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Tonight
Betty Bolton on your Televisor
January
7, 1906 - April 2, 2005
Died 99 years old
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Betty
Bolton documentary
and her voice
on You Tube |
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More
information on
Betty
Bolton at TVdawn.com |
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... the biggest time-waster
of all time
... makes interesting history
Obviously, Cinema
and Television
have
something in common. Not only
'moving
images' but also
the complexity of the story
preceding their respective
inventions and their many
claimed inventors by various
countries.
No matter which definition
we use to describe both media,
claiming that the brothers
Lumière &
John
Logie Baird
invented, respectively, film
and television is doing wrong
to two of the most fascinating
historical chapters of what
became the most popular and
widespread new audio-visual
media of today. A new 'peepshow'
into the world!
Since the 'history
of the invention of television'
is both complex and technical,
this page will never unveil
the full history of the development
of 'seeing by wireless'. Rather,
this page will present some
of my favorite trivia
which took place in
the early period of the medium
television.
No matter Isaac Shoenberg*
was right when he said in
1934, “Well,
Gentlemen, you have now invented
the biggest time-waster of
all time. Use it well”,
researching
this history is very time-consuming
indeed, but in proportion
equally interesting.
(*)
head of the Marconi-EMI electronic
TV camera tube development
team.
This
page is devoted to mechanical
television (based
on experiments by Paul Nipkow,
patented in 1884)
used during the first period
of wireless BBC
broadcasting from 1929 until
electronic television took
over in 1936.
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The
magazine 'TELEVISION'
was published in the same year both in the
UK (March)
and shortly after in the USA (November).
The cover of the initial first numbers depicts
the same scene in a slightly different version.
The UK version measures 8-1/2" x 11",
and the USA version is 9" x 12"
in size. Click the link to compare both
cover versions of this FIRST
television Journal in the world. Click HERE
and select a year to see more collectable
pre-1935 television related magazines. |
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-
The
page is limited to Pre-World-War II Mechanical
Television Sets -
The commercialization of the electronic
television systems, starting from 1936,
leads to wonderfully designed late 'Art-Deco'
television furniture which took place during
the Interbellum period. The latter however
are excluded from this dawn of television
page
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Hefang
Street - The Peepshow in Hangzhou, China
- The peepshow
view tradition |
Mr.
Hewel looking into his Televisor. |
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Warning
Television started in the 1920s as
a Peepshow
device. This means, the images could
only be seen by one viewer gazing
into a narrow opening. The quality
of these early, 30
lines, television sets, with
tiny vertical screens, was very poor.
However, the images where there and
received in a large part of Europe
via the 'short wave', also used for
radio.
The receiving of the audio sound,
accompanying the early television
images, was a separate short wave
radio broadcast. Especially radio
and television amateurs, such as Mr.
Hewel of Berlin, where very keen on
building there own experimental television
receiver.
In Michael Bennett-Levy's book, 'TV
is KING', the author warns
that "All
pre-world-war II and many early post-world-war
II television sets operate at very
high mains voltages and have
live chassis.
Handled wrongly with the backs open
they are lethal
and can kill instantly. Never
test a television by plugging it into
the mains and switching it on.
Never try to repair early televisons
unless you are a skilled television
engineer and understand
the dangers" |
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A
Baird Dual Exhibition Television Receiver |
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The
first television pictures
Many early television sets where housed
in huge Art-Deco cabinets, often wonderful
examples of furniture design. Even
these large, pre 1936, cabinets only
displayed a tiny 30 lines television
screen.
The image on the left shows a Baird
Dual Exhibition Receiver. The
cabinet contains two wireless receiving
sets, one for speech and one for vision.
A Baird automatic synchronizing apparatus
is responsible for 'registering' sound
with vision.
Television in the 20s. and early 30s.
was experimental and continually developing.
However, the BBC
started their first experimental broadcast
of mechanical television as early
in 1929.
This is 6 years after John
Logie Baird went to Hasting
to experiment, with the help of others,
on his dream of 'seeing by wireless'.
It was here that Baird produced, most
likely, some of the first successful
television images round 1925.
