- TELEVISION •r? and the - METROPOLITAN \Z MUSEUM OF ART

By Lydia Bond Powel

A Study of The Division of Psychology Institute of Educational Research Teachers College Columbia University

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER I What Need Has a Museum of Television? 1 What the Museum Has to Offer 2 Techniques of Extension 3 What is Television? 4 Radio as Clue to Video Programming 5 The Decisions Involved for the Museum 7

CHAPTER II Television' s Long History 9 How Television is Produced 10 Producing a Television Picture 12 Scanning 13 Television is Not Concealed in Tele\±iones 14 How Television is Broadcast 15 What a Television Studio Looks Like 15 The Control Room 17 Directing the Cameras 17 Duties of Program Director ana Technical Director 18 Motion Pictures and Records in Television 19 Sound Effects 20 Television Transmission 21 Line of Sight Transmission 22 Stratovision 23 Companies Operating Transmission Facilities 24

CHAPTER III What Frequency? A Television Controversy 26 Wire Communication 27 Radio Communication 27 Color Television 32 Importance of Color Televi sion to the Museum. 34

CHAPTER IV Television on the Threshold ... 36 Who Controls Television? 37 Film for Television 38 Two Types of Television 39 Other Controlling Interests in Television 41 Electrical Manufacturers as Television Broadcasters 41 New Applicants for Television Broadcasting Licenses 42

CHAPTER V

Publishing and Television 44 Newspaper and Magazine Video Previews 44 Museum Extension by a Popular Magazine 45 Museum Masterpieces in the Subways 46 Response to Museum Subject Matter 47 .1.11

£_£_. CHAPTER VI Which Way Television Programs? 49 Audience Prejudices Against, Educational Programs 50 Program Tastes in the Metropolitan Area 52 Form and Quality in Educational Broadcasts 52 Form of Museum Programs in 1940-41 54 Can Television Script Writing be Learned?. 54

CHAPTER VII Dramatic Form and Museum. Material 56 A Dramatic Presentation 56 Sequence of the Program, 58 The Armorer's Shop 60 Radio with Illustration vs. Visualization with Commentary. 62 Preliminaries of the Armor Program 64 Cash Outlay for Arms and Armor Program 67 Additional Museum Programs 68 The Fashion Promenade 69

CHAPTER VIII Cost of Television Equipment and Productions 72 The Museum's Two Currencies 73 The Museum's Bureau of Publications - A Parallel 75 Video Now or Later? 77 How Should the Museum Prepare for Television? 80 Training for Television 80 Organization of a Television Program by the Museums End... 81 Recommendations 84

CHAPTER IX Suggested Uses of Television for a Museum Preview 86 Suggestions for a Museum Television Series 88 Television for the Schools 89 Television Programs at the College Level 90 Veterans 90 Adult Education 91 The General Public 92 Subject Matter 93 The Pictorial Magazine as Collaborator 94 A Theme Developed Chronologically 95

CONCLUSIONS 100

RECOMMENDATIONS 101

AFPENDIX Museum Film for Educational Extension 104 FiLm for Television 104 Type of Film Now Available 105 Motion Picture vs. Film Strip 107 Uses of Film Strip 108 Suggested Subject Matter for Film Strip 108 IV

BS** "Thinking is more interesting than knowing but not so interesting as looking." ^ — Maxims of Goethe

"I must study politics and war that my sons s^ may have liberty to study mathematics and j^ philosophy. My sons ought to study mathe- ^^ matics and philosophy, geography, natural J^ history and naval architecture, navigation, commerce, agriculture in order to give their j^ children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, ^*m porcelain." ^* — Familiar Letters to John Adams to His Wife, Abigail. Paris, ^ 1780.

/ INTRODUCTION

It is a pleasure to transmit the enclosed report on the application of television to museum education and museum extension made by the Divi­ sion of Psychology, Institute of Educational Research, Teachers College, Columbia University under' a grant from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The major responsibility for the report was given to Mrs. lydia Powel, Research Associate, in the Division of Psychology, Institute of Educational Research. Mrs. Powel has developed the background for her study and has collected the materials for it by participating in television production with the various organizations in the field. Every effort was made to obtain facts and opinions from all relevant sources to make for the kind of generalizations that may guide the director and trustees of the Metro­ politan Museum of Art in establishing policy for museum extension through television.

As such, then, this report emphasizes the relationship of television to the program of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The need for acquainting the public with the diversity of the museum's collection of cultural evi­ dences and ideas necessitates a complete evaluation of television as it is now and as it may be. Such an appraisal has been rendered more difficult by the rapid developments and changing notions in television itself. The happy ending of the war, moreover, increased the tempo with which new in­ ventions and innovations became available. Mrs. Powel has appraised the dynamic readjustments of television to itself and the implications of it for museum extension.

Television is a medium that, in conjunction with other media, may "take down the walls of the museum" and extend its rich cultural collection to the public. The use of television, however, as a new medium of communi­ cation by the museum requires the development of a staff within it who not only know the museum's resources, but also know the techniques for project­ ing them pictorially to the museum's many publics. The arts and skills needed to communicate to the various publics in general education, in­ dustrial design, merchandising, fashion, publication, theatre arts as well as specific subject matter areas are extraordinarily important today. The development of television as another means of communication will help the museum to extend it3elf to a very widening public.

May 16, 1946 Irving Lorge Executive Officer Division of Psychology, Institute of Educational Research, Teachers College, Columbia University. 1.

CHAPTER I

What Need Has a Museum of Television?

To the casual person who hears a museum and television coupled for the first time the connection is not always clear. Why should the

Metropolitan Museum want, or need to project itself beyond its own walls?

Are not the various techniques of education and extension if now uses, such as lectures, loans, publications and special exhibitions sufficient? The answers to these questions may be found in the current social concept, held by many museum directors and policy makers of the museums' responsibility to extend their cultural resources and to expand their services to the public.

This concept is well expressed in the Harvard Report on General Education in a Free Society: "Enlargement of the common concern is indeed the distinc­ tive character of the age." If democracy means equal opportunity to enjoy and profit from great achievements of civilization represented in the museum collections of this country, then a great institution such as the Metropoli­ tan Museum must, to justify its existence and support by the taxpayer, use all tested means and constantly be ready to explore new techniques to extend its resources to an ever widening community.

The era of musuems as vast uncharted storage warehouses for works of art is past. Today the museums are more than guardians of the great documents of civilization; they are the skilled showmen and interpreters speaking to the many as well as to the initiated few. Those who use museums, professionally or for pleasure, have long since taken for granted their new role and attendant services of education and extension. Unfortunately however, for some, the old memories of the incomprehensible exhausting museum tours of childhood still persist. Television would not only correct false impres­ sions, but it would be a direct and far-reaching means of showing the public what a great art museum really represents and how its rich resources may be used. 1

What the Musuem Has to Qffer»

In the Metropolitan Museum of Art the collections record approximate­ ly 5,000 years of human achievement and culture in visual form. The museum assumes that its fundamental duty is to make available to the people of this country the evidences of the development of their civilization. A clear state­ ment on the purposes of the museum has been made by Mr. William N, Ivins Jr.:

"A great museum of art, such as ours, the collections of which range over the long histories of many civilizations, has many different functions to fill. The objects in its collections are works of art, but also depending upon the directions from which they are approached, they are important and vital documents for the history of thought, belief, economics, and social life in many of their most interesting aspects. They are also of the utmost value to all who concern themselves with design and production in the various arts and handicrafts, both as examples to be followed and as sources of inspiration for future work. In a certain way it may be said that the great museum and the great library constitute the two halves of the community's memory of the past. It is hardly necessary to lay stress upon the importance of a long and rich memory for a community as well as for the individuals that compose it."

The museum then is not only the custodian of works of art but also the keeper of visual and tangible records that illustrate the endurance of spiritual values. As such it does not stand alone but must take its place with schools, libraries, universities, and also with the publishers of books and periodicals documenting and interpreting the ideals of humanism and democ­ racy on which our country was founded. Therefore, the museum's problem is to interpret art as a function of every day life and to find the means of making the great wealth of its collections comprehensible, not only to those who seek them out, but readily accessible, enjoyable, and useful to the largest possible

^ Ivins, William N. Jr. "Of Education in a Museum," Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Vol. 29, No. 9 3.

number of people in the greatest possible nurber of ways.

Techniques of Extension.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art uses many techniques in furthering its aims. The Department of Education and Extension covers an immensely wide field of activities for adults and children within and without the museum building. To summarize briefly, there are: gallery tours and guidance, lec­ tures and study groups conducted by staff members in the museum, and lectures by well-known authorities in various fields. Reproductions, photographs, prints, slides, and film may be borrowed through "school services". These ser­ vices are not limited to schools but are used by other groups: institutions, teachers, and labor unions. A High School Project consists of circulating exhibitions of three dimensional objects combined with flat material designed as visual supplement to the schools' social studies curriculum. Staff lectur­ ers are available to the schools for explanatory and supplementary talks to accompany the circulating exhibitions.

A portion of the museum is set aside for a junior museum where children may study exhibitions of special interest to them. Here also they may see films, not to be confused with the regular adult film programs in the main lecture hall.

Technically, the Department of Museum Publications"though-actually one of the principal means of extending the Museum to the public, is not in­ cluded in the Department of Education and Extension. Its activities are probably very familiar since most visitors passing the information desk of the museum see the books, bulletins, pamphlets, catalogues, post cards, photographs, and reproductions that are on display and for sale. These publications and reproductions are designed to supplement and interpret the Museum's collections.

They too, are a tangible form of extension beyond the Museum's walls. By television it will be possible to project to a wider public

whatever forms of education and extension are now in. use by the museum.

Moreover the nature of television makes available many new and original

methods of presentation. If the medium is used with insight and foresight,

it can help the realization of that dream of museum planners—"the living

museum."

What is Television?

Television is a technique for sending and receiving visual commu­ nication instantaneously. Direct visual experience is recorded by the tele­ vision camera and is projected electronically beyond all previous human limitations of time and space. At present, the image on the television receiver is in black and white, but full and accurate color has been broad­

cast experimentally. There is good reason to suppose that when color tele­ vision becomes technically practical, it will be widely used. On many broad­ casting stations it may become the standard usage. Frequency modulation (FN) is used for the television sound channel, FM coupled with color television should provide a highly realistic combination of aural and visual reproduction.

In the progress of human communication the immediacy of television makes it potentially the annihilator of space and time on a global scale.

Television is not essentially a creative art, it is an instrument which in­ creases the breadth and scope of human communication already in existence.

Its "art" will lie in how well or ill the instrument is used by those who will apply it. Good television will require great technical ability from camera men, lighting experts, engineers, production, and management, but their technical competence will avail nothing if the program content is the visual counterpart of a second rate radio.

Television has possibilities beyond the movies, the radio, and the theater. Television not only can repeat the past through films and recordings, 5.

but it can reproduce sights and sounds at the very instant they occur. Thus on the same television program, it is possible to recreate the past through film and records using the "flash-backs" of cinema and then make an instanta^ neous transition to the living present.

Radio as Clue to Video Programming,

Those engaged in producing television today are frankly experiment­ ing. They are well aware that they are dealing with a force whose material and psychological boundaries are uncharted. No one is quite sure what people want to see on television, how and when programs shall be presented, or how they are to be paid for. Through experimentation some of these questions are being answered. Radio, the stage, and motion pictures provide some clues to public taste and public demands. Radio has shown that a public exists for cultural or "educational" programs which should be distinguished from the recreational time-passers that are constructed primarily as advertising media*

Certainly, a public has responded to the best music that radio can provide.

Symphony orchestras, chamber music, and opera.have not been forced upon the radio listener by any particular crusading spirit of do-goodism by the broad­ casting companies. The demand for more and better music has increased so steadily from many sections of the public that it has become one of the out­ standing obligations of radio to satisfy it. The symphony orchestras and opera began and continued for a long period as "sustaining programs" for the prestige of the station but, within the last few years, they have become in addition, great financial assets. Now, as every radio listener knows, they they are sponsored and paid for by great manufacturers and utilities whose management recognize the good will and prestige that accrues to their company's name through association with the best that music has to offer in prOgram content and performance.

Listening and looking are not perfectly comparable. One can listen, with "half an ear," while looking will require full attention. The belief of many now shaping the future of television, is that a great reservoir of visual material such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art can become as import­ ant to television as the best music is to radio.

One of the avowed purposes of modern museum education is to use the objects in the collections as social documents of the civilizations that produced them as much as to emphasize the purely aesthetic values. It will not be enough, however, simply to "take the walls off the museum" and project its contents on the television screen. No matter how intrinsically great or famous works of art may be, their static reproduction, on the video screen becomes only another lecture with slides, unless dynamically presented. Such dynamic presentation requires first-class showmanship and intelligent inter­ pretation.

In 1940-41 the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Columbia Broadcasting

System's television station WCBW cooperatively initiated a series of telecasts on "The Arts in the Americas" using museum material. Members of the museum staff and occasional guest speakers demonstrated the development of American houses and their furnishings, prints, crafts, architecture, sculpture, and 2 painting, from the earliest settlements through the ensuing periods. Both 3 collaborators learned much from their mutual experience. Pearl Harbor brought a period of suspension to television broadcasting. After its re­ sumption, the interest of the television broadcasters in the utilization of museum material and, on the part of the museum, the further exploration of television as a means of extension was revived in 1944-45.

An account of the museum's two experiments with television, the first in 1940-41 and the second in 1944-45, will compare the differences in 2 E. L. M. Taggart. "Exhibits on the Air," Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Volume XXXVI, Nc. 11. 3 ' Discussed in detail elsewhere in the report. 7.

the approach to content in the three years; It will illustrate the advance, not only of techniques, but the development of an aesthetic of television.

In the interval between the two experiments, the conception of educational video has changed. Earlier it was a visualized lecture with primarily verbal communication; it has changed gradually to a type of program in which the communication is realized through a dynamic succession of images telling the story visually and vitally with a minimum of reliance upon verbal assistance.

In the change of television from, visualized radio to an essentially visual communication, lies the basic reason why video is the logical medium for museum extension. Radio never has been a satisfactory technique for museum extension despite the somewhat awkward device of supplementary visual aids in the form of reproductions distributed to listeners before or after a broadcast. Radio, at its best, can only give the historical and biographical background of works of art and artists; it can not convey adeouately the com­ munication of the visual arts. Such communication requires seeing.

The Decisions Involved for the Museum

No one who has studied television development closely can doubt that video will eventually become as common as radio. Technical problems are being solved rapidly. In the near future it will be as indispensable as the other techniques of communication which preceded it and which now are among its components. The museum's problem seems to be not so much whether it will use television, but rather when and how. Should the museum wait until condi­ tions in the television industry are more stabilized and video receivers are widely distributed, costs and broadcasting standards are standardized; or should the museum continue with experimental programs at this time, learning through experience and reaping the advantages of being a pioneer?

If the question of time is answered, there remains the question of the means. Should the museum equip a television studio and originate its own 8.

programs? Should the museum collaborate with one of the existing broadcasting

companies on a sustaining program or should the museum's television have a

sponsor?

The museum' s decisions depend upon the inter-relationships of the

many factors involved. Video's present technical and financial problems, the

industry's integration with other media of communication, the press, radio,

stage and cinema, will also affect the museum's policies in regard to tele­

vision.

7* CHAPTER II.

Television's Long History.

Even in the autumn of 1945 when newspapers and magazines were filled with pictures of television and articles about its future, comparatively few people in the United States had seen television on the video receiver. Still fewer have had the opportunity of watching a telecast as it is transmitted from a studio. In spite of the fact that television broadcasting is so nev/ that only a small number of the public have yet had first hand experience of it, yet the history of television actually stretches over many centuries.

Television is the product of accumulated knowledge sifted and sorted by many minds for almost 3,000 years. The electron, which is the animating force of television, was given a name in 600 B.C. when Thales of Miletus, a

Greek thinker and philosopher, recognized a new force in nature. He discover­ ed that through friction, amber developed a power to attract certain other substances. His name for the force or spirit living in the amber was Elektra.

Through the succeeding centuries more and more was added to the sum of man's knowledge of Elektra or the science of electronics. Men of the

Renaissance called it magnetics and electrics. Benjamin Franklin's electrical experiments in the 18th century are well known. In the early part of the 19th century the discoveries of Volta, Ampere, and Ohm made their names part of the terminology of electronics. Later, men like Faraday, Hertz, Crookes,

Thompson, and Braun laid the essential foundations of radio and television.

In the 19th century laboratories, seemingly abstract problems in pure science and atomic physics developed the concept of a new force. In England, in 1891,

G. Johnstone Stoney, harking back to Thales the Greek, suggested the name

Elektron for a unit of electricity he had drawn attention to as early as 1874,

Sir James.Thomson proved that cathode rays consisted of ultra, atomic particles 10.

carrying negative eharges of electricity in 1897. A year later Sir William Crookes invented the 'cathode-ray tube to demonstrate what he then called "the 4th estate of matter." The modern cathode-ray tube, which is the heart of television, is a highly developed version of Sir William's device.

In Germany, Karolus; in England Baird and Campbell-Swinton and in America, Edison, deForest, Jenkins, Goldmark, Zworykin, Dumont, Johnson, and Alexanderson were but a few of the men who brought discoveries and refinements to television. Modem video is the composite achievement of philosophers, scientists, and engineers who made the pattern whole. Television owes an im­ mense debt to war-time discoveries in electronics. Its cameras, transmitters, and receivers embody almost all that is basic in modern optics, radio, and FM in addition to vtha.t is unique to television itself.

How Television is Produced.

Television is developing so rapidly that any discussion of it must be prefaced by the warning customarily'found on railroad time tables, "This schedule subject to change without notice." The descriptions apply to tele­ vision practices current in the latter part of 1945, in the studios of CBS and NBC in New York City and General Electric in Schenectady*

Like radio, television is a two way operation of sending and receiv­ ing. The television camera, usually referred to as the iconoscope*, picks up the image or picture which is amplified and electronically transmitted to the kinescope or video receiver.

Like the word television—far-Bight—the names of thei. television camera and the receiver are also derived from Greek and Latin roots: ikon, Greek, a pic­ ture or image; scope, Latin, to see or view; kine, Greek, meaning motion* Icon­ oscope and kinescope are the registered trade marks of television tubes patent­ ed by RCA. Their use has been so general that the two words are used in the studios to denote almost any television camera or receiver. Other types of camera tubes now in use are the Image Orthicon and the Image dissector. Actu­ ally the television camera and receiver both comprise lenses, optical systems and many other elements beside the iconoscope and kinescope tubes. The manufacture of new receivers is under way, but general distribution is not expected until the summer of 1946 or later according to a survey of production made by Television Magazine, October 1945. The manufacture of tele­ vision receivers or kinescopes stopped short after Pearl Harbor because every component of electronic equipment and almost all of the personnel of the broad­ casting studios were needed to supply and serve the armed forces in radar, radio, and the infinite numbers of electronic devices used for war purposes. Consequently, almost all the television receivers not in use may be presumed to be pre-Pearl Harbor except for the few individual kinescopes that have been built experimentally in laboratories or as manufacturer's models. ^KTCBTW^»—«I^W

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A KINESCOPE. Radio Corporation of America's improved development model home television receiver. The screen is 18 x 24 inches, nearly the size of a page of the N. Y. Times.

L 11.

Although it may seem illogical to describe the image on the tele­ vision receiver, before discussing the processes and equipment which make the picture possible, it is the receiver which is the public's concern. The average size of the screen on which the image is received on pre-war models is approximately 8 x 10 inches. The pre-war receiver looks like a large console phonograph-radio cabinet. When the top of the cabinet is raised, it reveals the viewing screen made of a material which,fluoresces when electronically agitated. The kinescope or receiving tube inside the cabinet projects upon the screen the televised image which has been transmitted electronically from the television cameras. The electron beam of the kinescope moves in synchron­ ism with the beam transmitted from the iconoscope.

