Radio age research, manufacturing, communications, broadcasting, television (1941)

sound broadcasting alone will con- tinue to serve the millions through many hours of the broadcasting period when the eye cannot be riveted on the television picture." In discussing the great possibili- ties of theater television, General Sarnoff said: "Television, essentially, is a pic- ture in motion. And there are mo- tion picture people quite alive to the promise of television in the theater as well as in the home. Their theaters may soon be open to television equipment developed for service of the theater screen. These leaders of the film industry are among the few who did not shut their ears to sound, which came just in time to open a new vista for the then silent movies. Television as a New Art Form "There are many more, however, who are strangely indifferent to the new art—or perhaps they are waiting until television delivers itself on a silver platter to the motion picture industry. They have the know-how, the experience, and the talent for picture making, and their pride is understandable in view of the huge box-office they have experienced. But they tend to shut their eyes, as they once shut their ears, to another momen- tous electronic development—sound on film. They measure the impact of television on their own industry by comparing the entertainment values of the theater screen with the programs they see on the pres- ent television set. They are greatly mistaken. Television promises to develop an art form of its own, and the immediate impact of television on theater attendance will come from the timeliness and dramatic interest of the event that television will bring to the home. "But it would be folly to suppose that television will ever supplant the theater any more than radio has supplanted the concert hall or the opera house. Broadcasting greatly multiplied the audiences for both. Television can do as much for the movie theater. Time will tell whether a failure to face the facts is the best possible protection of studio investments and the thea- ter box-oflBce. "In its technical aspect, television "TELEn^ISION IS AN IDEAL ADVERTISING MEDIUM, UNSURPASSED IN ITS SIMULTANEOUS APPEAL TO THE EYES AND EARS OF MILLIONS OF PEOPLE." as a method of simultaneous dis- tribution of motion pictures to the theater may revolutionize the trade structure of the motion picture in- dustry. "Furthermore, it brings into view a new method of booking to theaters the action of live talent, vaudeville, drama, opera, sports and other events, simultaneously dis- tributed to hundreds of thousands of movie theaters." There are interesting indications, he continued, that as television transmitters begin to spot the coun- try, progressive independent pro- ducers will see their opportunities not alone in terms of the present twenty thousand theaters, but of the many millions of homes that may be eventually equipped with television. It may even be that such independent television produc- tion, financed by the same methods that presently exist in the movies, may flow to the theaters in full- length form, after exhibition on the air, instead of vice versa. That, he admitted, is projecting thoughts considerably into the future. "But this much is already evi- dent," he added: "the newsreel theater of today could readily be- come the television theater of to- "With the camera as well as the microphone focused on the stage, television can be expected to be- come a vastly greater means for the discovery of talent than sound ever was. "It was radio and electronics that gave the film its voice. It will be radio that will equip the theater with a television eye. I believe that television can be as great a boon to the theater as sound was to the silent picture." Television Aids to Industry General Sarnoff warned the man- ufacturers not to permit their en- thusiasm for home and theater television to obscure the great pos- sibilities of industrial television. "The television eye makes it pos- sible to see anything, almost any- where," he declared. "It can be used to observe dangerous chemical processes. It can be put into blast furnaces to permit the study of the flame. Television brings a camera eye into mines and tunnels. It can be lowered into tank cars as well as into the depths of the sea. Fisher- men may drop a television eye over the side to locate schools of fish and oyster beds. Explorers will scan marine life and the geology of [RADIO AGE 5] '>*■■