficulties.

TV viewers in the Los Angeles area in July and August 1940 would have caught party-thrower Elsa Maxwell in her first TV appearance—and the first for the station in higher definition—a soap box derby and a wedding. The groom, William Vincent Hazen, was born in Los Angeles on Dec. 7, 1913. He died in Los Angeles on Jan. 5, 1991. His wife Marian was born in Minneapolis on March 17, 1921. Alas, the two divorced in August 1968. It would have been appropriate if they did so before Judge Joseph Wapner. Marian died April 25, 2006.

Remarkably, while W2XBS went off the air for three months to switch frequencies, W6XAO did so in a day. The station was now broadcasting 14 1/2 hours a week, according to Variety of Aug. 21. W9XZV, the Zenith station in Chicago was off as well.

The other Los Angeles license approved by the FCC eventually became KTLA, originally W6XYZ.

We’ll pass along the NBC schedule from various different newspaper sources until the station signed off, along with selected stories.

Monday, July 1, 1940
9:00-11:00—Amateur Boxing Bouts, Jamaica Arena.

NEW YORK (AP) — Introducing the gadget engineer—Bill Eddy—and his latest gadget, “Little Joe.”
Eddy’s job at the NBC television studios is to put together all sorts of stage props and things that move for television programs. Eddy calls them video effects.
As a video effect, or just as a gadget, Little Joe is a wow. An animated puppet, dressed in full cowboy regalia and full of motors and wheels, Little Joe can smoke, ride a pint-sized horse named Alfred and do about everything but talk. The effect is of a cartoon in action.
Later, says Eddy, there will be other Little Joes—a whole troupe of them. Little Joe’s primary purpose in life was to appear between acts in the drama, “The Rabbit Falls.”
Eddy, as a 6-foot, 5-inch gadget engineer, speaks profoundly of his profession.
Hours of Trial
“The controlling factor in gadget engineering,” he says, “is the necessity for perfect performance within the space of the few minutes allotted to a special video effect. A gadgeteer must have a broad knowledge of art, electricity, mechanics, optics and chemistry. Still, he does have recurrent hours of trial. Not always do his gadgets work.”
Originally from Saratoga Springs, N. Y., Eddy was a lieutenant in the submarine division of the Navy before he switched to radio communication and experimentation. He entered television five years ago. He has made so many gadgets—from an optical mechanical dissolve machine for use on titles, to moving whatzits—that he probably can’t remember them all. To make them he uses most anything, including fishline. (C.E. Butterfield)

Tuesday, July 2, 1940
3:30—“Cavalcade of Chemistry,” film.
3:50—“Australia,” travelogue.
4:00—“Last of the Mohicans,” film serial.
4:20—“Let’s See America,” travelogue.
6:45-7:00—News with Lowell Thomas.
9:00-10:00—Variety show, “The Neighbors,” dramatic sketch; “Alda,” musical film.

Members of the Screen Children’s Guild, modeling smart apparel from Roos’ Bros. Boys’ Department, will be seen by television fans tonight in an “All-Boy Style Show,” seen over the Don Lee station W6XOA [sic] tonight between 8 and 9:30 o’clock.
Sport coats, swim trunks, beach togs and other garments meant for Summer weather will be seen in the showing, directed by Cal Inman, department manager, it was announced by the store manager, A. Benjamin.
In the cast will be Jetty Rush Jr., 9, who has just completed an important role in RKO’s “The Howards of Virginia,” and other guild members including Bobby and Richard Scott. Bryan Milton, Robert Ferrero, Patrick Griffin, Don Hangan, Leonard Leib, Bill Stephenson, Jimmy Welsh, Arthur Bateson. Billy Horn, Jack Williams, Richard Cannon, Ray Sabo, Elon Reeves, Jack Gravelle Herbert Macgregor, Billy Lee, Eugene Miller, Jerome Theaker, James Wiseman, and James and Mickey Thomas. (Hollywood Citizen-News)

W6AXO will cast its most ambitions television production Friday night, when players will be lined for “The Life of Adelina Patti,” which Albert Yager will produce and direct, using the record number of 11 sets. It will be presented in August. (Hollywood Reporter, July 3)

Wednesday, July 3, 1940
3:30-4:30—“Songs and Saddles,” Western film.
9:00-10:00—“Meet the Fair,” from the RCA Exhibit, World’s Fair.

Thursday, July 4, 1940
2:00-4:00—Fourth of July Pageant, Court of Peace, World’s Fair.
9:00—“Zamboanga,” 1937 feature film.

Friday, July 5, 1940
3:30—“West of Nevada,” film.
6:45—News.
9:00-10:00—“Gypsy Moods,” variety with Eugene Jelesnik’s orchestra; Tom Fletcher’s Minstrels.

Television Review
EUGENE JELESNIK
With Eduard Futran, Clair Instrumental, Dancing
Friday, July 5, ‘40
NBC-RCA, New York
This combination of Continental entertainment reacted pleasantly on the eye and ear. Eugene Jelesnik, gypsy violinist, did a return engagement before the electric eye but this time he was backed up by a three-piece unit consisting of a piano, a ‘cello and a marimba. At intervals he was relieved by Eduard Futran, specialist on the accordion, while Charlotte Clair came in for a fast batch of pirouettes. It was a smooth sample of radio photography all around.
Jelesnik’s repertoire ran the gamut of gypsy melodies, Continental waltzes and excerpts from operetta. Futran, who photographs like a Valentino, also vocalized a medley of Spanish, French, Dutch, etc., numbers. Odec. (Variety, July 10)

Third television play written, directed and produced by Nat Tanchuck for station W6XAO, has been set for the night of July 17. Title of play is “Mr. Private Secretary,” with Charlie Wilson in the femme lead. (Hollywood Reporter, July 5)