At present the picture is black and white. Under favorable circum­ stances the image is as clear as a good 16 mm. moving picture film. After watching the screen for a short time, the viewer usually adapts to the small- ness of the images on the 8 x 10 inch screen even though accustomed to the vastly inflated figures of the cinema. The diminution of human beings in action on the kinescope is no more disturbing than the proportionately small figures of people on photographic stills of the same 8 x 10 dimensions.

In the projection rooms of NBC, General Electric, and Dumont the public has had the opportunity of viewing television on the larger size

18 x 24 inch screens. Receivers with the larger screens may be available to sell around $300,00 to $400.00. A picture on the larger screen approximately the size of a full page of the New York Times, may be viewed quite comfortably by the person of average eyesight from within a 20 to 25 foot radius. In Eng­ land where television was well advanced before Britain's entry into the war in

1939 large screen theater television had been successfully shown in London.

5 Allen B. DuMont Laboratories, Passaic, N.J. and owners of Station WABD, 515 Madison Avenue, New York City. 12.

Another type of television receiver that has been designed is cap­ able of projecting pictures directly from the kinescope to a wall screen giving a picture 3x4 feet.

New sizes and types of television receivers and screens are constant­ ly appearing as reconversion gets under way. That there will be video re­ ceivers to fit many purposes and pocketbooks may be taken f:or granted. The smallest and least expensive that has been advertised to date produces an image of 4 x 5 7/8 inches and has been priced at $100.00.

Producing a Television Picture.

What happens when a television camera televises an image is des­ cribed non technically by Gilbert Seldes (formerly Program Director of CBS

Television) :

"The television camera does not take a picture in the sense that a still or moving picture camera takes a picture. There is no permanent record, no plate or film. At the heart of the television camera, enclosed in a vacuum tube, there is a mosaic of minute particles which are highly sensitive to light. An image falls upon this mosaic and a beam of electrons travels across the minute particles. As the beam travels, it wipes the image from the surface and transmits each particle of light and shade along a cable to the control room. The image has thus been transformed into electrical im­ pulses which are now increased in power and transmitted to receivers over a radius of perhaps sixty miles.

"At the receiver a process roughly reversing the first one takes place: The electronic impulses are transformed back into light and shade, and the minute particles make up the picture you see.

6 Grier, H.D.M., "The Museum's Television Program," Bulletin of the Metro­ politan Museum of Art, Vol. 36, No. 7, 1941. 13.

"These processes are similar enough to that which takes place when you use the telephone or listen to the radio. The difference is, of course, that light waves instead of sound waves are set in motion; you get a picture instead of a sound."

Scanning.

An image that is reassembled or reproduced on the television screen seems to be continuous. The effect of continuity is caused by the retention by the human eye of an image for a short space of time. Thus in present day motion pic­ tures the illusion of smooth continuous movement is produced by projecting a se­ quence of complete still pictures at 24 frames a second. Early motion pictures gave the sensation of jerkiness and speed because they were projected at 16 frames a second. In other words, there were not enough complete pictures pro­ jected in a second to utilize the retentiveness of the eye to create the illu­ sion of unbroken continuity of motion. In television, the image (i.e. actor, object, or scene) that is in front of the camera reflects light which is collect­ ed by the lens system and focussed on the plate or mosaic of the television camera tube (iconoscope). The beam from the "electron gun," which is also part of the iconoscope, then travels horizontally across the mosaic at uniform speed, "scanning" the subject. The beam flies back and forth to scan line after line, until the entire mosaic has been scanned at the rate of 525 lines in sequence 30 times per second. Thus each minute picture element is trans­ mitted electronically in an orderly sequence and reassembled on the receiver

(kinescope) to form a complete picture, giving the effect of smooth continu­ ous motion. Scanning is so much more complicated than this description im­ plies that many steps have been purposely omitted. It is intimately related to the question of good definition in a picture. It has been the tendency since the beginning of television to increase the number of horizontal scan­ ning lines per frame for higher definition of the image. In 1939 the standard 14.

was 441 lines. At present it is 525 lines. 1015-line television developed in France during the war has not yet been applied outside the laboratory.

Television Is Not Concealed in Telephones.

It is surprising what a large number of intelligent, but non- scientifically-interested people, who have never seen television or read about the processes involved in producing it, believe that it is in some mysterious way connected with seeing and being seen by anyone using the telephone. Fears are expressed that the death of privacy is just around the corner and that television will somehow endow the telephone with the powers of a super Peeping

Tom whose intrusive gaze will make it necessary to be fully clad before answer­ ing the phone.

In Germany, before the war, there was an experimental and apparently unreliable telephone cum television service between Berlin and Munich. It \vas necessary for both parties to go to special television studios to use it.

The accounts of it do not differ greatly from regular television broadcasting, except that at both ends there were television cameras and receivers on which the persons engaged in the conversation were televised alternately and viewed on the receiving screen. The usefulness of such an application of television is obvious. It would have all the advantages of the immediate interchange of ideas, questions and answers of the telephone conversation plus the addition of the visual. Blueprints might be discussed and merchandise shown. In some form, two way television may well be a future development. But for the pre­ sent the citizen may rest assured that it will be many a long day before such a convenience becomes domesticated or part of the family telephone—and when it does, there will certainly be a provision for turning the video off and on at will. THE SET IS A REPLICA OF THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM'S ARMORER'S SHOP

Mr. Helnrich demonstrating tools. Photograph shows the intensity of the lights, the two cameras, microphone boom over speaker's head, kneeling girl gives time cues. Man in right ( MM r-f-T rrr-TT T 11111111111111111111 15.

How Television is Broadcast.

Television is broadcast either from a studio or by a mobile unit.

Mobile television cameras and transmitters may be taken to the scene of action: to televise football games, parades, prize-fights, and any current events of 7 public interest. Mobile units are feasible in buildings such as a museum if the proper electrical outlets for transmission cables are available at suit­ able places.

R.C.A. has recently produced a highly sensitive new tube, the Image

Orthicon, vastly increasing the effectiveness of the mobile unit which former­ ly had been less sensitive than studio television cameras. As reconversion advances and the release of military electronic devices for civilian use con­ tinues, both studio and mobile units will improve. Tubes that were in use during the war required immensely powerful lights to enable them to "see" the image. New tubes now coming into the market are so sensitive that they can pick up scenes that are barely discernible to the eye. Infra-red rays have been used in televising images that the human eye cannot see at all. It seems likely that in the next few years, the necessity for tremendously powerful lights with their attendant intense heat and expense, will be obviated by the increased sensitivity in the tubes of the television camera.

What a Television Studio Looks Like.

A visitor to the CBS or General Electric television studio sees a large two storied room like a motion picture studio, with powerful batteries of banked lights suspended from movable bridges or controlled by some other mechanism so that they may be trained from various angles on the stages or sets on the floor below. On the floor are usually two or more television

When the Normandie burned at her dock, the scene was picked up by mobile television units. 16.

cameras (iconoscopes) mounted for extreme mobility on rubber-tired dollies or flexible wheeled platforms. The camera man sits on a small saddle behind his view finder while his "dolly-technician" raises or lowers the level of man and camera or rolls the whole dolly to any desired position in the studio. Each camera is connected by many feet of rubber covered cables to the control room.

The thirty wires contained in the cables carry the electrical impulses "paint­ ing" the picture on the iconoscope to the transmitters, as well as the sound and telephone connections. Each camera with, its trail of cable must move noiselessly in its appointed orbit during a telecast without crossing or ob­ structing the others. The sound of cable swishing or dragging over the floor during a broadcast cannot be tolerated because of the sensitive microphones that pick up the dialogue or sound effects would carry the noise of the cables to the television audience.

The artistic quality of the television picture itself is dependent on the skill of the dolly technician to move his camera and camera man in and out of the action. Movements on the air must be timed with precision and subtly controlled. Transitions must be smooth and the switch from camera to camera accomplished without breaks or blackouts.

To add to the complication of free movement on a set there is the microphone boom which is also connected by wire with the control room. The audio-technician in charge of the "mike-boom" must keep the microphone sus­ pended over the locus of sound in the action, watching all the while that the instrument does not suddenly appear on the televison screen by crossing the field of vision of one of the cameras.

During a broadcast, in addition to the cameraman, the dolly crew, and the mike-boom technician, the visitor would probably see one or more stand­ ing spotlights and their operators, the floor director and an assistant who give the actors silent cues by pre-arranged signal and watch the timing. VIEW TAKEN FROM CONTROL ROOM. Program director and video engineer watch the show on the monitoring screens on the control panel. Camera j., televising group is "on the air," Camera 2, focussing on close up is ready. ( ertfrr r rt rr r ? 11 ? 11 1 r 11T T 11 T niITt 17.

Practically everyone on the floor concerned with the production wears head

phones, which like the camera and mike booms are connected, to the control room by wire.

The Control Room.

The nerve center of the television broadcasting studio is the control room. It is an enclosed sound proof balcony placed at the back of the studio. i From a seat at the control panel a full view may be had through a wide strip of tinted glass or plastic of all that takes place on the floor. The tinted strip is necessary to diffuse the intensity of the studio lighting which would otherwise be blinding from the elevated position of the control room. During a broadcast the program director, his assistant, the technical director, the video and audio engineers sit at the control panel. Here video monitoring screens corresponding in number to each camera on the floor show exactly what each iconoscope is scanning.

The program director and the assistant have the script with its cues for the camera men, the.timing, dialogue, sound effects, music and action on the desk before them. The director speaks his directions into a microphone which is heard only by the camera men, floor director" and floor crew. He is responsible for the overall direction of the telecast and the integration of its many intricate parts. It must be remembered that in television there are no retakes, no quick curtain in<-case of accidents, no spoken cues to actors who forget their lines. It is the program director who must be quick enough and cool enough to improvise and carry on when anything human or mechanical goes wrong.

Directing the Cameras.

If an action is being televised by two cameras they are designated as No. 1 and No. 2. No. 1 camera is perhaps focussed on a long shot showing the whole scene or set. The television audience will see on their video 18.

screens exactly what No. 1 is scanning. In the meantime the director has cued

No. 2 camera for a close-up shot of one of the actors. On the No. 2 video monitoring screen in the control room the director can see how the next shot will appear before camera No, 2 is cued in and camera No. 1 is cued out. No matter how many cameras are in use the numbered monitor screens in the control booth not only show (1) the scene as it is being played before the eamera ''.on the air" at the moment, but (2) the images on the other cameras focussed and waiting for their cues. The producer may thus select the next shot to be tele­ cast. Through the microphone he may give the No, 2 cameraman directions for

improving his shot. The technical director, seated beside the program director, will warn the camera man:- "Ready to take two—take two." He

pushes a button on the control panel and No, 2 camera goes on the air.

Laymen in the television audience will probably be quite unconscious that the change from one camera to another has taken place. It would be per­ fectly possible of course to play a scene entirely before one camera, but

such action would be monotonous and static. The constant interchange of cam­ eras is the essence of good television technique giving the picture on the video screen the changes of perspective, focus and angle that simulate the behavior of the human eye. Pre-war English television used as many as eight

cameras in a single broadcast to get its effects.

Duties of Program Director and Technical Director.

The program director is concerned with all the elements that make the effectiveness of a scene as it is picked up by the iconoscope. He must

rehearse his actors, cameramen, and light and sound technicians so that work­

ing together they will produce an interesting continuity of visual images that will satisfy the viewer pictorially and dramatically. His work closely par­

allels that of the stage manager and dramatic coach. He is frequently the

script writer and organizer of his production as well as its director. 19.

The program director works closely with the technical staff. At

NBC and at General Electric the technical director and program director sit side by side at a. slightly elevated control desk and behind the control panel of the audio and video engineers. The video engineer controls all actual television equipment, the adjustment of the cameras, their scanning, and the electrical focus. The audio engineer is responsible for all sound effects; communication with the "mike-boom" operator, volume control and monitoring, audio perspective, electrical transcriptions and records.

Motion Pictures and Records in Television.

The procedures described above are pretty generally followed in so- called "live programs" telecast from studios. Live programs are those in which people, animals, objects, or events are televised directly as distinguished from the projection of film or slides. Every television studio has a pro­ jection room equipped with film and slide projectors Movable television cameras can be used with 16. mm. or 35 mm. film projectors. So that focus and register will be correct, projection room cameras lock into position in front of the projector to be used. Frequently, television programs consist entire­ ly of film with no "live" portions. At present, when most television stations are on the air but a few hours per week, regular Hollywood films, shorts, news reels, Signal Corps and Navy pictures are a part of almost all television programs.

Another use of film is its interpolation into live programs when the past or inaccessible locations call for film to link the action of the parts. For example, in the NBC's studio version of the opera Carmen, motion picture film of actual bull fighting scenes were cut in at the appropriate points, following Merrimee's story rather than the scenic limitations of the operatic version.

Film will certainly be widely used on the smaller television station. 20.

as network television develops. Not only will film plays, shorts, animations, and news be used as they are in movie houses, but eventually live television programs will be photographed directly from the video screen itself and dis­ tributed to affiliated stations for rebroadcast. Thus the smaller stations will be able to telecast live talent shows constructed for video, though not simultaneously with the originating studio.

In a country where there is a matter of several hours difference between the time zones, the advantages of film as a permanent record for '.. 9 important events or programs will be apparent. If, for instance, a play employing outstanding talent was televised in New York City at 8 p.m., it would arrive on the West Coast at 4 p.m. if transmitted by radio-relay or coaxial cable, which is to say simultaneously. The television audience for the late afternoon is potentially not large, but if the film taken directly from the monitoring screen in the New York Studio were flown to the coast, it could be shown at a time on the following evening when a larger video audience is normally expected.

Sound Effects.

Broadcasts from records for sound effects to accompany television are current practice and are used with live programs or film as the action dictates. The sound tracks of televised motion pictures are reproduced on o The Allen B. DuMont Laboratories have announced a video-audio recorder for television programs. A recording camera synchronized for television can take the program directly from the monitor screen. The film with sound­ track can be rebroadcast on a 16 mm. projector. It is claimed that the recorder will offset defects of light and dark on the screen and can be rebroadcast better than the original video picture I 21.

10 the audio equipment of television receivers just as they are in the cinema.

Television Transmission.

Television broadcasting is a two part operation. First the electron­ ic impulses that make the picture on the television camera are amplified and transmitted by coaxial cable or radio to a transmitter with antennae situated on top of some high building or mountain top. Thence the television signal is sent out over the air waves on an assigned, frequency which is picked up by the receiving antennae of individual television receivers tuned to the same frequency.

There are two methods of transmitting television now in use: coaxial cable and radio relay. A third method, stratovision, is a proposed airborne relay system as yet in the early experimental stage.

Opinion is divided among engineers whether coaxial cable or radio relay is the more efficient and economical system of transmission. Both systems transmit television pictures satisfactorily. Economic considerations and quality will probably be the deciding factor as to which method or combi­ nation of methods will be used.

At present, the standard radio broadcast networks (AM) are carried on cables leased from, the telephone companies. American Telephone and Tele­ graph has the most fully developed network facilities. It is well advanced in its schedule for a cross-country coaxial cable system which will probably

10 At present under a ruling by James Petrillo, President of the Musician's Union, no musicians may perform on television. Through another edict he has forbidden FM stations to broadcast any musical pragrams also going out on AM channels without a duplicate orchestra. For example, if the Phil­ harmonic were being broadcast over AM it would be necessary for FM to dup­ licate the entire 106 musicians, thus setting up two complete Philhanionic Orchestras to play the same program. FM broadcasting has accordingly suf­ fered a setback and has returned to recorded programs. Television has so far been offered no alternative beyond the original withdrawal of all "live" musical talent; therefore, the very promising opera programs put on by NBC and General Electric in Schenectady have been given up until the situation is clarified in regard to the Musician's Union. 22,

reach Los Angeles by 1947. Though this system is primarily designed for multi­

plex telephony, respacing repeater stations will adapt it to television trans­ mission. At the same time, American Telephone and Telegraph Company is build­

ing an experimental radio relay system between New York and Boston to be com­

pleted late in 1945 or early in 1946. The telephone companies are prepared to use either or both systems as conditions dictate.

Coaxial cable entails cable laying and maintenance of equipment all

along its route and repeater stations including equipment and sources of power

at intervals from fifty to eighty miles. The initial cost is approximately

$5,000 per mile.

Line of Sight Transmission.

The short waves on which television signals travel cannot be reliably received beyond the horizon, since it is their characteristic to follow a

straight line, rather than the curve of the earth as sound waves do. It will be readily seen that the higher the transmitting antennae are situated the further the field of "line of sight" transmission. It is for this reason that in the New York area, NBC's transmitter is on top of the Empire State

Building and that of CBS on top of the Chrysler Building. The average radius of these transmitters is approximately 50 miles. An exception is the NBC -

General Electric radio-relay station on the Helderberg Mountains, 125 miles distant from the Empire State Building, where the television signal is re­ ceived and relayed to Schenectady or vice versa from Schenectady to Helderberg to the Empire State thus permitting an exchange of programs. The Hudson River

Valley provides an unobstructed path for line of sight transmission, as any- one wi.ll realize who has looked North with binoculars from the top cf the

Empire State Building on a clear day. It will be understood why real estate on mountain tops has become desirable for television broadcasting companies in setting up relay stations for chain television transmission. 23.

Ordinarily radio-relay is transmitted from towers about 125 feet high spaced at intervals perhaps thirty miles apart in level country and fifty or sixty miles apart where mountain tops can be utilized, A stairway leads to the top of the tower where a covered platform houses the radio apparatus, permitting easy access for adjustment. According to J.D. McLean of the Gener­ al Electric engineering department, sales manager for the transmitter division,

"such a relay will handle two way television programs, four full-fidelity sound, channels for FM broadcasting, two radio photo or facsimile channels, and

120 business machine channels for I.B.M. radiotype in each direction." In

May 1945, Philco inaugurated such a multiple radio relay system between New

York and Philadelphia and. from Washington to Philadelphia. After the first of the year 1946 a regional network will be established between New York and

Washington.

Stratovlsjon.

A third method of television transmission has been proposed by

Westinghouse and Glenn Martin. The plan calls for 14 planes located at key points throughout the country which would cover 78$ of the population and 51$ of its area. 100$'coverage would be obtained by adding more planes. This airborne relay system would use 14 stratoplanes flying in fixed circular formations at a height of 30,000 faet which would transmit four television programs and five FM broadcasts,

The proposed stra.tovi.sion system would transmit through low powered ground transmitters both television and FM broadcasts by a special beamed- type, ultra short wave radio link (resembling those used in radar) to a speci­ ally designed high altitude plane circling overhead. From the plank's receiv­ ers and transmitters the programs would be rebroadcast back to earth. The , waves would blanket an egg shaped area 422 miles wide covering approximately

Television viewers in New York City saw and heard Pras. Truman making an address in Washington on Jan. 6, 1946, carried by this system. 24.

123,000 square miles. Fantastic as the idea may sound"to the layman, Westing- house and Glenn Martin have filed an application for a permit to experiment with a flying laboratory as soon as equipment is obtainable.

Although estimates of costs for a stratoplane vs. radio relay are difficult to make, Westinghouse compares the coverage of one stratoplane to the number of radio relays required to cover the same area and arrives at the figure of $1,000 per hour for the stratoliner vs. $13,000 per hour for the radio relay. The practicality of the stratovision remains to be demonstrated, but such sponsors as Glenn Martin and Westinghouse must be taken seriously.

But whatever new methods of televison transmission may be developed, two methods—coaxial cable and radio relay—are already in operation and are rapid­ ly developing network service.

