Eye Witness
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Eye Witness
- Publication date
- 1948
- Topics
- Classic TV, NBC, Live Television, Kinescope, 1948, 40's Television, 1940's
Episode 'The Story of Television' of WNBT's 'Eye Witness'
Hosted by Ben Grauer with Guest: Dr. Vladimir K. Zworykin.
Air-Date: Feb. 26, 1948
- Addeddate
- 2013-09-01 21:36:44
- Closed captioning
- no
- Color
- color
- Identifier
- EyeWitnessStoryOfTelevision02261948
- Scanner
- Internet Archive HTML5 Uploader 1.4.1
- Sound
- sound
- Year
- 1948
comment
Reviews
Reviewer:
HappySwordsman
-
favoritefavoritefavoritefavoritefavorite -
May 3, 2024
Subject: Lovely
Subject: Lovely
A charming look at the development of television technology from a 1948 NBC perspective, along with some nice bits of ephemera at the beginning and end (I love it when kinescopes include ephemera). Good quality upload too. I'm feeling a bit sick today and episode helped brighten my mood.
Reviewer:
Yowp
-
favoritefavoritefavoritefavorite -
September 21, 2020
Subject: Television of Early 1948
Subject: Television of Early 1948
Fascinating look at live television in the days when there were about a dozen stations across the US. WNBT was broadcasting only 35 hours a week when this show aired.
Veteran radio man Ben Grauer looks extremely uncomfortable as he is about to introduce some live sketches, one featuring a character named "May" who sounds like Regis Philbin and another with a German scientist who has trouble with his lines. No prompters then, folks.
The NBC feed loses the sound for a portion.
Broadcasting magazine revealed the series was shot in studio 3-H, directed by Garry Simpson and sponsored by RCA.
Someone plays C. Francis Jenkins (died 1934), who had experimental TV stations W2XCR and W3XK operating in the mechanical days. He's next to what looks like an authentic photoelectric cell panel you'll see in photos of early '30s TV broadcasts.
Opens with test pattern then a promise that the cable will be hooked up between WNBT and KSD-TV by Christmas.
Complete with ID and weather forecast at the end.
Veteran radio man Ben Grauer looks extremely uncomfortable as he is about to introduce some live sketches, one featuring a character named "May" who sounds like Regis Philbin and another with a German scientist who has trouble with his lines. No prompters then, folks.
The NBC feed loses the sound for a portion.
Broadcasting magazine revealed the series was shot in studio 3-H, directed by Garry Simpson and sponsored by RCA.
Someone plays C. Francis Jenkins (died 1934), who had experimental TV stations W2XCR and W3XK operating in the mechanical days. He's next to what looks like an authentic photoelectric cell panel you'll see in photos of early '30s TV broadcasts.
Opens with test pattern then a promise that the cable will be hooked up between WNBT and KSD-TV by Christmas.
Complete with ID and weather forecast at the end.
Reviewer:
harry dalek
-
favoritefavoritefavoritefavoritefavorite -
March 12, 2020
Subject: Farnsworth no credit
Subject: Farnsworth no credit
The reason Farnsworth got not credit is because Television was invented as an idea by others ,he was nothing more than a branch on a tree that went no where ...We all need to thank John logie Baird for showing all this was possible all the other inventors had to do now was improve on what was now possible .
Reviewer:
ea327
-
favorite -
November 3, 2014
Subject: Where is Farnsworth?
Subject: Where is Farnsworth?
It is very interesting that no credit is given to Philo T. Farnsworth. If you do any reading on the subject you will find that Sarnoff of RCA was instrumental in "borrowing" most of Farnsworth's work. Since RCA was much larger than one man, they were able to push Farnsworth out of the picture and take all the credit for the invention of television. Farnsworth is really the father of electronic television. Take a look at this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMwEhrRmIVE This will tell the real story.
Reviewer:
Karltonthedoorman
-
favoritefavoritefavoritefavorite -
September 3, 2013
Subject: Eye Witness 1948
Subject: Eye Witness 1948
How do you explain something as complex as television to an audience that has no idea how it works? They do their best and remain charming without being condescending, which is not an easy task.
Reviewer:
The_Emperor_Of_Television -
favoritefavoritefavoritefavoritefavorite -
September 2, 2013
Subject: Another great upload by zigoto - Wish I could give it 6 stars - A delightful if biased piece of television history
Subject: Another great upload by zigoto - Wish I could give it 6 stars - A delightful if biased piece of television history
I'm horrible at reviewing things but I'll try to review this...forgive me for being a terrible reviewer.
As a documentary on the history of television technology, this is of course a very US-centric and RCA-centric account. There are some important people ignored. Nevertheless, I recommend this because of the rare artifacts that are shown, as well as the interesting interview.
But I feel the real reason that people will download this is because of the chance to see television programming from 1948.
The sets and acting in this episode aren't much, I admit. On the other hand, while the sets are very basic (most of them consisting of a curtain, a desk and some props) there are quite a few of them, at least 7 in fact.
This program compares unfavorably with productions from the following year, but even so I must admit I found it entertaining. It has a charm to it, despite of and perhaps because of its limitations.
The picture quality of this upload is quite acceptable, and looked quite decent when I viewed it on my TV set.
I would love to see more pioneering productions from 1948 (such as "The Swift Show", "Kraft Television Theatre", "Photographic Horizons", "The Bigelow Show", etc.) but I am quite well aware how slim the chances are of these becoming available.
As a documentary on the history of television technology, this is of course a very US-centric and RCA-centric account. There are some important people ignored. Nevertheless, I recommend this because of the rare artifacts that are shown, as well as the interesting interview.
But I feel the real reason that people will download this is because of the chance to see television programming from 1948.
The sets and acting in this episode aren't much, I admit. On the other hand, while the sets are very basic (most of them consisting of a curtain, a desk and some props) there are quite a few of them, at least 7 in fact.
This program compares unfavorably with productions from the following year, but even so I must admit I found it entertaining. It has a charm to it, despite of and perhaps because of its limitations.
The picture quality of this upload is quite acceptable, and looked quite decent when I viewed it on my TV set.
I would love to see more pioneering productions from 1948 (such as "The Swift Show", "Kraft Television Theatre", "Photographic Horizons", "The Bigelow Show", etc.) but I am quite well aware how slim the chances are of these becoming available.
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