Saturday, July 6, 1940
Announced as the largest and most complete children’s event ever to be Televised, the Don Lee Station, W6XAO, will broadcasat by Television the Hollywood Bathing Beauty Parade for Children on July 20. The Children’s Parade offers any child in Southern California an opportunity to appear in television. The sponsors hope that the children may become acquainted with television not only by seeing at first-hand “how it is done” but to profit by actually being in it.
The Children’s Parade will take place on the grounds of the Ambassador Hotel. It will be public. Newsreel companies will shoot the event for theatre release.
Music and entertainment will be furnished by Gail Sponseller and his Guild orchestra and film and radio notables are expected to be present.
Medals, certificate, and blue ribbons will be awarded the girls for pose, personality, beauty, and type. Special awards will be given boys for form, personality, and physique. Solly Biano, talent scout for Warner Bros., has been chosen judge, and he will select winners for the awards, which will be given in the following age divisions: Babies (old enough to walk) up to 3 years; Tiny Tots, 4 to 8 years, and the Juniors, 9 to 18 years.
Children wishing to be in this event may do so by applying, with parent, at the headquarters of the Screen Children’s Guild, 1583 Cross Roads of the World (6671 Sunset boulevard, Hollywood, from 2 to 5 p. m. weekdays and 9 a. m. to noon Saturday. The Guild suggests prompt enrollment to avoid being too late for the quota of children allotted for the parade. (Hollywood Citizen-News, July 6)

Monday, July 8, 1940
9:00-11:00—Amateur Boxing Bouts, Jamaica Arena.

Tuesday, July 9, 1940
3:30—“Cairo and on to Cape Town,” film travelogue.
3:45—“A Day at the Hebrew Nursing School,” film.
3:55—“Let’s See America,” film travelogue.
4:05—“The Last of the Mohicans,” film serial.
4:23—“Dixie Days,” 1930 Aesop’s Fable.
6:45-7:00—News with Lowell Thomas.
9:00-10:00—Variety show, featuring Carveth Wells on “A Trip Through the Caucasus.”

Television Review
Reviewed Tuesday evening. Style—Revue. Station—W6XAO (Hollywood).
Thomas Lee, owner and operator of W6XAO is turning more of his television programs over to live talent. Show caught had a line up of flesh that showed to good advantage.
A couple of plays highlighted the hour and a half show. First was Philip Sudano’s Kiss Me Again with a cast including Martha Chapin, George Selk, Charles Bell and Sudano.
Story centered around Miss Chapin, who portrayed role of wife who gets things mixed up when burglar comes into the house as couple are preparing to leave for a masquerade party. It was one of those mistaken identity bits that looked good on the screen. Sudano, who writes, acts and produces at W6XAO has turned in some good stuff and seems to have caught the televish formula.
Second play was Fatal Temptation by Dorothy McDonald. Production was handled by Gordon Seyforth. This had a novel idea in presentation. A stage audience of eight people had their backs to the television camera, giving the effect that they were watching a stage production. Play was strictly hoke and was acted as such, winding up as a good comic presentation. Cast included Jim O’Dowd, Gill Hoffman, Rose Lee, Betty Walters, Don Mayfield, Mildred McLelland, Charles Sergison. Narration was handled by Charles Stone.
Warblers on the show were Judy Lynn, the Peralta Trio and Lynn Johnson. Singers were handicapped by baying to work with recordings, but all came thru okeh.
Edward Ryan scored with a monolog about a screwball in a sanitarium.
Jackie and Johnny, who have before, did a smooth bit of ballroom terping.
Jimmie Dickie, the cartoonist, appeared. He is a regular and his stuff is consistently good.
Reception was okeh, with pictures very clear. Owen. (Billboard, July 20)

Wednesday, July 10, 1940
3:30-4:30—Films, “By-Ways of New France,” film travelogue.
3:40—“Too Much Beef,” 1936 Western film with Rex Bell, Constance Bergen.
9:00-10:00—RCA Variety Show, at the World’s Fair.

Thursday, July 11, 1940
3:30-4:30—Ice show at Winter Wonderland, World’s Fair.
9:00-10:10—Film, “Annie Laurie,” with Will Fyffe.

New York.—Pathe News has arranged with NBC television to shoot and ship daily 1000 feet of the proceedings of the Democratic convention in Chicago next week. NBC will use it in daily television shows in New York. This is the first tie-up between television and the films. (Hollywood Reporter)

Friday, July 12, 1940
3:30-4:40—Film, “Edge of the World,” with John Laurie and Bell Chrystall.
6:45-7:00—News with Lowell Thomas.
9:00-10:00—“Stars of the Future,” juvenile variety show.

Ten-year-old Patricia Werner, child coloratura soprano, who until a year ago was a resident of Asbury Park, will appear tonight at 9 on a special television program produced by the National Broadcasting company in New York.
Until she left this city she made many appearances at concerts and civic function. She is now under the guidance of Mme. Edith deLys, a prominent opera star of both continents.
Miss Werner and her family are now residing in West New York, where she already has been honored by the town’s Verdi club. She appeared in May as a guest soloist at the club’s annual concert before an audience of 1,200. Other recent appearances included engagements in Bridgeport, Conn., and several concerts and benefit shows in New York city. (Asbury Park Evening Press)

A television station with a regular schedule of programs will be placed in operation by Balaban & Katz shortly after next Jan. 1, John Balaban, secretary of the company in charge of Chicago operations, announced yesterday [12].
Three sites for the transmitter, two in the loop and one on the west side, are under consideration, Balaban said. The company has an experimental license issued by the Federal Communications commission.
An initial expenditure of $100,000 for transmitting, receiving. and studio equipment has been authorized. At least 100 receivers will be distributed. Many will be installed in theaters in Chicago and the suburbs, Illinois and Indiana. The station will have maximum reception within a radius of 50 miles, it was stated; minimum service within a radius of 100 miles.
The station will devote itself to experimental work to determine types of programs most feasible for this new medium television, Balaban said. Motion picture film as well as radio, stage, screen, and operatic personalities will be subjects for telecasting. (Chicago Tribune, July 13)

Monday, July 15, 1940
9:00-11:00—Amateur Boxing Bouts, Jamaica Arena.