Companies Operating Transmission Facilities.

The companies now operating television network transmission facili­ ties or with applications on file with Federal Communications Commission are:

A. T. and T., Federal Telephone and Radio (an I. T. and T. subsidiary), Inter­ national Business Machines and General Electric, Paramount, Philco, Raytheon,

R.C.A., and Western Union, Westinghouse and Glenn Martin.' The interest of the common carriers in all types of electronic communication is obvious, also that of the manufacturers'of equipment and that of Paramount in theater tele- . vision, but the connection of IfB.M. may be less apparent. However, I.B.M. and General Electric plan the development of a system of point to point com­ munication, using high speed pulse transmissions as used in the operation of radio typewriters. This system will also carry FM and television programs.

In their application to FCC for radio relay transmission, I.B.M. made the following statement: "The general trend of business developments in the U.S. has been toward decentralization of operations and distribution, coupled with a need of more centralized executive management and control records. This 25.

indicates the need for rapid communications to serve the requirements of post­

war expansion The development of high speed pulse operated business

machines and devices has clearly indicated the need for handling such pulses

over radio communication circuits,

"At the same time the embryonic art- of television requires inter­

city communication in order to establish itself as a service to the American

public therefore, it is proposed by the I.B.M. Corporation to serve both

these needs by immediate development of broad band radio relay repeater sys­ tems."

It remains to be seen to what extent, if any, I.B.M. plans utiliza­

tion of its own transmission facilities in the future to telecast its own pro­ grams or to operate a studio. Primarily, the application is for the estab­

lishment of transmission facilities for lease to clients. 26.

CHAPTER III

What Frequency? A Television Controversy.

Probably the most controversial question in television is the allo­ cation of broadcasting frequencies in the radio spectrum. The radio spectrum is a part of all the-electro-magnetic waves which nature provides ranging from audible sound waves, i.e. 30 to 5000 vibrations per second all the way through light rays, invisible rays and cosmic rays. This part, in which radio waves are situated, is a limited field and the allocation or assignments of

"channels" are controlled by the Government,

Shall television be moved from its present pre-war position on the spectrum to the ultra high frequencies with a consequent obsolescence of any existing receivers and transmitters, or shall the industry be allowed to develop from the status quo ante within the present standards? Although the battle of the frequencies may seem too technical to interest the layman, actually the decisions made by the FCC will affect everyone who expects to own a television receiver now or in the future. It is of the greatest pos­ sible importance to any organization contemplating a video program or a tele­ vision studio.

Allocations on the broadcasting spectrum are apportioned among all the users of the airwaves by the Federal Communications Commission on the basis of that which, in their judgment, best serves the public interest. Com­ mercial and amateur radio, police, aviation, ships at sea, FM, and television, broadcast on different frequencies, It is a. basic principle in electronic communication that the more information that is transmitted the wider will be the band width required. For example, the scale from telegraph code, which is the simplest form of transmission to color television, the fullest and most informative communication known, would be somewhat as follows: 27,

Wire Communication

Telegraph - direct current, coded pulses

Telephone - audio (audible) frequencies (speech 500 - 1800 cycles)

Music Distribution (Public Address Systems, Musak, etc.) Audio frequencies (40 _t 5000 cycles)

Radio Communication (Carrier waves instead of wires)

Standard Broadcast (Amplitude Modulation-"") 10>000 cycle channels

Monochrome Television (Frequency Modulation) 6,000,000 cycle "

Color Television (Frequency Modulation) 18 to 24,000,000 cycle "

•-Amplitude Modulation (AM) merely describes a method of attaching audible vibrations to radio carrier waves for transmitting same. Frequency Modulation (FM) is an improved method of doing the same thing plus minimizing noises and interference ("static" etc.)

The higher frequencies indicate the shorter wave lengths, hence the hence the term "micro-waves" used in Television,

The Columbia Broadcasting System is the principal advocate of UHF

(ultra high frequency) broadcasting. RCA, its subsidiary NBC, and several other manufacturers of video equipment hold that television broadcasting should continue on its present frequencies, improving the present 525 line picture by using more sensitive tubes and through other recent inventions and refinements in equipment,

CBS, which is not a manufacturer, but which has invented and develop­ ed a promising system of color television, says in effect that present stand­ ards provide inadequate pictures. All research .and effort should be concen­ trated on the higher frequencies where there is room to project images of 1,000 line definition and color,

RCA and National Broadcasting Company, having invested millions in television research and equipment, argue that if television moves into the higher frequencies, all existing television receiving sets in the public's possession, the transmitters and station equipment will be made obsolete. 28.

They feel that Such a loss in investment would discourage the public, the manufaeturer, and the broadcaster and would retard the progress of video.

The situation may best be understood by quoting from a radio talk by James L. Fly when chairman of the FCC in 1940. Using radio transmission

as an example he said:

".... during the past twenty years there has been vast improvement in the technique of radio transmission and reception without a change in the fundamental standards for transmission and reception in that entire period.

A receiver built to receive a broadcasting station in 1920 will receive a

station that operates in 1940. A transmitter built in 1920 will be received by radios built today. Better transmitters and receivers are being built now than in 1920, but they all operate on the same principle or more techni­

cally on the same basic standards

"Television is different—uniquely so. In the case of television, a receiving set is so synchronized with the transmitter that the two are in-

seperable in operation. The receiving set is in effect the key that unlocks the transmitter in order to receive the broadcast. A substantial change in the lock renders the key useless...*

"A television receiving set capable of receiving a signal of one type of transmitter may not accept the signal of a different type of trans­ mitter in existence today If the American people should buy television receivers in great numbers as they have bought ordinary radios, and if at a later date transmission system over that on which the particular receivers can operate, we should in effect be changing the locks and leaving you with a bunch of highly expensive keys rendered utterly useless."

The arguments for and against UHF are also very clearly and impar­ tially set forth by Alan Barth writing in the Nation in August 1944. Although

Mr. Barth was writing before the end of the war and before the FCC handed 29.

down its decisions on allocations in February 1945, be illustrates the issues that are still vitally important in the development of television:

"Telecasting is now limited to a band of six megacycles, which will permit transmission of a picture of no more than 525 lines, the standard set by the FCC before the war. Increasing the size of the picture merely spaces the lines farther apart. Prewar conditions, while they give you a fairly 2' clear, flickerless image, do not permit you to see the refinements of form or texture—let alone the excitement of color. High-quality color requires a very much greater number of pictur?. elements than can be transmitted within the six-megacycle band now standard,

"Because of its lack of definition, television must rely heavily upon close-ups. It can show you a figure but not much of the background. In a group the individual becomes nearly indistinguishable. The limitation has an unhappy effect upon television's entertainment value.

"Television's inability to transmit detail is a serious drawback,

To compare it with other media, the best that television can do today with its seven-and-a-half-by-ten image is to offer the equivalent of a forty-five to forty-eight-line halftone cut; when the image is enlarged to eighteen by twenty-four, it is no better than a twenty-four-line halftone. Any newspaper can print halftones of sixty-five to eight-five lines

"Since the narrow six-megacycle band now available to television is at the root of its difficulties, CBS urges that television be moved up into the ultra-high frequencies which the war has taught it how to use and which would place greater space at its disposal. CBS wants television to operate in bands of fourteen to sixteen megacycles. With these it could transmit pictures with twice the clarity, detail, and richness.

"Television now has 18 channels of 6 megacycles each, assigned to in the spectrum between 50 and 300 megacycles. Of these only the first 5, between 30.

5Q and 90 megacycles, are now in operation or within the dial range of present

receiving sets. It is useless to talk of broadening television's channels in

this region. The spectrum is already overcrowded. And when the war ends,

greater space will undoubtedly have to be reserved for radio servites to avia­

tion and navigation. These transmissions belong, logically, in the area now

occupied by television.

"But the upper reaches of the spectrum are as yet untenanted. CBS

proposes the allocation to television of some 30-odd channels, each 16 mega­

cycles wide, in the space between 500.and 1,000 megacycles: in other words, not only wider bands for better pictures but also more hands for greater compe­ tition. The suitability of these ultra-high frequencies for television's needs still awaits practical demonstration and commercial adaptation. But

CBS has stated its position: 'This much seems true—a single year of concen­ trated effort in a dozen engineering laboratories should prove the case for better television pictures or else disprove it. Hundreds of American engineers have done ten times as much, in two taut years of war, as remains to be done

in one full year of peace'.

"Two objections to it have been raised, apart from the fact that it has not yet been incontrovertibly proved feasible. One is that the entire prewar investment in television—the transmitters of -pioneer broadcasters as well as.the seven thousand receiving sets in the hands of the public—would have to be scrapped. The other is that the change-over would retard production

and employment in the industry in the immediate postwar period,

"These objections have been voiced by Niles Trammell, president of the National Broadcasting Company, a subsidiary of the Radio Corporation of

America. While CBS is interested exclusively in broadcasting, not in manu­

facturing, postponement of production would work a real hardship upon RCA, which possesses the facilities, the dies, and the know-how to turn out prewar television transmitters and reoeivers as soon as the materials become available.

Philco, DuMont; and Emerson, all makers of equipment, feel much the same way.

Zenith and Westinghouse, though manufacturers, are squarely on the side of

CBS. General Electric and Farnsworth have taken no part in the controversy.

General Electric, indeed, has accepted an order to turn out the first postwar ultra-high-frequency transmitter for Columbia.

"There 's a real danger that the exploitation of lower-frequency television may rule out or indefinitely delay the introduction of higher-fre­ quency television, since there is a lock-and-key relationship between trans­ mitters and receivers. It is impractical and uneconomic to build television sets capable of receiving broadcasts both at the present level and in the upper reaches of the spectrum. If transmission should shift to the ultra-high chan­ nels, receivers of the type now in the hands of the public would be of interest only to museums.

"It is one thing to talk of shifting television's place in the spec­ trum when only a few thousand sets would be rendered obsolete by the change.

It would be something quite different to talk of doing this after a few mil­ lion sets had been sold. This is what Chairman James L. Fly of the Federal

Communications Commission had in mind when he inveighed recently against

"freezing televison $&• the old prewar standards."

"Commissioner E.K. Jett of the FOC also opposes such freezing but

favors utilization of the lower frequencies until in time the higher frequen- .

cies supplant them. He envisages a dual system of transmission during a trans­

ition period, to service both old and new types of receiver. The television

panel of the Radio Technical Planning Board, a group of outstanding government

and industry radio engineers, has also advocated continuance of the FCC's pre­

war standards and, at the same time, allocation of a broad space to television

in the ultra-high frequencies for experimental purposes, without establish­

ment of any standards for its present use. 32,

"Two kinds of television, however, could not long be maintained: no

broadcaster could long afford to service both, and the limitations of the

lower frequency would impair programs for the higher. The present standards might reasonably be continued for a year or so until higher standards are

proved practicable."

The decision that the FCC had to make was not only the difficult

choice between rendering obsolete many hundreds of thousand dollars worth of

existing television equipment and of declaring an enforced holiday for tele­

vision while concentrated experimentation went on in the ultra-high frequencies,

but there were serious technical drawbacks to the use of frequencies above

400 megacycles. Testimony before the commission was given to show that shadow effects and multipath problems become increasingly serious as frequency goes up.

In January 1945 the FCC announced the new allocations which were generally hailed as a satisfactory working compromise. "The report states that the commission is fully convinced by developments in the electronics field that a wide channel television system, utilizing frequencies above 400 mc. can be developed and the transmission of higher definition monochrome pic­ tures and high definition color pictures be achieved. Although convinced that

all of the improvements possible in monochrome transmission cannot be utilized on a 6-mc. channel, the FCC concludes that the public should not be deprived of television pending development of wide channel systems, and, therefore, assigns as many 6-mc. channels below 300 as possible,"

In the meanwhile television broadcasting is continuing on the old

standards, while experimentation goes on in the ultra-high frequencies.

Color Television.

In October 1945 CBS announced that they would have sample receiving

sets and transmitters for color bv the end of January 1946, 33.

In a statement before the FCC, Dr. Peter Goldmark, television engi­ neer for CBS, said, "The General Electric Company recently entered into a co­ operative arrangement whereby they will take CBS receiver developments and turn them into commercial products. The first GE receiver samples will become available in January."

Other color television studio equipment developed by CBS research is being made by Westinghouse, and some units have already been sold to various television interests. All receiver manufacturers will have an equal chance to obtain designs and licenses under Columbia's patents.

Dr. Goldmark went on to say that by using inexpensive directional antennae and high-frequency television bands, "ghost-free" reception was pos­ sible for the first time in television history. (Ghosts appear like shadows across the television screen and are comparable to echoes in radio.)

In December 1945 the Radio Corporation of America startled the tele­ vision world by holding its first public demonstration of color television in 12 the ultra high frequencies and then describing the system as "outmoded". At the same time RCA launched two new receivers for black and white television which are reported to project an image as clear and detailed as professional home movies. Brig. Gen. David Sarnoff, President of RCA, stated his belief that technical problems of color television would take at least five years to solve for practical use and advocated the immediate use of black and white in the interim.

Mr. Kesten, Vice-President of CBS, expressed, pleasure that "one of the big manufacturers of television equipment had gone so far toward color

12 One of the principal technical difficulties at present in color television is the mechanically operated revolving discs on which the three basic .. > colors, red, blue, and green are introduced. The device is said to be noisy because it is motor driven. The television laboratories are working to perfect a noiseless all electronically operated system. 34.

television" and said that Gen. Sarnoff's estimate for color television xvas at least four years longer than CBS believed it would be. Though RCA and CBS use essentially the same system of color television, the former demonstrates it to prove that color is "not here" while the latter demonstrates it to show that it "is here".

The layman, waiting for the answer to the purchase of a video re­ ceiver, is not helped in his decision by the controversy. The only conclusion he feels justified in reaching is that he will, according to both NBC and CBS, ultimately have color television, but whether in a year or five years he cer­ tainly is in no position to judge. He may also be reasonbly sure that when one major television station succeeds in transmitting a satisfactory color image the rest of the field will not be far behind.

Importance of Color Television to the Museum.

The success and practical application of color transmission has the greatest possible bearing on the future of museum television. Although cer­ tain objects can be shown in monochrome without too great loss of interest, lack of color is a crippling limitation in a program dealing with, any type, of painting, be it fresco, easel pictures, or painted decorations on furniture.

Textiles, ceramics, in+eriors, tapestry, rugs, costumes, jewelry, and enamels must be reproduced in color to be truly effective.

In a survey of the museum's collections, however, much would be found that could be used effectively on monochrome television. Arms and armor, most sculptures, the Crosby-Brown Collection of Musical Instruments, the print collection, certain types of furniture and architectural detail and models of buildings quickly suggest themselves. Among the other collections, where the necessity of color seems more obvious, exceptions would always occur da- pending on the points that were to be brought out in the broadcast and the 35.

presentation of the material. But in most instances color would add immeasur­

ably to the interest of the presentation. For this reason, the development of color studio equipment, transmitters, cameras, and receivers, their price range, and the distribution of home television sets capable of receiving color will be of primary importance to the museum in its television broadcasting. :

36.

CHAPTER IV

Television on the Threshold

The American public has been aware of the progressive steps in the growth of radio since its beginnings in the early nineteen twenties. Conse­ quently, realization of radio's present power and achievements has not come as a sudden revelation. Television's introduction to the public however, will make its general appearance in comparative maturity. Had it not been for the war, which completely stopped the manufacture of video receivers, people would probably have been more conscious of the growth of television as they traded in old kinescopes for newer ones. Instead of a gradual in­ troduction to television, the world is about to be made aware of a fully developed new force whose growth it has had few opportunities to watch and whose psychological, cultural, and economic potentialities it can scarcely realize.

In 1941, it is estimated that there were not more than 7,000 tele­ vision receivers in use in the United States. Of these, 5,000 were within the 60 mile transmitting radius of New York City and 2,000 were distributed among the transmission stations of the West Coast, Chicago, and Schenectady.

As has been indicated, a very small proportion of the population actually have seen television on the screen. Still fewer have seen a television cam­ era or studio in operation. Most people know television only by what they have read or seen in pictures and advertisements or have heard over the radio.

During the war laboratory research and military applications in the field of electronics far outdistanced the status of television as the public had known it up to 1941. Consequently, a vast literature of prophecy and promise grew up about the performance of post-war television. From the record of American and British achievement in electronics in the past five 37.

years it would be hard to disbelieve the most fabulous promises that might be made about the future of video. The ability to put into use and tangible form almost anything that invention and research can offer is easily accepted; it is much harder to evaluate the intangible human factors in post-war tele­ vision production. We have definite assurances of a vehicle of communication of unimaginable power per se, but the social and financial aspects and the uses to which television will be put are still to be decided. How will owner­ ship and operating policies of the broadcasting companies affect the programs to be televised and transmitted over the air waves?

Who Controls Television?

Television in the United States is an industry just as much as radio or moving pictures, and as such its future is dependent on its finan­ cial returns, public taste, and government regulation, probably in the order n named. Actually financial returns are inseparable from public taste since television will be paid for by the advertisers of products, the institutions or the political parties, that now use and support radio. If video programs are not interesting, if it can be demonstrated that people are not influenced by them, that sales of the sponsors' products are not measurably increased by using television, then the industry can scarcely exist as an unsubsidized in­ dependent business.

Whereas in England television is part of the British Broadcasting

Company and is government chartered as a public utility and communication 15 system, in the United States it is a highly competitive, privately financed and operated business. English television, like radio, is paid for by the taxpayer, partly by the license fees collected from set owners.

13 The BBC is a public corporation operating under a Royal Charter and re­ sponsible to the British Parliament. 38.

It is true that the United States Government through the Federal

Communications Commission does exercise certain controls over television, just as it does over radio and other agencies of communication, but it is largely in granting licenses and in allocation of channels and wave lengths.

The FCC does not have direct jurisdiction over the financial setup or policy

technical matters making of tt he ownership, indirectly r, To. subject to regula- financing, s Date. .Time. e Commission only tion by the WHILE YOU WERE OUT dustry, or any to the same Mr. other busin< of_ vision industry Di Phone acturers. Elec- has been la: TELEPHONED PLEASE CALL HIM

trical manu CALLED TO SEE YOU WILL CALL AGAIN .stallation of WANTED TO SEE YOU BUSH television \ ' function between it their audio radio and t< Message.

business as .•cently motion pic-

ture compan entered the field,

not only in :ial field of tele-

casting for Operator ; and motion pic- Amsterdam Print. & Litho. Co., Amsterdam, N. Y. ture produc ldustries, each with 14 good reasons "to get in on the ground floor of television."

Film for Television

Film is immensely important in television broadcasting. Up to the

present, standard motion pictures have been adapted and cut to television

1 A cliche'of advertising agency video departments, 38.

It is true that the United States Government through the Federal

Communications Commission does exercise certain controls over television,

just as it does over radio and other agencies of communication, but it is

largely in granting licenses and in allocation of channels and wave lengths.

The FCC does not have direct jurisdiction over the financial setup or policy making of the television companies though its decisions in technical matters

indirectly may stimulate or restrict video broadcasting. The ownership,

financing, and trade practices of television companies are subject to regula­

tion by the Federal Trade Commission and Interstate Commerce Commission only to the same extent as radio networks, the moving picture industry, or any other business or utility.

During the past ten years the control of the television industry has been largely held by radio and the big electrical manufacturers. Elec­ trical manufacturers have a stake in the manufacture and installation of television equipment; in addition to the obvious overlap of function between radio and television, radio companies have wanted to protect their audio business as well as to develop a possible rival—video. Recently motion pic­ ture companies and so called "pure" television groups have entered the field, not only in broadcasting for home sets but also in the special field of tele­ casting for large screen theater video. Radio broadcasters and motion pic­ ture producers represent two very important and powerful industries, each with 14 good reasons "to get in on the ground floor of television."

