American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1945)

Left, televising Mr, and Mrs. Arthur Murray at the DUMONT studio. Where Will You Fit In Television? By IRVING BROWNING FOR a long time, many eyes have been cast in the direction of an in¬ dustry where promised employment runs into six figures, Television. For a long time, the newspapers have car¬ ried items about television, such as: “Television pictures held to be near,” “Live talent versus films in television,” “Theatre television to be a reality,” “600,000 to be employed in television.” In New York City, we are so near to television and radio that we hear a lot of tall and short talk regarding who will “take over” when television gets the signal to go ahead. Will it be Video (live shows) or will it be film, or a combination of both? That question is most annoying to those presently em¬ ployed in television; while film people just keep mum and look on. With that question unanswered, I got the idea to look into the matter for the purpose of doing an article on the subject for to those of you who are looking to the television scanner with the hope of working in this field I thought it would k fi Hip' ~ Ml" 1 H ■ i ‘ A ■ A f j i i ^3 * wj be interesting to see and hear what was going on, and so here, I present my findings. Radio, the theatre, and motion picture techniques have come up from the bot¬ tom. WILL TELEVISION DO THE SAME? I hope not, for television must pass up much experimentation and pick from the best of the other fields of en¬ tertainment if it is to survive its be¬ ginning. At present, television is pre¬ sented to a minority audience at great expense to its sponsors who are work¬ ing on a non-profit basis. Until it gets the OK from the Federal Com¬ munications Commission, television can¬ not charge for the entertainment pro¬ grams they are presenting. I spoke to an executive of a television station some years ago and he told me that up to that time, it had cost television some $15,000 per television set, receiving unsponsored entertainment. While it ex¬ periments with advertising media, it re¬ ceives no compensation whatsoever and television is now a costly experiment until it really gets going. To get this story, I decided to talk to radio writers, directors, producers, tech¬ nicians and executives of television, ra¬ dio, motion pictures and the theatre, and I have found that opinions vary. Some talk with assuredness; some with reservations, but they all want to talk about television. On December 14th, 1944, I attended a meeting of the American Television Society and became a member before their January meeting because I felt that here would be a good place to listen and talk to men and women in the allied arts, for this organization func¬ tions as a laboratory where new ideas, methods, inventions, technical and edu¬ cational practices are threshed out. Here is a program of a season’s activi¬ ties: October 12, 1944 — Television and Gov¬ ernment. November 16, 1944 — 30 Million Television sets — when and where. December 14, 1944 — Television and sports. January 11, 1945 — Seeing is believing — Television in advertising. February 15, 1945 — Scenic design — Stage — Screen — Television. March 15, 1945 — Television at home or at the theatre. April 12, 1945 — Camera technique — Screen and Television. May 12, 1945 — 'Television and the visual arts. These meetings, conducted as forums, have exhibits of everything from radio, motion pictures and television, highlight¬ ed by speakers from all branches of the entertainment field. It was particu Left, New York Times' "Fashions of the Times" being televised over CBS television station WCBW-N.Y.