Television’s First Live Animation Project…January 1940, NBC Studio 3H

Although commercial television was sill about 18 months away, NBC was preparing for it. In this sequence of photos, we see a “Rube Goldberg” style presentation board on which all the parts move, to tell the story of Bulova’s new 23 jewel-movement watch.

At the time Bulova was the nation’s top advertiser over all media, including print and radio, and at their annual convention in New York in January of 1940, their ad agency was planning for the future. On the second day of the convention, the agency arranged a closed circuit television program to demonstrate the power of television ads. It originated in NBC Studio 3H and was viewed by Bulova executives several floors above the studio.

NBC knew television’s ability do demonstrate and showcase products would be revolutionary to advertisers, so to help them allocate budgets and think about their creative messages, the network set out to work with national accounts to showcase TV’s abilities. This must have worked, because the day NBC’s W2XBS became WNBT, the first commercial was for Bulova.

This was one of the first of the NBC closed circuit presentations, but others followed soon after, including Ford, American Tobacco, Colgate, Proctor & Gamble, Coca Cola and more. -Bobby Ellerbee

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