farnovision

A New Home for Philo

There is a new "Statuary Hall" at the U.S. Capitol building in Washington.  Each state gets to place two statues of its most deserving luminaries in the capitol.  Utah's first statue was of Brigham Young (who else?) and after a state-wide referendum back in 1990, the state's second statue was dedicated to the inventor of television. The new Statuary Hall is part of the newly opened Capitol Visitor Center:

The center provides far more than shelter from the elements. It is lined with statues of prominent Americans -- some famous, some not.

They include Philo T. Farnsworth of Utah, who invented the television; Po'pay of New Mexico, who helped the Pueblo tribe survive; and John M. Clayton of Delaware, who held many offices but is most noted for negotiating the agreement for a canal linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Now, if memory serves me, in the past, lunch has been served in Statuary Hall after the Presidential Inauguration ceremony on the steps of the U.S. Capitol.  I wonder where they'll be serving lunch this year?

History -v- Hollywood in La Jolla

Link: The Farnsworth Invention (2/27).

I have been exchanging messages with a fan of The West Wing who maintains a "Live Journal" blog and who has seen an early performance of   at the La Jolla Playhouse.  Based on these exchanges, I'm starting to get some sense of how the play balances the tricky imperatives of drama with the prickly details of history:

One thing I have to point out that they are (Sorkin and McAnuff) not interested in telling just the history/facts in this play (but I have to admit, in the beginning it's too descriptive for a theatrical play). It's about "the race between two visionaries (Farnsworth and Sarnoff) to lay claim to the invention of the television." There is a great dialogue between them at 11 o'clock scene, but it never happened in the real life. I don't think people who will come to see the show are planning to get a quick history lesson from this show. They (at least I am) are interested in how the story is being told and how the two stories are wove together.

I don't know if the "bigrivermusical," the individual who hosts this blog, intended for it to become a focal point of any debate re: fact-v-fiction, but he is the first to report any of the details of the play, so I hope he doesn't mind the added traffic.

Meet Hugo Gernsback

I am often asked, where did the term "television" actually come from.  There are numerous accounts of the origin of the term.  One of them attributes its first use to the writings of one Hugo Gernsback, who published numerous magazines about science and invention during the early 20th century.  I recall the first time I heard Gernsback's name was in the company of Philo Farnsworth III (eldest son of the TV inventor) who told me back in the 1970s that his father likely learned of the idea of "pictures that could fly through the air" from reading one of Gernsback's early publications.   

In addition to publishing magazines devoted to science and electronics, Gernsback also wrote some of the earliest works of what is now known as "science fiction," including the popular "Amazing Stories" series.  If you have ever heard of the "Hugo Awards" for science fiction writing, then you will be  interested to learn that they were named for .... Hugo Gernsback.   

Check Out The Early Television Museum

There is an outfit near Columbus, Ohio called The Early Television Foundation, which operates a museum that houses hundreds of vintage televisions and other electronic gear.  Their website offers photos of their collection as well as a virtual tour down early TeeVee's memory lane.  They're even having a convention in May for serious early TeeVee collectors and restoration experts.