From the remote control, satellite technology, the instant replay, and color television to the invention of television itself, hear the stories behind these world-changing inventions and discoveries from The Interviews: An Oral History of Television.
By Carl MydansLIFE Photo Collection
CAPTURING TELEVISION HISTORY ONE VOICE AT A TIME
Since 1997, the Television Academy Foundation’s The Interviews: An Oral History of Television (formerly the Archive of American Television) has been conducting in-depth, videotaped oral history interviews with television professionals, including actors, writers, editors, and journalists. These interviews explore the lives and careers of the interviewees, and often touch on important historical moments and movements.
Gathered here are stories from engineers, inventors, and witnesses to history who participated in some of the most important telecommunication inventions of the 20th century.
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Elma Farnsworth on Philo Farnsworth creating electronic televisionThe Interviews: An Oral History of Television
Elma Farnsworth, wife of television inventor Philo T. Farnsworth shares the story of how her husband came up with the idea for electronic television when he was a teenager, as well as the battle that her husband fought with RCA over the patent to his invention. She includes the detail that Farnsworth showed a sketch of his invention to his high school teacher, many years before his conflict with RCA:
"He drew a sketch of his camera tube, the image dissector on a piece of his little notebook. He always carried a little notebook in his pocket. And tore it out and gave it to Mr. Tolman [his high school teacher]…And Phil and he had no contact at all with him between that time. …RCA said a boy of that age could not conceive of an idea so complicated as this. But here was the proof that he had."
Watch Elma Farnsworth’s full interview to hear the story behind her husband’s invention and career.
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Ruth Warrick on participating in an early television test at RCAThe Interviews: An Oral History of Television
Actress Ruth Warrick describes participating in RCA’s television tests in 1939, including the discomfort of the setup due to the intense lighting, which was required to make her visible to the camera:
“The lights were so bright the tears just streamed down my face. And they had me sit there for about ten minutes, just absorbing it…I even got some burns on my cheek from the light.”
Watch Ruth Warrick’s full interview for stories from her career, including being cast in Citizen Kane and her decades on All My Children.
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Elinor Donahue on being part of early television experimentsThe Interviews: An Oral History of Television
Actress Elinor Donahue tells the story of participating in early experimental television tests for director Klaus Landsberg when she was a child. She remembers in particular the look of the makeup she had to wear in order for the cameras to read her features:
"When I looked in the mirror I nearly screamed. Your lips were black, really black, and the makeup was brown and the rouge was bright, you know dark. Everything was exaggerated."
Watch Elinor Donahue’s full interview where she talks about her career from Father Knows Best and The Andy Griffith Show to Get a Life.
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Robert Adler on inventing Zenith's Space Command remote controlThe Interviews: An Oral History of Television
Inventor Dr. Robert Adler tells the story of how he helped to invent the first wireless remote control for television: Zenith’s Space Command, including how he arrived at the technology that would work best to achieve the goal of a remote control without wires:
“It was clear to all of us that we couldn’t use radio because…radio went through walls, and it would work on the next door neighbor’s set.…I came up with ultrasound because I knew that ultrasound in the air would not go through walls, so it was like ordinary speaking. I mean, if you told a person, ‘Please change the program,’ you don’t expect somebody next door to be affected by this. Now, that part was logical. I didn’t want it to be heard, so it had to be either subsonic or supersonic. Subsonic wouldn’t make sense from a technical standpoint, so there you are. It had to be ultrasound.”
Dr. Robert Adler’s full interview, to hear more stories from his decades working at Zenith.
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John Silva on inventing the KTLA TelecopterThe Interviews: An Oral History of Television
Engineer John Silva tells the story of inventing the KTLA Telecopter, which was the first news helicopter, including the technical aspects of outfitting a helicopter with the necessary equipment for broadcast, and how the idea came to him in the first place:
“One day I was traveling to work on the Hollywood freeway and the thought came to me - I was trying so hard to say, what can we do next to make sure that we can beat the competition. And whammo. Out of nowhere the thought came. The answer, of course, is to build a mobile unit in a helicopter so we can do breaking news stories and get over the traffic, get there in a hurry, and probably beat the competition.”
Watch John Silva’s full interview to hear stories from his career at KTLA.
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Tony Charmoli on choreographing dances for early color TV testsThe Interviews: An Oral History of Television
Choreographer/director Tony Charmoli shares the story of how he participated in tests for early color television by choreographing dances for the Hit Parade dancers. Engineers were concerned about how color would “hold” when people moved in front of the camera.
"On the girls we put in big, skirted blue dance dresses, and their petticoats were all the other colors - red and green, yellow. So I staged a number to dance through the studio and around the stage and to show that the color would hold with the camera moving."
Watch Tony Charmoli’s full interview for more stories from his decades as a choreographer and director.
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Imero Fiorentino on working on the first Telstar satellite transmissionThe Interviews: An Oral History of Television
Lighting designer Imero Fiorentino, who lit the first broadcast sent by the Telstar satellite in 1962, shares the groundbreaking significance of this broadcast:
“Telstar had been put into orbit, and it was to achieve this never before achieved feat of receiving a signal and transmitting it back. When it did that it opened what we know today as satellite communication around the world. It had never been done. Pictures had been sent out and signals have been sent out, but never out and back. That allowed the signal to go over the curvature of the Earth to another place, and it opened up all satellite communication.”
Watch Imero Fiorentino’s full interview, where he discusses his career as a lighting designer, including in the early years of television.
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Lucy Jarvis on NBC's first Telstar satellite feed and the assassination of JFKThe Interviews: An Oral History of Television
Producer Lucy Jarvis tells the story of a very early broadcast of the Telstar satellite, which she used to send images of the Louvre in Paris to Washington, DC. By coincidence, the broadcast occurred the day before President Kennedy’s assassination, and Jarvis ended up contributing to NBC’s reporting on the French reaction to the shocking events, using the Telstar linkup:
"We had people go out and cover everything that had to be done that day, and it was all because we had done that first satellite broadcast from the Louvre Museum to Washington."
Watch Lucy Jarvis’ full interview to hear stories from her career producing NBC news specials and documentaries.
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Ray Dolby on developing a noise-reduction system for tapeThe Interviews: An Oral History of Television
Ampex engineer/Dolby Laboratories founder Ray Dolby talks about why it was so important for him to develop a noise-reduction system for magnetic tape, including identifying the most important aspect of improving tape:
“I realized that noise was going to be a fundamental stumbling block in in all of this, because people just would not want to listen to a cassette tape that had a lot of hiss on it.”
Watch Ray Dolby’s full interview to hear stories from his career at Ampex and founding Dolby Laboratories.
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Tony Verna on inventing the instant replayThe Interviews: An Oral History of Television
Director Tony Verna tells the story of how he came to develop the instant replay, including his motivation for pursuing the technology, and his process for figuring out how it could work:
"What I wanted to do was control and harness the videotape. A few years earlier, I really got to know tape, and found out that there were two tracks on the tape - two audio tracks. One would have the announcer and one was for the technical crew. So, I asked the guys, ‘Well, what do you put on that?’ ’Nothing.’ They didn't use it. So I figured what a waste. Maybe I can use that."
Watch Tony Verna’s full interview where he talks about his career directing at CBS sports, and directing events including Live Aid.
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The Television Academy Foundation's The Interviews: An Oral History of Television
Jenni Matz, Director
Adrienne Faillace, Producer
Jenna Hymes, Manager & Exhibit curator
Nora Bates, Production Coordinator
John Dalton, Cataloguer
Additional video editing by the Pop Culture Passionistas, sisters Amy and Nancy Harrington, who have made a career based on their love of pop culture.
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