Tuesday, July 16, 1940
3:30—Democratic Convention film.
3:40—Short subjects.
6:45—News with Lowell Thomas.
9:00—Democratic Convention Film.
9:10-10:20—Summer Time Revue, minstrel show.

Wednesday, July 17, 1940
2:30—Eastern Clay Court Tennis Championships, Jackson Heights.
3:30—Democratic Convention, news film.
9:00—Democratic Convention, news film.
9:10—“The Song of Freedom,” film with Paul Robeson.

Television productions on the Don Lee station, W6XAO, continue, with the “Half Moon Boys” to appear in a play next Wednesday night [17]. In this cast are Frank Rantz, Van Dyke, Herst [Van Dyke Hirst], Norman Salling, Edwin Buckheim, Bob Whatley, Tommy Batten, Truman Van Dyke [Hirst’s brother], Linda Morgan, Margery Whatley and Shirley Fink. (Hollywood Citizen-News, July 13)

Thursday, July 18, 1940
2:30—Eastern Clay Court Tennis Championships, Jackson Heights Tennis Club.
3:30—Democratic Convention, news film.
9:00—Democratic Convention, news film.
9:10—“The Curtain Falls,” film.

Television fans interested in the art of self-defense saw two outstanding police Jiu jitsu instructors demonstrate numerous holds over W6XAO, the Don Lee television station, last night [18].
John Dillon, 240-pound police officer, and Cheryl Goodwin, 110-pound policewoman, were the subjects of this telecast. They showed how easily a featherweight expert can subdue a heavyweight over twice her size, The holds were presented first in normal tempo, then a slow-motion detailed demonstration.
This telecast aided in publicizing the sixth annual police show, which will be presented in the Memorial Coliseum Friday evening, August 16. (Los Angeles Southwest Wave)

Convention Echoes ... The television coverage, because there is no direct pickup from Chicago, has not been nearly so interesting as the picture broadcast handling of the Philadelphia meeting . . . The films taken in the convention hall are stale stuff by the time they are telecast here . . . With practically no changes, the same network commentators are on the job for the Democrats as were for the Republicans . . . It’s even-stephen between them. . . . and no real innovations have been introduced. (Daily News, Ben Gross column)

The first move by the radio industry and the Federal Communications Commission to hasten the commercialization of television since issuance of the last FCC order last May was taken yesterday [18]. James L. Fly, chairman of the commission, disclosed that the FCC, had been cooperating in the organization of a national television systems committee with the Radio Manufacturers Association.
Membership of the committee, which includes non-members of the R.M.A. was announced by Bond Geddes, executive vice president of the trade organization, on behalf of J. S. Knowlson, its president.
Companies which have been invited to name representatives are Columbia Broadcasting System, Don Lee Broadcasting System. Allen B. Du Mont Laboratories, Inc., Farnsworth Television & Radio Corporation, General Electric Co., Hazeltine Corporation, J. V. L. Hogan, Hughes Tool Co., Institute of Radio Engineers, Philco Corporation, Radio Corporation of America, Stromberg-Carlson Telephone Manufacturing Co. and Zenith Radio Corporation.
Dr. Baker Is Chairman
Dr. W. R. G. Baker, director of the R. M. A. engineering department and an official of General Electric, has been appointed chairman of the committee, but he will have no vote.
The committee, according to the FCC, “will explore existing television systems with a view of developing and formulating standards that will be acceptable to the industry as a whole in expediting the establishment of a single, well-rounded national system, one which has promise of ultimately giving this country more television stations and receivers than all other nations combined.”
The first meeting of the committee is expected to be held the latter part of this month, possibly July 31, in New York.
Chairman Fly welcomed the organization of the committee as affording “a splendid opportunity for the cooperation of industry and Government in the solution of a problem which is of such timely concern to the public and to business.”
Previous Order Withdrawn
The FCC has given assurance to the industry that as soon as an agreement is reached on transmission and reception standards, it will consider permitting stations to operate on a full commercial basis, as does broadcasting.
The FCC withdrew a previous order authorizing limited commercialization of television when a trade battle developed between R. C. A. and Du Mont last spring. The major issue is still between the transmission standards of these two systems. (Washington Post)

Friday, July 19, 1940
2:30—Eastern Clay Court Tennis Championships.
3:30—Democratic Convention, news film.
6:45-7:00—News with Ray Forrest.
9:00—Democratic Convention, news film.
9:10-10:10—Variety hour; Betty Jane Smith, dancer; Beatrice Howell, mimic; “Landscapes in Art”; wrestling exhibition.

Television made radio history at the recent Republican Convention in this city.
Last week [19] television again made history when it obtained a job for a girl.
Here’s how it happened. A group of students participated in a televised spelling bee under the supervision of NBC’s Spelling Master Paul Wing. The Bee was won by Norma Miller, 19-year-old brunette of Paterson, N. J.
At South Orange, N. J., Jack Popele, chief engineer of WOR, was intent before the television receiver in his home. So impressed was Popele with Miss Miller’s poise before the television cameras, as well as the fact that she won the spelling bee that he gave her the job as his secretary. (Philadelphia Inquirer, July 21)

