This Rare Color Photo Reveals More Than You Know!

There are two other photos like this, but this is the only color version. Each description of these similar images eludes to a “studio tour”, and show 1930 era visitors being shot by an RCA field camera and seeing themselves in a monitor. These photos had baffled me till about a month ago when I made a magnificent find!

I always knew this was not inside NBC Studio 3H, but that was the only working NBC television facility from 1935, till 8G came along in 1948. So, where was this “studio”? At the 1939 World’s Fair!

Just before I left for New York, I was digging through some books on television given to me by Robert Forman some time back. There were several Xeroxed copies of interesting magazine articles, but one that I had somehow overlooked jumped out at me.

It is the second only known copy of “America’s First Television Tour”…the 30 page booklet created by RCA/NBC for visitors to the RCA Pavillion at the 1939 World’s Fair. As far as I know, no one had ever written about the studio and live camera inside the RCA Pavillion.

We knew that you could see yourself on TV there, but photos of people being “televised” are mostly all outside where there is plenty of light. It turns out that there was an elaborate studio display inside the pavilion, and possibly included the old “Felix The Cat” mechanical camera from the early 30s.

The book and the find were exciting enough, but low and behold, there was yet another surprise! Included in the bound pages were two letters at the end. One letter was from Mr. Foreman, which accompanied the original booklet, to the Museum Of Broadcasting in New York where it is now included in their archives.

The other letter was a reply and thank you for the donation dated April 28th, 1988. The letter was signed by our friend Ron Simon who was the Television Curator at the Museum Of Broadcasting, which is now The Paley Center For Media. I met with Ron April 30th…almost exactly 26 years after he sent the letter. I took him a copy and we both had a good laugh at the serendipity of the whole thing. Although it would make a huge post (in more than one way), I will try to get a copy of this rare piece of broadcast history online soon.

Speaking of serendipity, this photo was sent to me a few months back by our friend Jodie Peeler who teaches journalism at Newberry College. She’ll be here at my house around noon today to see my camera collection. Small World? You Bet!

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