OTD in early British television: 28 April…
John Wyver writes: The schedule from Alexandra Palace on Wednesday 28 April 1937 was unremarkable. As was the schedule two years later on Friday 28 April 1939. Which is more or less the point of this post, prompted in part by Billy Smart suggesting that I might write about the scheduling pattern of television in these years, and what changes – if any – this went through between 2 November 1936 and 1 September 1939.
This post can at least begin an outline, starting with a comparison of the hours of broadcasting. On both days television was transmitted in two main blocks, starting each day at 3pm and 9pm. The differences, however, included the additional transmission in 1939 of an hour in the morning so that television showrooms had something to demonstrate to potential customers.
There was no test card then, and so sales people showed potential customers The BBC Television Demonstration Film each day from 11am, followed by an edition of the soft-centred newsreel-type Ace Magazine film to make up an hour until midday.
Also in 1939, on the television wavelength the BBC had begun to broadcast selected elements of radio broadcasts prior to each block of television, so on 28 April 1939 users who had their television receivers switched on could hear The Daily Service from the National Programme at 10.15am, followed by an annoucnement relating to a speech by Adolf Hitler and then the weather forecast for farmers and shipping. At 8pm that evening the audio from the Regional Programme was carried, with a variety bill titled Ours is a Nice ‘Our, Ours Is.
The Demonstration Film aside, there was also (a bit) more television in 1939, with transmissions lasting from 3.20pm (although most days this block began at 3pm) until 4.25pm, and then in the evening from 9pm to 10.25pm. Two years earlier, there was just over an afternoon hour from 3pm to 4.05pm and similarly an evening hour from 9pm to 10.02pm.
The stretch of the slots as television became more established was typical, but the service was nonetheless constrained by limited facilities and tight budgets. In 1937 there was just one active studio for broadcasts and rehearsals, and even though in 1939 Studio B was also being used for transmissions the scheduling was absurdly tight, and additional broadcasts could not be contemplated.
Scheduling in the sense that we came to know it later was pretty much unheard of pre-war. Programmes were shown when they could be fitted into the running orders of the studios and there were few fixed or regular spots, with editions of the same strand being shown on different weekdays with unpredictable numbers of days between each.
More or less the only exception to this fluidity was the magazine strand Picture Page, which kept to the same day for months at a time, with an edition being shown in the afternoon and another, with a guest list that overlapped but was never repeated in full, that same evening.
In 1937 Picture Page was settled on Wednesdays, and on the afternoon of 28 April it followed a variety bill with the title Coffee Stall and an edition of British Movietonenews. Singer Sylvia Froos (above, in this edition of the show) was one attraction, along with ‘The Three Singing Mice’, veteran footballer Mr Wood, US speedway ace Miny Waln, and innkeeper W.F. Hallpike, ‘with two monkeys from his menagerie’.
The mice returned that evening, as did Sylvia, but Miny and the monkeys did not reappear. And the edition was preceded by another variety bill, this time titled Queue for a Song and an edition of Gaumont British News. In both afternoon and evening, the inclusion of the 10-minute newsreel gave the studio just about enough time to re-set for the second attraction.
In 1939 Picture Page was settled on Thursdays, and so Friday 28 April offered an afternoon of Grosvenor House cabaret with The Three Admirals, Victorian burlesque dancers, and comedy acrobats Van and Allen, then British Movietonenews, and finally a demonstration of Catch-as Catch-Can Wrestling.
The evening began with The Mizzen Cross-Trees, a revue of nautical songs and dancers, followed by Gaumont British News and a caroon, Peculiar Penguins, before a half-hour drama by A.P. Herbert, The Two Gentlemen of Soho. The evening was rounded out, as most evenings were by this stage, with a brief Piano Interlude, with Catherine Clak playing Schumann. Often the service reverted to sound for a re-run of the earlier 9pm radio news bulletin, but not it seems tonight.
Tomorrow would bring an outside broadcast of The F.A. Cup Final, but that is for tomorrow’s blog post.
Leave a Reply