Saturday, July 20, 1940
WASHINGTON, July 20.—The Federal Communications Commission gave formal approval today to application of the Allen B. DuMont Laboratories, Inc., to establish television stations in New York City and Washington. The commission also authorized the DuMont firm and the Columbia Broadcasting System to start television broadcasts under the new promotional rules from the DuMont Passaic, N. J., station and the Columbia New York station.
DuMont’s new Washington station will operate on new Television Channel 1 (50,000-56,000 kilocycles) with one-kilowatt power for aural and visual transmission, and its New York station will use Television Channel 4 (78,000-84,000 kilocycles) with like power. DuMont’s present television station W2XVT, at Passaic, is enabled to increase power to five kilowatts, aural and visual, and transmit on Channel 4. Columbia station W2XAB, at New York, can use Channel 2 (60,000-66,000 kilocycles), seven and one-half kilowatts power, aural and visual.
These new authorizations closely follow the commission’s action earlier this week in permitting construction of San Francisco’s first television station, to be operated by Don Lee Broadcasting System, and, at the same time giving the “go” signal for Don Lee station W6XAO, New York [sic], to use new Television Channel 1 (50,000-56,000 kilocycles), which the proposed San Francisco station likewise, will employ.
Opening of additional television facilities throughout the country have been made possible by the commission’s new rules encouraging experimental operation to promote the art. Approvals in all cases are contingent upon programs to foster research and development.
The DuMont New York and Washington stations, for example, will inquire into the advantages of various types at film projectors, experiment with mobile pick-up utilizing wire links and radio links, and will seek public cooperation on various types of program material. A co-axial cable will be used in transmitting programs between Washington and New York, and the Washington station will test the practicality of providing satisfactory service to Washington and Baltimore from a single transmitter.
The program of research for DuMont’s Passaic Station embraces tests of various antenna systems utilizing both vertical and horizontal radiators; experiments with systems other than R. M. A. and DuMont, investigating the effects of phase shifts, noise, field patterns, etc.; test of transmitter equipment, including power tubes, and ultimate experiments in the possible use of frequency modulation for television broadcasting on the ultra-high frequencies.
In seeking to develop uniform transmission standards of acceptable technical quality, C. B. S. Station W2XAB purposes to make comparable investigation of all synchronizing pulses for which generating equipment is available, make a comparative study of combinations of lines and frames, investigate the effect on allocation of using different polarizations in certain adjacent areas, and work with the general public in determining reaction to various changes in program technique. (Herald Tribune)

Sunday, July 21, 1940
Television station W2XBS, operated by the National Broadcasting Company atop the Empire State Building, will sign off for at least a month Aug. 1. During the shut-down period the transmitter will be adjusted to handle 507-line instead of 441-line pictures, and the channel will be shifted from the current frequency of 44-50 megacycles to the new channel assigned by the FCC, 50-56 megacycles.
Slight modification of existing television receivers may be necessary to conform with the new transmissions, but the NBC explains that such changes can be made easily by service men. In regard to the report that the station would be off the air for three months, a representative of NBC said that it will depend upon the length of time necessary to complete the shift, but it is believed that the telecasts will be resumed before Labor Day. (New York Times)

Monday, July 22, 1940
9:00-11:00—Amateur Boxing Bouts, Jamaica Arena.

Tuesday, July 23, 1940
3:30—“Cairo to Cape,” travelogue
3:45—“Tuning In,” an Aesop Fable, 1929.
3:53—“Last of the Mohicans,” movie serial.
4:10—“Let’s See America,” travelogue.
4:20—“Cameraman,” film.
9:00—“Below the Deadline,” film.

A survey in connection with Packard’s first 2 experimental television broadcasts revealed such a popular acceptance that several additional telecasts have been decided upon. Packard is the first automobile manufacturers to go out and shoot film expressly for television, and presented these programs in co-operation with the Television Division of the National Broadcasting Company. (Bergen Evening Record, July 23)

Wednesday, July 24, 1940
3:30—Soap Box Derby, World’s Fair.
6:45—News with Lowell Thomas.
9:00-10:00—Variety Hour. Roberta, dances; Harmony Team; Demonstration of Life Saving Methods.

Most impressive feature of the [Laguna Beach] Arts Festival, of course, will be the “Living Pictures,” depicting works of the Old Masters. This creation of Roy Ropp, the art director, has won such fame that it was given a television showing over W6XAO, the Don Lee station Wednesday [24] night, as its crowning recognition. (Los Angeles Times, July 26)

Thursday, July 25, 1940
3:30—Fashion Review.
9:00—“Atlantic Crossing,” film with Jack Lambie and Paula Stone.

At its meeting July 25 the FCC announced grants to WCAU, Philadelphia, for a station on Channel No. 5 (84-90 mc), with 1,000 watts aural and visual; to Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind., on Channel No. 3 (66-72 mc.) with 750 watts both emissions, and to State University of Iowa, Iowa City, on Channels No. 1 and 12 (50-56 and 210-216 mc.) with 100 watts visual only. Neither of the school stations will engage in public program service, but will concentrate on transmission standards, systems of modulation and similar technical pursuits. The WCAU adjunct would experiment with 441 to 729 lines and 15 to 30 frames, along with interference checks and compare FM with AM as the sound component for video transmission. (Broadcasting, Aug. 1)

Friday, July 26, 1940
3:30—“Typhoon Treasure,” film.
6:45—News.
9:00—Variety. Quintones; Yola Galli, songs; Gus Van, novelty; Dance Congress Stars; John Taylor Arms, “Making an Etching.”

Miss Patty Ann Rita, Hartford dancing teacher, will present a solo ballet dance for a National Broadcasting Company television broadcast at 9 p. m. today from the Empire State Building in New York City. Her parents, State Senator and Mrs. Michael A. Rita, will witness the reception of the broadcast at Station WTIC in Hartford, which is equipped to receive television. Miss Rita has been attending the International Dance Convention in New York City for the past three weeks. (Hartford Courant)

Saturday, July 27, 1940
Before the sun sets today Los Angeles will have a new Soap Box derby champion....
The championship race will be broadcast [at 3:45 p.m.] over the NBC Pacific coast blue network and telecast over the Don Lee Television station W6XAO with Thomas S. Lee narrating the events for the listeners and lookers in. (Los Angeles Daily News)

Activities of students at the Jack Stern Studios, 6112 Wilshire Blvd., are keeping pace with the increased demand for talented singers and actors...
On the faculty of the Stern Studios...Grace Hamilton, director of television productions of the Jack Stern Players appearing weekly on the Don Lee telecast station W6XAO. Next Wednesday night [31] will feature the Half Moon Boys, with Bob Whatley, Frank Rantz, Van Hirst, Norman Salling, Truman Van Dyke, Marjorie Whatley, and Linda Morgan in the cast. On Thursday night [1] the adult telecast show, directed by Grace Hamilton, will be “Americans,” by Charles Wilhelm. In the cast are Patricia Peters, Shirley Fay, Jill Howard, and Bob Whatley. (Hollywood Citizen-News, July 27)

Monday, July 29, 1940
9:00-11:00—Amateur Boxing Bouts, Jamaica Arena.