Film for Television

Film is immensely important in television broadcasting. Up to the present, standard motion pictures have been adapted and cut to television

14 A cliche of advertising agency video departments. --——— "~nr

39.

requirements. But television, if it is to be on the air for the proposed

six hours a day, over the twelve channels assigned to it, will very quickly

consume the yearly film output. At present it is estimated that 650 hours

of film are produced each year. The reservoir of old film suitable for video would not last very long either.

There has been a tendency on the part of motion picture producers

to block the development of television as a rival to the film business. They

feared its effects much as the phonograph and record manufacturers feared the

radio. Just as technological improvements brought a complete and profitable

rebirth to the phonograph and record business by means of the very radio that had presumably killed it, so it now seems likely that television may stimulate

film production and become one of Hollywood's greatest customers. By Novem­ ber 1945, Disney, MGM, Paramount, Cecil B. deMille, RKD, and Pathe had en­

tered the field as producers of film especially designed for television.

Two Types of Television.

It is quite possible that the motion picture industry and the video

groups may compromise in a division of television broadcasting into two types, the large scale theater video and programs designed for home consumption. The

strength of the movie industry's television position lies in its many years of experience in visual production and showmanship. It controls many of the top ranking stars in the entertainment world and in addition controls more

than 6,000 motion picture theaters, with a practical monopoly on theater tele­ vision outlets.

Theater television has already had a successful trial. A British

television equipment manufacturer (Scophony, Ltd.) equipped the Odeon Theater

in London before the war with an 18 foot television screen. Prize-fights, races, the coronation, and other news events were shown for eight months 40.

prior to September 1, 1939 to paying audiences. The Scophony Co. had con­

tracts to equip 60 more cinemas in Great Britain, these contracts were not l5 carried out because of the imminence of war.

This company installed the first experimental 18 foot television

screen in a New York theater where a large audience saw the Futurity Stakes

run in June 1941. The large theater television screen, like the smaller type

for home use, is technically ready to take its place as a branch of video.

Whether the radio broadcasting companies and pure television groups will par­

ticipate in theater television is impossible to determine, since future-

changes and shifts in financial structure, stock control, and ownership can­

not be foreseen.

In January 1946 the United States Government brought suit against

Scophony Ltd. of London and The Scophony Corporation of America and other

corporations and individuals associated with them. The government charges

the defendants with monopoly and conspiracy to delay important advances in

the television art, thus depriving the public of a new field of entertainment

and education, Scophony Ltd. controls basic patents on two revolutionary

systems of television known as "supersonic" and "skiatronic". The systems G through the use of outside sources of light similar to that used in motion picture projection permit the projection and enlargement of televised images

as large as those used in moving picture houses. If the government wins its

suit, the defendants will lose their monopoly and be enjoined from enforcing

any alleged rights under present and future patents and inventions relating

to the Scophony systems of television. As far as the general public is con­

cerned, it will probably mean that home television sets will be able to in­

corporate this superior system of projection and enlargement of the video

picture.

]5 Television signals would have acted as beacons for enemy airplanes. 41.

Other Controlling Interests in Television.

In addition to the radio broadcasting companies and the motion pic­ ture producers, the telephone companies and the manufacturers of electrical equipment are financially interested in the future of the television indus­ try, because they control the two methods by which television is at present

16 transmitted—coaxial cable and radio-relay. The manufacturers of electric­ al equipment, such as RCA, General Electric, and Philco, have so far been the principal advocates and builders of radio-relay transmission systems, but the telephone companies are also experimenting with radio-relay, so that it cannot be said that one method or the other is exclusive to the telephone companies or the electrical manufacturers. Both are financially interested in selling more and better transmission facilities to an expanding television industry.

Electrical Manufacturers as Television Broadcasters.

Obviously, the manufacturers of electrical equipment have a very great stake in the success of television. Those companies who do not own or operate television broadcasting stations are interested in selling their products: video receivers, tubes, transmitters, and cables, to an ever-in­ creasing number of customers. The electrical manufacturers who are also op­ erators of television studios have a double stake: (1) in running a success­ ful broadcasting business, and (2) in stimulating the sales of their products by video. It is probable that the television studio of an electrical manu­ facturer is often a financial side line or even a red-ink item on the com­ pany's books. Its primary purpose is to increase the sale of electrical products directly or indirectly by creating a demand and an audience for tel­ evision. It is an advertising medium to keep the company's name and its ac­ tivities constantly in the public mind.

16 See section on television transmission. 42.

The program quality and output of such a station is important in the overall development of television. Cash returns for television time, though desirable, are not as vital to a station whose primary purpose is the creation of good will, and the promotion of the products manufactured by it.

It would be logical for this type of station to allot more time than the min­ imum its FCC license demands for sustaining programs of an educational or cultural nature as a public service; cultural programs would build up good public relations and prestige among numerically small but important minori­ ties. Programs in collaboration with the public schools or universities as a fundamental part of the curriculum, telecasts for farm groups or for urban community interests are but a few of the many ways a television station can develop its interests.

The policies of the management and controlling interests of tele­ vision stations are imponderables of television's future. The programs we will see will finally be decided by the individuals who comprise management, who represent stockholders, who run television as a business. For some it will be a television broadcasting business per se. For others it will be a powerful technique of communication to call attention, directly or indirectly, to the purposes, ideas, or products of the organization owning the television station..

New Applicants for Television Broadcasting Licenses.

Foremost among the many new applicants for post-war television channels before the Federal Communications Commission are newspaper and maga­ zine publishers and department store interests. The latter group will frank­ ly use television as an advertising medium with as little or as much enter­ tainment as may be necessary to hold the customers' interest in the program to sell their goods. 43.

The newspaper and magazine publishers who have acquired television

channels have done so for a variety of reasons. Some publishers own radio

Stations now for news-broadcasting and direct promotion of their publica­

tions. Certain newspapers have gone into radio ownership as a preliminary

to facsimile development. Television is the next step beyond facsimile to­

ward the living newspaper. Just as radio broadcasting companies and moving

picture producers have found it expedient to get a firm footing in the tele­

vision field, publishers are also impelled by the same necessities. Radio,

motion pictures, and the printed page are all vehicles of communication, each

with its own limiting factors of sight, sound, and time. Since television

is a technique for seeing and hearing instantly, those who wield less compre­

hensive tools are wisely arranging to try out the newer instrumentality.

Publishers are not going into radio and television because they believe that

newspapers and magazines will be supplanted. On the contrary, they believe

that audio and video can be used to supplement their publications and stimu­

late circulation in much the same way that radio has stimulated the sales of

records and record players.

Newspaper and magazine ownership of television stations presents a

situation with certain resemblances to the television station owned by a man­

ufacturer. In each case the television station is the secondary interest.

Both wiil use it for self-promotion. The manufacturer has actual goods to

sell; the publisher has circulation to sell; both need public good will and

prestige. The outstanding difference between publisher ownership and any

other is that newspapers, always, and magazines usually, have an editorial

policy and take a definite stand in matters of public interest. Will the more violently partisan publishers be permitted to implement the scare head­

line and still photograph with the immeasurable power of the dynamic video

screen to reinforce their own particular brand of propaganda? 44.

CHAPTER V

Publishing and Television.

If publishers of newspapers and periodicals have entered the field of television broadcasting for various reasons, protection of their original investment, the printed organ, is probably the fundamental one. In the early days of radio, newspapers were so afraid of its encroachments on their domain that a long time elapsed before radio schedules were accepted for publication.

Radio advertising and radio sections have now become a substantial item of newspaper revenue. There is good reason to suppose that television schedules and advertising will be equally important as soon as video receivers are more common.

Just as almost all illustrated magazines and newspapers have motion picture sections with feature articles, preview photographs of scenes from motion pictures, the same procedure will be followed in television. Readers will be able to locate their favorite video programs by referring to the television page, since television programming even now follows the radio prac­ tice of continued serials with a central theme or idea. The same actors and masters of ceremony appear in the series, which is scheduled for a definite time each week.

Newspaper and Magazine Video Previews.

Television by its nature is evanescent. The movie that one misses at the first run theatre can usually be seen later at the second run houses or in a revival, but for some time to come the outstanding television broad­ cast will be harder to catch up with once it is over. Eventually the more elaborate television shows will probably be repeated on the subsidiary net­ work stations of an originating studio from film taken at the time of the telecast from the video screen, but for the present it will seldom be possi­ ble to "tune in" or "look in" on programs of distant stations. 45.

Publishers of all types of periodicals will be presented with a

ready made opportunity of serving readers interested in television and of building up a profitable department that would bring in a large advertising revenue. The television page or video section that a weekly picture magazine

or newspaper might develop would obviously include the time tables of the national or local television programs, photographic previews, and a certain amount of explanatory text to build up the interest of the video audience.

Moreover, television might further stimulate the publication of good half­ tone or color reproductions in weekly or monthly illustrated magazines such as Life, Look, Collier's, Saturday Evening Post, Ladies' Home Journal, Vogue,

Harper's Bazaar, Woman's Home Companion, or the Sunday magazines of newspapers.

These publications have long made it a practice to publish works of art both of the past and present from museum collections. Often they have been suffi­ ciently well reproduced to merit framing. They have aroused interest and response and have stimulated circulation for the periodicals in which they have appeared. They have incidentally been the means of bringing to the

American public works of art by artists past and present.

Museum Extension by a Popular Magazine.

As a concrete example, Life's admirable color reproductions of masterpieces in the National Gallery, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the

Museum of Modern Art, and other permanent and special exhibitions have intro­ duced these collections to large sections of the public who may never have had the opportunity or the inclination to see the originals. Also the fact that these reproductions are published in popular periodicals, not associated with educational or professional art journals, robs them of the awesomeness that the originals in a museum so often inspire. The diffidence that museums and works of art produce in many people is usually caused by the very human fear "I"

46. of not understanding the unfamiliar and dislike of appearing ignorant before the initiated. It is not only the dislike of exposing one's ignorance to another person but the annoyance of admitting it to oneself. The tender ego operates to guard itself, by suggesting subconsciously that what you don't know can't hurt you—better keep away from Art with a capital A'. When the collections of a museum or the work of living artists are presented between th the familiar leaves of a popular magazine, the barriers of diffidence are already half down. Captions and explanatory text in layman's language do not put the reader at the disadvantage he so often feels when confronted with works of art in museums that have accumulated a legend and the implicit pres­ tige that ownership by a museum conveys.

Museum Masterpieces in the Subways.

The series of color reproductions from the Metropolitan Museum's collections shown in the New York subways under the title of Masterpieces of

Art is also an excellent illustration of the public's response to reproduc­ tions of great art informally presented and easily accessible. In the 33 months from January 1, 1943 to September 15, 1945 a total of 134,900 prints were sold at 10 cents a piece. Nearly 30,000 or about 22% of these were pur­ chased by mail. The mail orders were probably in direct response to the sub­ way cards. From the comments made by purchasers to the sales staff at the museum's publications desk, it is estimated that at least half the reproduc­ tions of the Masterpieces of Art Series were bought by people who had first seen them in the subway. Thus, of the 134,900 sales, it may be estimated that at least 86,000 were sold because of the subway cards. From this experiment in museum extension, the museum can appraise the response to museum material by a large cross section of the general pub­ lic as subway riders. That part of the public who visit the museum are not ... _.' .- _-._.

47.

the "general" public by the very fact of their coming. A visitor to a mus­ eum automatically puts himself in the category of those who have for one reason or another some sort of interest or impulsion to make the effort that even a cursory visit entails. It can be said however with assurance that the subway rider has probably not paid his nickel in the hope of seeing anything very rewarding in the chewing gum and cigarette ads or even in the Subway

Sun—so that if thia public responds to the extent of writing an average of

200 letters per month, enclosing dimes, for 33 months and in buying 105,000 prints at the museum itself, it is reasonable to suppose that diffusion of museum material in a magazine of large circulation in connection with a col­ laborative television program would meet with a very wide national response.

Response to Museum Subject Matter.

There is no doubt of the public's interest in the type of subject matter that has been shown in the subway cards. As an example, we also have the continued publication of reproductions of paintings by Life, a popular- priced magazine of large circulation, which speaks for itself. It is a well 17 known fact that full color printing has always been tremendously expensive.

Unless the editors and owners of Life felt that the expense was justified by increased circulation and reader response, they would not have continued the practice of publishing many pages of color reproductions largely drawn from museum material. The editors of Life are planning even fuller use of color reproductions of great masterpieces of art taken from the museum collections both here and abroad. In fact, Life recently sent two cameramen to Italy, paying their salaries and expenses in an inflated currency, to take color photographs, of some of the great masterpieces of Italian art that have

17 Promised post-war introduction by Curtis Publishing Co. of a color press capable of printing five colors as cheaply as the present cost of black and white letterpress will revolutionize color printing technically and financially. 48.

18 survived the war.

The Metropolitan Museum has had concrete evidence of the popularity of the subway reproductions of Masterpieces of Art. Readers' letters to Life

Magazine plus rises in circulation have demonstrated the popular response to a periodical as a medium for presenting and diffusing the type of subject matter for which an art museum is a source. Were a periodical and a museum to collaborate on a television program based on museum material, still greater response could be predicted as the number of video screens and television channels multiply.

18 The Journey of The Magi by Benozzo Gozzoli from the Medici Palace Chapel in Florence, reproduced in full color as cover and four double page spreads in The Xmas number of Life, 1945, 49,

CHAPTER VI

Which Way Television Programs?

A great deal of money has been invested in television during the years when it was more theory than practice. Now that the war is over, large scale manufacture of equipment has begun, and chain television is within sight, there are very definite indications that those who have invested in television are taking a not unnatural interest in the time and place of the return of some of the bread telecast upon the waters.

The widely expressed opinion in the publications devoted to tele­ vision and in the studios is that "television is going commercial," Nothing seems more likely because the industry must be put on a paying basis as soon as possible if it is to develop fully. Consequently, all the television studios are trying to find formulae for programs that can be sold to sponsors.

Almost all the broadcasting companies in the East have experiment­ ed with various types of program material. These may be roughly divided in­ to recreational, educational, news, and sports events, CBS and other large television broadcasters are setting up departments for statistical and psy­ chological measurements in television audience response, but until video re­ ceivers are more widely distributed the findings can only be tentative and indicative of trends. The nearer television comes to practical realization, the greater the proportion of recreational and sports programs to appear in the total number of hours on the air. In other words, advertising agencies and their clients are choosing the visualizations of sure fire radio shows 19 and adaptations of theater, light opera, movie successes, variety shows, indoor and outdoor sports—a fact that should surprise no one.

19 Or did until the Petrillo ban on "live" music and musicians. 50.

When it is said around the studios that television is "going com­ mercial", it not only implies that the free experimental period is passed and that television time will be sold like radio; it also suggests that edu­ cational or cultural programs may not be considered-prime video material.

"Show business" in its various aspects is assumed to be more naturally tele- genie. Not that producers have antipathy towards the educational or cultural programs, but rather that they know that such programs will not hold the average audience or compete with purely recreational shows.

Audience Prejudices Against Educational Programs.

In any discussion of present or future television programs, com­ parison with radio is inevitable, since both are in great measure directed to a home audience. Much is known about the habits and preferences of radio listeners, while for some time to come the preferences of television viewers will have to be deduced from whatever actual experience video has already gained and through comparison with the similarities that radio presents.

Cinema, though principally viewed in theaters, is useful also in many in­ stances as a visual parallel in judging reaction to television programs.

The educational television program is very likely to inherit the general public attitude toward educational films and radio programs. Most movie audiences pay their money frankly to be amused and to escape everyday- reality. For adults the film has not been a normal medium of instruction until the war, and some may resent the time taken from the feature film for educational shorts, travelogues, or propaganda on the screen. No educational sustaining program on the radio ever, and the President of the United States but rarely, can hope to compete with the number of radio listeners to Bin?-

Crosby, the World Series, or Fred Allen.

Very few people are interested in abstract subjects or have a de­ sire for instruction unless they see in it a direct connection or bearing on their personal needs or problems. Sugar coating educational film or radio with bad puns and heavy handed humor isn't quite good enough. Travelogue films garnished with bathing beauties fail to please either the customers who would like to see pictures of distant parts of the world or those who prefer to see bathing beauties. Both the moving picture industry and radio continue to present much of their cultural and informational programs with semi-humorous apology as if to say to their audiences, "This is highbrow; it is for your good; and it isn't going to hurt you as much as you fear it will'."

Why then do the radio and moving picture industries continue pro­ ducing educational programs at all? In dollars and cents they are inexpen­ sive. College presidents will talk for much less than Frank Sinatra's rates for crooning; it costs much less to photograph the Grand Canyon in situ than to build a Hollywood Versailles. Psychologically, educational programs build good public relations, because as a nation we approve of education even though as individuals we may not always be enthusiastic partakers. Radio broadcast­ ing is classified as public service. In the licenses issued by FCC it is stipulated that radio chains shall devote a proportion of their time to pro­ grams that are in the public interest, which are construed as information, education, religious services, and Federal, State and Municipal communica­ tions. The exact proportion of time that each station or network shall give to non-recreational, unsponsored or free programs is not specified by the

FCC but is discretionary with the broadcasting companies. Except in coast to coast network programs, radio adjusts its program balance to fit the pre­ ponderant areas of interest found in the socio-economic groups of its lis­ teners.

There is, nevertheless, a real public demand for the non-recreation­ al radio program which, if not large in terms of the millions who listen to the top-ranking comedians in a coast to coast broadcast, is tremendously 52;

important in terms of influence and social significance. The radio in the

United States would not be the great power and public servant that it is without the intelligent program building that is a characteristic feature of the foremost networks. Television has the opportunity in the combination of sight with sound to surpass anything that radio has done.

Program Tastes in the Metropolitan Area.

In a cosmopolitan city like New York there are enough radio lis­ teners among the seven million population to support two stations (WQXR and

WNYC) whose air-time is devoted primarily to serious music, to educational and informative broadcasts, to discussion groups and to news. WJXR is a commercial station controlled by the New York Times; WNYC is a non-commer­ cial station owned and operated by the City of New York. On such evidence, it seems reasonable to suppose that video of the same calibre, if well done, would attract people of tastes similar to those of the radio audiences of

WQJR and WNYC.

Form and Quality in Educational Broadcasts.

If the interest and quality of the educational film and the radio broadcast of non-recreational content seldom equal the technical perfection of the commercially sponsored show, it is because the former rarely commands the best talent among screen actors or radio stars. The nature of the mater­ ial tends to put it in the hands of screen or radio amateurs, though these amateurs may be specialists and professionals in their own sphere. Occas­ ionally, politicians, teachers, scientists, curators, or artists develop good radio and screen personalities, but it is exceptional. Scripts prepared by the studio and read by non-professionals seldom sound spontaneous and often seem so artificial and unconvincing that the value of the content is lost. Real ad-libbing is either too dull or too dangerous to entrust to 53.

amateurs. The personality of the speaker must be of transcendent interest

to balance his lack of radio training.

Educational and documentary films done by semi-amateurs suffer

from the same defects. No matter how interesting the material may be, it

will not hold the attention of audiences accustomed to the perfection of

Hollywood techniques. Television, which is to a certain extent a composite

of radio, stage and cinema, is not going to lend, itself to amateurishness

in execution either. After the novelty of the medium wears off, serious edu­

cational and cultural material will have to be presented as well, if not

better, than pure recreation.

If a museum planned to present television programs, then it would

have to get adequate script writers and acting talent. An old saying among

actors is that the show will only be as good as the script. Scripts used

in presenting educational or museum material are no exception. Nor will the

script carry the burden alone. The actors must be capable of interpreting

it and of getting the most out of it. In a discussion of radio, the follow­

ing points were made which are equally applicable to television:

"Thus educators must constantly bear in mind one important fact

when they build radio programs. Since radio programs are viewed as a source

of entertainment, educational programs must be built with real showmanship.