Starting from March 1928, the experimental
magazine 'TELEVISION',
as depicted above, was the first television
journal in the world, communicating
these fascinating developments of
the new medium.
For the BBC's first experimental broadcast,
at night after radio programs stopped,
Baird used the character of Stookie
Bill, a ventriloquist dummy. |
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| Visit
the
Earliest
Television Recordings. |
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The
first commercial television sets came
on the market in 1930 by the Baird
Television Development Company LTD.
These sets however where expensive
and housed in a cast iron cabinet
of beautiful design. Beside this 'plug
and play' product, the Baird company
issued Baird Televisor Kits on the
market. In TELEVISION, vol.3 May 1930
No. 27, William Richardson published
the article: 'Assembling and
Working a Baird Kit of Components'. |
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.Announcing
the first television play (1930) |
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The
Baird 'Televisor' Receiver without
cover.
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National
Museums of Scotland - NMS collection |
Daily
Express Television Kit |
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Any form of reproduction, transmission,
performance, display, rental, lending
or storage in any retrieval system
without written consent of the NMS
copyright holders is prohibited. Downloading
of NMS images for use by third parties
and end users is strictly prohibited,
except for private study.
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Daily
Express Television Kit |
Daily
Express Television Kit Box. |
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Daily
Express Television Kit
The depicted Television Kit, NMS
collection, was a more
cheaper method for amateurs enabling
them to build there
own televisor.
However as explained above, many 'amateurs'
constructed their personal television
receiver with the aid of the neccesary
parts featured in various television
magazines.
More info coming
soon. |
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-
collection National Museums of Scotland
- NMS - |
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Daily
Express Television Assembled Kit &
parts on mouse over |
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Here
we see the NMS
Television
Kit assembled.
Suchlike kits are rare and if found
without a box not always recognized
as a vintage television set.
More info coming
soon. |
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1930
Baird 'Televisor' |
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On
the right we see the 'Baird
Televisor' used by kind permission
of Tom
Genova, webmaster of 'Television
History - The First 75 Years'.
By the shape of the cast iron housing
and presence of the viewing lens on
the right it's easy to judge the position
of the television parts inside the
television apparatus.
The depicted Baird Televisor is manufactured
by Plessey
in 1930. It contains a spinning Nipkow
disk with 30 holes arranged in a spiral.
A separate radio set was used in conjunction
to receive the television audio signal
broadcasted via the long wave.
Approximately thousand of the illustrated
set were thought to have been produced
during these early television era.
Further below on the right we see
Frank
Bingley tuning his Baird
Televisor and radio receiver. |
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Nobelprize
winner, Luigi
Pirandello's, play about Death, |
'The
Man with the Flower in his Mouth'
The
First British Television Play to be
Broadcast Live by the B.B.C. on 3.30
p.m. the 14th.
July 1930
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First
drama on British Television |
The
original cast of 'The Man with the
Flower in his Mouth'. |
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Lance
Sieveking (B.B.C.)
and A. Mosely adapted Pirandello's
short drama, 'The
Man with the Flower in his Mouth'
into the first British television
play.
This one-act dialogue takes place
between a man who is dying of an epithelioma
and a traveling businessman who missed
his train.
The story takes place on the pavement
of an miserable outdoor café,
late evening.
The original 1930' cast was Earle
Grey (The Man), Lionel
Millard (the customer) and
Gladys Young
(a woman).
The broadcast of the play was announced
one month earlier in TELEVISION, vol.3
July 1930 No. 29. See
cover above.
The first dramatic televison-play
in the world, "The
Queen's Messenger"
was broadcasted on September 11, 1928
in the United States. |
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A
'fading board'
proposed for the smoothly exchange
of characters during a rehearsal
of 'The
Man with the Flower in his Mouth'.... |
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The
fading board |
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TELEVISION,
volume 3
July 1930 No. 29 |
The
fading board |
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Use
of the 'fading
board' by
Lance Sieveking
Seated in front of the
televison transmitter is
Val Gielgud |
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Mouve mouse over image |
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In
TELEVISION, vol.3 August 1930 No. 30, two
articles on this broadcast appeared. 'The
Fourteenth of July, 1930' by
Lance Sieveking and 'How
the First Television Play was Received'
by the Managing Editor of the magazine.