Tuesday, July 30, 1940
3:30—“Cairo to Cape,” film travelogue.
3:45—“A Royal Tour of the World’s Fair.”
3:55—“Comes Midnight,” 1940 film comedy with Eddie Green, James Baskett, Amanda Randolph, Bonnie Skeete.
4:15—“Michigan Beaver,” film.
4:25—“Finland Marches On,” film.
4:30—“Let’s See America,” film.
6:45—News with Lowell Thomas.
9:00—“Fiesta,” Latin American musical program, conga and singing by Jiminez; “East and West of Suez,” with Carveth Wells.

Wednesday, July 31, 1940
3:30—“False Pretenses,” film with Sidney Blackmer, Irene Ware.
4:40—“Model Aircraft Exposition.”
9:00—Variety Hour. Eugene Jelesnik’s Orchestra with Amelia Hull, Eleanor Steber, sopranos; Charles Althoff, comedian; “The Drums on Oude,” dramatic sketch.

Television Reviews
CHARLES ALTHOFF
Rube Comedian
8 Mins.
RCA-NBC, New York
Like the old Loew’s circuit loved flash acts, where the girls danced down steps on each side of the stage, that’s how the late Alexander Pantages, Pacific coast king of vaudeville, loved fiddle-playing, rheumatic. jointed, hokum-spraying Chancy Althoff. When Althoff finished one tour of the Pan time the old Greek penciled him in to begin all over again. This wasn’t just because Pantages was eccentric, which he was, but because he considered Althoff very funny, which he was. And still is, on the evidence of the newest of the entertainment mediums, television.
Althoff is one of those performers who can work dead center under the cameras. He can get a lot of action without moving around much. The nozzle went down to his boots once or twice as he beat out the rhythm. Or there was an occasional close-up to emphasize his comedy clumsiness, getting his thumb stuck in a knot hole, etc. Most of the time he just sat there and looked straight at the camera and fiddled, gabbed, wheezed and carried on. He projected a certain high-spirited, unpretentious, let’s-have-fun, country store nostalgia.
It was surprising and pleasing to see the good old vaudeville hoke get across, even though the professional observer knew, Instinctively, that Althoff must have had a feeling he was falling because there was no audience and—shades of Walla Walla on an opening matinee!—no applause.
Althoff, in full makeup as the make-believe old codger, registered as photogenic. Lots of characterization came through the big tube. And lots of good giggles. Land.

‘THE DRUMS OF OUDE’
With Maurice Welles, Pat Calvert, Carl Harbord. Jack Cherry, W. O. McWatters, James Swift
20 Mins.
RCA-NBC, New York
With India not very convincingly painted on the canvas backdrop, and a kilted sentinel mugging into the camera, the story of ‘Drums of Oude’ takes off in the reign of Victoria. It reminded viewers immediately that the British have been often besieged. This time a handful of Scots holds the garrison while the regiment, gone off on a mission, is overdue.
The room is the headquarters of the officer in charge. He wears plaid trousers, from the rental costumer’s. Beneath the room is the powder magazine. If the natives get it there’ll be trouble. The sense of massacre is in the air and the weird native drums keep sounding intermittently. That reminds the major to pull up a trap door and look down. To make sure the powder is still there.
While the crisis is going on the major gets around to declaring his undying love for an English widow who plays the piano and talks, but later she gives in and kisses him, although up to that point she seemed 4-to-1 to nominate herself to be a sister to him always. In the next room the telegraph is showing signs of having been cut. An Indian waiter in a bath-towel is sneaking up behind people with knives, but the people turn just in time and don’t get killed, or realize they were about to be. The sentry, who mugged into the camera at the start, is dispatched offstage by having his throat cut.
Just when you can’t imagine what will happen next there is the sound of Scotch bagpipes playing and the regiment is back, the massacre is off, the program is over.
It seems hardly necessary to add that it was all pretty corny. Land.

THE SOUTHERNAIRES (4)
Negro Quartet
10 Mins.
RCA-NBC, New York
It wasn’t too easy for the director to decide how to group these four Negro male singers. At one point the back row tenor seemed to be swinging into the picture like a debutante swings into focus when Jerome Zerbe approaches in the Stork Club. That awkward, ‘me, too,’ effect was a reminder of the little difficulties of stagecraft that still trouble American television. It proved a small trouble, however, and soon over.
After a time the obvious merit of the quartet obscured small matters, like not quite seeing their eyes at moments. Class showed through. And natural Negroid poise carried off in extended sequence of numbers for an entertaining session all the way. Land.

AMELIA HULL
Singer
RCA-NBC, New York
Miss Hull registered satisfactorily in a big picture hat and sang nicely but after some moments that downward glance turned out to be in the direction of the printed lyrics, which she held in her hand. It never looked good to read the music in show business and It looks just as bad in television.
This fact evidently hit the director between the eyes, but quick, and the cameras thereafter caught the singer at the waistline so the memory-refreshing memo was happily out of sight.
This unprofessional detail flawed the whole appearance. Land.