The application of this principle to educational programs would also be an

application of a basic psychological principle of learning. Material is re­

tained best which is presented in the most vivid and meaningful manner. Wit­ ness the success of visual material in education, of activity programs in progressive schools, and other new techniques used in Army training pro- grams."

20 Oscar Katz, CBS, "The Program Analyzer as a Tool," Education on the Air Ohio State University Press, 1944. ' ~"~ * 1 54.

Form of Museum Programs in 1940-41.

In the first series of Metropolitan Museum-CBS telecasts in 1940-

41 the program form used was a combination of illustrated lecture and infor­

mal gallery conversation. Members of the museum staff were shown talking

and handling the material being discussed. The traditional school master's

pointer was used by several of the lecturers to identify the models or ob­

jects to the audience. In the present stage of television, such close re­

semblance to the school room would not be considered a very compelling

technique. It must be remembered, however, that in 1940-41 the use of museum

material was an innovation in itself. Valuable experience was gained by CBS

and the museum in solving the special problems of lighting different types of material, the use of backgrounds, and camera techniques.

The scripts for the programs were designed with more emphasis on

the informational content of the lecturer's words than as frames for a suc­

cession of pictorial images to carry the story and information.

Greater experience with the television medium has demonstrated

that the successful script writer and the successful program director com­

pose not in words, but in dynamic integrated images. It is a knack that is

hard for the verbally trained museum curator and staff lecturer or the radio

writer to acquire. The succession of visualizations must be organized into '

a dramatic continuity. The opening must arrest the viewers' interest; the

development must hold it; and the conclusion must satisfy it.

Can Television Script Writing be Learned?

Courses in television writing and production are conducted in New

York City by several universities and educational groups, sometimes in col- 21 laboration with a broadcasting company. Several independent experimental 21 Columbia University and the National Broadcasting Co., 1944-45, 1945-46. --•• . •'lin.

55.

training studios are also in existence. The value of the latter's courses is not easy to appraise since for the most part they are operated with dummy equipment. Theory alone unless coupled with actual production experience in the control room, may not carry the student far enough. Actual practice with video equipment and constant observation of television programs would seem to be a practical requisite for getting the feel for the medium. i^——B___jB6aas

56.

CHAPTER VII

Dramatic Form and Museum Material.

A museum such as the Metropolitan has a reputation for dignity and

scholarship to maintain in all its public relations. Fears have been ex­

pressed that in dramatizing museum material for television, standards of ac­

curacy and integrity might be compromised and that the educational and in­

formational values, which should be the primary objects of museum broadcasts,

might be sacrificed to dramatic form.

If the final form and content of the telecast were left entirely

to a television company's script writer, programs that would be unsatisfac­

tory to the Museum might result due to a lack of understanding of the Museum's

aims and unfamiliar it jr with museum material. It is requisite however, that

the Museum at all times exercise the final judgment in the interpretation of

its material, on any program that is sponsored, while the broadcasting com­

pany is responsible for the technical, dramatic and public service aspects

of the telecast.

That a museum television program can preserve accuracy and dignity

while giving much information in lively dramatic form was demonstrated in

the program Arms and Armor, Yesterday and Today, given on May 3, 1945 in

collaboration with CBS. In the cast were professional actors, Museum staff

members and soldiers. The script and technical direction was by Paul Belanger

of CBS Television. The Armor Department and other Museum staff members sup­

plied the facts and the properties, advising on the scenery and the use of

all Museum material.

A Dramatic Presentation.

It had been agreed earlier by Mr. Taylor, Director of the Metro­

politan Museum and Mr. Seldes, Program Director of CBS Television, that the PROTECTION FOR BATTLE; 15TH CENTURY AND 20TH CENTURY

^ __!_-

57.

1944-45 collaborative television programs should illustrate as their central theme the practical uses of the museum's collections in addition to their aesthetic qualities.

That some of the best protective body armor against anti-aircraft fire for bomber crews were developed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art was undreamed of by the public. More surprising was it to find that the armor collection, to most people a purely antiquarian relic of a vanished age, provided the basic models from which the armor for the airmen of the twen­ tieth century was derived. Both in World War I and II the Department of

Arms and Armor of the Metropolitan Museum had helped the U.S. Army Ordnance

Department develop protective armor for American soldiers. In 1943 the ar­ morer's workshop in the Metropolitan Museum again became a laboratory. Here

Mr. Stephen Grancsay, the curator of Arms and Armor and the armorer, Mr.

Heinrich, made the models for the helmet, "flak-jackets", and leg protection that were accepted by Col. Rene Studler, Chief of Small Arms Development in the Ordnance Department for mass manufacture and distribution to the Air

Force.

The problem was the development of body armor and a special helmet to protect the crews of our heavy bombers from fragments of high explosive shells or flak, which accounted for so many of the wounds suffered on bomb­

ing missions. Body armor for bomber crews was based on the brigandine. The brigandines in the museum's armor collection outwardly resemble a velvet

jacket, but inside they are lined with numerous overlapping iron lames at­ tached by rivets. Flak jackets were made of plates of heavy aluminum alloy dropped into nylon pockets and sewn into heavy canvas shaped to cover the back and chest, looking externally not unlike a catcher's chest protector.

A special helmet for flyers giving maximum vision was so constructed that earphones could be used. A piece of armor to protect the neck, fitting be­

tween the top of the body armor and the helmet, and an armored mask for the A SQUIRE BRINGS NEWS OF THE ENEMY'S APPROACH.

Furniture, tapestry and accessories are from the Cloisters and the Museum. Photo murals from medieval frescoes in Castle Runkelstein. \T r rrrrtrtttt rtfriri? ? t ____! T TMI 1 ±1 58.

face were also developed. Pilots and navigators who sit in armored chairs,

do not wear spine and buttock protection, but for turret and waist gunners

who stand to fire their guns, armor was designed to have maximum flexibility.

Its design was based on a suit of jointed and highly flexible armor made for

Henry VIII.

In the days when knighthood was in flower as well as today, the

primary requisites of armor were strength, imperviousness, and flexibility.

But unlike the knight, who when once dressed in his armor required plenty of

time and the assistance of his 'squire' to get out of it, the modern flyer

must be able to free himself from his armor instantly in case he must para­

chute from his plane. This problem was so well solved that all the elements

of the body armor were released simultaneously, falling to the floor by a

quick jerk of a tape attached to the front of the belt.

By the spring of 1945 the Ordnance Department was willing to have

the public see the armor and helmet that was even then being worn by our air­ men in the European and Pacific theaters. A television program was planned

to show how the museum's collection of armor and the skill and knowledge of

Mr. Grancsay and Mr. Heinrich had been utilized by the army to save the lives of airmen.

The objects of the television program were to show the part played by the museum in the war effort by its contribution toward saving the lives of airmen through its collaboration with the Department of Ordnance; the debt of modern invention to ancient crafts and skills; and the value of the

Armor Collection of the Metropolitan Museum as source material.

Sequence of the Program.

The program was introduced on the video screen by a view of the museum's Fifth Avenue facade while the announcer's voice gave the title and THE KNIGHT DONS HIS ARMOR.

Arming began with leg protection. The helmet was the last piece to be fastened in place before the knight mounted his charger. **~

59,

a brief explanatory foreword. The camera's first shot showed a knight in

fifteenth century armor meeting an airman dressed in modern protective armor,

oxygen tube in place, his eyes scarcely visible through the goggles and face

armor worn with his helmet. The voice of the narrator remarked on the many

similarities and the few differences in the battle preparations of the two

fighting men 500 years apart in time.

This scene dissolved into a room in a castle. A knight standing

at the window tossed a coin to the troubadour heard singing below. A lady

in fifteenth century costume was seated in a chair. A page entered hastily,

and the narrator's voice explained that a messenger had brought news of the

coming of the enemy. The page and an esquire helped the knight to don his

armor. The lady tied her scarf as her token about the knight's arm. He em­

braced her and departed to battle. Music of the period was played from

records of the "Anthologie Sonore." The actors did not speak, but the nar­

rator's voice explained the action.

From the last "live" shot of the knight's farewell and departure H from the room in the castle, the scene dissolved into a film showing him mounting his horse at the postern and riding away, lance at rest. The film

used was taken twenty years ago and was called "A Tour of the Armor Gallery".

In this film a man was shown wearing the same suit of fifteenth century armor

in which the knight of the previous live television scene had been dressed.

A heavily barred entrance to the old reservoir in Central Park simulated the

postern of the castle. This film although made twenty years previously was

cut and respliced to make a satisfactory continuity and gave the video

audience the illusion of a continuing action by the actor cf the previous

live sequences.

The stage set of the room in the castle was authentic in its de­

tails. Photo murals blown up from illustrations from a book on Arthurian a

THEN AND NOW.

Mr. Grancsay demonstrates the tine required to get a 15th century knight out of his armor. The 30th century knight pulls a single tape at the belt to release all pieces simultzneously.

_ 60,

22 Legends in Medieval Castles taken from Castle Runkelstein covered one wall.

A hunting tapestry from the museum appeared on the right hand wall. Chairs,

tables, and torcheres were brought from the Cloisters.

After the knight of the film had disappeared in the distance, the

television camera again picked up the interior of the castle. Mr. Stewart

Shaw of the museum's Education Department talked briefly of the Art of War

in medieval times and the development of armor. He demonstrated the remark­

able flexibility of the gauntlet and of a shirt of chain mail. He related

the modern hand salute to its origin of raising the visor of the knight's

helmet.

The Armorer's Shop.

The next scene that the camera picked up was a replica of the ar­ morer's shop at the Metropolitan Museum. Anvils, stakes, and racks of tools

were shown on the set. Blown up photographs of celebrated suits of armor

hung on the walls. The scene opened with Mr. Heinrich, the armorer, seated

and about to shape a helmet on a stake. Mr. Grancsay entered and the two

discussed the imminent arrival of Col. Rene Studler and his party from the

Ordnance Department in Washington.

Col. Studler arrived with a WAC and soldier. Mr. Heinrich showed

the use of the tools as he shaped an infantry helmet. He demonstrated the

adjustable fibre helmet liner on the head of the WAC pointing out that though

the steel helmet M-l is made in only one size it can be worn by all men or

women because of the adjustable suspension. On a table the video audience

was shown the set of plaster heads comprising the seven composite anthropo­

metric types used as guides in evolving the flyers' protective helmets.

22 R. S. Loomis. The Arthurian Legends in Medieval Art. Oxford Universitv Press, 1938. ___^______-______

61.

The soldier was then dressed in the flak jacket. It was pointed

out how simple it was to put it on even in the cramped quarters of a plane.

Then the audience saw a man being helped into a suit of ancient armor start­

ing, as was the custom, with the leg protection. All the elements of the

armor were secured by the many straps and buckles, and finally as the helmet

was fastened into place, the man was a virtual prisoner in his armor. At

this point another section of film was introduced from the "Tour of the Ar­ mory Gallery" showing a knight in jousting armor which had to be fastened and

unfastened with a specially designed wrench. The camera then switched back

to the armorer's shop set and the airman in modern armor. He demonstrated the instantaneous release tape at his belt and the whole suit fell to the

ground. His parachute harness was revealed as the flak jacket fell, ready to be attached to the chute.

Then a modern Signal Corps film was cut in, showing the interior of a bomber taken under combat conditions. The plane was hit; the captain gave the command to bail out. The men were shown dropping their protective armor, attaching their chutes, and floating down to earth.

The camera cut back to the armorer's shop where three airmen from the air force convalescent camp at Paulding, N.Y. told their experiences.

The first two had been shot down over Ploesti. Both had been hit with flak, but their protective armor had saved them serious wounds. The third had been

shot down over Bremen and believed that his armor had saved his life.

Three final pictures ended the story and vividly summed up the mean­ ing and purpose of the whole broadcast. Switching once more to film, a sol­ dier was shown in a hospital bed receiving the Purple Heart while the narra­ tor said, "The difference between this scene and this," as the hospital dis­ solved into a military cemetery, "is this'." On the third this the cemetery dissolved to a living soldier holding up his flak jacket towards the video * K Jt M \ °M H

METROPOLITAN MUSEUM TELEVISION 1940-41. Here conversation about the statue is more important than the object itself. Barly television was more radio with illustrations than communi­ cation through a series of dynamic images with a minimum of verbal assist­ mm ance, wnich is video's goal today. iimm •_?-____ mmmm

62.

audience.

An adequate description of a continuity of visual images or the

method of building a story pictorially is difficult to convey verbally, but

an analysis of the museum's armor television program will show that the story was told and the points were made primarily by a succession of pictures with

a minimum of words.

Radio with Illustration vs. Visualization with Commentary.

The point that should be grasped is the difference in the techniques

of presentation used by CBS and the Metropolitan Museum in their first pro­

grams where the school-room demonstration or illustrated lecture with no ef­

fort to invest the material with a dramatic form was primarily a verbal

rather than a visual communication. The television audience saw museum ob­

jects or architectural models while curators or educational staff members

pointed out their interesting and notable features. They were not related

visually to any time, place, or function in a dramatic form.

In the 1940-41 series at CBS in a television lecture on the histor­

ical progression of types of American houses, the whole broadcast was done on

one set. The house models were placed on tables and the lecturer demonstrated

them with a pointer. The cameras came in close, picked up details in the

models, made far and near shots of the lecturer, but after this had. been re­

peated several times the eye wandered from the screen. Even though the ver­

bal content of the lecture was interesting, it seemed sufficient to follow

^T it by ear alone without concentrating visually.

Producers have found that the span of attention for a static im­

age on television is very brief, not more than a few seconds. Even when the

camera is focused on an individual talking and demonstrating; in spite of

camera movements, panning, close-ups, etc. the lecture or demonstration W^T~T3*-___

53.

technique is not satisfying. There is a parallel in the newsreels when

people in the public eye are shown making a speech. No matter how absorb­

ingly interesting the content of the address may be or whether the speaker

is the President, a war hero, or a film star, after the first few seconds

the eye has received the visual communication. The ear may continue to ab­

sorb the sound and content of the words, but the eye is satisfied and sub­

consciously relaxes its attention. For this reason, television programs de­

signed for museum extension or for any other educational or cultural purpose

cannot afford to be presented as visualized gallery lectures or classrooms.

The content of the lecture, the information that the lecturer wants to im­

part to a video audience, must be given pictorially and not verbally.

The Museum Armor program radically departed from the lecture tech­

nique. By its first shot of the aviator in modern armor meeting a knight in

ancient armor it conveyed the idea that 500 years had not abolished war nor

the need for protective armor. The shots in the castle showed the setting

of the life in which fifteenth century armor was a part. The lady was cor­

rectly costumed. The music of the unseen troubadour was of the period. The

warning of the approach of the enemy and the arraying of the knight in his

armor by his squire showed exactly how it was done.

A video audience seeing this series of visual images presented

dramatically by actors would have a much clearer and more memorable impres­

sion of a castle interior, fifteenth century men's and women's clothes, the I music they heard, and a knight's battle gear than an audience who had watched a museum lecturer in modern dress talk about a suit of armor shown statically

on a lay figure. It has been well and truly said that one good picture is

worth a thousand words'.

Professional actors were used for the castle scene. The action

was pantomimed. The explanatory thread was read by a trained narrator on 64.

the CBS staff from a script prepared by the CBS production department with the collaboration of museum staff members who supplied the data and checked for accuracy.

The second half of the program gave the audience an opportunity to see the authentic tools of the armorer as they were 500 years ago and as they are used today. The audience was introduced, to the actual people who, in the museum and in the Ordnance Department, were combining their scholarship and military knowledge with the craftsman's skill to fashion protective armor to save the lives of the husbands, sons, and brothers of the television audience.

The appearance of three young soldiers who had actually worn the flak jack­ ets and who felt that they owed the comparative lightness of their wounds and life itself to its use, made the program intensely personal and dramatically immediate.

The interpolation of film brought in other dimensions of time and space. The audience was taken back into the far distant past in the sequence of the knight mounting and riding away; while in the Signal Corps film of the man preparing to bail out of a bomber, the soldier receiving the Purple Heart in a hospital, and the military cemetery, the story was lifted out of the im- mediate present of the "live" set in the studio into a recent past or a pos­ sible future of the three soldiers.

The effectiveness of any television program is dependent to a very large extent on the script writer or producer who has the skill to build his live material, his actors, amateur or professional, and his film into a sat­ isfying dramatic form moving pictorially backward and forward in space and time.

Preliminaries of the Armor Program.

To gain video experience and as a means of gathering data the writer of the television report acted as the liaison between the museum and 65.

CBS Television. This entailed organization and collection of material to be used on the broadcast, arranging for its clearance through the curatorial 23 departments, the registrar's office, and museum dispatch. It also in­ cluded library research on the scenery and properties and a limited contri­ bution to the writing of the script. The following extracts from a diary will give an indication of the amount of time and preparation involved in putting on a twenty minute "live" program. It was not possible to keep an accurate check on the time spent by members of the curatorial and mainten­ ance departments, the CBS staff, or the moving van company's employees ex­ cept by inference and comparison with the amount of time spent by the writer.

Those taking part in the discussions in the program were:

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Mr. Stephen Grancsay, Curator of Arms and Armor

Mr. Heinrich, Armorer

Mr. Stuart Shaw, Education Department

Mr. William Forsyth, Associate Curator of Medieval Department

Miss M. Freeman, Associate Curator in charge of The Cloisters

Dr. E. Winternitz, Keeper of Crosby-Brown collection of musical instruments

Mrs. L. Powel, Research Associate for Television

CBS Television

Mr. Gilbert Seldes, formerly Program Director

Mr. Paul Belanger, Assistant Program Director

U.S. Army

Col. Rene Studler, Ordnance Department, U. 8. Army

Lt. Kaplan, Signal Corps

23 Dispatch is the museum department that handles and moves museum objects. 66,

The following extracts are from the diary on the preparation for the Arms and Armor Program produced May 3, 1945:

Date Hours

March 25 si Preliminary discussions - Grancsay, Seldes, Powel. Broad outlines and ways and means of securing permission of Ordnance Department. Letters written by Mr. Grancsay for Mr. Taylor's signature to Col. Studler, Chief of Small Arms Development Division.

April 10 1* Trip to CBS by Powel to discuss program with Seldes.

April 18 2§ Grancsay, Belanger, Lt. Kaplan, Powel, Shaw - discussion of form of script. Divided into three parts (1) introduction by Shaw; (2) an­ cient armor discussed by Grancsay and Heinrich with demonstrations of tools and techniques, showing the old and the new as developed from museum objects in armor collection; (3) bomber crews armor, ease of taking off and putting on— soldier pulls release of modern armor. Lt. Kap­ lan of Signal Corps sat in to decide whether the Army-Navy Screen News could use the show.

April 19 1* Powel, Grancsay, Heinrich - discussion of points in tentative program. Looked over and picked out costumes for wear under Gothic armor and chain armor. Checked other props.

April 23 Powel, Belanger, Grancsay, Heinrich - properties viewed. Further requests for tapestry 8 x 10 or 12 (subject matter preferably knights). Painting of knight in armor or drawing for blow­ ups.

April 24 Powel - clearing photos, tapestry, furniture with registrar's office.

Powel to CBS with negative and book of Arthurian Legends in Medieval Times by Loomis for frescoes (photo mural blowups).

April £5 Si Powel, Grancsay - check lists. Powel, Forsyth - to storage vault for tapestry. First tapestry unavailable. Second choice made.

April 26 2 Powel - to Cloisters for furniture.

April 27 7 Powel - clearing with registrar; incidental business; phone calls. __•______:

67.

