View movie

View thumbnails
Run time: 14:50

Stream (help)

64Kb MPEG4 (dialup)
256Kb MPEG4 (broadband)
64Kb Real Media (dialup)
256Kb Real Media (broadband)
HiRes MPEG4

Play / Download (help)

(17 MB)64Kb MPEG4
(38 MB)256Kb MPEG4
(47 MB)Cinepack
(65 MB)64Kb Real Media
(155 MB)MPEG1
(155 MB)256Kb Real Media
(164 MB)HiRes MPEG4
(411 MB)MPEG2

Resources

Ganz (William J.) Co.Story of Television, The (1956)

RCA's corporate history of pre-1956 developments in television.


This movie is part of the collection: Prelinger Archives

Producer: Ganz (William J.) Co.
Sponsor: Radio Corporation of America (RCA)
Audio/Visual: Sd, B&W
Keywords: Media: Television; Electronics

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

Individual Files

Write a review
Downloaded 7,425 timesReviews
Average Rating:

Reviewer: Spuzz - - November 13, 2004
Subject: (Up to 1956 that is)
Not bad doc about the many advances television had gone through to 1956. Although padded somewhat at the beginning with a history of how man wanted to see "beyond the valleys" the film gets back on course by telling the many wonders television pioneers, more specifically, RCA, has done. We get to see a very badly done "conversation" between two of them. What could have been an interesting talk just looks like two old men reading from cue cards (and that's what it is). The historical aspect of tv is shown from it's mainstream introduction at the world's fair to them bringing tv on the road, and then! to Color! (film ends at that point (Missing reel?).
The film is somewhat badly spliced but still somewhat interesting to watch.

Reviewer: Iowatvman - - November 8, 2004
Subject: What Color?
I have to wonder if the previous reviewer was watching the same film I was. There's no color footage, faded or otherwise, in the version that's available for download as of 11/8/04. The film ends abruptly just as the announcer begins to describe color television. The MPEG-1 file (the one I watched) ends with leader sprocket noise at the end of the sound track, so I'm sure I downloaded all that was there.

The previous comments about the content were accurate. RCA's policy was always to claim that it exclusively was responsible for the development of both monochrome and color TV. Never mind that RCA fought patent lawsuits with Philo Farnsworth for years (and lost some), and never mind that color TV was a development led by an industry committee. According to the General (Sarnoff), it was RCA and RCA alone. That's not to say that the company's contributions to monochrome and color were insignificant--quite the contrary--but there were others involved as well.

It appears that a fair-sized chunk is missing from this print in the World War II segment. Another copy on archives.org includes more footage of RCA's wartime activities. Unfortunately, the other copy is seriously truncated at both ends, and the quality of the print and transfer isn't as good as this one.

Other comments: Much of the footage of the World's Fair of 1939 and other very early TV was the same as RCA's 1939 "Presentation" film (also on this website). The narrator sounds very much like someone who was a staff announcer for NBC television for many years. That makes sense; use someone already on staff rather than hire a freelancer. I don't know this announcer's name, other than that it definitely was *not* Don Pardo (who was working for NBC at the time, and still does).

I'm withholding one star because of the missing footage. Perhaps some day a complete print will be found.

Reviewer: Christine Hennig - - October 6, 2002
Subject: The Story of Television
This film about the history of television was made by RCA in 1956, so it concentrates on the early stuff. The history presented here is history according to RCA, focusing on the technological advances that could be attributed to RCA and de-emphasizing everything else. A lot of tv "firsts" are shown: first president to be televised, first televised baseball game, etc. David Sarnoff talks with Vladimir Zworykin about television's early development at RCA (and sounds like he's reading from cue cards). The last third of the film suddenly breaks into color (though very poor color) and talks about the development of color television. The whole makes for an interesting combination industrial film and archive of early tv.
Highlights:
David Sarnoff...is obviously reading his
lines...from cue cards.
In an explanation of how color television
works, mention is made of television's
three primary colors: red, blue, and
green. But the film's coloration leads you
to the conclusion that the real three
primary colors are brick red, washed-out
sky blue, and brown.
While extolling NBC's "Spectaculars", title
cards of the various productions are
shown. The title cards suddenly change
to titles of regular series for no good
reason, causing a series of highbrow
theatrical productions to be followed by
"Ding Dong School".
Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***. Also available on VHS from Video Yesteryear.

Shotlist

Shows efforts of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in the creation, development and introduction of the all-electronic TV system; explains how science made television a working reality. David Sarnoff tells of the early research and experiments. Shown is the first successful picture tube, the first experimental TV station, the problems of improving piucture quality and reducing the size and cost of components at the transmitting and receiving ends, and the function of mobile units. Actual scenes from TV "firsts" are included -- President Roosevelt opening the 1939 New York World's Fair, the visit of the King and Queen of England, and the 1940 Republican Convention in Philadelphia. Animated diagrams demonstrate how a TV camera converts electronic beams into a picture.