ELEANOR STEBER
Singer
RCA-NBC. New York
Miss Steber revealed an exceptionally sweet-toned voice and lack of coaching. Her features reflected sharply on the inverted mirror of the receiving set, suggesting that she was photogenic.
A full-volume singer, she uses big mouth and neck muscles easily and there was none of the sinewy pictorial effect some singers give on occasion over television. Land. (Variety, Aug. 7)

Television Reviews
Reviewed Wednesday, 9-10:20 p.m. Style—Variety and dramatic. Reviewed on RCA Television Receiver. Station—W2XBS.
National Broadcasting Co. on Wednesday wound up its 15-month series of regular television service. Alfred H. Morton, NBC vice-president in charge of tele, closed the session with a brief speech thanking the public and explaining that production would begin as soon as necessary changes were made in the transmitter.
Program had Eugene Jelesnik’s Band the Southernaires, Charles Althoff, Eleanor Steber, Amelia Hull and a hokey but effective thriller titled The Drum of Oude, with Maurice Wells, Patricia Calvert, Carl Harbord, Jack Cherry, W. O. McWatters and James Swift.
Presentation of music, either orchestral or vocal, has long been a tough problem for the tele producers. On this program, Jelesnik’s Ork showed to advantage, the maestro putting dash and personality into his pash violin sequences. Vocalists Eieanor Steber and Amelia Hull, however, were troubled by the old bugaboo, namely, bad facial contortions in close-up shots.
Charles Althoff, doing a hillbilly fiddler’s act, was excellent—his tramp make-up being strictly sock. Southernaires, too, scored.
Drama, a piece by Austin Strong glorifying the British in India, was carried off well by a good cast. Prom standpoint of production the play had an economy of cast, with action restricted to definite limits. This is demanded by tele in its present stage of development, and n this program the producers made the most of their material. Ackerman. (Billboard, August 10)

Paving the way for the entrance of the advertiser into television, the newly formed National Television Systems Committee held it first meeting yesterday [31] as a preliminary to developing television standards to a level of performance acceptable to the Federal Communications Commission to permit a widespread public service.
The committee, organized under the auspices of the Radio Manufacturers Association, was addressed at the Hotel Roosevelt by J. S. Knowlson, president of the association, who pointed out that the FCC was prepared to adopt television standards as soon as the industry could show that it was in accord on a set of standards.
He explained that the committee was to be a representative medium through which the entire television industry could correlate its ideas. The main point, he said, is to find out what is good for the industry, in view of the wide diversity of television interests.
Fly Pledges Cooperation
James L. Fly, chairman of the FCC, as the principal speaker, said he saw in the undertaking a chance for industry and government to cooperate and pledged the aid of the commission. He made it clear, however, that the FCC has no intention of interfering.
“The commission wants to cooperate in every way but yours is the load,” he said. “We stand ready to meet at any time for round-table discussions or to witness demonstrations. But yours is a job by study, consultation, research, joint research and by allocation of such work to develop a satisfactory set of standards for television. I have no doubt that a satisfactory set of standards can be developed.
“I hope your work will cover every phase in the field of television so that the whole program will be coordinated. Former standards have been inadequate for a uniform method of telecasting. In this work patent interests of individual companies must be recognized. No one would ask to encroach on this.
“Moreover,” he added, “I don’t want anyone to ask me arbitrarily when television will be ready for commercial operation. That job is yours. To this body we expect to come back because the FCC must rely on it before adopting any single set of standards. We have no alternative but to move forward with you gentlemen.”
Mr. Fly said that he expected a substantial number of stations to be on the air in the near future. So far as the FCC is concerned, he continued, “the more the merrier.” However, he warned that there should be “no squawking” about wavelengths. They are in the public domain, he pointed out.
“For one thing,” he asserted, “the commission is not going to issue licenses to every Tom, Dick and Harry, to sit tight until things get good. Applicants must be prepared to go somewhere in development and experimentation.”
Committee’s Duties Outlined
Before the appointment of panel chairmen, Dr. W. R. G. Baker, chairman of the committee and director of the RMA engineering department, outlined the duties of the television committee. He read from a prepared statement, a synopsis of which follows:
“This committee is charged with the responsibility of determining the basic standards for a system of television. The real possibi1ities of television as a means of education and entertainment are today unknown.
“Television is peculiar in that to assure full utilization by the public it requires a fairly complete set of standards before it is launched commercially. Yet these standards must be sufficiently broad to permit the expeditious use of new inventions and to allow the full utilization of new scientific tools.
“While no time limit has been set for the deliberations of this committee, it must be evident that time is a very essential factor.”
Called on to explain the objectives of the committee, E. K. Jett, chief engineer of the FCC, said that the standards to be recommended to the commission should be “truly representative” of the industry as a whole, and that they should permit further improvements in the future so as not to freeze the art. (New York Times)

Thursday, August 1, 1940
LATEST model DuMont 20-inch television receivers are built to provide reception from either NBC or the new DuMont transmitter in New York, expected to be on the air this fall. A selector switch enables the televiewer to choose either the 507-line at 30-frame images of NBC oi the 625-line at 15-frame DuMont pictures. Set also includes an all-wave broadcast receiver. Du Mont also has explained that in building the sets it has broken down construction into five units to afford flexibility of construction and testing. Thus, according to DuMont, the various chassis units may be taken out for replacement or alteration, if need be, by removing screws and detaching plugs without disturbing the rest of the set. (Broadcasting)

Monday, August 5, 1940
A permit to erect an experimental television station in Chicago was granted to Balaban and Katz corporation by the federal communications commission yesterday [5] in Washington. The theater chain recently announced plans to start regular transmissions of television programs early in 1941.
The location of studios and transmitter has not been decided, an official of the corporation said yesterday. Receivers will be placed in many of the theaters of the company in and near Chicago.
Meanwhile, the Zenith Radio corporation has announced that it will close down temporarily its station, the only one in Chicago, this week. The shutdown is required by the reallocation of the short wave facilities now occupied by Zenith. Radio Corporation of America, and the Don Lee broadcasting interests of California for television experimentation, to frequency modulation, the new high fidelity static free system of broadcasting. The switchover will take six weeks or two months. (Chicago Tribune)