Date Hours April 30 3g Belanger and Powel - material and props checked out from armory on moving van. Music arranged with Dr. Winternitz.

]vjay i l Powel - telephone requests and arrangements for tickets to performance. 2_r Script writ ing at CBS - Powel and Belanger.

May 2 2 Powel - returned negatives to museum photo dept. Returned photostats to Mr. Grancsay, More tic­ kets needed. Music records cancelled here on account of copyright. Find other records.

* 4 Rehearsal at CBS. May 3 2-j_- Powel - at museum. Wiring Col. Studler on train; phone messages between CBS, Grancsay, Washington, etc, 4 Rehearsal. Arrival of Col. Studler at 3:45. Tea and dinner for Shaw, Studler, Grancsay, Powel.

2| Arrived at CBS for performance at 10 P.M.

May 4 2 Checking on return of loans. Inspecting of damage to lance, loss of coronet; letter about moving van, etc.

Total hours for Powel - 53

Cash Outlay for Arms and Armor Program.

The actual cash outlay to produce the Arms and Armor program ex­ cluding CBS staff salaries and studio operating charges was as follows: CBS Talent $ 114.00 Properties 65.00 Construction (sets) 100.00 Art Work (paintings) 200.00 Music (recordings) 12.00 Photographs 22.50 Meal money and taxis. 45.25 Costumes 19,00 Entertainment 29.00 Cartage to and from Museum and Cloisters ,. 80.00 Total CBS Cash Outlay $ 686.75 Museum Cleaning of costumes $ 5.00 TOTAL CASH OUTLAY $ 691.75 sz^c-^—

68.

The cost to the museum would have to be reckoned in the proportion

of their time that salaried employees of the maintenance departments and the

curatorial staff gave to the project.

Additional Museum Programs.

In addition to the Arms and Armor show, the museum and CBS collab­ orated in two more programs in the winter of 1944-45. In December 1944 the

Cloisters were shown as part of a television guide to the sights of New York for service men and women. It was not a "live" program in the sense that the Cloisters were televised directly. The only actual museum object used at the broadcast was a huge Spanish leather bound manuscript volume of church music known as an antiphonary. The Cloisters were shown entirely through photographic stills of the exterior and interior. A sense of movement and reality was given by the camera techniques, the panning, close-ups and dis­ solves. The medieval music book was used to "set the mood." The television audience saw the book slowly opened and the pages turned, while a record of a carillon played Christmas music. Chants and other medieval music from the

Cloisters' collection alternated with a narrator's voice as the approach to the Cloisters was shown in a series of quickly succeeding photographs. Views of the interior followed. The program concluded with pictures from the

Cloisters' current Christmas exhibition of the "Seven Joys of Our Lady." As a finale the viewer saw the last pages of the antiphonary turning and the metal-hinged cover closing to indicate the end of the story while Christmas chimes were again heard.

Although the program director for CBS was not entirely satisfied 69.

by the limitations of the photographic stills, those who viewed the program

from the museum were pleased with the results. Certainly a good moving pic­

ture of the Cloisters would have been better, but none was available.

The cost of such a program was negligible when compared with the

"live" Armor Program. The only outlay for properties was the cost of print­

ing photographs from museum negatives and the transportation by taxi of the

antiphonary and musical recordings to CBS from the Cloisters and their re­

turn.

The Fashion Promenade.

The second CBS-museum program was a portion of a fashion show then

current in the museum. The exhibition was an illustration of the museum' s

policy of cooperation with American textile designers and the garment indus­

try. A group of American designers had chosen certain museum objects as the basis of fabric designs. Costumes designed and executed by American dress

houses were made from the museum inspired textiles. In the museum Lee Simon-

son, well known theatrical designer, had set up an exhibition relating the t

fabrics and costumes to the museum objects which had suggested the designs.

In February and March 1944 a series of fashion promenades were held in the

Morgan Wing featuring live models wearing the costumes which owed their

source to the museum's collections. Such a show proved a "natural" for tele­ vision.

Although it was not possible to take many of ths original design

sources from the museum to the television studio, replicas and photographs

proved a satisfactory substitute. Mr. Simonson and some of the designers

appeared on the program explaining where necessary the relationship of the

design to its origin. The gowns were modelled by the same professional mod­

els who had shown them at the museum. ——

70.

As might be supposed this was a more costly production than the

Cloisters, but less expensive than Arms and Armor. The principal cost was

model fees at $10 and #15 per hour. The cash outlay was as follows:

CBS: Talent, i.e. models $ 225.00 Stand-ins (for rehearsals) 88.00 Building sets , 95.00 Miscellaneous 50.00 Total CBS Cash Outlay... $ 458.00

Museum:

Transportation of objects and photographs $ 16.01 TOTAL CASH OUTLAY

As in previously quoted estimates, CBS and museum staff salaries and operating expenses at the studio are not included for this program. Since the collaboration between the museum and CBS was informal and explora­ tory on both sides, costs of the programs were not isolated from the overall expenses of the studio or of the museum.

Comparison of the actual outlay involved for the three programs gives an indication of the relative costs of the different types of produc­ tion. Obviously, live programs, using acting talent, requiring the trans­ portation of the museum objects and the building of the sets will always be more expensive than programs largely made up of photographic stills, slides or motion picture film. The lack of suitable motion picture film of museum material is thus a serious handicap to television programming. The alterna­ tives are live programs with their inherent expense and evanescence or slides and stills, which because of their static quality, are not prime video ma­ terial. If and when programs can be satisfactorily filmed from the monitor­ ing screen, a live production can be preserved for many repetitions. The initial cost of a program will thus be divided and pro-rated in ratio to the 71.

number of times the film is re-televised or projected. The cost to the museum of making its own motion pictures for use either on video or for

screen projection would be based on the same relationship of initial cost

to the number of times the film could be shown by the museum staff, rented, 24 or lent to other groups and organizations.

24 See appendix, MUSEUM FILM FOR EDUCATIONAL EXTENSION. 72.

CHAPTER VIII

Cost of Television Equipment and Productions.

The collaboration of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and CBS Tele­ vision in two experimental non-commercial series of telecasts has been des­ cribed. Since both series were conducted during the period of television's infancy in a mutually experimental spirit, it seems quite certain that in the future when commercial television is established, any sponsorship, association, or collaboration would be completely on a pre-arranged contractual basis.

Since the museum's future plans anticipate the use of video, a decision must be reached as to the form of television that best fulfils the museum's needs and purposes. Such a decision must finally be based on the cost of television to the museum and its ability to pay for it.

The museum has the following choices:

I, Installation of equipment for its own television studio would enta.il:

.A. Cost of studio equipment and two cameras equipped for control.., $ 55,000 B. Linking studio to transmitter, approximately... 16,000 C. Lights including installation—12 ceiling lights at $1,000 each, k floor lights at $500 each 14,000 D. Installation costs including 15 outlets per 1,000 feet for mobile units within building 10,000 Purchase of equipment plus installation $ 95,000

OPERATING EXPENSES A. 0pera.ting expenses and staff needed to operate a station include: 1 program director, 2 camera­ men, 2 dolly technicians, 1 sound operator, 2 control operators (per annum) 100,000 B. Obsolescence of equipment and replacement (per annum) 13,000 C. Production expenses: actors, sets, rehearsal time, script writers, museum staff time25...... TOTAL $113,000

25.Productio n expenses cannot be estimated as they would necessarily be differ­ ent in every performance and should not be confused with operating expenses. Expenses would also depend on the number of shows per year. ______

73.

26 II. The lease of television facilities and equipment from a commercial company:

A. Programs to originate in the museum from its own studio, using leased equipment and relayed to lessor's transmitter

B. Production staff salaries (museum employees) ...

C. Production staff salaries (Television Co. em­ ployees).

D. Production staff costs (varying and dependent on scope of programs)

III. Museum sponsored programs broadcast from a television studio at commercial rates:

A. Rates for air time, plus rehearsal time with cameras; for use of studio including engineer- ? personnel, per half hour—approximately $ 3,000

B. Expense of taking museum objects to outside studio: hauling, employees' time for guarding and handling, insurance and damage..,

C. Cost of productions in museum staff time, tele­ vision staff time, script writers, actors, scenery, costumes, rehearsal time

It is impossible to estimate exact equipment costs at present as figures are based on pre-war costs. Figures quoted were supplied by the Equip­ ment Sales Department of the General Electric Co.

Staff salaries and maintenance can be approximated but time on the air at commercial rates is still unstandardized. Production costs vary with elaborateness of the individual program, the amount of time needed for re­ hearsals, quality of acting talent used, script, sets, sound-effects, etc.

The Museum's Two Currencies.

Fortunately, the Metropolitan Museum has two currencies or methods to choose from in paying for television. The first would be entirely in dollars, but the second may be described as goods in kind or barter, possibly

;_6" A possible future development. Not feasible until equipment is in full production or until reserve of trained television personnel is available. 27 Tentative estimate by Worthington Miner of CBS Television, June 1945, —r- '—'—Tra»

74

combined with a moderate cash expenditure. The goods in kind that the museum

has for barter are, of course, its contents, its value as a primary source

of visual material, and its prestige. It has been said that the Metropolitan

Museum is potentially as valuable an art property for television as the Phil­

harmonic is musically valuable to radio.

The museum can convert this barter value into television time in

several ways:

I. By collaboration with a television station in an unsponsored sus­

taining program. The museum would provide the visual material and the know­

ledge and time of its staff members and would probably bear a part of the 28 actual expenses of production.

The television station in such a case would have the resources of

the museum to draw upon. The prestige and good will attached to the Metro­

politan's name would be shared by the television studio presenting the sus­

taining program as a public service.

The television station would supply its studio facilities, air time

and the services of its technicians. The services of its script writers and

production staff would be subject to agreement between the two contracting

£ parties. The degree to which the television company's staff would be called

upon would depend on the organization of a special museum department whose 29 staff members were trained for television production.

The paragraphs immediately preceding have, in the main, described

the arrangement which existed between CBS and the Metropolitan Museum during

the two experimental series of telecasts in 1940-41 and 1944-45. It was a

type of collaboration that had many advantages for both parties. It was in­

valuable experience in the use of museum material and its presentation by

28 Mr, Miner quotes $1,000 per program (approximately 20 minutes on the air) as possible cost to museum for its part in cooperative sustaining program. 29 For organization of a museum television staff, see page •«**•—-: _Trza___B» ______

75. b television. It gave each organization the necessary insight into the limit­

ations and resources of the other. Were the association to be renewed, the

museum, and CBS or any other television station would each be certain to in­

dicate various administrative modifications and adjustments. The duties of

each staff would be more definitely defined and the expenses of production

allocated on the basis of previous experience.

II. Sponsorship. The second method by which the museum could have

a television program without a large expenditure is through sponsorship by a

philanthropic or educational foundation or by commercial interests. Simply

stated, the sponsor, whatever his motive, philanthropic, eleemosynary, or

self-promoting advertisement would pay the expenses of a museum television

series entirely or in part. Such a program would probably be produced col­

laboratively by the museum and the chosen television station. The agreement

would be similar to those between radio broadcasting companies and advertisers

or sponsors who buy radio shows and air time. The sponsor would pay a fixed

price for the series to the broadcaster, a sum which would include certain

staff salaries and production expenses incurred by the museum. Whether the

museum could legally sell its "goods and services" to a commercial sponsor

would depend on the nature of the individual contract and the interpretation

of the museum's charter, as a tax exempt institution receiving public funds.

Commercial sponsorship of a museum television program presents a new situation,

which may require interpretation of the charter by the legal advisors of the

Board of Trustees if and when such a question arises.

The Museum's Bureau of Publications - A Parallel.

The Metropolitan Museum produces and sells catalogs, books, pamph­

lets, post cards, and reproductions which relate to and interpret the museum's

collections. If the building overhead, the salaries of the staff members

as authors, etc. were charged to publication costs, the business would show '-.:.- "»:ja -_i._. __.

76. a deficit. Prices set to cover the actual production costs are kept low so that museum publications can have a wider distribution. Publications may be classified as communication, education, extension and publicity. Museum tele­ vision programs would logically be placed in the same category though the med­ ium of communication is different.

The example of the Bureau of Publications is given to show that the museum already sells the tangible products of one of its services of extension without violation of its charter. Television programs would extend the same type of information about the museum in an intangible form. The fundamental difference between publications and television as museum extension is in the matter of sponsorship. In the first example no question of sponsorship is involved. The publications do not publicize or benefit any institution or group other than the museum and the public, whereas in the latter situation a choice between possible sponsors is implied on the part of the museum,"'thus presumably favoring one firm., corporation, or publication over another. The identity of the sponsor would always be of primary consideration to the museum which must always guard against lack of dignity or incongruity in its associa­ tions.

Of the suggested arrangements for presenting a museum television program, the last, sponsorship, would seem to be the most promising and feas­ ible from the point of view of the museum. It entails the smallest initial outlay and is the method that presents the least financial uncertainty. In effect, the museum sells the television rights to its contents to a sponsor who feels that the value in advertising and in prestige that he derives from the connection is a worthwhile exchange for what he pays for the privilege.

Sponsorship of the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera by U.S.

Rubber and the Texaco Company respectively is an example of a similar arrange­ ment in the aural field of music and music drama. It is neither however, srar:

77.

accurate nor realistic to push the comparison too far at this point. Rather,

it should be said that such a sponsorship of a museum television program is

potentially similar. The difference lies in the fact that the sponsoring

manufacturers or utilities have bought programs of proven interest and pre­

determined form in the field of music. While no one doubts the quality and

interest cf the contents of the Metropolitan Museum and their possibilities

as television material, as yet the form and method of their presentation is

so untried that a sponsor willing and able to spend as much money as video in­

volves would be justified in demanding considerable research and experimenta­

tion before fully committing himself.

Fundamentally, sponsorship is a matter of buying and selling. The

museum has a television gold mine to sell. It will require capital and an

organization to get the gold out of the ground and smelt it into a negotiable

commodity. This is only another way of saying that the museum's collections

can be invaluable video material, but that they must be organized into saleable

television programs by a competently trained staff.

Moreover, such a staff will be necessary no matter how the museum

approaches television. People who know the museum's resources and understand

its philosophy are the only interpreters that the museum can afford, but they

will only be semi-competent unless they are familiar with the peculiar demands

of television. Like the television transmitter and the receiver, it is a lock

and key relationship.

Video Now or Later?

Any institution, whether it is wholly supported by taxes, entirely

by private endowment, or by a combination of both, that contemplates the use

of video, will have to decide when the time is most advantageous for embarking

on its program. Shall it be presently in the period before video is firmly on

its feet as a commercial vehicle of proven ability and wide coverage or shall I """•*•

78.

it be later when technical, economic, and psychological conditions are reason­

ably predictable? Both alternatives offer inducements and disadvantages which,

it is hoped, the text of this report has presented by implication.

In framing recommendations one must put the alternatives of choice

into parallel columns, mentally if not actually, by restating the conclusions

that can be drawn from all the information it has been possible to gather

about television's present achievements and its promises for the future.

What conclusions are to be drawn from a comparison of figures on the

different methods that the museum might use if television programs were initi­

ated in the near future.

First, in paragraph I, the cost of equipment and maintenance of a

museum owned station with programs originating from the museum's studio was

presented. It was estimated by Mr. J. McLean, head of General Electric Sales

Department, that the initial cost of equipping the simplest type of studio

would be about $95,000 on a pre-war price basis. Technical maintenance and

staff salaries were an additional $100,000 per annum. Obsolescence of equip­

ment was an unknown factor, but a guess based on past experience was $13,000

per annum. The cost of production could not be figured as it would be de­

pendent on the elaborateness, scale and number of individual productions.

The smaller commercial stations in towns of approximately 25,000

population which expect to earn their way through paid sponsorship count on

an outlay of not less than $96,000 to $100,000 per annum on a salary scale

less than that estimated for a metropolitan area. The smaller station is

cited as one that would probably be comparable in its equipment needs to a

museum owned and operated studio. It may be estimated that at the cost of

$100,000 per annum for maintenance only, plus unforeseeable expenditures for

productions, the capital investment necessary to produce such an income wonId

be between $3,000,000 and $4,000,000, BMMB_____B___W______!______=^aM^^M • • ,

79.

In the nature of the Metropolitan Museum's other interests and com­

mitments it does not seem reasonable or likely that such sums would be invested

in television production at this time.

The second paragraph, II, on the costs of a television program,

discussed the expense entailed in renting equipment from a commercial broad­

casting station as far as they can be estimated at this time, the program

originating in the museum's studio and presumably written and produced by the

museum's television staff.

At the present there is not enough spare television equipment in ex­

istence to make this contingency possible. It is a foreseeable arrangement,

however. Without doubt, television equipment will eventually be rented on

some workable basis, as motion picture equipment is. Apart from the actual

cost of renting the equipment, the expense of the production would again be

dependent on the scope of the program and the salaries of staff members in­

volved, either as museum employees or as television company employees.

It is unfortunate that no concrete data can be gathered on this par­

ticular variation cf the form of a museum television program at present, but

until equipment is in fuller production it can only be suggested as a possible

solution.

In the third paragraph, III, a museum sponsored program at commercial

rates was discussed. Again in line A of Paragraph III, only the cost of the

actual time on the air, studio rehearsal before the cameras, and the use of 30 the engineering staff is quoted at ^3,000 per half-hour.

30 At Columbia Broadcasting Company's WCBW no commercial or sponsored programs were televised until July 1945. At that time CBS initiated a tentative coa mercial service at a flat rate of $150 per hour for major studio use in re­ hearsal and actual broadcasting time. In the company's announcement of this plan, it was stated that since television cireulation was not yet a tangible quantity, the advertisers were asked to bear part of the expenses represent­ ed in the small fee asked. Mo charge was made for "time on the air" cenEner. surate with the actual cost of telecasting. Television stations and their clients are experimenting jointly in production techniques. Rates for time on the air can not be standardized until (1) television receivers are again manufactured and distributed, (2) relays are completed, and (3) "low defini­ tion" television standards are replaced by "high definition" in full COIOT* so.

Eventually when television is sufficiently widespread so that audi­ ence research figures can be taken as a basis for response measurements on a

scale comparable to radio listening statistics, the cost of television will be as standardized as magazine space or radio time.

HOW SHOULD THE MUSEUM PREPARE FOR TELEVISION?

The precedent for technical departments, whose staff members can in­ tegrate related areas ofmuseum activity already exists. In the museum depart­ ments for publication, publicity, and educational extension the need for staff members with training in two fields has long been recognized. A knowledge of printing and editing, of newspaper and general publicity, of the school system and other educational institutions, is the requirement for staff members in the several departments, as well as general familiarity with the museum's resources. The museum has also had a staff assistant for motion pictures.

Museum curatorial and educational staffs are not, by the nature of their education and their highly specialized field of knowledge, prepared to deal with the problems of television production. Nor is it likely that among the staff members of television studios, usually recruited from the stage, screen, or radio, many will be familiar with museum material or the objectives of museum education and extension. A television consultant and staff assist­ ant having sufficient knowledge of the practical aspects and demands of tele­ vision production, as well as complete familiarity with the museum's collec­ tions and organization, will have to be discovered or trained. Since tele­ vision is still such a new and experimental medium, it seems improbable that such a combination will be found ready made, but that a television—museum liaison staff would have to be developed from suitable personnel chosen from both fields.

Training for Television.

Museum training, with the educational background it implies, is probably a longer process than learning about television production, given 81.

that the trainees had the necessary aptitude for thinking more visually than

verbally. Familiarity with stage and screen production would be a great asset.

Such training could be had in the regular dramatic schools. In the meantime,

television training courses are being developed for technicians, producers,

and script writers.

