Customer Reviews

Please Stand By: A Prehistory of Television

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Much ink has been spilled describing the early battles, both political and technological, to get television off the ground. But the story of what actually went before the camera during the thirties is almost lost. It is truly amazing just how much broadcasting was going on in these days when a well off amateurs could start their own low fidelity television stations. You'll learn many fun facts too. Such as-- Who was the first person to write, direct, and star in a television drama? Eddie Alpert!

Michael Ritchie was a good director (The Candidate, Fletch, Bad News Bears, et al.) but a pretty sloppy writer and historian. Nevertheless the fun and adventure of pre-mass media television shine through in a book that's full of errors (and probably wasn't even copyedited). You'll get a vivid idea of what it might have been like tuning into NBC's or General Electric's pioneering stations in the late '30s and early '40s, working with trailblazers like Dennis James and Anthony Mann, and of course, goof-up after amusing goof-up as a new technology finds its feet and defines what makes a good program in ways that we can still appreciate today.

Ritchie makes one point that I've never seen anyone else comment on. He believed that TV's delayed 1948 "debut" as mass entertainment was due mostly to the American Federation of Musicians, who had banned all live music from TV for several years previous. It's an intriguing thesis - no variety shows, musicals, concerts, etc. certainly limited TV's programming and appeal. But I've never seen it discussed since. Of course, that may be because most of the events related in this book officially "never happened"...

This book is just incredible. The author (who also directed the Chevy Chase Fletch movie series), goes waaaaay back into an era of surprising TV struggle! Please, order it, buy it, get it used, new, hardcover, paperback or whatever. BUT GET IT. Almost every paragraph is and eyebrow raiser, every paragraph reveals some incredible detail! (For instance, Steve Allen was NOT the first talk show host in TV history!). It's perfectly written. It covers almost every area (Sports TV, Drama TV, Contest TV, etc.). It tells everything on the subject, and makes you gain hopes regarding the starting difficulties of any new project you may be trying to implement! Hold on to your idea! Hold on to your dream! These old time dreamers kept going, and made TV possible for everyone today!. It's the best book I've read this year (2001). Please. DON'T stand by and rush to get Please Stand By! You'll be really glad to know how many amazing things happened between 1928, when TV really began, and 1948, twenty years later, when they have made us BELIEVE everything started.

Carlos Sicilia, Caracas, Venezuela.

What do Milton Berle, Eddie Albert, and Dinah Shore have in common? They've all appeared on television. OK, you knew that--what you may NOT know, however, is that they all made their first TV appearance far sooner than you may think. Try 1929, 1936 and 1938 respectively.

Wait a minute, you say, television didn't exist yet. Well, actually, it did, if only experimentally. According to Michael Ritchie, those who think the television era began when Uncle Miltie donned his first ball gown are in for quite a shock.

Ritchie takes us into the hitherto unexplored "prehistory" of television, an era that in some ways typified Murphy's Law. Everything that could go wrong usually did--from Dinah Shore's disastrous singing debut (her mascara melted under the blistering hot lights) to the "nude" chorus girls in one early 30's production number (early cameras were insensitive to the girls' red costumes).

The book takes us through the pioneering days of what are now industry staples--television sports, news, drama, and quiz shows. The numerous anecdotes from such personalities as Hugh Downs never fail to amaze--and amuse. (Be sure to read his account of his role in the earliest TV news broadcasts).

Not to be missed also are the long-overdue tributes to individual pioneers, such as Charles Francis Jenkins, who began the first television "network" of sorts in the late 1920's; John Logie Baird, whose "mechanical" method of transmission (using a spinning disk) was doomed to failure; and of course Philo Taylor Farnsworth, the young Mormon genius who, at age 14, conceived the idea of electronic television while plowing his parents' field. The rise and fall of Allen B. DuMont, who at one time ran a fourth network (only to fall victim to the backstabbing maneuvers of NBC head David Sarnoff) is told in painstaking detail.

If you love television (and perhaps, even if you don't) you'll love this book.

An editorial review calls this book "dull." Dullness, like beauty, is in the beholder's eye. This beholder is fascinated with the pioneering days of broadcasting; unsurprisingly, I found this book tremendously interesting and even entertaining. By focusing on the people and the anecdotes of television's experimental days, Ritchie vividly transmits the new medium's uncertainty and excitement.

I really wish that I could like this book more than I do.

I am very interested in the developing days of American television, especially the period from 1939 to 1947, where some cities had television stations and some sets were sold to the public. Very little is written about this fascinating period, so this book was a potential treasure trove of material.

While it certainly is a treasure trove, I wonder about the accuracy of the treasure.

The book has many call letter mistakes and has mixed up a few well known facts (such as the circumstances of the first legal TV commercial for Bulova Watches).

However, the most astonishing mistake is the author's history of pioneer General Electric television station WRGB, which he claims GE gave up and pulled the plug on in the early 50s. GE owned a very successful WRGB right through the 1980s, and the station (with the same, original call letters) is still on the air today!

If there is such a glaring mistake as this, with a high-profile station like WRGB, what else did he get wrong?

I love the spirit of the book. I just wish the author would do another fact check and re-write.