Tuesday, August 6, 1940
TWO WHOLLY-OWNED subsidiaries of Paramount Pictures, which in turn has substantial stock interests in DuMont Laboratories, were among the additional grantees of construction permits for television stations announced Aug. 5 and 6 by the FCC.
They are Balaban & Katz Corp., Chicago, operator of movie houses, and The Television Productions Inc., Los Angeles, formed as a subsidiary. The former was assigned Channel No. 2 (60-66 mc.) in Chicago; the latter Channel No. 4 (78-84 mc.) in Hollywood. Both will use 1,000 watts for both aural and visual signals.
NBC obtained its full quota of three stations, limit allowable under the new rules, when the Commission assigned it Channel No. 2 in Washington and Channel No. 7 (102-108 mc.) in Philadelphia, both with 1,000 watts. NBC elected to erect the station in Philadelphia in lieu of the one originally projected for Chicago, and the grant was labelled tentative and experimental “as it appears that the Philadelphia station will make possible a more concentrated study of television systems by the entire RCA research organization.” Previously NBC was assigned Channel No. 1 (50-56 mc.) in New York, where W2XBS has been shut down for reconstruction.
In addition, the Commission modified the license of W9XZV, of Zenith Radio Corp., Chicago, permitting it to use Channel No. 1 (50-56 mc.) on an experimental basis with 1,000 watts.
W3XEP, operated by RCA Mfg. Co., Camden, N. J., and W3XE, of Philco Radio & Television Corp., Philadelphia, were authorized to utilize Channel No. 3 (66-72 mc.) for research and engineering experimentation.
On July 17 and 25 the Commission made its first regular television grants, authorizing stations to be erected by NBC in New York; CBS, New York; Don Lee, Los Angeles and San Francisco; DuMont, New York and Washington; WCAU, Philadelphia; Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind.; Uinversity of Iowa, Iowa City, (Broadcasting, Aug. 15)

Wednesday, August 7, 1940
The Don Lee Television Station W6XAO for the first time will present 525-line television images. The station will not go off the air for more than 24 hours, during the switchover to the new Television Channel No. 1 as granted by the Federal Communications [Commission] to the Don Lee Broadcasting System. W6XAO has been presenting a 441-line image. (Hollywood Citizen-News)

Thursday, August 8, 1940
In the first telecast of its kind, Elsa Maxwell made a plea last night [8] over Thomas S. Lee’s television station W6XAO for “every loyal American” to actively combat doctrines of appeasement and defeatism and other activities which might “weaken our united front” by their trend toward “Fifth Column subversiveness.”
Appearing in behalf of the William Allen White Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies, Miss Maxwell stressed that the committee did not advocate sending troops to Britain. (Hollywood Citizen-News)

Entering upon their final two-week stay in Delano, 22 members of the American Friends Work Camp will conclude their work for the community by September 1....
John Way, director of the group, accompanied by a representative group of the migratory people, broadcast a program by television from Los Angeles Thursday night [8].
They have visited the Tagus ranch, the Sierra Vista ranch, the federal migratory labor camps and the Delano Grange, where they told of their work and methods. (Bakersfield Californian, Aug. 10)

James L. Fly, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, seemed to be a very interested guest Thursday night [8] at the Don Lee television station, W6XAO. His hosts were Lewis A. Weiss and Harry R. Lubcke. Elsa Maxwell, party giver extraordinary, that night spoke as a representative of the William Allen White Committee to Defend Americans by Aiding the Allies. She told us that it was her first appearance on a television program. On the production sheet were those column heads, Time, Act, Set, Cameras, Props, Music, Camera Opens On. Under those headings for Miss Maxwell were “9:01, Elsa Maxwell (interview), 1, 2&2. 2 of our good chairs, none, and Medium. No. 2. Get closeup of Miss Maxwell Quickly.” Another item was “8:31 Americn Friends (Int. & act), 1&2, 1&2, exterior, Own, Two shot.” Notes on the production sheets may be of interest. “Driscoll: Is it possible to rig a ‘South Seas’ set for the DeClerq Sisters?” (Dancers) “All artists, MC, Turner and Cameraman: Watch chalk lines on the floor for emtrances.” “Turner: See Sawyer re: Police setup.” “Grignon: You will note that station Identification closely follows film; insert lens as soon as film is clear and light pattern.” “All: Please keep visitors at a minimum, and clear studio of visitors during police act.” “Turner: We may insert another film at 9:09.” There is better definition, clearer, sharper pictures, since the adoption of 525 lines. (Hollywood Citizen-News, Zuma Palmer column, Aug. 12)

Tuesday, August 13, 1940
Dick Powell tonight will appear on the Don Lee station, W6ZAO, in the first broadcast ever made to a “television fan club.”
Some weeks ago, Powell appeared on the station and subsequently received a letter informing him that a new kind of fan club had been organized in his name. Letter requested a return engagement. (Hollywood Reporter, Aug. 13)

Thursday, August 15, 1940
The first marriage recorded by television took place last night [15] when Will Hazen, 26, dental laboratory operator, and Miss Marian Padelford, 19, of 631 S. Oxford St., Hawthorne, were married before the W6XAO television cameras at 1076 W. 5eventh St. with Municipal Judge Joseph Marchetti officiating.
In the television sequence the pictures showed the couple seated in a living room discussing their plans for the future. After a short interlude, Judge Marchetti was summoned and the wedding ceremony performed. Miss Helen Padelford, sister of the bride, maid of honor, and two other sisters, Jackie and Betty, acted as bridesmaids. Best man was Arthur Gustafson.
The bride is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Claude Padelford of Hawthorne and Hazen is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Leonard V. Hazen of 2227 Dunsmuir Ave. (Los Angeles Times)

Tuesday, August 20, 1940
First television recruiting for the United States Army got under way last night [20] at the Don Lee studios of W6XAO when Army officer elected 11 youths for service from a host of applicants.
Sharing the floodlight during the examination, which included administration of the oath of allegiance, were Capt. Arthur Davidson Raymond Black and David W. Lewis, recruiting sergeants.
The patriotic demonstration was preceded by an Americanism program of music and interviews staged by the American Legion. (Los Angeles Times)

