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

®mts[ Cosmopolite J. Fred Muggs, who, via television, has become something of a legend in the past year, made a triumphal entry on the Today set in August, five weeks after leaving New York on a trip around the world. The famous chimpanzee, during his global trek, danced for the customers in a Beirut night club, rode a camel in Cairo, made an appearance on Nippon TV, and frolicked among the pineapples in Honolulu. The trip wasn't solely with- out hitches, however. Muggs caused the Middle East Airlines people some confusion when they found he was listed neither as cargo nor passenger. One of his NBC travelling companions resolved the difficulty by buying him an infant's ticket. Then, too, in Hong Kong, Muggs and his party forgot to tell their police escort that they were going out shopping one day. Getting to the store presented no problem, but after word of Muggs' whereabouts spread throughout the city, it took a riot squad to get them out. All in all, Muggs' good-will tour was highly suc- cessful and gives him the distinction of being the most cosmopolitan simian in the world. Eyes Front A new invention, undetectable to TV viewers, permitting a performer to be prompted and still look straight into the camera lens, has been success- fully demonstrated by WNBT on a closed circuit. The prompting attach- ment, called the "Gerard Eyeline Mon- itor," is attached in front of the lens of either a live or a motion picture camera. In addition to allowing the performer to look directly into the eyes of his audience, a further advan- tage of the "Eyeline Monitor" is that the sets of lenses on the live television camera can be used at any position de- sired, not tying up one by making it necessary to keep a particular lens in Hospital TV More and more of the nation's hos- pitals are installing television receivers in patients' rooms to help make hours and days of recuperation pass more rapidly and enjoyably. One of the latest and most modern installations has been completed in private and semi-private rooms and solariums at the Albany Hospital, Albany, New York. A total of 225 RCA Victor re- ceivers, all of them with 17-inch or larger screens, now are in use there. Special glasses, with prismatic lenses, make it possible for patients wh'^ must not move from a prone or supine position to see the screen. Each re ceiver is equipped with a small, flat speaker for sound reception which i": placed under a patient's pillow. A remote control switch permits patienf; to turn the sets on or off from the bed Royal Tour "The Royal Tour of Queen Eliza- beth," the film documentary of the tour of Queen Elizabeth 11 and the Duke of Edinburgh, marks the first Cinema- Scope film made and processed outside the United States with full Stereo- phonic Sound on four magnetic tracks. The Sterophonic Recording was done by RCA Photophone Limited, RCA associate company in England, at the Tower Studio in Hammersmith, Lon- don, for the producer, British Movie- tone News. The picture was released by 20th Century Fox. Home Tlineup A consumer-aimed promotion cam- paign designed to help television serv- ice dealers alert owners of home TV receivers to the benefits of periodic "tuneups" has been initiated by the RCA Tube Division. The campaign is utilizing national radio and television advertising, point-of-service advertis- ing and display material, and direct- mail literature to spotlight a Fall TV Tuneup Special to be offered by thou- sands of service dealers from coast to coast. Choice of the Voice The Voice of America has selected "Princeton '54," WNBT's educational television series presented last Spring in cooperation with Princeton Uni- versity, for telecast to nations through- out the world. The nine half-hour television programs represent the re- sults of discussions and studies extend- ing over a period of 18 months on the part of Princeton and WNBT. The programs explored the techniques and methods by which the resources of a university such as Princeton could best be made available to television. The reries which dealt with the arts and sciences, was a result of a grant made to Princeton by WNBT in the fall of 1952. RADIO AGE 37