Mechanical Television

General Electric Theater Television

Proctors Theater in Schenectady, New York was the site for the first public demonstration of theater television. Dr. Ernst F. W. Alexanderson, one of General Electric’s most prolific inventor-engineers, conducted the experiment.  On May 22, 1930, before a live audience and witnessed by scientific writers from around the country, an orchestra in the theatre was led by the image of a conductor on a seven-foot screen that was being transmitted from a GE lab. A plaque commemorating this historic event is located in the theater arcade.

Television in the Theatre - Radio News, August 1930

Television Advances from Peephole to Screen - Radio News, September 1930