Val
Gielgud (brother
of Sir John Gielgud)
played a creative role in the production
of the play. |
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Since
the play was transmitted live, no records
survive. However, in 1967 Bill Elliott engaged
Sieveking, the original director, to produce
a re-creation of this historical event.
All images above and the decor scenes below
are from the original 1930 period.
The '30 lines' reconstruction can be downloaded
at TVDawn.com. |
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Dark street outside the café |
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The
table at which the man is sitting |
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Three
'background
- scenes'
painted for
'The
Man with the Flower in his Mouth' |
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Mouve
mouse over image |
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Dawn
of a popular mass medium: |
Chess-board
fading accessorie / TELEVISION,
volume 3 August 1930 No. 30 |
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The Chess-board
fading accessory seems to have the
best relationship with the black &
white television broadcast.
The above first suggested fading board,
as described in the July number of
TELEVISION, was not used.
Today, 'The
Man with the Flower in his Mouth'.is
recognized as one of the major events
in early television history being
the first play live broadcasted ever
on television.
Further on this page, a few other
interesting 'first's' will be shared
with the visitors of Early Visual
Media:
- 'The
London Marionettes'
- 'Conjuring
tricks on television'
- 'Physical
Culture athletes'
- 'The
first Television Stars'
The above themes suggest that Television,
soon in his early
experimental stage, became
an important 'mass medium' for the
spread of popular
visual culture throughout the
world. |
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Click
on cover |
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Early
Television documentaries today on
CD & the Internet
The Dawn of Television Remembered
A documentary by Donald F. McLean
A most interesting double CD audio
documentary can be ordered directly
from the maker at The
Dawn of Television Remembered.
This generous audio source by Donald
F. McLean provide historical interviews
with comments. The supplementary enhanced
CD also offers more than 8 hours of
interviews and video files of the
rare restored & reconstructed
early television recordings.
The CD set provide a most thorough
reconstruction on the invention of
television and is accompanied by a
book on the restoration
of these early television images.
A lecture on the restoration of these
'Phonovision' discs by Donald F. McLean
can be downloaded from TVDAWN-Lecture.
The CD set provide a most torough
reconstruction on the invention of
television.
Visit
the
Earliest
Television Recordings.
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'Television trivia' linked on 'Early Visual
Media' themes |
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A
selection of famous artists seen on television
during the month's of May - July 1930. |
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Pioneer
television Stars |
TELEVISION
vol. 3 - 1930 |
Pioneer
television Stars. |
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Great
Television Stars Of 1930
- Cecile
Maule Caule -
- Dorothy
Dickson -
- Reginald
Stewart -
- Mercia
Stotesbury -
- Ben
Lawes -
- Madeline
Carroll-
- Mary
Brough -
- Gladys
Merredew -
- Ruppert
Harvey -
- Mabel
Wilder -
- Elfrida
Burgiss -
- Nancy
Fraser -
- Ursula
Hughes -
- Betty
Bolton -
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| "Les
Jambes Superbes"
on television: |
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Varvarova
and Allison watching television. |
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Leaning on an early television receiver,
'Risque tele artists' Varvarova
and Allison are looking at
the vertical screen. TELEVISION
vol. VIII- 1935.
The standard screens
where made vertical since this
caused a minimum loss of wasted space
when televising performers.
Popular cabaret
and vaudeville dancers often appeared
on these screens during the dawn of
the television era. Above we see a
selection of early famous television
Stars round 1930.
By this as it may, television was
able to bring the world of popular
film actresses and cabaret performers
to the living room of fortunate people.
No matter what subject, the most attractive
of these early television broadcast's
was that there was something to see
on television, and it was moving !!!
The most prolific cabaret performers
in this early period where the 'Paramount
Astoria Girls' since they
where recorded on Phonovision
(an early video system on gramophone
discs) in 1933.
Another well known actress and singer,
Betty
Bolton,
was recorded on Phonovision round
1932 - 1935. Betty recently died in
April 2005 at the age of 99.