The larger television broadcasting companies have trained their own

staffs during the experimental period through practical experience in produc­

ing. These men and women have had wide opportunities that will probably be

denied later comers when production tends toward specialization as television

develops. Chain television will require more personnel both in the engineering

and producing ends as studios multiply. To supply the demand, schools of

television will undoubtedly spring up. Like radio schools, some vail be

worthwhile and others worthless. Conceivably, some may be sponsored by the

television companies to supply their own staff needs. NBC and Columbia

University give a joint course in radio and television techniques and pro­

duction designed as an introduction to the problems and needs of an expanding £ industry.

These examples are given to suggest that orientation courses in

television may be had even though it is not the intention of all the students

to specialize in that field only. As more television studio equipment becomes

available, laboratory courses with practical problems in production will be

set up for the numerous people who will find it necessary to have a working

knowledge of the television medium as a corollary to some other business or

profession.

Organization of a Television Program by the Museums End.

The museum educational and curatorial staff members, unless they

could be relieved of other duties, could not with their present obligations

give the time necessary to organize television programs, especially if the , 82.

objects to be used on the broadcast had to be sent out of the museum to the 31 television studio. When objects from several different departments of the museum are to be used, a good deal of paper work is necessarily involved.

First, it must be ascertained that the objects to be televised are in the classification allowed to be taken out of the museum. The curator's permis­ sion and written authorization are required on the appropriate forms in dupli­ cate. All objects to be loaned must be listed and eight copies distributed to the various departments concerned by the registrar.

Television producers are accustomed to working quickly. In a large organization like the Metropolitan Museum with many ramifications, interests, and commitments it requires the undivided attention of a staff member to clear the objects and see that they are delivered to the studio, guarded, and re­ turned in the week or ten days before and during the rehearsals and the tele­ cast. If an extensive museum television program were contemplated, an exchange of staff members on an interneship basis might be feasible and would certain­ ly facilitate the joint undertaking. It was found in the course of the 1944-

45 museum television programs with CBS that time and money were lost through the failure of the television group to understand the organization of the museum or its obligations to safeguard its loans. Stage hands at television studios are used to handling rented properties or borrowed material less fragile and valuable than museum objects. Quite naturally, the CBS people could not be expected to know the mechanisms necessary to clear an object through the museum to the television studio, the paper work, or the actual physical handling involved in transportation. There wa3 no clear understand­ ing as to the museum's part in the script writing so that there was waste motion on both sides. Since the arrangement was an informal one on an explor­ atory and experimental basis, these lapses in organization were understandable and even inevitable.

-* See Arms and Armor Program, p. 56 w 83.

The CBS - Metropolitan Museum programs provided the laboratory tests on which the present report is in part based. In the light of that experience

it is recommended that future television programs undertaken by the museum should be the responsibility of a department whose staff is familiar with the problems of television production. An arrangement for staff members to act as liaison between the museum and the studio on an exchange basis would seem mutually advantageous. Otherwise, the organizational difficulties that two such diverse institutions as a museum and a television studio present must always be an obstacle to a smooth running collaboration unless those responsi­ ble are familiar with the limitations and possibilities of both participants.

It should be borne in mind that television broadcasting stations like radio broadcasting companies are ultimately responsible to the FCC for the quality of their programs and their value as public service. The producer at the station would always have the ultimate decision on technical aspects and would reserve the right to veto a program below standard dramatically.

The members of the museum's television staff would be the source of informa­ tion and supply the greater part of the visual material of the broadcast.

They would act as a liaison and procurement division for the producer in his contacts with the museum. They would expedite the release of material.

The museum authorities would always reserve the right to veto certain treat­ ment of museum material as inaccurate or out of keeping with the character of the subject matter involved.

In the event of a program sponsor, or if a third collaborator were introduced, a trained television staff would be even more important. If, for example, the Metropolitan Museum and the Natural History Museum collaborated with a publication in putting on a joint television program, a coordinating authority would be essential.

The preceding paragraphs have indicated some of the situations in­ herent in a museum television program when the material used on the telecast _MM_WMW_-g--_--_-MW-_^MMWr- mmmmmMm

84.

i-s transported to an outside television studio. Most of the defects in organ­

ization could be attributed to the lack of precedent and experience in handling

a more ambitious and complicated t:/pe of museum telecast, but most of all to

the lack of trained personnel at the museum sufficiently familiar, not only

with television procedures, but also with departmental organization in the

museum itself. Although all members of the museum staff showed the utmost

consideration and willingness to collaborate in all their contacts with the

1944-45 television programs, a television department within the framework of

the museum's organization would have saved much waste motion, unnecessary de­

lays, and work for all concerned both in the museum and at CBS.

Whe._ in the future the museum's building includes a television studio,

where it will be possible to telecast museum material without removing it from

the premises, sdme of the difficulties and inconveniences of broadcasting

from an outside television studio will be eliminated. Broadcasting from the

museum's own studio, or the use of mobile camera units from outlets in the

galleries to' telecast the objects or rooms that cannot be moved from their

fixed positions, will not lessen the need for a trained television production

staff. It would, if anything, make it more urgent, since the museum's respon­

sibility for the quality of the program would be the greater if it were pro-r

duced by the museum's staff and emanated from its own building.

In the event that the television company transmitting the program

supplied its own cameras and transmission facilities and its own technical

and producing staff, it would still be essential to have a sufficient staff

within the museum to organize the material and supervise the form and content

of the program. Such a staff would have to be familiar with the technical

requirements of video.

Recommendations.

On the assumption that the Metropolitan Museum contemplates the ., - ______•______>

85.

extensive use of television that the announced plans for the new buildings indicate, then it is recommended that early steps be taken to organize a muse­ um television department. If any one of the previously discussed methods for producing a museum television program is adopted, it will be necessary to have a person or persons responsible for the content and quality of the programs, capable of representing the museum, and familiar with its educational phil­ osophy. It matters not how simple any television program might be, or whether it be short or long; a clearly thought out series of scripts will be essen­ tial. A video program is either a well integrated succession of pictures telling a story and illustrating some central idea, or it is merely a series of disconnected images like a peep-show without power to hold the interest of the audience.

The qualifications for the personnel of a television department and some of the methods of building up such a staff have been outlined. Under favorable conditions a year might be sufficient time to recruit and train the nucleus of a staff capable of surveying the possibilities of the museum's television material and of converting it into usable scripts, whose content quality would be saleable to a sponsor and technically feasible for video production.

The alternative of undertaking television without a producing staff in the museum to assume responsibility for the content and technique of the programs would probably result in a loss of control on the part of the museum.

If the museum were not represented by those fully qualified to hold opinions on the showmanship, dramatic interest, and video techniques as well as on the accuracy, artistic, and educational aspects of the production, any spon­ sor or collaborator would feel justified in overriding the judgment of those they believed to be inexperienced. Divergencies of opinion and uncharted areas of responsibility could quickly destroy any form of partnership. mmwmmmj^samwmmmmmwmmr-

& 86.

CHAPTER IX

Suggested Uses of Television for a Museum Preview.

One of the most direct and simple applications of television for

the museum would be the five minute "spot" to tell the public what is in the

collections, to preview lectures, publications, reproductions, and otherwise

to present the many facilities and services of the museum in visual form.

Museum staff members, particularly those in Education and Exten­

sion, are constantly reminded what a comparatively small number of people

know the resources of the museum. It is very usual to hear a visitor say,

"I often come to lectures and gallery talks, but I never knew that such and

such a collection or object existed. I never knew that I could use the

library, the textile study collection, buy publications and Xmas cards, etc.,

etc." It is demonstrated every day that adults and children want to know

more about the museum but that diffidence or inertia keeps them from asking,

even though the museum staff is ready and willing to answer questions. Some­

times people do not know what to ask for, and others have not sufficient im­

agination or training to utilize the guide books or ask questions. Five

minutes of television previewing a room, collection, school of painting, or

sculpture, the library publications, or school service with the simplest ver­

bal commentary would give information to people who have seldom been reached

by other techniques of communication. Few better ways could be found of

publicising the museum or of showing the public what it has to offer aad how

to avail themselves of it.

These brief previews might be directed toward different groups and

interests at various times in the broadcasting day. Subject matter designed

to appeal to children at several age levels would be broadcast at the times

of day such as school hours or, as home video screens multiply, the late mmm»9m9mWSSBmmm^mm»^mmmFgtjm:«m_iA..r^s

87.

afternoon hours when radio finds its largest junior audiences.

Information for teachers would be one of the most needed and use­

ful services that such television "briefs" could perform. With but few ex­

ceptions the greater proportion of teachers in New York City at any scholas­

tic level from kindergarten to normal school really do not know what the

museums ,of the city have to offer or how to use them in teaching. The rea­

sons for this are not in the least discreditable to the teachers who are

notably overworked and usually underpaid. Few have the time or strength to

make the trip to the museums after school hours to study the collections

and to plan the use of museum materials as visual supplement to class room

teaching. Even if the deterrents of time, strength, and distance could be

eliminated, there would still remain the fact that few teachers know how to

use museum material either in situ or on a loan basis. Teachers in the art

department are theoretically best prepared to utilize what the museums offer,

but actually the largest part of the art teachers' training is in tech­

niques. For example, they are prepared to teach classes how to make wood

blocks, but few of them would know how to find the great examples of that

art in the Chinese or Japanese collections or in the Print Department.

Teachers of metal working do not know how to use the armor galleries and

silver exhibits nor the ceramists the pottery and porcelain of the different

periods and nations. Examples could be multiplied. Even rarer than the

art teacher who uses the museum intelligently is the history, social stud­

ies, or English teacher who is able to correlate the visual evidences of the

growth of civilization that are contained in museums and use them to enrich

a largely verbal curriculum.

It is true that an enormous number of school children come to the

Metropolitan Museum in the course of the year for gallery tours and talks i ' »r ii=aMjppw» j'J'v. ~a

88.

by the educational staff. Teachers who come with the children more often

than not play a passive role or devote themselves to the disciplinary prob­

lems and the mechanics of moving large groups of children from school to

museum and vice versa. If the teachers and children alike had more oppor­

tunity to preview museum trips by television, an introductory groundwork

would be laid and interest built up. It is a fact that most people want to

see the originals of objects, pictures, rooms, statues, jewels, etc. that

they have seen in reproductions or on the screen if the preview is made in­

teresting and provocative.

Suggestions for a Museum Television Series.

There are numerous ways in which a series of television programs

based on the museum's collections could be developed. The treatment of the

material would, of course, depend upon the type of audience for which the

broadcasts were designed. In general, the audiences might be divided into

adult and junior with several subdivisions within both groups; for example,

a program of general interest for children and another for adults and pro­

grams supplementing a specific lecture or course of study as visual aids at

both levels. There would be wide opportunities for serving educational or­

ganizations at all levels, primary, secondary and high schools, undergraduate

and post-graduate colleges, and adult education. Certain educational pro­

grams would be planned in collaboration with various institutions and de­

signed especially to supplement courses in. the curricula. Whether these

programs would be transmitted on a closed circuit, as many school radio pro­

grams are (vide WNYE, station of the N. Y. Board of Education) or whether

they would be receivable on the regular channels would be for later decision.

It would depend in part upon the quality of the presentation and could only

be tested by submitting the individual programs to the public to decide. 89,

This is not to suggest that video programs directly integrated with certain school and college courses should not measure up to the best standards of good public television. On the contrary, their producers should never lose sight of the fact that educational programs, to be effective, must compete with the best in recreational video or movies. There are instances, however, when television as supplement to a specific course, might lack referent-s-. for an outside audience unfamiliar with the material. In such cases, the closed circuit would be indicated.

Unlike the specialized educational programs, television of general interest would not be related to any particular field. It would not pre­ suppose a background of knowledge about the subject matter of the broadcast but would allow the development of the material and the script to be self- explanatory. The Arms and Armor program illustrates this point. No previous knowledge of armor or of medieval life was required to understand the broad­ cast. The second portion showing the sources and use of modern armor was also explained by the action. Further detailed suggestions for a general interest series will follow the outline for educational broadcasts.

Television for the Schools.

Programs would be planned in consultation with the school authori­ ties and would probably be designed to supplanent the curriculum at various age levels. One approach could be made through courses in the social studies which would give a very wide latitude of choice in the material to be used.

For schools in New York City such as Needle Trades, Metal Trades, the Tech­ nical High Schools, the Art and Music High Schools, special programs might be constructed to illustrate their particular fields of interest through the costume and textile collections, the armor shop, the silver and jewelry, and the Crosby Brown, collection of musical instruments. A great variety of uses 90.

for the historic rooms, the American Wing, the paintings, and sculpture sug­ gest themselves also.

The usefulness of the five minute television preview has been dis­ cussed in its relation to museum visits by school classes. Such a brief time would necessarily be used as a video table of contents and bulletin board rather than as a supplement to school courses.

Television Programs at the College Level.

In greater New York there are almost as many colleges and univer­ sities as there are high schools in the average city of a million population.

In the New York City higher education system alone, there are the four city colleges, the College of the City of New York, Hunter, Queens, and Brooklyn.

Columbia and New York Universities are private foundations. The number of other private, religious and semi-public institutions at the college level are too numerous to list. Within the radius of the 50-60 miles comprising the present limits of line of sight video transmission in the New York area, the potential audience for educational television programs including parts of Long Island, Connecticut, and New Jersey would be enormous.

Television programs for colleges would cover a wide range of sub­ ject matter. As in the schools, there would be the program directly designed to supplement a certain course of study which could be worked out in collab­ oration with the curriculum planners and department heads in the participat­ ing colleges. The conception of a specially designed college program would necessarily follow the pattern suggested, for the schools except in the ap­ proach to the subject matter.-

Veterans.

During the next few years the veterans in the colleges will form a group which, though it will have infinite variations within itself, will 91.

also have a certain uniform maturity of outlook deriving from a broader ex­ perience than that of the other undergraduates. They will for the most part have entered or re-entered college with a more adult point of view. They will have exercised a choice and made a decision based on the conviction that college training had something to offer in preparing them for their civilian future. It is possibly unwise to generalize about the attitude of the vet­ erans toward the study of the arts and humanities as a basis for understand­ ing the background of civilization, but many educators have found them recep­ tive to courses that lie outside their immediate field of concentration. It is for the veterans whose experience of war and global geography has been so wide, but whose previous referents have been comparatively few, that the re­ sources of the museum could well be utilized to round out and enrich courses of study.

Adult Education.

Besides the veterans who have chosen to enroll for a full college course, is the even larger proportion taking single courses through univer­ sity extension or other adult education groups. In the general field of adult education, the veteran of World War II will be less a member of a • special group than he will be in the colleges. His greater maturity, both chronologically and mentally, will be less apparent in a group drawn from the diversity of an adult public than it will be among college undergraduates.

At the present time the enrollment in adult education courses is at an all time high. The public schools, libraries, and. colleges of the Greater

New York are giving the use of their classroom facilities to people of all ages and races to learn about every conceivable branch of human knowledge.

The peak hours for these adult education classes is between 6 P.M. and 9:30

P.M. The fact that so large a proportion of adult education classes takes 92.

place at one time would be a favorable factor in directing television pro­ grams to this group. One of the difficulties that educational radio or television programs face during the daytime school or college hours is the conflict of schedules and study periods and in finding one time that all can listen to or look at the pertinent broadcast. '

Since adult education covers such a wide field of subject matter, it might be asked how museum television programs would attempt to cope with such diversity. As in the school and colleges, it would be a matter of con­ sultation and collaboration with the Adult Education Association and other agencies in the field. Obviously, certain courses would lend themselves more than others to video supplementation.

The General Public.

The general public either as radio listener or television viewer is a nebulous conception. Television's general public is anybody who has ac­ cess to a viewing screen without distinction of age, sex, race, creed, or cultural background. The possibilities of television directly constructed to fit some level or aspect of organized education has been discussed in the previous paragraphs. At some point the individual within a special educa­ tional group is also a member of the general public. A television program designed to fit a particular situation will not of necessity be restricted in its interest. Unless such programs are broadcast on a closed circuit as previously suggested, the school, college, or adult education telecast may also be seen by the general public. As member of this public the viewer has the privilege of looking or not as he chooses, a choice he may not exercise so fully if he is viewing the telecast as part of a lesson or course. But given that the television circuit is an open one, any museum program, whether intended for a special purpose or not, may also be viewed by the public at 93,

large. It is conceivable that such programs, though of great value in ac­

complishing the purposes for which they were intended, would be limited in

appeal and insufficiently representative of the Metropolitan Museum as a

whole.

Subject Matter.

Therefore, there should be a major program emanating from the museum which would be based on the premise that its subject matter and pres­

entation should have wide general appeal. It is a television series of this

type that would make either a good sustaining program for a broadcasting

company or be interesting to a sponsor.

It has been noted earlier that people as a whole are less interested

in abstract ideas than they are in something which can be related to their

daily life and problems and which illuminates some phase of their experience.

What subjects of great immediate interest can the museum's collections in­

terpret? In the museum are the "documents" to illustrate the growth of re­

ligious and political ideas and ideals, the trends of artistic expression,

and the concrete reflections of social usages. At this time not only the

educator but the layman is deeply concerned with the means of restating the

ideals of humanism on which this country was founded. The past must be made

comprehensible in terms of the present and the future. As Jacques Barzun so

well puts it, "A continuity must be shown between past and present, for it

is only the linkage of human efforts through time that can give permanent 32 significance to events, men, or ideas beyond their point of origin."

In terms of a television program intended for wide popular appeal,

the visualization of such abstract ideas may sound impractical. History and

32 Barzun, Jacques. "History ss a Liberal Art," Journal of the History of Ideas. Vol. VI, No. 1, January 1945. ______aWH_r

94.

abstract social concepts are easier to write or talk about than to interpret

visually. But as the products of certain conditions of life and thought,

buildings, sculptures, paintings, representations of deities and ritual ob­

jects may be used as the visual interpretations of their epoch. The theme

for a series of television programs could thus be very comprehensive or it

could be deliberately confined to smaller facets chosen to illustrate a

specific point. For example, the whole history of civilization may be traced

through the development of the decorative arts: furniture, textiles, costumes,

ceramics, silver, and jewelry. For some of the video audience the intrinsic

beauty of the objects will be eloquent enough; for others the interest will

be in terms of the personalities of the artists who made them and the people

for whom they were made. The things that people have created and used are

made less remote and abstract by connecting them with the personalities of

their makers and users. They can be made vivid and meaningful by relating

them to the similarities and differences in usages today.

It would be possible to make many suggestions for the treatment of museum subject matter and the choice of a continuing theme for a series of

television broadcasts. Were the programs to have a sponsor the final deci­

sions would have to be reached by mutual agreement. In the case of a publi­

cation as collaborator or sponsor, the editorial policy and general character

of the magazine would be a deciding factor.

The Pictorial Magazine as Collaborator.

There are a number of reasons why an association between the museum and a weekly pictorial magazine would be advantageous. First, in the organ­

ization of the scripts, the choice of theme and subject matter, editorial experience would be valuable. Although television is a different medium from publishing, editors are trained to gauge public taste and reactions. For "7~ --.-,-•__-__-• _____: ?:"*'''

95.

example, Life, in many ways the outstanding popular pictorial in its field, has consistently and successfully presented what is generally termed serious subject matter, sandwiched though it may be with more sensational material.

As an editorial formula it represents a realistic acceptance of the varia­ tions of taste and affirms the belief that there is a demand for more thought provoking subjects.

A second advantage in a museum-magazine partnership would be the previews. It has been remarked previously in the section on publications and television how previews, explanatory text, and supplementary illustra­ tions could build up an audience in advance of a broadcast. A preview, pub­ lished in the issue immediately preceding each week's broadcast, would in­ clude pictures of some of the actual material to be televised as well as re­ lated explanatory matter that might be less suited to the television medium than to the printed page. Pictorial matter for the preview would be chosen primarily for its subject interest and for its suitability for reproduction.

