OTD in early British television: 29 May 1939
John Wyver writes: Although director of television Gerald Cock initially envisaged feature films being central to the schedule from Alexandra Palace, British and American producers and distributors refused almost without exception to supply product of any kind. Recognising television as a rival, and being especially concerned about broadcasts being screened in pubs and restaurants, the mainstream film industry refused all co-operation, and would not even permit Cock to screen trailers.
Among the handful of films shown by pre-war television were five low-budget westerns acquired from the tiny producer-distributor Exclusive Films, which also supplied shorts to AP. Two of these oaters starred Harry Carey and three featured the all-but-forgotten Kermit Maynard, including The Fighting Texan, shown on the evening of 29 May 1939. As Wikipedia details,
The story follows rancher Glenn Oliver [Maynard, natch], who has been noticing a decrease in his horse population, while a nearby ranch is getting more and more horses.
At the time of the trade show Radiolympia in 1938, Gaumont-British was prepared to licence to television two older features starring show business couple Jack Hulbert and Cicely Courtneidge, Jack Ahoy (1934) and Aunt Sally (1933). And as featured in an earlier OTD in early British television post, Michael Powell’s independent film production The Edge of the World (1937) was also acquired.
Otherwise, the Television service had to make do with occasional continental arthouse fare like The Student of Prague (1935) and La kermesse héroïque (1935). In 1939 the first extensive survey of viewers’ preferences, 77% of the four thousand-plus responses expressed a dislike for European films, but the impossibility of securing British productions forced the service to persevere.
For the full list of pre-war films on television before the war, see Sheldon Hall’s 2016 blog post ‘The first 15 feature films broadcast on British television’. And for the full story of films on pre- and post-war television, let me recommend Sheldon’s authoritative study Armchair Cinema: A History of Feature Films on British Television, 1929-1981 (Edinburgh University Press, 2024), available as an e-book at an affordable price and with a paperback, as the publishers promise, ‘forthcoming’.
In the meantime, should you wish to re-live the experience of viewers in late spring 86 years ago, The Fighting Texan is freely available on Youtube.
[OTD post no. 163; part of a long-running series leading up to the publication of my book Magic Rays of Light: The Early Years of Television in Britain in January 2026.]
Leave a Reply