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Baird
mirror-drum receiver. |
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Boxer
Young Stribling |
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Boxer
Phil Scott. |
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Not
only the world of film actresses,
singers and cabaret performers was
shown on television, the world of
'La culture
Physique', a 'high topic'
at the turn of the century, appeared
in the thirties on the narrow flickering
screen.
Both, Young
Stribling and Phil
Scott, where promised by TELEVISION
in July 1930 to be televised one week
prior to their announced fight.
For popular sportsmen it was common
to perform on the streets and fairs
in the period 1895 - 1920.
(e.g. Apollon, the King of Strength)
With the advent of television they
where also brought to the private
rooms of early television enthusiast
and amateur television technicians. |
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Magician
Jack Stuart. |
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"Conjuring
Arts" on
television:
Perhaps even more surprising is the
appearance of the conjuring arts on
the new 'window to the world'.
On the right we see magician Jack
Stuart who has been inventing
ingenious tricks especially adapted
to be broadcasted on television. The
'Méliès
of Seeing at a Distance'
?
Since sleight-of-hand tricks and conjuring
performed for small groups of onlookers
where suitable for close-up
viewing, this art specialized
in deceiving and illusion, was also
adaptable for being televised.
Suchlike performances prove that the
quality of the early television broadcasts,
although highly inferior compared
with today's high definition standards,
was good enough to to amaze the 'early
bird viewers'.
Indeed, to know how these early images
really looked we have to rely on the
subjects chosen and oral witnesses
story's of the early public which
are rapidly and literally disappearing
from the earth as if by magic. |
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The
London Marionettes
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"Puppet
theatre" on
television:
'The
London Marionettes'
appeared several times on the small
30 line screens during this pioneering
television period. The photograph
on the left unveils a glimpse of the
studio stage.
Popular entertainment easily found
his way towards the new medium. Suchlike
broadcast where especially adapted
to be 'televised'
Similar to the conjuring theme, the
choice of this subject is an indication
for the reasonable quality of the
images in the early thirties.
Additionally it seems that the movement
of these pioneer broadcast was equally
convincing.
It also suggest that television was
a near mature medium from the beginning
experimenting with most of today's
common subjects. |
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TELEVISION,
vol.3 August 1930 No. 30 |
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Unlike
for the above Magician,
the true strength of the medium Television
lie up in
SEEING IS BELIEVING |
Lance
Sieveking.
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What
can and will be Televised? |
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Café
Del Diablo. |
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The subjects televised highly depended
on the technical possibilities of
the moment. These where however improving
rapidly.
At the time of the broadcast of 'The
Man with the Flower in his Mouth',
1930,
the technical conditions where unable
to televise a large scene. For this,
the small decors where used and the
characters in the play where televised
in close-up.
In TELEVISION vol. VIII- 1935 the
temporary technical equipment was
able to televise a much larger scene
as seen left in the decor of 'Café'
Del Diablo' build in the Baird
studio in 'Crystal Palace'.
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Francis
Jenkins
with his prismatic television machine
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Frank Bingley
tunes his televisor and a radio for
sound.
- Baird's associate
- between 1930-35. |
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round
1928 |
UK
Versus
USA |
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Francis
Jenkins is one of America's television
pioneers. His work in mechanical television
paralleled the work of John
Logie Baird in England. |
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Collecting
Television Ephemera
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| Mosaic
Television for the Home |
Zoom
in on mouse over |
Collecting
Television Ephemera |
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Collection
Mervyn Heard |
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Early
Mechanical & pre World War II
electronic televisions are rare. However,
collecting Television ephemera is
a most interesting field since it
unveils a lot of it's history.
On the left we see a Magic Lantern
slide prophecying the coming of Television
in the home.
Television literally means 'Seeing
at a distance'.
The subtitle of the slide writes:
'Reproduction
In Color On Large Screen Of Event
Actually Happening'
Several European and American journals
specialized in bringing experimental
news on television development at
the time when it all happened.
Regularly these magazines provide
instructions on how to build your
own television apparatus.
See front cover of Vol 1 No.1 of Television
on top of page featuring: 'How
to make a Simple Televisor'
and the two frontcovers below.
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Hot
News on Television |
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Collection
Stephen Herbert |
Early
Television
Journals
for
the
Amateur
Technician
&
Experimenter
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