Harold Minnick, 22, of Pasadena, Tuesday night was sworn into the U. S. Army in ultra-modern circumstances. The ceremony, in which 10 other recruits were inducted, was broadcast over Los Angeles’ television station W6XAO to the 300 television receiving sets in the Los Angeles area. (Pasadena Post, Aug. 22)

Wednesday, August 21, 1940
A new television serial, “Album of Memories,” debuts over W6XAO tonight. Show is produced by Patrick Michael Cunning and written by Martha Wiley. (Hollywood Reporter)

Thursday, August 22, 1940
Delegates to the three-day first national convention of the Television Engineers Institute of America, Inc., conferred in technical sessions this afternoon, following registration and talks this morning before a small opening attendance at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.
George H. Seward, institute president, who presided, declared television will be the film industry’s biggest customer.
“The use of film by telecasting stations will be in enormous amounts,” he said. “Stations will have to resort to use of films for program material because of the expense and time which direct studio pickup entails in the writing, rehearsals and production of new studio program material.”
A. J. McFadden, of the National Association of Manufacturers, and past president of the California State Chamber of Commerce, gave the principal address of the morning, on “Your Stake in Private Enterprise.”
WARNING SOUNDED
“The only government in the world today which cannot do exactly what it pleases is the government of the United States,” he declared.
He sounded a warning against encroachments on private enterprise and criticized the theory of “equitable division of what we have, rather than creation of new wealth.”
McFadden said California has more potential production capacity than Japan, although the latter supports 50 million people on its territory. He said he believed California could do the same thing, with no lowering of the present standard of living.
Bernard H. Linden, inspector-in-charge of the Engineering Dept., Field Division, Federal Communications Commission, greeted the delegates, as did Don E. Gilman, vice president of the National Broadcasting Co., and Glenn Y. Middleton, television representative of Columbia.
PAPERS TO BE READ
Papers were to be read at technical sessions this afternoon by Allen B. Dumont, A. Paul O’Connor, T. H. Shepherd, C. Frederick Wolcott, James Sargent, R. C. Kent and Craig L. Moon.
A professional session will be held tonight, when P. M. Cunning will present a reenactment of a television scene from a “Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn” program.
Shirley Thomas, “Queen of Television,” will give a paper on “The Technique of Television Acting.”
Technical sessions will be continued tomorrow and at 8 p.m. “Hollywood’s 1940 Television Revue” will be staged. Officers will be elected Saturday morning, trips will be held during the day and the new officers will be presented at a banquet at 6:30. (Hollywood Citizen-News)

Saturday, August 24, 1940
BERLIN, Aug. 24 (AP)—Paul Gottleib Nipkow, a pioneer of television and credited with inventing a technique for that science, died of a heart attack today, two days after observing his 80th birthday.
In 1884 Dr. Nipkow patented his invention, as “the electrical telescope,” but his patent lapsed when he was unable to pay costs of extending it. For the next 32 years he worked as an engineer for a railway signal company.
In the meantime, his idea was developed and improved by others. Six years ago, at the age of 74, he finally received public recognition when he was selected honorary president of the newly-founded German Television Society.

Monday, August 26, 1940
DuMont Laboratori[e]s on Aug. 26 started erecting a 140-foot antenna atop the 42-story building at 515 Madison Ave., New York, site of its new 1,000-watt transmitter. The entire 42d floor of the building is to be remodeled to provide space for transmitter operations, along with some studio accommodations. It is expected the new DuMont transmitting equipment, broadcasting a 625-line 15-frame image, will be installed starting early in September, with preliminary tests probably starting some time in October.
The DuMont plan includes utilization of the Astoria studios of Paramount Pictures as a mammoth production studio. According to present plans, pickups from the Astoria lot will be relayed via short wave directly to the Madison Ave. transmitter, which enjoys a virtually unimpeded line-of-sight to the Astoria lot. Before shutting down preparatory to the new installation, DuMont operated at the Madison Ave. site with a 50-watt transmitter transferred from its original site at Passaic, N. J. (Broadcasting, Sept. 1)

Wednesday, August 28, 1940
Television productions, directed by Grace Hamilton are produced regularly, with original plays written especially for the Don Lee W6XAO television station. Next Wednesday’s [28] telecast will be “Modern Triangle,” written by Beatrice Henning Shaw, with Truda Marsden, John Conly and Ed Walsh. (Hollywood Citizen-News, Aug. 24)

Alice Thurston and Thomas R. Beach Jr. have starring roles in the Patrick Michael Cunning production of “Huckleberry Finn” to be presented over television station W6XAO tonight.
Robert Armstrong will make his television debut tonight on W6XAO. (Hollywood Reporter)

A NEW television station for Cincinnati was authorized Aug. 28 the FCC in granting the application of the Crosley Corp., owners WLW and WSAI for assignment to Television Channel No. 1 (50-56 mc.) with 1,000 watts oral and visual power. The initial cost is expected to exceed $100,000. The station was given an experimental grant, and is among the applications tentatively approved last June subject to proper showing of programs of research and development. Crosley intends to develop a transmitting system in which 30 frames per second interlaced, will be employed with 441 and 507-line as well as intermediate transmissions. Also contemplated is research on wave forms and experimentation with various types of antennas. (Broadcasting, Sept. 1)

Thursday, August 29, 1940
NEW YORK (AP)—Bright eyes and blushes have entered the range of television, says a Columbia Broadcasting System report on color technique.
Paul W. Kesten, vice president, says the company expects to be broadcasting color in its commercial programs by Jan. 1. A private demonstration was made yesterday [29] for James L. Fly, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.
Kesten says a method developed by Dr. Peter C. Goldmark, CBS television engineer, makes color reception possible for sets already in use, with only minor adjustment and the addition of a simple attachment.
Goldmark simplified color television by finding a way to limit color to the standard wave band used for ordinary television. In previous experiments, three cameras sending on three wave bands were needed. Goldmark uses one camera which lays down alternating rows of colored dots, giving an effect of blended color in the image.
Kesten says present receiving sets without adjustment receive these color broadcasts in ordinary black and white tones.