FIRST SINGER EVER TELEVISED

Radio Record, Volume XIII, Issue 11, 21 August 1939, Page 12

FIRST SINGER EVER TELEVISED

It Is A US. Title That Edith Griffith Holds, But It Is Probably A World Title, Too

By

J. GIFFORD

MALE

® Edith Griffith, dark-haired radio and stage singer who passed through Auckland recently on her way fo engagements_ in Australia, was the first singer in the U.S. to be televised, probably the first in the world. © It was at Schenectady, New York, and the year was 1931-the dark ages as far as television is concerned. In discussing her career, Miss Griffith is apt to forget this experience entirely, or else pass over if as something trivial and not worth remembering. © But, who knows, when television is a commercial proposition, as it promises to become soon, the title of first American girl ever to be televised may be a valuable one. PprrH GRIFFITH was making personal appearances ~at an RKO theatre in Schen-

ectady just at the time the General Electric Company was conducting a series of television experiments.

More for a stunt than anything else, the company decided to make a practical test in a

theatre, and suggested to Miss Griffith-who, as her picture on the front page suggests, is, to say the least, photogeniquethat she should be the subject for the experiment. It was an elaborate experi-

ment. Miss Griffith herself wag taken to a transmitter two miles away from the theatre, placed in a small box lighted up with high-power lamps which nearly fried her to a crisp, and then bidden to sing. Her accompanist was back in ‘the theatre, and the aecompaniment was relayed to the transmitter by landline, and to Miss Griffith by earphone. The televised image was flashed. back to the theatre, and shown on a large screen, to the great edification of the audience. It was @ shaky, uncertain image, but quite recognisable. Television has made great strides since then, of . course. In the United States even ijjsporting events are televised. || The first sporting event to be || televised, in fact, was a baseball game. last May between Princeton and Columbia, and the 3000-odd owners of television sets in New York were

able to follow the progress of the game with ease. UT however elated the General .Electrie people may have been about their telecast, to Edith Griffith the experiment was just another colourful incident in a eaveer which has brought her into contact with most of America’s leading radio artists. She started off in the hard school of picture-house singing, doing five shows 2 day, no less. From piecture-houses, she went to J. J. Shubert’s productions, then into radio and vaudeville, and she’s been there ever since. In addition, she has appeared at some of the country’s swellest night-clubs. In Chicago she was at the Chez Paris, the Yacht Club, the Congress Casino, and the College Inn at the top of the Hotel Sherman, which is famed as the home of Ben Bernie. In radio she has worked on ~ big spots and little spets, and has first-hand knowledge of the uncertainty and heartbreak of radio ‘work. Don’t think that underpaid vadio artists are to be found only in New Zealand, she says. There are plenty in the United States, too. Onee if was a sheer scandal, though now the Radio Guild has cleaned things up a bit. By the way, Edith Griffith was within an ace of becoming known as the Milk of Magnesia Girl. She sang with Abe Lyman’s Orchestra on a milk of magnesia programme, just not long enough for the tag to stick. EE