In many instances such reproductions might be sold or distributed to readers, separated from letter press and suitable for framing like the Masterpieces of Art Series 3hown in the subways. The major part of the material would be drawn from the museum's collections and its library, but related illustrative material could also be included from other sources, especially ethnological and natural history museums. Programs would use film of actual sites, and both still and motion pictures of relevant objects or events. Documents, inscriptions, music, musical instruments, models, maps, and animations would all be employed tc round out the frame of a script.

A Theme Developed Chronologically.

If the series were to develop chronologically, a logical starting point would be the Egyptian and Mesopotamian collections. The bridge that 1 9Mmm fc,.»-g- .JU_^Z^-,-..->saju

96,

links these two civilizations to our own is the Bible and the development

of the Judaic-Grecian ethic as the foundation of the Christian civilization

of the West.

Any publisher is aware of the paramount interest of books that in­

terpret or retell the stories and events of the Old and New Testament.

Thomas Mann's Joseph series, Quo Vadis, the Brook Kerith, and The Robe are

but a few examples. In the Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and Near East collections

there is ample material for use in visualizing the customs, houses, temples,

clothing, and beliefs of these oriental peoples as they are introduced in

the Old Testament. Magazine editors know the "pulling" qualities of pic­

tures related to Biblical and religious subjects which reflect fundamental

human interests.

The museum's Mesopotamian and Egyptian collections contain amplei

material to illustrate the life and times of many of the great personalities,

kings, queens, prophets, warriors, and tribal leaders whose names are famil­

iar to old and young. Few Bible stories are more dramatic than the struggle 33

between the Egyptian Pharoah and the children of Israel. Mernepthah , ac­

cepted by many scholars as the Pharoah of the Exodus, is represented by two

splendid statues in the museum. In the unparalleled magnificence of the

XIX Dynasty, the palaces of the Pharoahs were decorated with greater splen­

dor than ever. The richly colored faience tiles from the walls of a throne

room of the royal residence at El Kantir show the setting in which Joseph

and Moses beheld the Pharoahs of their time. These tiles have been inter­

preted as the possible explanation of the "bricks made without straw." With

the new highly sensitive image orthicon tubes in mobile units, television

will be able to show the extraordinary series of funerary models from the 33 Albright, W.F. "From the Stone Age to Christianity." Johns Hopkins Univ. Press. 97,

Tomb of Meket-Re, a noble under the last two kings of the XI Dynasty, with­ out the use of hot damaging lights* Placed in his tomb to provide his soul with equivalents of his earthly existence, the models show all the activi­ ties that went on in a self-contained feudal estate. There is the manor with the tree shaded pool before the porch, the kitchen where baking and brewing were done, the granary, the stables, and the butcher shop. For the next world's journeys he had models of travelling boats, followed by kitchen tenders, yachts, and small skiffs in Which to go fishing. Since the mater­ ial side of Egyptian life changed so rarely through the centuries, a fairly consistent picture of daily life can be drawn from objects of daily use taken from all periods of dynastic time.

Household furniture, often so ultra-modern in its appearance, is reminiscent of pieces by the contemporary Finnish designer, Alvar Aalto, or of William Spratling in Mexico.

The gay and cheerful side of Egyptian life may be imagined through the games and toys.

The crafts and decorative arts, the luxuries and amenities of life during the centuries of civilization in the Nile Valley spread throughout the Mediterranean world. Modern designers have not surpassed the elegance of form or the technical skill of Egyptian jewelry and goldsmith's work. In the present vogue for costume Jewelry the museum's collections would prove doubly interesting to designers and the buying public. Or an entire tele­ vision program could be built on the story of cosmetic containers and make­ up implements. The influence of Egyptian goldsmiths could be traced across the Mediterranean in the designs and techniques developed in ancient Crete and Greece and Italy, thence to the period of the Roman .Empire, and into the

Renaissance, and finally into the France of the First Empire, when all things

Egyptian, not only jewels but also furniture and architecture, became the •_•

98.

vogue after Napoleon's Egyptian campaigns.

These brief suggestions may serve to show a few ways that the

Egyptian collection might be used as television program material: First, as documentation for incidents and personalitiss from the Old Testament.

Secondly, in the more homely aspects of daily life, relating many Egyptian objects to those we regard as the last word in modern design. And thirdly, tracing the reappearances of Egyptian goldsmiths designs and techniques through the succeeding centuries. In the last two treatments material would be borrowed from other collections in the museum: costume, textile, paint­ ing, the Renaissance collections, furniture, and ceramics. Contemporary furniture and modern costume jewelry would be included. The human element would be introduced by models and actors used in whatever dramatic sequence the scripts demanded.

The broadcast preview appearing in the collaborating publication would have a wide field of choice in illustrative material from the museum's collections. In it supplementary text, book illustrations, manuscript pages, and hieroglyphic inscriptions could be called upon. Egyptian material, es­ pecially the goldsmiths work and the Coptic Textiles of the Christian era, would provide a rich field for color photography and four color reproduction.

These suggestions have been made to show that a television series could be based on one theme that could be traced chronologically through all the museum's collections or confined to a single type of material. For ex­ ample, the illustration of Old Testament stories and personalities could be related to the emergence of Christianity in the Mediterranean World. The

Near Eastern, Greek, and Roman collections would offer many possibilities.

The Mosaics from the Haggia Sophia illustrate other phases of Christian art.

The influence of Byzantium as the city at the crossroads between Asia and

Europe may be shown in the oriental trends that entered Western civilization ^mmmSmmWmWSmm*'

99.

by this portal. The voyages of discovery, the search for trade routes to the East, the cargoes borne back and forth, are in themselves full of vis­ ual possibilities.

What were the causes behind the discovery of America? What was the Renaissance European world, from which Columbus set out, thinking and making in terms of science, architecture, music, painting, and sculpture?

What did the New World inherit from, the Old? How have we developed?

In planning a video series based on the collections of the Metro- politan Museum, few more helpful and stimulating guide books could be found than the "Survey of the Collections" contained in the Art News Annual for

1945-46. A book of some 170 pages, it is entirely devoted to a survey of the past, present, and future of the museum. Because of its profuse illus­ tration, in color and in black and white, its well prepared text, and its accompanying chronological tables, it would serve as an invaluable reference book for the script writer and program planner. In a general survey, the

Art Annual looks at the Museum and the Cloisters and relates the sum of the parts to the whole. A television program based on a similarly broad concep­ tion could also perform a valuable service for the public and the museum at the opening of its 75th year. ^y-p •?-»*»

100.

CONCLUSIONS

At the end of a report it is customary to summarize the findings in a conclusion, based on the data that the proceeding survey has elicited.

Ordinarily a conclusion implies a greater degree of finality than is justi­ fiable under the present changing conditions of television. Therefore, be­ cause television is developing so rapidly in all its aspects, conclusions and recommendations must, to a certain extent, be based on subjective obser­ vations and the opinions of the best -informed people in the industry, rather than on a completely stabilized situation.

This does not imply however, that there is an insufficient body of solid fact on which to base recommendations for the Metropolitan Museum's use of television. At this period in the progress of reconversion the underlying pattern of the industry can be plainly seen. Technically television's future seems assured. Many engineering promises that seemed extravagant but a short time ago have been fulfilled. It is an indisputable fact that monochrome television pictures of good definition are now reliably received. Statistics collected by advertising agencies and video trade publications indicate a steady arithmetic progression of receiver production and distribution. A video audience of 1,000,000 by the autumn of 1946 and 2,000,000 by the Spring of 1947 is not improbable. The principal uncertainties are the dates when chain television, wide distribution of receivers and color may bo expected.

In these matters there is wide divergence of opinion.

The date when commercial color television will appear still remains the most controversial video question. Even the skeptical concede that most of its technical difficulties have been or hre about to be solved. The chief element of disagreement is whether color will come in two—five—or ten years.

From the viewpoint of a museum television program the important ___:

101.

fact is that black and white television will probably have a potential audi­ ence of between one and two millions in two years time in the New York area and many more if the relays to Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington and Boston are in operation. It would probably be justifiable to expect color television in five years time; the half way point between the most pessimistic and the most optimistic estimates.

The character of a great art museum's communication is manifestly visual. Since the Metropolitan Museum has in its Diamond Jubilee year re­ iterated its belief that its duty lies in the widest possible diffusion of its values to the public, then the use of television is indicated as the technique most capable of accomplishing its purpose.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The report has discussed the contingencies of a museum television program from the financial and technical aspects. The most promising method from all points of view was some form of sponsorship; sponsorship undertaken by a television station as a sustaining program or an outright sponsorship in the sense that the Philharmonic or Metropolitan Opera programs are broad­ cast on the radio to advertise the products of the sponsoring manufacturers.

The Museum's director has already been approached by various inter­ ests wishing to explore the television possibilities of museum material. If and when the director and trustees of the Metropolitan Museum decide that it is advisable to launch a museum television program, sponsorship will not be far to seek. Rather it will be a question of the most advantageous choice among the opportunities offered. It has been previously pointed out that the character of the sponsor and a suitable respect and understanding of the

Museum's aims and purposes would be the sine qua non of any television agree­ ment . r-j-

102,

Experience in producing programs in 1940-41 and 1944-45 has demon­

strated that a television department within the Museum would be a basic nec­ essity. Personnel capable of working with television broadcasters, producers and sponsors on one hand, and with complete familiarity with the Museum's material and organization on the other, would have to be developed. Such a department would require at least a year to develop programs that would be acceptable to all concerned.

It would probably need a longer period to build up a sufficient reservoir of program material and scripts if weekly quarter or half hour broadcasts were contemplated. The report has indicated the amount of time 34 and labor that goes into the production of a single 20 minute program.

Just as an orchestra or a repertory company must plan and rehearse for per­ formances many weeks or months in advance, so it would be necessary for the

Museum to build up a reserve of scripts and plans for the use of the visual material forming the framework of the broadcasts.

A number of the Museum's television programs have already indicated how works of art may be dynamically presented. If the Museum wants sponsor­ ship for television broadcasts, it should be prepared to offer concrete sug­ gestions and layouts for future programs that would be informative and cul­ tural, vital and entertaining in the best sense. Thus the Museum can demon­ strate its value as an incomparable source of visual material. The way to prove the point is to continue experimentation with different types of pres­ entation.

The comparatively limited experience that the Metropolitan Museum has already had in telecasting museum material has been valuable. It has

34 Arms and Armor. 103.

shown which treatments and types of program are the most rewarding. But if

the Museum is to enhance its excellent presentations, a well coordinated pro­

duction staff and further collaboration in experimental programs will of

course, be needed.

On the basis of observations made of the conditions in the tele­ vision studios, it is recommended that the Museum maintain its contacts with those broadcasting companies that have shown a desire to sponsor its pro­ grams. The cost to the Museum under present conditions is small; while the value of the experience is great. By maintaining relations with the develop­ ing industry and shaping the outline of a television department, the Museum would be prepared to take advantage of a sponsorship when a suitable offer i s made.

The Museum has a standard of quality to uphold in all its public contacts, and in its services of education and extension. Its books, period­ icals, reproductions, slides and loans must represent the best of their kind.

It must therefore be prepared to apply television, a new technique of commun­ ication, as skillfully and forcefully as possible. This can not be done passively. It can only be accomplished by an adequate television department.

If in the opinion of the Museum's director and board of trustees, the Museum should accept the challenge that television offers, it is recom­ mended that steps be taken to appoint a competent authority capable of or­ ganizing a production staff and of carrying on negotiations leading to spon­ sored television programs. The Metropolitan Museum has, through television a unique opportunity of serving the community more fully than ever before. 104.

APPENDIX

MUSEUM FILM FOR EDUCATIONAL EXTENSION

Film, either in the form of motion pictures or film strip combined

with captions or sound track, can be an invaluable method for reproducing and

interpreting works of art in a permanent and convenient form. But worthwhile

films on art subjects, especially if presented from the historical or socio­

logical viewpoint, are almost non-existent. There are a number of moving pictures or film strips demonstrating techniques. Many of these are of

doubtful value, because they antedate the latest technical improvements in

film, lighting, and camera work. Although this type of motion picture or

film strip has its place, the teaching of techniques is not primarily the province of an art museum, except insofar as the understanding of an artist's tools and methods leads to appreciation of the work of art. Eut the study and interpretation of individual or related works of art through modern motion pictures or film strips offers a most valuable means for projecting the unique material available in the collections of an art museum to the schools, universities, groups, or individuals far outside the range of actual contact with the museum itself.

Film for Television.

It is an accepted fact that film will play a very large part in television, especially on the subsidiary stations. The use of musical re­ cordings on radio is a parallel.

Motion pictures made for theaters, where mass effects and the ex­ aggeration of scale are required, are seldom good when broadcast on televi­ sion. Also, most films must be cut or rearranged to conform to an arbitrary division of time periods for television broadcasting. Already a number of 105. film companies are experimenting with films especially designed to conform to television needs in scaler length, and content.

The limitations and necessities imposed on films by television might well be advantageous to films based on museum material. Telecasts will be for the most part viewed at home in rooms of medium size. Thus it is already recognized that the good television program should be more intimate because it is usually received by small groups at home or in classrooms rather than by large audiences in a public theater. The direct and informal approach characteristic of gallery conversations and museum guidance could well be adapted to film designed for television.

Type of Film Now Available.

There are educational film companies that have produced some good films on ethnography, geography, history, zoology, science, hygiene, and demonstrations of craft techniques, but films dealing with works of art are rare and generally speaking unsatisfactory in content and execution. The big

Hollywood film producers have seldom touched the educational film, largely because its comparatively limited circulation promises less financial return than the amusement field.

The Metropolitan Museum and other art museums throughout the coun­ try have from time to time tried film production. Most of these attempts were made in the early days of cinema and suffer from the technical imperfec­ tions of their period. The scripts, direction, and photography were often done by museum staff members rather than professional writers, producers, or photographers.

Today Americans of all ages are so conditioned by the perfection of

Hollywood film techniques that the amateurish picture is completely unaccept­ able. Film using educational or cultural material in the arts must compete 106,

not e»ly with the best in the amusement field but with the superb documen­

taries and the highly professional training films produced by the Armed Ser­ vices and the U.S. Office of Education.

Members of the Metropolitan Museum staff representing the curator^ .

ial departments as well as the Department of Education and Extension are agreed that the time is now ripe for applying modern professional techniques to the production of motion pictures and film strip based on museum material.

The staff has spent much time and study on various methods of approach. They have viewed a large number of films, American .and European, in an effort to

form opinions on the style, content, and photographic techniques best suited to the various types of museum material.

The training and experience of a staff member of an art museum does not as a rule fit him to be a motion picture photographer, script writer, or producer. Nor is there much in his experience to help him judge the fairness of the estimates made by commercial film companies for producing movies or film strips, except by comparing figures submitted by a number of such com­ panies. He may also ask the advice of an experienced non-commercial film producer.

Such disinterested advice has been sought from t&e Department of

Visual Training of the U.S. Office of Education and from men in the Army and

Navy Photographic Branches. Among these advisors are many men formerly con­ nected with professional film studios. Because of their war experience they are discovering the possibilities of the documentary, educational or cultur­ al film. They recognize that the material provided by the museum's collec­ tions is unique, but that its presentation has heretofore been mishandled and amateurish, though many of the efforts were highly creditable pioneering in the infancy of cinema. I mwmmmmnwmmw ,3Hi^Mi^^lfca«a™^^^^^»«^™™w™BBM^^«»i*^™______.

107.

Mr. Floyde E. Brooker, director of Visual Training Aids for the

U.S. Office of Education, has advised the Metropolitan Museum to start its

production of films with the relatively inexpensive 16 mm. film strip, rather

than with moving pictures. Mr. Brooker acknowledges the limitations of the

film strip, but feels that it would be a valuable test for the possibilities

of museum subject matter.

Motion Picture vs. Film Strip.

The motion picture is a more explicit communication than the film

strip, because it can, through motion, reproduce the viewer's own processes

of vision as the camera moves over and around the object. The film strip is

fundamentally a series of still pictures mounted on a continuous reel. It

may be interspersed with captions, explanatory text or accompanied by sound

track. Motion pictures communicate more but demand a greater expenditure of

time, skill, and money to produce. Slide film has definite limitations, but

it is a cheaper and less complicated technique.

Mr. Brooker's advice is impartial and is backed by his experience

in producing nearly 700 film strips from 1.941 to 1945. His outline of ap­

proximate costs using Kodachrome film stock, exclusive of photographer's fee,

is as follows:

For each individual shot $0.50

Per frame of 10 pictures 5.00

Prints from original frames 0,50

The overall cost of a film strip and a sound recording for the

master and matrix would be a maximum of $350.00 versus the $5,000 quoted as

the minimum for a two-reel motion picture. The sale of 70 film strips would

amortize the original investment.

Mr. Brooker suggests that each shot should be repeated five times Si_- BHU_---_1

103.

while the camera is set up, thus making five original master negatives from

which duplicates can be made.

Uses of Film Strip.

Such film strip should have a ready sale or rental for educational

purposes or for the private person with a home projector. It is probable

that the sale of film strip by the museum would stimulate the sales of pub­

lications and reproductions dealing with related fields of interest.

The Metropolitan Museum Department of Education.and Extension has

a number of exhibitions of three dimensional and also flat pictorial mater­

ial planned especially for circulation in the schools. They are designed as

visual supplements to the curriculum, especially in the field of history and

social studies. The film strips could be valuable additions to these units.

Explanatory text or sound track would be of great use to the teachers. Since

portable daylight screens will probably become standard classroom equipment,

the inconvenience of darkening the room will no longer deter teachers from

using film in school.

Two frames of film strip can easily be contained in mailing cap­

sules no bigger than large spools of thread. Since 16 mm. film is non-ex­

plosive, it may be sent through the mails, greatly simplifying distribution.

Suggested Subject Matter for Film Strip.

Prof. Lynn T. White, Jr. of Mills College in his inaugural said:

"American studies must be cultivated and encouraged until they be­

come the foundation and center of all humanistic education in this country,

the intellectual common denominator of cultivated Americans, and the natural

point of departure for explorations further afield."

The museum has for many years used the American Wing to illustrate

the development of social life in America in the broadest sense of the term. mmwm 109.

Chronologically the American Wing covers the development of interior archi- i tecture, furniture, fabrics, costume, silver, glass, china, pottery, and

other accessories from 1620 to 1820. It runs the gamut from the simplicities

of early New England and the farm houses of German settlers'in Pennsylvania

to the elegancies and luxuries of the 18th and early 19th centuries city

dwellings on the Eastern seaboard.

The fact that the American Wing is a collection of authentic domes­

tic interiors means that in most cases the number of people who can hear,

see, or follow gallery talks is strictly limited by the size of the rooms.

At the time of the installation of these rooms indirect lighting was not s

sufficiently developed to use without violating the authenticity of the ar­

rangements. Consequently, there are many days when the weather or the hour

makes the rooms too dark to be properly seen. Good film taken under the best

conditions of natural or artificial lighting would make it possible to show

the American Wing as comparatively few people have been able to see it.

A course built upon the development of life in America, using the

American Wing as a frame, with the introduction of pictorial, documentary,

and musical material would have great value in the interpretation of citizen­

ship. Ideally it should be in the form of Kodachrame motion picture, profes­

sionally directed and photographed, with the documentation under museum super­

vision.

In an educational program conceived with the object of teaching

and reaffirming the ideals of humanism and democratic citizenship for Ameri­

cans, the use of the American Wing seems the most obvious point of departure.

But the other great museum collections, no matter how remote they may seem in

time or space from the American scene, also provide the indispensable links

in the development of human thought and its influence on the culture of our

life and time3.